high-quality yet affordable dog food?

Almost anything that you switch to will be better than Nutro (except Alpo, Pedigree or Ol Roy). The only thing "premium" about Nutro is the price. It is the most overpriced food on the market. They use plant protein in the form of corn gluten, rice gluten and pea protein. These are all cheap by-products used by most of the lower quality foods to boost the protein percentage (found in the guaranteed analysis) with cheap plant protein rather than meat. In addition to corn, they use wheat and soy in most of their formulas. Corn, wheat and soy are the three most common allergens and the cheapest ingredients in pet foods. The worst ingredient is the menadione found in almost all of their products. Menadione is a synthetic form of Vitamin K banned by the FDA in human supplements. They have very high ratios of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids, as high as 20 to 1. Good foods for about the same price or less are Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Castor & Pollux, Merrick, Taste of the Wild, Canidae and Solid Gold. PetSmart's brand, Authority is much better than Nutro at about half the cost. Tractor Supply's 4Health is a decent food costing less than Nutro as is Costco's Kirkland. Almost anything you switch to will be better than Nutro.
 
I am not sure how the price compares, especially because I am in Canada but we are feeding the Acana adult dog food. No by products, and no wheat or corn which is great. I pay $46.00 for the big bag but I think it is lasting 2 months or more for my 2 sheltie and 1 mini mutt. They like it and seem to be doing really well on it. In the past we fed the Actrium brand mini bites food from Walmart to our little mutt and she did really well on that, and had a beautiful shiny coat. No wheat or corn in that one either which I liked. Best of luck finding what works for you and Daisy.
 
DebbieGilbert said:
I should mention that I live in a rural county that has very few major retailers. (Until two years ago, we didn't even have a Walmart.) I'm lucky there is a small pet shop here that sells a few brands of dog food not sold in supermarkets.

In fact, one reason I'm suspicious about Iams is, how good can the quality be if it's sold in mass-market discount stores and heavily marketed on TV?

Frankly, my inclination would be to keep Daisy on her regular diet and instead cut back on spending for my own food. I have a tendency to buy more than I really need.
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The Blue Buffalo is better quality than the Nutro, which I used to feed and switched about 3 1/2 months ago. The BB costs as much, but you feed less. I feed Sandstorm, who is 18 inches and 33 lbs, 1 1/2 cups a day. I fed Nutro at 2 cups a day. The BB lasts 2 months, at least. Good luck,
Karen
 
maquignon said:
Almost anything that you switch to will be better than Nutro (except Alpo, Pedigree or Ol Roy). The only thing "premium" about Nutro is the price. It is the most overpriced food on the market. They use plant protein in the form of corn gluten, rice gluten and pea protein. These are all cheap by-products used by most of the lower quality foods to boost the protein percentage (found in the guaranteed analysis) with cheap plant protein rather than meat. In addition to corn, they use wheat and soy in most of their formulas. Corn, wheat and soy are the three most common allergens and the cheapest ingredients in pet foods. The worst ingredient is the menadione found in almost all of their products. Menadione is a synthetic form of Vitamin K banned by the FDA in human supplements. They have very high ratios of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids, as high as 20 to 1. Good foods for about the same price or less are Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Castor & Pollux, Merrick, Taste of the Wild, Canidae and Solid Gold. PetSmart's brand, Authority is much better than Nutro at about half the cost. Tractor Supply's 4Health is a decent food costing less than Nutro as is Costco's Kirkland. Almost anything you switch to will be better than Nutro.
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I respectfully disagree with part of your post. Nutro is better than many foods out there-purina, Iams, etc. Some people have great luck with Nutro, Iams, Eukanuba. This is a hot topic, however there are excellent breeders who feed Eukanuba, our breeder fed Nutro, her dogs lived for 15 years, very healthy. I just wanted a food with better ingredients, I only have one dog, so I can afford the Blue. The only food I would really try to get someone to switch would be if they were feeding Beneful or a Purina food.

Karen.
 
Ann said:
I've heard good things about Blue Buffalo too and I do know it's supposed to be pretty cost effective.


"If you're near a Costco, I hear good things about their Kirkland food, although I've no firsthand experience with it."
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Somehow I screwed up the "Quote" bracket?? Sorry about that ;-).. Anyway....:

I can speak for Costco (Kirkland) brand dog food...well, our furkids can! lol We've used it for quite awhile now without any problems. Ingredient list is pretty good as well. We use the lamb/rice/vegetable formula. A large bag of 40lbs runs about $25.00. Just noticed they are carrying a grain free food now too, but haven't checked that out yet.

Sorry about your job! Hope it turns around quickly for you both! ;-)
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DebbieGilbert said:
Help! My salary has been cut at work due to the economy, so I have to find ways to reduce my expenses.

One option is to switch Daisy to a different brand of dog food. I HATE having to do this. I've been feeding Nutro Natural Choice for many years and have been very pleased with the results -- beautiful shiny coats, healthy skin, no digestive problems.

But the price of Nutro has doubled since I first began using it. I can't help but notice that I could buy a bag of Iams at Walmart for half of what I pay for Nutro at the pet store.

But I don't want to deprive Daisy of good nutrition. Would switching to Iams have any negative effects on her? Is there some other brand of food that is high-quality but affordably priced?

Any advice would be appreciated.
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Hey there~
We also were faced with this very issue back some months ago.We had to do something,as with 4 dogs,we just could not do TOTW. So I opted for 4 Health.We used it for almost 2 months.

Now they did well,(3 of the pups)..unfortuneately Jasper did not.He ate it,and poops were good,but he was losing weight.Fat content was not enough for him.He was burning calories,and even his reserve. He lost almost 3lbs rather quickly,and looked gaunt.

Other than that issue,they did well. We did go back to the TOTW,as things picked up here with me,and a part time job.

I hope things get better for you~
 
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