[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by BonBon

Here's the article. Don't pay a premium for 'premium' pet food

It does in fact seem that their rating is based completely on the price of the food when they say "the best deal we saw on dry dog food was a 50-pound bag of Ol' Roy at Walmart with a unit price of 34 cents per pound. At the higher end of the price range was a 4.5-pound bag of Purina Chef Michael's Rotisserie Chicken flavor, at PetSmart for $2.22 a pound—more than six times as much."

They could have named just about any other food and it wouldn't have blipped my radar....but COME ON!! Ol' Roy??

Oh man, I just saw where they consulted with and quoted a vet/small animal nutritionist in this article. She's the assistant dean at a veterinary college. Now that's discouraging.

Parts of the article I agree with:

Pet foods might be similar in nutritional content, but their prices can vary widely. When we comparison shopped at five national chains and one supermarket in the San Francisco Bay area, the best deal we saw on dry dog food was a 50-pound bag of Ol' Roy at Walmart with a unit price of 34 cents per pound. At the higher end of the price range was a 4.5-pound bag of Purina Chef Michael's Rotisserie Chicken flavor, at PetSmart for $2.22 a pound—more than six times as much.

I haven't checked out the ingrediants, but they might be nutrionally similar. Spending more doesn't always mean better food. I'd rather people fee Ol' Roy than table scraps.

Also, this isn't bad:

Some other ways to save
Hit the big-box stores. Earlier this year, we sent 21 secret shoppers around the country in search of the same list of pet-food brands and package weights. Target and Walmart had the lowest prices most of the time, cheaper than supermarkets and specialty retailers Petco and PetSmart. You'll often save by buying the biggest bag you can carry, but check the per-pound price to make sure.
Forget about buying pet food online. Our comparison found it about 50 percent more expensive on average than Target or Walmart—before shipping costs.
Consider store and private-label brands. Among the least expensive pet foods we found were Costco's Kirkland Signature, PetSmart's Grreat Choice, Safeway's store brand, and Walmart's Ol' Roy. If you're switching foods, gradually offer more of the new brand along with the current one to give your pet some time to adjust.

Some people do need to cut back and I'd rather have them doing this than dumping their pets.

Some of their advice is good:

Pets with problems such as sensitive skin, digestive difficulties, or obesity might do better on special types of food, so talk with your vet. Even in those cases you're likely to find significant price differences among equally appropriate foods.

Since Yorkies are known for their digestive system being their downfall, I think it makes sense for yorkie owners to be a little more dilgent than other breeds' pet owners in finding a suitable food.