Why Have We Been Spending So Much On Fancy Food?

[EnzaFerrari]

The manager of the store where I buy my food refuses to sell me Taste of the Wild because someone at another food company has been telling her all the horror stories of things that happened at Diamond, maybe several years ago, maybe yesterday. Who knows? There are always stories circulating and there is always someone who will believe them and always someone who will doubt them. I believe we will never know the whole truth.

 

Wait - the manager of a store isn't selling a food because of what another food company said about it? That seems rather wrong and suspicious. It'd be like if I walked into a store and was told I couldn't buy Coke because the Pepsi guy told the clerk that once upon a time cocaine was in the recipe.

[3vagreys]

That's pretty much what I told her except that I like the Coke analogy. She still sells it but not to me and a few others of her friends. Too bad I get such a good senior discount there.

[Guest KennelMom]

The manager of the store where I buy my food refuses to sell me Taste of the Wild because someone at another food company has been telling her all the horror stories of things that happened at Diamond, maybe several years ago, maybe yesterday. Who knows? There are always stories circulating and there is always someone who will believe them and always someone who will doubt them. I believe we will never know the whole truth.

 

 

Diamond manufactures a lot of different dog food brands. They had a big flub resulting in dog deaths from dangerously high aflatoxin levels in their corn several years ago. They implemented new monitoring/testing policies afterward. None of the foods that were corn-free were affected (like Taste of the Wild). Any product containing stored grains (esp corn) - dog food or otherwise - is at risk for aflatoxin contamination....which is why manufacturers are supposed to stringently test grain shipments.

 

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/diamond.asp

[Guest Swifthounds]

Diamond manufactures a lot of different dog food brands. They had a big flub resulting in dog deaths from dangerously high aflatoxin levels in their corn several years ago. They implemented new monitoring/testing policies afterward. None of the foods that were corn-free were affected (like Taste of the Wild). Any product containing stored grains (esp corn) - dog food or otherwise - is at risk for aflatoxin contamination....which is why manufacturers are supposed to stringently test grain shipments.

 

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/diamond.asp

 

I was kind of surprised that more people didn't know about aflatoxin at the time. It's a bit sad to realize a pet food company, which markets itself to soft-hearted pet owners as an entity that cares about you and your dog, had lesser standards than booze distilleries.

[Pippin]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

 

I'm so glad that works for Bootsy -- Pippin would have diarrhea if I fed him that. He had diarrhea on most high-end foods, so we alternate between Kirkland's chicken/rice formula and Purina One Sensitive Tummy.

 

Before Pip, my dogs were on a raw diet, but Pip could never get the hang of getting the meat off the bones. If he can't shovel it into his mouth, he won't eat it. And he would eat around the organ meat and leave it behind. Casey got fat on his leavings. So we're all on kibble now, because I can't afford two different diets, and six months after switching to kibble, Casey needed a dental for the first time in years.

[beledi]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

Bootsy is one lucky dog. I enjoy a sense of humor.

[Guest Tes623]

While I would never feed Ol' Roy to my dogs, I have a work buddy who has been feeding this to her Doberman for over 11 yrs now and the dog is still going strong.

Old Roy canned food is the only thing I could get Tawnie eat a couple of weeks ago when she decided she was done with kibble She's 14 and has osteo and her tastes change daily. Now she's on a Kraft mac & cheese and nila waffer diet.

[Guest happygrey]

I don't think there is a right way or wrong way to feed dogs!

 

Over the years we have tried all sorts of diets. Raw works best, but right now we can't do it b/c of my work schedule, I haven't been able to get to our supplier and it is too expensive to buy from the grocery store for 10 dogs.

 

I few years ago, we had some major financial troubles and I bought a bag of Dog Chow b/c all I had was $20. Casper looked like crap in less than 2 weeks on it. Ear infections, dry skin and coat, weight loss. It did not work for him. I gave the food to a friend who fed it their dog who lived outside and looked great on the food.

 

Right now we are feeding Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken for nonallergy dogs and Salmon for the allergy dogs. Other than some gas, all 10 dogs are doing very well. It is costing me less to feed this food than Taste of the Wild b/c of the amount. On TOTW, Jasmine the Great Dane was on 7 cups a day and losing weight. She is down to 5 cups on NVI and maybe able to go a little lower. My other big dogs are all eating 1 cup less on NVI and coats look a ton better.

 

1 bag of NVI Chicken at 25lbs last one week with a Great Dane, Doberman, Greyhound, American Staffordshire Terrier, and pit bull mix eating it.

The salmon last almost 3 weeks with a Dogo, French Bulldog, Boston, Rat Terrier, and JRT mix eating it.

 

For a cheaper food, Diamond Hi Energy and Sportsmix in the black bag have worked well for my foster dogs. Also Enhance Hunters Edge.

 

This is interesting to read. We feed TOTW Pacific to all 3 dogs but I used to feed Nature's Variety Instinct. Bentley was did ok with it, but it was no good for Tatam's tum. I sort of reluctantly switched to TOTW after trying some other foods, but I thought the NVI and NV were better products. But I do find that Bentley has a hard time keeping his weight up with TOTW. He's only 59 pounds and at 4 2/3 cups a day. I wonder if I should switch him back. I'm pretty sure that NV is higher calorie food.

 

I think everyone should feed their dogs whatever works for them.

 

In some of the books I've read on feeding dogs I have read allegations that euthanized animals have been used in dog foods. As disgusting as it sounds, I have to say it doesn't sound so far fetched. Think of how many dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year. Where do they end up?

[Hubcitypam]

Think of how many dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year. Where do they end up?

In most places I have lived they go to the crematorium the the ashes go to the landfill, though I am sure in many places they just go straight to the landfill.

 

I remember one very depressing trip to the city shelter in small town East Texas where the smell from the crematiorium was overpowering inside the shelter.

In both DuPage county Il, and in hot dusty Lubbock, TX both Animal Services had their own crematoriums. As a matter of fact I used Lubbock Animal Services for Harley's private cremation. They were wonderful.

 

 

 

 

[Guest AhSookieSookie]

I do feed Purina. The kids seem to do well on it. My husband also is an industrial mechanic for NestlePurina. He worked in a "people food" factory before working for Purina and he says it is absurd how much cleaner and stringent the rules are for production at Purina over a human food factory. And when the company gets in the meat product that goes into the food it is always "meat" in frozen solid blocks as opposed to on the hoof or whole carcasses.

 

Edited to add: I worked for our county's Humane Society/Shelter and we had our own crematorium there as well.

Edited May 12, 2011 by AhSookieSookie

[Guest avadogner]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

You do live in Funky Town I'll have what Bootsy having, that's got to be some good sh*t man .

I am sort of getting watery eyed thinking about the unicorns being made into dog food. What's next -- Puff the Magic Dragon kibble?

 

That is just too funny! We sure love us some Bootsy here on GT. We could start a new food line made from Unicorns, Magic Dragons, and other supernatural beings. We could call it "Supernatural Natural". We can markret it to dog parents who into Vampire and other Supernatural stuff that is so popular in cuurent modern culture (I admit I am a reg on the PNR thread). We will be rich!

Ava and Augie's mum

[Guest avadogner]

On a serious note, due to over $2000 in vet bills in 6 wks, I decided to switch Ava and Augie from TOTHWsalmon and Blue Buffalo GF salmon to Blue Buffalo salon and sweet potato. I get 8 lbs more for same price. Both my greys have chicken and grain allergies. They are both spoiled rotten food snobs too. Since Ava's ailing in old age and Augie has broken his leg, the both get pain meds, GI meds and arthritis supplements. After a seious food stike and significant weight loss, we tried a ton of special diets and add ins. Augie used to LOVE cooked venison. Neither will eat anything with meat odor now. In the end we began adding half a bottle of vanilla lacto free Ensure to each. Yup that's 2 bottles a day$$$$$$$$$$$$. In an attempt to save money we tried the afore mentioned salmon and sweet potato. Just that small change has led to paintpeeling gas and runny stools. We can actually hear them pass gas and it's human loud. They come in our room and do drive by farts so they can leave the odor behind. They also save burps to blow in our faces. I love them more than life but sometimes think theyride the Greyhound short bus. (Just kidding and I am very sensitive to disabilities so dont flame me please). Ava just passed a stinker so bad Augie (beta boy) growled in his sleep. I guess we are going back on the Salmon GF and DH and I will eat ramen noodles and PbB&J!

- ava &augie's mum

[greysmom]

Interesting reading.

 

After spending 10 years buying specialty kibble for our three Great Danes (who went through 40 lbs a week at $50 a bag), I vowed I would just not stress about it with our next dogs. When we adopted out first greyhound I researched a bit and decided on Pedigree kibble and canned. It wasn't horrible, I could buy it in the grocery store, and we appreciated there support of animal charities. I felt very vindicated when Pedigree was NOT one of the brands affected by the China/melamine scare.

 

All my greyhounds did great on it - held their weight, good energy (for a greyhound), good poops though ther was a lot of it, shiny coats. No problems. Even my picky eater would eat it. Then about a year ago they started fooling around with the formulas and the shapes of the kibble and it really put my guys off. It seemed every bag I opened would be different - smell, shape, taste - if I could tell, I figured the dogs certainly could. It really pi$$ed me off as I liked the kibble and the company, but my dogs wouldn't eat it anymore.

 

I was just getting ready to look into different kibbles anyway when Dude came up with osteo. Since he needs to be on a high protein, high fat, grain free diet I switched him to Canidae Salmon. He loved it and would eat it even right after chemo treatments. He needs less of it than the Pedigree and his poops are smaller and firmer and less often.

 

As an experiment, I switched everyone over to it when we went on vacation, both for less packing and to see how they did - I have two 10yr olds, an 8 yr old, a six and a just turned six. Everyone loved it and had similar good results, so I've decided to keep them on it for now. They get plenty of carbs and veggies in treats and add-ins for their food, so I'm not overly concerned about it being over-bablanced - and Dude needs the protein only anyway.

 

Though I'm sure they would all love the unicorn diet too! Dragon might be too rich!

[Guest mbfilby]

Hello. My name is Sheila and I am a reformed 'food snob'. I used to feed my dogs only the very best kibble that retailed for about $1.50 per lb. I supplemented that with veggie slop that I made myself with every fresh veggie on the market. That took me several hrs every month to make up. I added in fish and other supplements. Because I live in a rural area I was making a 70 mile round trip to provide these things for my dogs. I actually have joined in with the scolding about feeding less than high end foods.

I only momentarily paused when my teenage DD bawled me out when she opened the fridge and found only fresh veggies. I reminded her that people could eat broccoli and cauliflower and carrots etc. too.

I paused a bit longer the time the check out guy at the grocery store complimented me on how 'healthy' I ate. Only thing was, 95% of what was in my cart was for the dogs. The only things I bought for myself that day were a bag of tortilla chips and some Mexican dip from the deli!

When the economy tanked, my paycheck dwindled, gas prices went through the roof I was forced to make some different choices. Segue to now. My dogs eat nothing but Purina One Chicken and Rice with virtually no add ins unless it's table scraps. They have been on this diet for 3 yrs and both are happy/healthy/energetic as all dogs should be. Even better yet is that we have a Nestle/Purina plant just a mile from my house and I have a contact there, so I pay just $17 for the 35lb bag.

While I would never feed Ol' Roy to my dogs, I have a work buddy who has been feeding this to her Doberman for over 11 yrs now and the dog is still going strong.

 

So.....as a former 'food snob' I officially apologize to all of those I may have scolded once upon a time. Whatever works is the mantra now.

 

We have always fed Purina One also. Our dogs do well on it, and the cost is realistic. They get a small amount of mix-ins to keep them interested. Shiny coats and healthy stools.

 

My issue with Purina does not have to do with food snobbery. It has to do with the fact that Purina has been caught red-handed throwing any and every thing into the vat at their rendering plants - with euthanized animals being one of their number one ingredients - therefore your pets are eating phenobarbital which can not be good for them no matter how firm their poos are. That is the reason I have stayed away from Purina products over the years (P.S. not only did they get caught grinding up dead dogs and cats for the food, but many of them still had collars on. How disgusting can you get.). That said, glad it's working for you, but it's something to consider with all the choice that still remains.

 

This is myth spread by people who hear rumors and state them as fact. Thanks to Mad Cow disease, the practice of feeding to like species is pretty frowned upon. In fact, there are a few laws against it.

 

 

 

There is nothing wrong with feeding your pets a food they do well on regardless of price. We experimented with dog chow based on what we saw in some kennels, and found that the higher grain content caused ear issues with Cy. Other then that, they enjoyed it and had no stool issues.

 

Feeding a high end food to your dogs can do more harm then good. Take a minute and search the net. Kidney, liver, weight gain, etc. Unless you are feeding designer foods for a reason, such as a moral obligation to organics, I see no reason to spend the extra money on food. The extra money would be better spent on spoiling them in other ways..

[Guest NJgrey]

I think at the end of the day you feed whatever the dog does well on and let that be the end of it. We dealt with on again/ off again colitis issues with our girl for the first 8 months we had her. We tried various foods, high protein, no grain, low protein, mostly grain, add-ins, no add-ins, partial raw. We finally found one that she just did well on (wellness core) and we stick with it. Limit the treats too. She's at a good weight and hasn't had an issue since she started on it in November. That's 7 months of stability right there.

 

I'm not super pro high end food, I'm not against most low-end foods (save for the ones that are really bad - I'm looking at you, science diet...), we've tried them all. This one just happens to work for us, we can afford it and that's the end of it.

[o_rooly]

After trying a bunch of different higher-end brands, and using Kirkland Lamb & Rice and Nature's Domain from Costco, I finally broke down and bought Pedigree from Costco yesterday (after pulling my cart over to check GreyTalk and make sure that I'm not a horrible person for buying the big yellow bag, ). Aston seems to do okay on foods for awhile, but then starts to get squish-poops no matter what. We have had him on ProZyme all along as well (it is BAD NEWS in terms of gas if we don't). On top of this, I would really like him to gain a few pounds, but if we try feeding more than usual of any of the above foods, it goes right through the poor guy in terms of poop volume and squish. AND, the higher-end foods seem to be more concentrated, so we feed a lot less to keep his weight up in general, but Aston is left wanting (noticed this on INNOVA especially). I've tried bulking up his food with green beans, etc., but with the other factors, I figured it was time to just buy a cheaper, bulkier food and see how it goes.

 

His poop today was squishy as usual, but we also don't have the feeding quantity worked out yet (we're going about half Nature's Domain, half Pedigree -- probably as an ongoing thing, unless the Pedigree itself seems to be working better on its own).

[Guest bigbrindlebunny]

Truthfully, I think the Purina One Chicken and Rice is pretty close to the formula of the old Pro-Plan Chicken and Rice before they screwed it up with the"shredded chicken."

 

 

 

[Guest Barbara]

When Allstun came to live with me, the adoption folks had been feeding him Purina One SmartBlend Chicken and Rice kibble. So I kept on with that. He eats it well, looks in good physical condition, and poops nicely.

 

Before he came to our house, I had been cooking for my two dachshunds and/or feeding them canned food, which they often didn't care for. They didn't eat kibble. After Allstun came to stay, though, they thought he must be on to something, and now they eat kibble too.

 

It's nice to have everyone on the same food. I portion it out for each one individually; Allstun gets his mixed with water so he won't bolt it down and cough/spray it all over the kitchen.

 

I got them some Taste of the Wild, and they didn't like it. I could hardly wait to get to the bottom of the bag, and mixed the end of it with Purina.

 

The only problem I ever have with it is that mixed in with the normal small kibble, there are larger, lighter, irregularly shaped pieces. My female dachshund, who believes herself to be the queen of the house, prefers those larger pieces and will pick them out. She only wants "golden honey bits" in her bowl!

[Guest Duke]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

 

 

the poor unicorns!

[Guest BradyzMommy]

People tend to like food that is bad for them too.

 

I just LOOOOOOVE McDonalds! (sarcasm-rich response)

 

We fed our first greyhound ONLY the best, top-of-the line dog food. He had the best of everything in fact.

He passed two short years later from nothing even closely associated with the food he ate.

Let's not forget that food is only a part of the whole equation.

Edited June 15, 2011 by BradyzMommy

[Guest Lucysmom]

We feed 4 Health from Tractor Supply. Ingredients look good. Dogs love it, and its pocket friendly.

[Guest Cara_Lea]

For me food isn't about being snobbish.. we were feeding the boys a store brand from a Canadian pet store chain until recently... Ty had been having softer poops and gas, and so we decided to try something different, to see if he does better. We are still in the process of trying new stuff.. but again, I'm not the slightest bit snobbish.. I just want the dogs to do well on whatever food they are on. Choo is a bigger challenge.. she has a variety of sensitivities and we're working on finding her a new food as well.

 

I just want my dogs to be healthy and happy and for the food to be affordable.. I couldn't care less what the brand name is.

[Guest Nelsonismyhero]

I have fed lots of cheap kibbles (Dog Chow, Pedigree, Atta Boy) and my dogs have always done great on them. Right now I'm feeding Dog Chow to my adults and Purina ONE to my puppies. Everyone is healthy and happy, and my wallet is doing pretty well also. I would much rather feed a well-known brand like Purina that has a name and reputation to protect than some small boutique brand that doesn't do feeding trials or maintain their own manufacturing facilities.

 

That said, I think people should feed whatever they want

 

Audrey

[Guest brindleandfawn]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

 

 

[GeorgeofNE]

I only feed my precious Bootsy grass-fed unicorn with the occasional cage-free platypus egg for a treat. Sure, it can be hard to find and it costs a lot, but I love him too much to feed him anything else.

 

 

:rotfl

 

Now that's funny stuff!

 

I'm not sure why people give a rat's patootie what other people think of their choices when it comes to dog food.

 

I happen to feed George some fairly pricey stuff, but I grew up with BEAUTIFUL English Setters who ate Puppy Chow and then Dog Chow. They were gorgeous, their coats were glossy, and when they did eventually die, it was from stuff old dogs die from no matter WHAT you feed them.