Quality V's Cost!-Which is more important?

[Gallien Jacks]

Please tell me what you feel,

Do you think that if you cant afford the best of foods for your dog then you shouldnt have one?
OR
Good food isnt that important, and you will feed what you can afford?

I have come across both of these things on different forums, I tend to think the first in most cases how about you?

 

[Renee750il]

I think there's a happy medium, and I do think that it's better for a dog to be loved by an ecomonically distressed person than to die in a shelter

 

[Gallien Jacks]

I think there's a happy medium, and I do think that it's better for a dog to be loved by an ecomonically distressed person than to die in a shelter

Yep me too, that is what I mean by most cases, I guess what really bothers me is the people like the ones we got Pearl from, The bitch and pups are on the worst food, because it is cheep, so if she couldnt afford to feed a good food to one dog then why bring 8 more into her home and feed then crap too, also people that pay a fortune for a dog and then feed it whatever is on offer, why?

 

[Fran27]

I agree with the happy medium, you don't have to feed innova or canidae for your dog to be happy, but it costs me less than $20 a month to feed my 80 lbs golden with innova, when you see that a movie ticket is $8 and a rental $5, it's really not expensive, in my opinion. I think the main issue is that people are misinformed, or just not informed at all, and they don't realize that what they buy is crap. I think most dog owners could afford to pay $10 a month for a better food instead of $8 (or whatever it costs to feed a dog with crap). Really.

 

[Gempress]

We fed Pedigree to my golden retreiver and Iams to my rott/husky. We weren't cheap: we just didn't know better. I think that a dog doesn't need the absolute best to live well. Most people in the world don't even get the best! But I have to admit, now that I know better, I do everything I can to give my dog the best.

It's kind of funny: I'm the absolute goddess of coupons, sales, generic brand everything, "reduced for quick sale" veggies and meats, and day-old bread. Yet the pets are eating premium Natural Balance foods, LoL.

 

[014509Bo]

I think I would do what they did back in the good ole days If I couldn't afford a really good quality dog food then I would buy the best I could afford which in some cases is cheap as you don't have to feed as much. Then if I was eating really healthy I would give table scraps to my dog. When I was a kid we never had dog food, we ate real foods and the dogs just got the left overs. If my Mother was making a stew the dog and cat would sit at her feet and she would throw them some of the raw meat before cooking. Then they always got a plate of her wonderful stew afterward and the left overs from our plates. morning porridge leftovers, eggs, food dropped on the floor (whole eggs raw), when she got a chicken from the local butcher she gave the dog & cat the gizzard/neck etc. If you eat healthy then you can certainly throw your leftovers etc. to your dog. The dog we had as a child lived to be 17, and the cat just seemed to be ageless and was alive before i was born and was still there when I moved out
You can feed a dog a good quality home made diet and maybe just get splurge on a good quality kibble and substitute it with scraps. The person could always put some of the kibble in the freezer to make it last longer.

So, no I don't think a person should hesitate in getting a dog is they have the proper facilities, love and training. the only thing I worry about on a fixed income is vet emergencies.

 

[Gallien Jacks]

I agree a lot of people are missinformed (i was one of them) But there are some out there that know what is good and what is not, but still chose the rubbish over the good, but it is usually a falce economy as you need to feed more cheep stuff

 

[Fran27]

It's because they don't care enough for their dog... in my opinion.

 

[Gallien Jacks]

It's because they don't care enough for their dog... in my opinion.

Yep probably, i know that know I know what they put in dog food, i could not feed my dog crap and still have a clear conscience

 

[Mordy]

i think a number of excellent points have been brought up.

my personal opinion is that you should feed the best that you can afford, but you need to make an effort to educate what the best that you can afford actually is. most people just look at the price tag on the bag or the price per pound but not at any other factors at all.

so of course they grab the 10 pound bag that costs for example $7 instead of the 7 pound bag that costs $9, but they don't realize that they would have to feed much less of the "more expensive" food, so the bag would last longer.

then we have a large number of "popular" brands that are quite expensive but still crappy quality, but people buy them because of popularity and advertising and think they are buying the best they can buy. they don't realize that the relatively unknown brand right next to it on the shelf could be better quality at the same price.

i'm leaving out the really low-end foods because we all know how much a diference there is between grocery store/drug store/wal mart stuff and at least "middle of the road" foods.

let's look at some examples:

science diet adult maintenance: $33/40 lbs
science diet advanced protection: $42/35 lbs
science diet nature's best chicken: $42/35 lbs
iams chunks adult: $31/40 lbs
pro plan adult chicken & rice: $37/37.5 lbs
purina one chicken & rice: $32/37.5 lbs
nutro natural choice chicken, rice & oatmeal: $33/40 lbs
nutro natural choice ultra adult: $39/35 lbs
eukanuba adult maintenance: $38/40 lbs
royal canin medium adult: $32/35 lbs

canidae all lifestages: $36/40 lbs (seen as low as $28/40 lbs)
artemis holistic adult: $37/35 lbs
natural balance ultra premium: $41/35 lbs
wellness super 5 mix chicken: $38/30 lbs
avoderm adult chicken & rice: $41/40lbs
chicken soup adult: $29/35 lbs
solid gold hund-n-flocken: $38/33 lbs
innova adult regular: $37/33 lbs
eagle pack natural formula: $31/33lbs
eagle pack holistic select chicken: $38/33lbs

the difference in price on the bag is overall not that high, but once you compare the daily feeding amount and how long a bag lasts, the outcome is totally obvious. i calculated the diference in feeding cost between science diet adult maintenance and canidae once, with average prices, and feeding science diet was around 45% more expensive. scary.

 

[Fran27]

Lol Mordy, I try to explain that all the time but some people still don't get it.

 

[Mordy]

yup, it's not easy to get the concept across unfortunately.

 

[oriondw]

If you cant buy your dog good food what will you do if it gets sick... eh.


I buy my dog everything the best

 

[juliefurry]

I think people generally think that they are doing good for their dogs buying the store dog food because the label says "dogs love it". But those people don't realize that what dogs love and what dogs NEED are two different things. Most people aren't educated on what to feed their animals. I know I wasn't until I came here I was feeding our cats Iams and our dog was also eating Iams because I thought it was "the best money could buy". I mean they have all those good commercials so why shouldn't they make the best food?

 

[Gallien Jacks]

Yep i dont know wbout where some of you are but here in England its only the crappy foods that advertise, the foods that are good most people have never heard of them, because they are not on the telly

 

[Gallien Jacks]

My son is only Seven and yesterday in the supermarket there was an advert on the in store radio for iams, It said something like give your dog the best buy Iams, and my son said Yeah right, give your runs lol, I think his mummy had been preaching a little too much about food to him

 

[Renee750il]

That's funny! Precocious little fellow

By the way, your signature puppies have completely blown the cute meter

 

[Gallien Jacks]

That's funny! Precocious little fellow

By the way, your signature puppies have completely blown the cute meter

Thanks but that is only on very short lived side of them, hubby calls them gremlins lol

 

[kitcatak]

I can afford to buy Leo the "expensive" stuff. The little monster won't eat it! My neighbor bought the Kirkland puppy food and brought a little over (I tried Canidae, Eagle Pack & Inova and was complaining about him not eating any of it). The little stinker gobbled it up! I know that Kirkland is made by Diamond and they also make the Chicken Soup brand. Should I spend more money for that or just buy the Kirkland. Same food. I just feel bad paying $15 for a 40 lb bag. It SEEMS cheap, but really, there isn't much difference (if any). So, I save money and buy the Kirkland. I would love to feed him something better, but if he won't eat it, what is the point? I will try again later. We gave him some raw London Broil last night and he thought he was in puppy heaven!!!

Oh, I have never had a dog before, and if it wasn't for the internet, he would probably be eating Puppy Chow!!! Actually I was getting my kitty food from a home delivery placed called Pet Pantry until one of them got a UTI and the vet tried to put him on Hill's CD food. My kitty wouldn't eat it, so the vet actually recommended Royal Canin. That is what got me researching pet food! I think most people just don't know any better and so many people don't use the internet the way it should be used!!! I would be lost without it!

 

[Mordy]

the kirkland is not the same food as the chicken soup. it's very similar to the old premium edge formulation tho, before that line was improved.