Any recs on cheap dog food? IE: sold by Walmart?

[kam]

Are you willing to send me those "couple extra bucks"? My dogs would really appreciate it.

You can somehow afford internet to argue how much you can't afford a couple of bucks. Amazing. God forbid those dogs have to go to the vet.

I have been in that position too but I somehow managed to feed the pets something decent. Heck - as jesvet indicated Iams is at walmart. Google coupons.

[Chimichanga]

And - as I pointed out earlier - some of the little/local stores do have really decent offers on food. Definitely not Ol Roy, but not the highest of high end either.

We used to feed our dogs Ol Roy when we were younger. We truthfully didn't know any better. Sure, they lived long, happy lives. I also didn't sit in a car seat when I was little. Things change; people learn more and grow from it.

If our situation changed I'd for sure cut back our dog food rather than not feed my DD. Hell - I'm feeding them a bit less now (3/4 cup instead of 1 cup) because I would like to stretch the dog food even a few more days. But, I'd probably cut back to something like Pedigree or Iams or something with a bit more substance than Ol Roy.

Will I choose between feeding my dogs Ol Roy or feeding my kids fruit? Yes I will. Fruit will win.

In this example, you're saying fruit wins. Are you buying organic all natural fruit? My guess is no. But, you're not feeding your kids sugary fruit snacks either. You're finding a happy medium. Same thing can happen with dogs.

[thyme]

As less expensive dog foods go, the Kirkland brand at Costco is more nutritionally ok than many others in its price range.

[penybryn]

Right now, my dogs are up to date on all their vaccinations. They don't have a checkup scheduled until August. Hopefully, my husband will have found another job by then. If not, I will apply with our local veterinary school to take them to their free vaccination clinic. I never qualified financially before (we went from an annual income of over 100,000 to 25,000) but I bet I do now. I used to take them for baths at Petsmart. Now they get washed in my shower. If they get sick, of course they will go to the vet. She will work out payment with me, being a long time customer. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Thanks for asking though.

[penybryn]

You can somehow afford internet to argue how much you can't afford a couple of bucks. Amazing. God forbid those dogs have to go to the vet.

Thanks. I'm at lunch on my work computer. I don't have internet at home.

An organic fruit? Please. I buy bagged apples for $2 and .35 a pound bananas.

My kids are teens. They eat alot. They are have grown 5 inches this year.

[mgrace]

I understand the need to save money and hope it gets better for everyone, soon. One thing to keep in mind with dog food is the amount you have to feed your dog. I know that with some of the lower-end foods, you have to feed your dog a lot of food, while you feed much less with a higher-end food. Of course, it also depends on the size of your dog. Just wanted to throw that out there as another think to keep in mind.

You can check out some dog food ratings at Dog Food Analysis

[Chimichanga]

An organic fruit? Please. I buy bagged apples for $2 and .35 a pound bananas.

My kids are teens. They eat alot. They are have grown 5 inches this year.

That was kind of my point. You're getting your kids the nutrition they need. Not the high end organic stuff, but still good quality. Trust me; we buy the 3 lb bag of apples for $2 all the time. But, I'm not giving my kid some sugary "fruit" snacks and passing them as fruit because the nutrition is important to us.

IMO it's the same with pets. Sure, we'd definitely cut the high end stuff out if needed. But, we'd try to keep the nutrition level as close as possible - within our budget.

[kam]

That was kind of my point. You're getting your kids the nutrition they need. Not the high end organic stuff, but still good quality. Trust me; we buy the 3 lb bag of apples for $2 all the time. But, I'm not giving my kid some sugary "fruit" snacks and passing them as fruit because the nutrition is important to us.

IMO it's the same with pets. Sure, we'd definitely cut the high end stuff out if needed. But, we'd try to keep the nutrition level as close as possible - within our budget.

This. And mpgrace brought up an excellent point. When we first adopted Ally as a puppy, we fed her Puppy Chow. Acceptable in many circles, I'm sure. She ate through the stuff and from everything I know it is pretty much all fillers. Our vet said, "You know, you can feed her half the amount with Nutro Max [which is the lower end Nutro food], it is a couple of dollars more expensive but it will last a lot longer and she'll be better off." Sold. We went to Petsmart and got it. I suggest go to your vet and say "Listen, I can afford Ol' Roy and nothing more. Is there another food that is nutritionally better and would require my dogs to eat less that is the same price?" Really, if your vet will let you do payment plans, chances are your vet will have no problem working with you for free to find an affordable alternative. Just like any human food, you cannot compare every food by weight/price alone. I'm sure your vet would be open to the conversation and help you.

[jesvet]

As with all things in life, nutrition is not the end all be all of health. It's a component. It's kind of like when someone says, "breastfeeding is best" and people who formula feed their kids get all bent and say, my kid is great, how dare you imply I'm terrible, etc, etc when the point is just that, in the hierarchy of quality, one is above the other. It's not the best quality. That being said a lot of pets do fine on it. It's not a guarantee your pet will die a lingering death if you feed it, any more than a premium food guarantees long life and health. It is just one component. I had someone the other day take their pet off Wellness due to chronic diarrhea, put them on Pedigree, and now they are fine. There's no predicting how an individual dog will do.

Ol Roy is not carburetor fluid. It's a nutritionally adequate combination of less than optimal ingredients that provides what the average dog needs for sustenance.

That being said, I wouldn't go so far as to recommend it. I've seen one or two dogs on Ol Roy who looked fine. I've also seen lots more who looked terrible. If you are one of the fortunate ones whose pets do fine on it, that is great- and I mean that genuinely.

I feel like we are really beating up on poor Ol Roy here. Anyone want to bag on Kibbles n Bits for a change of pace? They're even worse.

[kam]

Ah - Panda the wonder dog was on Kibbles and Bits and he was, well, a wonder dog.