# Affordable good quality dog food??



## GoatCrazy01 (Feb 14, 2016)

Sadly our Labrador/Retriever just passed away.. but he had to be on grain free dog food because he did awful on any of the other stuff and either puked or got diarrhea from it (by the way.. that stuff is sooo expensive).. anyway we are looking at getting another dog and I am looking for a brand of dog food that is good, doesn't have to be top notch but I would like something that is somewhat healthy for it. Can't be too expensive either. And.. go! TIA


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I have mine on Whole Earth Farms grain free dog food right now. So far so good, but I just heard that Purina bought it out and I hate almost all Purina products so now I'm considering Taste Of The Wild. I'm still trying to get settled on a brand. I've heard good things about Diamond Naturals as well, I guess their prices are reasonable too for the quality. Have you looked at dogfoodadvisor.com ?


----------



## GoatCrazy01 (Feb 14, 2016)

Thanks! No, I haven't. I'll check it out.


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Tractor supply carries 4Health, which is a decent food. It is soy, corn and wheat free...and even comes in grain free. Several different flavors and types, canned and kibble.

I feed Kent Native to my dogs. It's made for performance dogs. Up here it's about $40.00 for 40 pounds. It comes in 4 different protein and fat contents.

Diamond is not a bad feed either. You can get it at Tractor supply. They have a huge variety of flavors and types, some grain free, some with no corn/wheat/soy and the lower end that does contain corn. The price is not really bad either.


----------



## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Maybe I'm just lucky, but our locally owned feed store mixes & bags up kibble from bags that ripped open. They really don't sell anything but the good brands there either. The dog gets a nice variety & I save a lot of money. You have to ask for it at the counter & they have a one bag per customer limit because it's so popular.


----------



## GoatCrazy01 (Feb 14, 2016)

lottsagoats1 - Thanks for the info! I'll check out the TSC website and take a look at a few of their brands.

catharina - I wish our feed store did that! That's neat. Our feed store feeds all of the broke open bags to their dogs.


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

When we got our German Shepherd spayed, the vet said she looked predisposed to get hip dysplasia and recommended we feed her Eukanuba because of some mineral or something that feed has. It's not a cheap feed, but she is about 15 years old now, which is a very long life for a German Shepherd! I've seen Eukanuba adds saying dogs live longer on their food and I'm inclined to believe it.


----------



## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

I would also have to recommend taste of the wild. I feed a raw diet now, but have used totw before and had no issue with it. Its a good quality, good price and can be purchased at tsc


----------



## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Taste Of The Wild is good  I had one of my dogs on that, and the other on Blue Buffalo, I recently switched to Merrick, but that is a bit more then the TOTW. 
I'm not sure if Grandma Mae's is a brand near you, but that is a nice food as well, and a small family owned company. Some of the Fromms are grain free and a fair price as well.


----------



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I feed Diamond, have been for over 20 years. Anything Purina is awful, gives my dogs hot spots and weird rashes. It's about $35 for a 40lb bag. 
I have fed Taste of the Wild too, but it didn't really wow me, neither did Blue Buffalo, Fromm, or any of that. 

I began feeding raw too, and it turns out to be cheaper than kibble. I've been breeding for a long time and this year I tried out raw feeding with one of my litters and I won't go back to raising them solely on kibble. I raised them with raw 2x a day with milk and free choice kibble, whereas I used to just free choice kibble and milk. They had richer coat color, they were softer and more "plush", they grew a lot faster and clean up was very easy since there is much less stool with raw fed dogs.

EtA: Skyla, what are the Fromm prices out there? Because the cheapest 30lb bag out here is $70! :lol:


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

As few ingredients as possible.

One protein one carb source.

Grain allergies are less common than protein so you don't have to go grain free unless you run into issues.

The less ingredients in your food the easier it is to both determine which ingredient may be causing an issue down the line or to pick one with a novel protein.

Pet food companies are selling to people so they go with fads and try to make things sound great and that the competition is poisoning your dog.

Corn in of itself is not bad.

Focus more on few ingredients.

Natural balance has good limited ingredient choices.

In the end pick something that works well for your dog. They should have a shiny, healthy, coat, no vomiting, no diarrhea.

Ear infections are a sign of allergies, so if those become a trend try a different food with a different protein ( why it's important to have picked a food with only one protein )


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Check out the company as well. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild are both made by the same company and has constant recalls on their foods. One of the Merrick foods gives my dog seizures. 
Eukabana is made in the Iams plant. Iams was busted for using dogs from the Los Angeles area dog pounds as their "meat protein". The drugs from putting the dogs to sleep, flea collars, everything was in the food.


----------



## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Lacie, they start at about $45 I believe for the Fromm Gold.. That is INSANE! Lol! I think their most expensive bag is about $70 here lol!

And Jill, what Merrick does your dog have a problem with? 8 have my girl on the Grain Free Rabbit and Chickpea, she was getting some loose stool on the TOTW at times, I tried her on the Blue and it got worse, she's been fine so far on the Merrick. 

I also feed Raw (freeze dried Stella and Chewy's) and Goat milk with her dinner


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

It was the Whole Earth Farms grain-free. It made her electrolytes off and gave her cramping like seizures. Her blood tests showed very low potassium in her system. I changed to a different food and she hasn't had a seizure in over a year.


----------



## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Ahh..


----------



## PurpleToad (Feb 14, 2016)

We feed Science Diet Light Small Bites with a teaspoon of wet food to our dog. Our cats get Taste of the Wild grain free though. One of the five has a gluten sensitivity based on our research and it's just easier to feed all five the same food. For the dog we've gone through several brands before settling on the one we did. It's not cheap but she's a relatively small dog so she doesn't eat much. She's a Feist.


----------

