Dog Food Differences in Premium Brands vs Others.

My vet says that, as long as a dog is healthy & doesn't have special needs, just look for a brand where meat is the first ingredient listed. This can be more difficult than you'd think! My two are also on Science Diet (though I've got a 6 yo shephard/boxer mix who can get a little bored so every now and again I've got to mix it up a bit). When I told the vet that it seemed one dog won't eat if from the same bag after 10 days to a couple of weeks, he said she was a smarty. Dog food -- even dry -- will quickly go stale and, if it's very humid, may in fact spoil. His advice is to keep open bags sealed and in a pet food container and not to buy more than you can use in about 10 days or so. Like you, I've got to travel a bit to get to the pet store, but it seems to make a difference.

good luck! I'll be interested in reading what others have to post.

We try to stick to things like Blue Wilderness, Innova, and maybe Nutro. It makes a huge difference in my dogs' coats and their poop. Plus, it's more calorie dense, so even though the bag costs more, they eat less per serving, making the bag last longer. A few years ago, I ran the math. The premium brands were costing us about $0.09 more per serving per dog. I don't know how much different that might be today.

When we had dogs (purebred Boxers, which are prone to all kinds of problems), our vet recommended that we check the ingredients on the bags before buying any kind of pet food. She said that if corn is in the top 3, keep looking, because corn is nothing but a filler. In other words, there's no nutritional value but your dog will feel full. Well, as a mom you know you can't feed kids that way - every calorie should count and be beneficial! Pets are no different. So anyhow, we checked labels and found a few that did not list corn in the first few ingredients, and from there, we bought the smallest bags to try them out and see how our dogs did on each type. Of course, every dog is different, and even different breeds have different needs so it may take some researching to find the best one for your dog. In the end, we were able to alleviate our dogs' allergy problems and itchy skin by finding the right foods and eliminating grain from their diets. As an added bonus, they stopped having stinky gas problems (a plus when you have 2, 75 pound dogs!).

But to get back to your original point, it's possible that some of the brands they carry at Target or Walmart may meet the criteria for being a really good food for your dog - just check the ingredients and see what you think!

I fed my dog Purina One for many years and saw that the ingredients kept changing and the quality kept going down while the price per pound went up. dogfoodanalysis.com has a good description of what to look for in a dry dog food. After comparing many grocery store, pet store, home delivery and vet brands, I decided that the Costco brand had the best quality/price. They have several varieties, none contain corn or wheat and last time I was there I even saw a salmon and sweet potato (no grains) version for very sensitive dogs.

We use Eukanuba....lamb and rice...my dogs coat is shiny and healthy as are his teeth...

look at the ingredients and see what comes first - just as you would with your own food...you'd be surprised at the stuff they put in there!!

My experience, based on reading and on talking to the vet and on personal experience with dogs and other animals (the general rules are the same, regardless--feed the animal the diet that is closest to what they would eat in nature, since that's what they are designed to eat) is that:

You need to read the label on the pet food. The first two ingredients should be meat (and preferably not "meat by-products") for dogs & cats. The other ingredients should be veggies, with little to no grains. The further down on the list the grains are, the better. We found out the hard way that our one dog has an allergy to beet pulp, a common filler. Also, keep in mind that they need to update their labels every 6 months---so they could change their formula, but you wouldn't know it unless you checked the bag, and even still, your dog could be eating the "new" formula for months without you being able to find out.

There are lots of dog foods that are on a par w/ Science Diet that are less expensive and just as good. We are currently using Premium Edge (we had been using Nature's Recipe, but they upped their prices AND made the bags smaller). I used the www.petfooddirect.com website because they list literally hundreds of kinds of kibble, and they post the nutritional information right there for you to view. Then, I narrowed it down to 5 or 6 brands and went price shopping at the local stores to find the best deal.

I've had to do the above process 3 times in the 10+ years we've had our current dogs, and 3 times when my cat was alive (he lived till age 19). I'm very cost conscious, and that is often what drove me to change.

Once you do switch your dog's food, do it gradually over the course of a week or so. And then monitor how the dog acts and looks on the new food.

Our family dog growing up was on inexpensive Purina Dog Chow. He lived until around 11 years old.

The dog my husband and I had for years lived about the same number of years and was on pricey Nutro dog food. He died of widespread cancer.

If we got a dog again, I'd go with the cheaper dog food. It didn't seem to make any difference at all in quality or length of life.

most good dog foods cannot be found in your walmarts, grocery stores so that is def not a place to buy them from. do you have a petsmart, petco or even a lot of feed stores will have high quality dog food. I am not big on science diet i think the company pays the vets to push it onto their customers. A long time ago before all the holistic dog foods started to come out yeah it was a high quality dog food but now since a lot of people are pampering their pooches with higher quality dog food its not as high quality as it once was. if you have access to any of the mentioned above stores id look into a different brand. They have Blue which is specialized for sensitive stomaches. I use Blue wilderness since one of my dogs has a grain allergy ive been very happy with it.

I've always had vets who weren't fans of Science Diet so we've always gone with brands like Wysong, Wellness, Candide or Novo...usually you have to get them at vets or more specialized pet stores not like PetSmart.

It is $$$ and when I was laid off in 2009 and 6 mo preg with our second child we had to majorly cut back and that was one of the cuts. We have two large dogs and ended up with Iams Nature's Recipe. My sister's BF is a vet and he's of course not a fan of the grocery store brands-BUT he concedes that if you can't afford others he recommends Purina One and the like.

Basically you want the first ingredient to be meat or fish...not 'meat/fish by product"...and then followed by rice, wheat germ, flax seed, etc....

You'll notice with the better brands that they will have better poop too, cuz they are getting better nutrients.

I wouldn't exactly call science diet a premium food. IT's actually graded pretty low on dog food analysis websites. Vets are not given extensive nutrition classes (or breed specific nutrition classes) in vet school. Vets are also paid by science diet to push science diet. I would definitely not travel to get it.

I personally prefer grain free foods (poop is much smaller). The big difference is that yes, I pay more per bag, but my dog eats much less. The food she is currently on - she eats about 7 cups a day. If she was on something like science diet, she would probably need about 12-14 cups a day....that's a lot more poop to clean!

I have a giant breed dog, so I'm only familiar with foods that are good for them (so not sure if it would be different for the smaller breeds). If you're looking for a good quality food that won't cost and arm and a leg, try looking at taste of the wild. If you look at their website, you can see if anywhere around you sells it.

The website Dog Food Analysis can give you great information about dog foods. Foods are given a rating of 1 to 6 stars. The site is not affiliated with any dog food manufacturer, but gives unbiased reviews of the ingredients listed in each dog food. Each review tells why an ingredient is good or bad, and helped me and my husband better understand the ingredients so we could choose a good dog food. There is an index where you can search for a food by name, or search through each rating section.

The thing about dog food is that so many of them have fillers rather than ingredients that provide nutrition. The first ingredient should be meat, like lamb, and not lamb meal or a by product. The other ingredients should be natural ingredients like carrots, broccoli, peas, blueberries, etc. The fewer the grains the better. Grains are not a part of a dogs natural diet in the wild.

Good healthy food does not have to cost an arm and a leg. Buy the best dog food you can afford, just as you do for your family.

Our vet recommends the Science diet as well. We have 3 dogs, 12, 6, & 5.

I buy ours at Petco in the biggest bag they have which is about $45, BUT, being a Petco Pal, I am routinely getting discounts in the mail so I buy it when I get my discounts.

I did go cheap once to see if a grocery brand was any better and my dogs did not do well on it..... messy bowel, etc. I learned the hard way on that one... you get what you pay for!

As far as gas, I can't help there, I am 5 minutes from everything I need.

There is a difference. From what I understand science diet is one of the best. However if your dog doesn't have food allergies you could probably get away with a less expensive brand. Just make sure that meat is the first ingredient and that fillers like corn are way down the list. I feed Purina one to my dogs and they are healthy as can be.

There is a big difference between store brands and premuim brands. I feed our Jack Russell Hailey Blue Buffalo's Evolutionary Diet. There are no fillers and meat is the first ingrediant. Animals who are fed a better quality food not only eat less but they are better able to maintain a healthier weight, healthier skin and coat. You will also notice less waste in your yard or litter box because they are absorbing more and retaining more of the nutrients instead of it all just comming out the other end. Also in the long run you will be spending less on the better quality food than the cheaper stuff since you will be feeding less. The most important thing is read the labels. We decided on Blue after trying many different brands and this is what she did best on. Since she is a little dog and only gets about 3/4 cup a day the 30.00/20lb bag goes a long way for us. Just research and see what works best for you and your four legged babies.

there is a HUGE difference in dog foods, and yes, i am of the camp that feels science diet is basically as bad as ol roy(wal-mart's brand, which shouldn't even be considered food)... we feed wellness core to our dogs - one of very food dry foods that rates VERY high - it is expensive with 3 dogs though :)

T.,
You have a lot of replys here, and I do not wish to create any issues among the mom's and their opinions, but I do feel the need to put my two cents in.
I am a Registered Vet Technician, worked in the field my entire life, and now work for a drug company calling on veterinarians. Saying my life has been devoted to the health of animals is pretty accurate.
A lot of what has been said is true, and a lot is incorrect. There are some major differences between types of food, but there are also quite a few very good types out there.
One of the largest differentations with dog foods is the statement required to be on all bags of food from AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials). It is usually found ear the bottom or side of the back of the bag. It will read something like "This food has been evaluated to meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles for *******". If it says "growth" or "all life stages" then it is a puppy food, and there are better options for your adult dog on the market. It should read "maintence" if it is an adult dog food.
Another thing to keep in mind is the guaranteed analysis on the side of the bag - these are guaranteed minimums and maximums - one thing to consider is proten - this is a guaranteed minimum, meaning there will be no less than x% of protein in the bag - there is NO MAXIMUM on this - meaning there could be a detrimentally large amount of protein in the bag. This can cause health problems.
Here's another point of frustration I have - there is no law, when it comes to dog food, that what is on the label is actually what is in the bag. This was due to the commodity market changing so suddenly that food makers complained they could not cover the cost or the time involved in changing the labels on the bags all the time. So it was made allowable that the label could not be outdated more than 6 months. There have been several surprise "tests" done in the marketplace to see if companies are adhereing to this - the only company that has never failed to produce a product identical to the label was Hill's.
Finally, the last issue I'll pick on today is the corn or grain issue. This seems to be a hotspot with consumers. The reason grains are used so much in dog food is that they are EXTREMELY nutritious. When dog foods are made, a producer looks at what needs to be in the food - the amount of vitamins and minerals, the correct amount of protein, etc, and then buys the ingredients that fit that profile. Grains do the job well and are not super expensive, so they fit the bill. A key note here is that dogs are OMNIVORES - not carnivores. They would eat grains in the wild, so there is no problem with feeding it to them commercially. If you dont believe me, tell me you've never seen your dog eat grass (or you can look it up too).
The bottom line is there are many reasons to choose one food over another, but Science Diet, and their prescription, vet only line Prescription Diet, is an exceptional food. I have been to the factory where they make it and it is cleaner than anything I have ever seen. They have a huge Research and Development lab that is top notch. The science behind their products is second to none. I currently feed, and will continue to feed my animals their products and feel confident with my decision based on real research and knowledge, and I hope you, too, continue to feed your animals what I consider to be one of the best foods on the market.
If you have any questions about what I have written or would like to know more, please email me. I could go on a lot longer but I fear I've probably lost most readers already.
Good luck with your research and I hope you get your questions answered.
M.

I've done both, and I can honestly say that the premium brands keep my dog's allergies at bay, and (this is gross) her bowel movements are not as smelly. We ran out of the premium brand a few weeks ago, and like you, I have to drive out of the way to get it. It was after 7pm when we realized we were out, so my husband ran to Walmart and bought Purina. Our yard stinks like crazy (and we poop scoop a lot), and she's itching more being on Purina. Now on the other hand, I have friends who have dogs who have always been on store brands and have had no problems. Try it and see!

This might help you also:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/...

I have noticed that dogs with stomach problems usually do very well on a food that is free of wheat/gluten and other grains. such as corn. Many dog foods also add soy as a filler or even dairy. Dogs shouldn't really eat any of these. Their digestive tracts aren't made to handle them. Dogs are meant to eat meat. Think about dogs/wolves in the wild...They don't eat bread or pasta! :) They don't drink milk or eat fruits and vegetables...They eat meat. it is natural for them.
Search "gluten grain intolerance dogs" and see what you find. You could even add the word "symptoms" and you will see that grains can cause eczema, seizures, arthritis and cancers just like in humans.
Here are two good articles:
http://distinctivedog.com/2010/08/gluten-and-your-dog/
http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Basics/Nutrition/Gluten.aspx

I would try a gluten/grain free food asap regardless of price or brand. You will probably find that the cheaper the food, the more grains and fillers they use. Good luck!