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09-12-2010, 12:32 PM | #1 |
YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 257
| Premium Pet Foods There are SO many premium pet foods available - HOW do you choose?? My pet food store has a ton of brands - solid gold, acana, wellness, natural balance, evanger's, nature's variety. How does a person choose which one is best? |
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09-12-2010, 12:48 PM | #2 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Texas
Posts: 1,921
| Those are all good choices. Do they have any samples available? You can see which one your pup likes the most and go from there.
__________________ Life is merrier with a Yorkshire Terrier! Jezebel & Chuy ... RIP: Barkley Loosie & Sassy |
09-12-2010, 01:27 PM | #3 |
YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 257
| I've actually tried samples of ALL of those. I just always wonder if there is another choise out there that is better. |
09-12-2010, 01:44 PM | #4 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Crofton, MD, USA
Posts: 1,522
| Idk if this helps at all but Bandit has a really sensitive stomach and so many issues and when we switched to Acana last October (almost a year ago) he's only had one issue since, and before it was almost monthly. |
09-12-2010, 02:21 PM | #5 |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| There's a lot of things. For one, your dog has to like it, or else it's worthless if it's not being eaten. Two, I like for a food to be manufactured at the manufacturer's own plant, where they own the facility and actually make their own food there. Champion Pet Foods, who are the makers of Orijen and Acana, are made at their own facilities with their own quality control. Natura Pet Foods (Innova, EVO, etc) was/is? I don't know. They were recently bought out by Proctor & Gamble so I'm sure they're not anymore and I wouldn't feed any of their foods anymore. Fromm also has their own plant, as well as Nature's Variety (but I could be wrong on this one) and Petcurean Pet Foods (Go!/Now!). The only kibbles I'd probably feed currently are Acana, Orijen or Go! Endurance but that is because they do well with my dog, I like the companies, I like the ingredients, and I trust them. Oh, and I would feed NV Instinct again, Jackson did really really well on that food. Some good websites: Natural Pet Health - The Pet Health and Nutrition Center - your natural pet health store: Litchfield Connecticut New England Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble Dog Food Reviews | Dog Food Ratings
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier Last edited by Britster; 09-12-2010 at 02:23 PM. |
09-13-2010, 04:52 PM | #6 |
YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 257
| I know Champion is good food it is just so darn expensive. Can it be mixed with something? Like vegetables or something to cut down on costs? I've tried raw and it didn't work out. Wonder if freeze dried would be any more cost efficient? I do want the best for the pups but I just don't know if I can afford Champion. |
09-13-2010, 05:10 PM | #7 | |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| Quote:
Freeze-dried is going to cost you WAY more. I always find the freeze-dried things to be marked up a lot. I just 2 days ago purchased Stella and Chewy's raw pre-made food but it was the frozen kind and it was $8 for 12 patties (my dog would need 5 patties per day). The freeze dried ones were double that, I think. I can't afford to feed raw every day and I wouldn't want to just because I'm totally lazy, and I forget to thaw it out the night before, etc. lol. So I'm doing it sort of as breakfast some mornings in replacement of a meal, just for a nice 'treat'. I think I posted this in another thread, but some great cheaper foods are Taste of the Wild (Taste of the Wild : Dealer Locator) Check their site for dealers located near you. Here, Pet Valu sells it and it's like $10 for a 5-6lb bag. Merrick's Whole Earth Farms is also reallllyy cost efficient, it has grains but it's a really good food. In my local store, Fromm was pretty cheap, $10 for a 4lb bag.
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier | |
09-13-2010, 05:21 PM | #8 | |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, Texas USA
Posts: 2,473
| Quote:
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09-13-2010, 06:15 PM | #9 |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| Just some googling, hehe.
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier |
09-14-2010, 03:30 AM | #10 |
YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 257
| I guess I need to check the prices again. Last time I was in the store that carries Acana it was one of the most expensive on the shelves. That and NV. I want to say they were both around $19 for their small bags - maybe 5 lbs. But its been months since I've been there. I have another question for you Britster. I hate to keep bugging you but you seem to know all the answers! My two aren't very active. They stay inside most of the day and when they do go out, all the do is walk a little. Is a high protein diet suitable for low activity dogs? EDIT: I just checked the website I ordered Evanger's from and a 5.5 bag of Orijen is $23!!! Yikes! The website is k9cuisine.com. I used them because they had free shipping over $50 and Evanger's was only around $11 for their small bag. Last edited by rachelanne820; 09-14-2010 at 03:34 AM. |
09-14-2010, 06:13 AM | #11 | |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| Quote:
I would just check your store, maybe it's more expensive in your area than mine? Also, Orijen is def. more expensive than Acana (more meat, higher protein), but here it's only by a little bit. I think Orijen Adult was like $17.99 compared to Acana's $13.99-$14.99 (both are 5.5lb bags, btw). It really depends on your dogs individual metabolism, it doesn't have to be a working dog to eat high protein, some dogs are very active and/or have high metabolism and do just fine on it. One thing for sure is that you'll be feeding much less then of regular kibble, so be careful not to overfeed or you may see weight gain. Moreso than protein percentage, you've gotta looked at calories per cup. It says Acana is 420 kcal per 250 ml cup. Acana is actually not that high in protein. It's right at 33% protein level, I wouldn't considerate that necessary 'high protein' (Orijen, EVO, and other foods go into the mid-40% range). Royal Canin, for example, has a protein of 33% for their mini breed puppy formula, the difference being that the protein is coming mostly from corn, rice and beet pulp, whereas Acana's protein is coming from good meat sources. Purina One is 26% protein (just looked it up) so it's not that much of a protein difference. The important thing is where the protein is coming from. Have you checked into Taste of the Wild? It's what I would feed if I were on more of a budget.
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier | |
09-14-2010, 07:02 AM | #12 |
YT Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 257
| I just emailed Taste of the Wild. I think they will send out samples of the formula they recommend. I think TOTW would be a better option for me - it seems to be cheaper than Champion and a little lower in protein. The 5 lb bag was around $11 on k9cuisine.com or there are several retailers around my area that I could get it from. This is such a hard decision - I want to make the right one this time. I don't want to have to switch again. Thanks for all the advise. The more I tried to research, the more confused I got. Every website says something different. |
09-14-2010, 08:41 AM | #13 | |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| Quote:
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier | |
09-14-2010, 08:57 AM | #14 |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ohio
Posts: 5,304
| We bought sample size bags of Acana & Taste of the wild, but we have tried just about everything out there! Our dogs were not that happy with the Taste of the wild to be honest, but they did like Acana, so we just picked up a 15lb bag today. We bought the Grassland and it was $31. We mix with Tripe, but in the past we mixed with green beans.
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09-14-2010, 09:04 AM | #15 |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| I like convenience. I chose Natural balance because I could get it at Petco
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