Is the cost of dog food absurd?

So I was printing off a coupon for Merrick and I got curious and checked out the prices they sell the food for on their site. I was freaking shocked! The Turducken, which is what I feed to one of the dogs, retails for approx. $75! I don't pay anywhere near that and if that's what I was asked to pay, I'd turn tail and run!

I've noticed that online a lot of the quality foods are $60 and up and some are nearing the $100 mark for a 30 or 33 lb bag.

I'm sorry, I love my dogs and all, but considering I go through 60+ lbs of food a week, there's no way on earth I would pay that!

Right now I feed Prairie to all but that one dog, but in the end I pay in the upper $30s per bag. Not anywhere close to the $80+ I see it retail for on the internet.

So I was curious as to what people feed and the price per bag in their area.

Also, as much as we promote quality food, I do want to say that I would much rather see a dog in a home where it is loved, cared for, properly vetted, and loved some more and eating Purina Dog Chow if that's all the owner could afford.

Another question: Do we put too much pressure on people as in "you need to feed your dog that quality (aka expensive) food or your a bad owner"?

opcorn:

I agree wholeheartedly to that...

and IMO, not every food is going to work the same for every dog...

I'll be the first one to admit, that sometime, I DO have to go out and buy a small bag of something at the grocery store if Im in a crunch at the moment, and she is out of EVO and the store is closed.. but I can tell a major difference between that, and when Chloe is on EVO, and thats the only (main) reason I choose to stay on that...

As far as pricing, Chloe gets the middle sized bag, I believe its the 13lb bag (something like that) and it lasts Chloe anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks, and last time I bought some it was around $28.00

I wish! I was mixing in Evo red meat for a while as raw was contraindicated for Ripken, and I was going through a large bag a week easily. And that was just an additive to the real food!

Kirkland Dog Food

Kirkland dog food made by Diamond is conveniently sold at Costco's world wide. Last time I checked it was 17.99-23.99 for a 40lb bag, depending on the formula. Due to the price many are lead to believe that this food is just another low quality dog food. Actually Kirkland dog food falls in about the middle of the food quality spectrum.

http://dogfoodchat.com/kirkland-dog-food/

What I feed my little ones, but its like feeding one big dog, since there are four of them....they last me a long time since I get the 40lb one.

I think I'm paying like $29 per bag for the medium sized bag (15 lbs, I think?). I actually have to go pick up more on Monday, so I'll see for sure then.

Is it expensive? Yeah, a bit I guess. Do I think it is worth it? Absolutely.

I think there are certainly cheaper options that are also fairly good. I could comfortably feed my dog some less expensive stuff if money ever got that tight for me. But she is also a sport dog; I expect a certain level of performance out of her, and so I will give her the best tools available to me to help her reach that level.

I'm a bit on the fence. When it comes down to it, owning a dog is a priviledge, not a right. If you can't afford to provide a dog with its needs - good vet care, a safe, temperature controlled place to live, appropriate exercise, and decent food (not necessarily premium, but decent), then don't have a dog. If the owner is so tight on money that they can't find an extra dollar a day to move the dog up to a decent quality food, perhaps they should not get a dog. Or they should plan on less/smaller dogs that will be cheaper to feed. If money is that tight, what are they going to do if there is a vet emergency?

I feel a bit differently in the case of already-owned dogs whose owners fall on hard times. I would keep Meg and feed her Ol' Roy if I'd given up every luxery I could and still couldn't afford better for her. But I won't go out and get a large breed dog at this point in my life, because I can't afford to feed one well.

Also purina dog chow is NOT cheaper than mid grade kibbles. You have to feed sooo much more of the Dog Chow.. So while the bags are cheaper your cost per month is going to be easily as high as feeding Kirkland or something even better.

And your dog will be healthier and likely be cheaper over all when it comes to vet issues.

I know BB & Dekka.

One can get Canidae here for the same price as Dog Chow.

However, my stipulation was that the dog was properly cared for AND vetted. I would much prefer proper vet visits/checkups/vaccinations and love than an $80 bag of dog food.

It just really shocks me that I see 30lb bags of dog food approaching the $100 mark in some places. I'm sorry, but I sure as hell wouldn't ever pay that.

When my store stopped stocking Canidae because of quality , I switched to Neutra Source ....#35 bag costs me $39.58 . If I fed more than just Ollie , I'd have to get cheaper .

I think its like 40 dollars for a 30 or 35 pound bag of canidae im not sure its pretty big though it lasts a few weeks with two dogs which is nice.

I bought Banzai a small bag of EVO a couple weeks ago and it was pretty much the same price. I'm not sure if the latest wave of kibble price increase just hasn't happened here or I could just not be paying much attention as it doesn't affect us anymore. I won't buy kibble again as Banzai isn't doing well on it- I'll finish the bag and that will be it.

On another note.. feeding homecooked and even raw is MUCH cheaper (for us- we have two co-ops that we can buy from). If I were still feeding all three dogs kibble....

Exactly my logic. Bimmer's 10 years old now and *knocks on wood* the only vet issue I've had for him was stitching up his noggin after he thought he needed to run off a black bear

Come to think of it, I didn't hear the bear in the woods anymore, lol. He might have found out that the little black dog had some vicious backup

Bimmer's been on Natura products since he was a pup; EVO since it first came out.

Can I afford it? Oh, HELL no . . . but I can't NOT afford it.

I feed kirkland. it was 22.99 here last year and now is 32.99. I dont mind so much ,as this is one of the only foods I have tried that actually doesnt give him the runs lol.It lasts us about 2.5 months roughly. I have been buying small 5lbs bags of merricks. which is 20 bucks a bag. I only bought them becuase I got some coupons for buy one get one free deal. I only bought them to add a little extra flavour in to his meals. (I fill up his dog food contariner 2/4s of the way up with kirkland and then 1/4 the way up with merricks roughly. and then mix it around) and I even use them as treats lol. But for 5lbs at 20 bucks is outragous IMO.

The 28 lb bag of EVO RM is $66. The chicken flavor is roughly $10 cheaper...but Allie can't eat it.

So yes, I think the really good stuff is very expensive....but like Renee said, I can't afford to NOT feed it. It's the only food that clears Allie's allergy spots and keeps her in a full coat. I've already cut back on things for myself to make sure that the food is budgeted in. A 28 lb bag lasts the girls about a month.

I don't get haircuts anymore, no more good shampoo, and no more books...and the food is budgeted in

I used to feed T-Bone Orijen for a long while- it ran us about $65 a bag. :yikes:

Just to try, I tried the Kirkland and it has actually been good for her. She gets half kibble/half homecooked food... so she is doing excellent right now. There are always so many sales in this area.... it is much cheaper than feeding her high quality canned food as I used to, which was about $3 a ca. Yeah.

Noodle, that's what I was paying for it at the vet's. I found a little groomer/pet supply who gets it from the same distributor . . . and sells it for $50. Guess where I get it now? Do some checking around. Find out who the distributor is and they will usually tell you who is carrying it near you.

Renee, there's only one place in town that sells EVO

It's a family owned pet supply. We just don't have choices around here! It's either buy it there or online...and I can't justify the shipping charge.

Yeah, this is what I'm feeding.... and it's about $21-$22 a bag depending on if I do lamb or chicken. I need about 60# or so a month right now... so $40/month to feed my dogs. I wish kids were so cheap to feed.

You can get the 35 lb bag here for approx $28.

Way overpriced. I should try Kirkland. The dogs cost more a month to feed than I do I swear. Being a vegan though that isn't too hard. We don't eat anything.

They are running that promo again. The code is: 5# Bag

But $20! OMG! I wanna say the bag runs about $10 here.