OT: What brand of dog and/or cat food do you use?

[lmwbasye]

With baby #2 on the way, we've been looking at ways to cut back. Currently are using Science Diet and DH wants to try something cheaper.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, but thought I'd ask what others do.

TIA!

[Marisa6826]

Well, I think with pet food, you get what you pay for. I can't imagine that eating cheapo food day in and day out would make me feel well after a while, kwim?

But to answer your question, we feed the Pigdogs Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal. It's for sensitive stomachs. It's about $30 for 40lbs when not on sale. I can usually find coupons/sales that will bring it down to about $25. The bag will last us for roughly 6 weeks (we have three dogs).

This is the food: http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdogcro.asp

They have a link where you can get a coupon to try a 5lb bag for free:

http://www.nutroproducts.com/yourfamily/

-m

[bubbaray]

IME, you definitely get what you pay for with dog food. We feed our dog Royal Canin Labrador Retriever food.

http://www.royalcanin.us/dogfood/labrador.html

If we feed him cheaper food like Iams, his coat gets dull, he gains weight and he just isn't as *perky*. If I absolutely had to feed a cheaper food, I wouldn't go any cheaper than something like Iams.

HTH

Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: 01/2007

[elliput]

My cats have eaten Science Diet ever since I had a cat, who at three years of age, developed serious bladder stones/crystals from eating inexpensive food. This cat had to have surgery to extract the stones and suffered some kidney damage which led to renal failure later in his life (he did live over 15 years). I also fed my dog Science Diet. In cheaper foods there are larger amounts of grain(corn) fillers which actually will increase the volume of food eaten and also results in larger stools. This is something you may want to point out to your DH. :-)

[bostonsmama]

We also feed our dog Nutro Natural Choice (Lamb Meal and Rice Small Bites for Small Dogs). It's one of the most restrictive diets (in that there's minimal processing/non-natural additives, no corn or chicken by-product, etc). We wrote the nutritional advising veterinarian at the Nutro company and she spent great time helping me pick a food that's widely available, not too expensive ($28 for 44lbs), and will not contribute to his (Boston's) seizure problems.

We used to use Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal and Rice for years (3 out of 5). It was just as pure & high quality as Nutro at 2/3 the cost (no chicken by product or corn), but after a recall where some pets died--as has happened with Iams and Eukanuba recently, many of the local stores around here stopped carrying the brand. Anyways, we were incredibly impressed with the Diamond food and would go back in a heartbeat if it were available. It was about $21 for 40lbs and we'd go through 3 bags per year. It's almost as cheap as Alpo/Kibbles n Bits crap.
http://www.diamondpet.com/products/diamond_naturals/
http://www.diamondpet.com/products/diamond_naturals/dogs/dry_food/lamb_meal_and_rice_adult_dog_formula/

[tylersmama]

We use the Kirkland brand dog food that's sold at Costco. We did a lot of research into the different dog foods before we got our dog, and found a lot of recommendations for Kirkland. It's actually made by Diamond, so we're essentially getting a "premium" food but at a much cheaper price. A 40 pound bag is about $17 and they recently started carrying small breed food in a 20 pound bag for about $9, which is great for us since our dog takes about 5-6 months to go through a 40 pound bag! They carry puppy food, adult chicken and rice, adult lamb and rice, and the small breed, which is also chicken and rice.