[lonimck]

Hello. I am currently feeding my two dogs (one is an Old English mix of some sort and the other is a Cocker Spaniel) Acana Wild Prairie but I can’t really afford to buy this food anymore. Can anyone make a suggestion of a good quality food that might be comparable to the Acana but that is more economical? Thanks!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi lonimck –

Check out Earthborn Primitive Natural – it’s 5 stars, grain-free and contains chicken, turkey and fish just like Acana Wild Prairie. It runs about $48 for a 28 lb. bag

[billhill]

I’m currently very pleased with Costco (Kirkland) natures domain, about $35 for 35 lbs, gets a good rating on this site, good product for the money.

Bill

[Jackie B]

I ran across this document, made by another DFA user, that shows prices to star ratings. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmNw5KB82-n_dGtyOEpVVXhPQ2tfeU1FUGdEdjVnTkE&hl=en#gid=1

It is fairly accurate and should give you a few ideas.

[briannafox93]

you could look into chicken soup for the dog lovers soul. i’ve been researching dog food all day to try to find a cheap, good brand and it’s hard to find. amazon is selling a 35 lb bag for $41.00. it has 4 stars on this website.

[mountainhound]

Diamond makes several inexpensive foods like taste of the wild, chicken soup, premium edge, 4 health etc. With that said, they have a pretty poor track record as far as recalls go, so personally I would not feed it unless money is super tight.

Few affordable grain free options you can try is canidae pure, hi tek, nutrisource, victor and earthborn. I believe Whole Earth Farms is coming out with a grain free line and its made by Merrick. Another one I like is Fromm Classics, its around $38-40 for a 33 lb bag and no recalls (although its not grain free).

[Shasta220]

I’ll mostly agree with the other posts – I’ve liked Diamond products so far. I buy my guys D. Naturals – $40/40lb. Kirkland (branch of D.) makes 4star foods, I find them to be about $25/40lb. I’d definitely try a trial-size bag first, as D tends to be either love it or hate it. My dogs all do great on it, but my friend tried her dogs on DN and they reacted horribly (diarrhea, shedding, stinking, etc.)

I gave my guys Nutra Nuggets lamb n rice for quite a while, too. It’s about the same price as Kirkland, but it’s only about 3 stars (my dogs did just as good on it as they do on DN, honestly. I had to get off of it though since one of the dogs was getting sensitive to wheat)

Hopefully you can find something that works for your wallet and your dogs! 🙂

[theBCnut]

Diamond also makes Canidae Pure.

[mountainhound]

Patty- they used to, but they now have a separate facility in Texas called Ethos in order to ensure safe food production. The rep told me that they don’t want to blemish their reputation by associating with Diamond which is understandable.

[theBCnut]

I don’t know who you talked to, but they were wrong, or lied. Some of their food is made at Ethos, as well as 3 other places, one of which is the SC Diamond plant, the one where all the recalled food comes from. And Canidae will NOT tell you how to tell which manufacturer made which bag of food. If you ask, they tell you “Canidae is Canidae.” Go read the Canidae Pure review for an very recent discussion on just exactly this.

[DogFoodie]

Oh my gosh! Knowing that Canidae still uses Diamond as a co-packer, I’m appalled that their rep told you that mountainhound. Canidae told you an outright lie and I’m beginning to think that Ethos is nothing more than a ruse to make people think that they no longer have any association with Diamond. That’s reason enough for me to never use their products.

[DogFoodie]

Hi lonimck,

Several foods I think are great and are budget friendly are NutriSource, Victor and Dr. Tim’s. All are made by reputable manufacturers as well. If you can buy Victor locally, it’s less than $1 per pound! It’s more than that on Amazon, but that’s about the best place to buy it online.

Also, think about it like this, when you rotate foods, you might still be able to buy a more expensive brand occasionally and have a lower food bill over all.

Good luck! : )

[Krezlyn W]

Love Jackie B’s post Feb 3, 2013. VERY helpful!. Thanks for posting that.

[Lynn J]

I am in the same boat. I was feeding a rotation of Orijen and Acana foods, but despite the fact my dogs were doing great on them, it’s really beyond my budget to keep it up. I’ve added Wellness Core to my rotation, both the original and the ocean. Wellness Core is still a 5 star food and the company seems to be reputable. For a cost comparison using Chewy.com, Acana Grasslands (15 lb) is 45.99 or $3.066/lb. Wellness Core original (12 lb) is $25.95 or $2.16/lb. My dogs are doing very well with this in their rotation.

[Kayla]

I am a college student so I understand about money haha

I am using Pure Balance, and I got a 30 pound bag for 30 to 32 dollars at Walmart! It is good quality and you can look at the reviews on here! They also have wet food and also treats. My Aussie Dog loves them! They also have different flavors so you can rotate. They also have grain free I believe too. The prices vary but I think the most is 40 dollars for a 30 pound bag. So far, I am on my second 30 pound bag and no issues with my Dog. He is happy, healthy and very active. His coat actually looks better too 🙂

[MARK k]

I’ve had my black lab on Science Diet, Earthborn, Taste of the Wild and then Diamond dogfood. He’s only 4, and it seems that he has soft stools a lot. Does anyone have any recommendations for a food that is healthy for him, but maybe will allow him to have regular, formed stools?

[crazy4cats]

I have two lab mix dogs and have had the same issue. I have had the best luck with Victor grain free food so far. I also use various supplements that are very helpful. Such as Firm Up and The Perfect Form. Also, when I add either a couple frozen Nature’s variety Instinct raw nuggets or The Honest Kitchen dehydrated as a topper, it also helps. I think it is because of the added fiber that helps firm up the stools.

Please check out http://www.dogaware.com for some very helpful information on loose stools. It has been an extremely valuable resource for me!

Please feel free to write back with any questions or comments.

[MARK k]

Thanks crazy4cats for the info. Where can you get Victor and those supplements . . . I see Victor is at Amazon, but didn’t know if it’s available at any stores. Have you had any luck with Wellness or Blue?

[crazy4cats]

If you google Victor dog food, they have a dealer locater link. I’m on my iPad right now and don’t know how to copy and paste the link. How embarrassing! I only have one store in my area that carries a limited supply. I have to call a week in advance so they can order it for me if they don’t have it in stock. Otherwise, yes, Amazon, Sport Dog and RocketPetz carries it. The supplements, I have ordered both from Amazon. I have fed Blue Wilderness a few years back with pretty good results, but was a bit too expensive for our family. Besides, after reading ingredients, they all are mostly chicken anyway. I have fed my kitties Wellness, but not the dogs. It’s pretty expensive for two 80 pounders.

You didn’t mention if you have had a fecal test done. Worms and/or parasites can cause loose stools as well. Make sure you rule those out as well.

The Firm Up is dehydrated pumpkin and pectin and the Perfect Form contains some enzymes and slippery elm which are very helpful for unhappy intestines. Also probiotics can be helpful as well. Such as Vetri-Pro BD by Vetri Science is recommended.

Oh boy, good luck. I remember how overwhelming this advise can be. Just try one new thing at a time to see if it is helpful. I often change a couple of things at a time and I never know what caused the improvement or the decline.

[MARK k]

Thanks so much for the advice crazy4cates! He has always had his annual checkups and fecal tests done, always negative for parasites/worms. He just has a sensitive digestive/bowel system to foods. They say pets take on personalities similar to their owners . . . I guess he took on my reaction to stress and stomach issues ;o)

I will check these things out and see what works.

Thanks again and I’ll have to update as I find out what works.

[MARK k]

Crazy4cats . . which Victor dog food do you recommend for a lab. I assume since you have dogs with lab in them, they are fairly active? Ours is active, but he was neutered awhile back, so we watch what he eats.

[crazy4cats]

I have only fed the grain free joint health formula so far. I can get it in a 50 lb bag, which is nice as I have two dogs and I have to drive always to get it. It is pretty much the same as the all life stages grain free except it has additional glucosamine and chondroitin in it. I have one that is very active and one that isn’t and they are litter mates. Go figure! I just have to feed the active one more. I think the fat to protein is very good in this food. Did you find a retailer in your area?

[crazy4cats]

Another thing I’ve used is with success is called Fruitables digestive support. I have found it at some specialty pet stores and feed stores. It is canned pumpkin with Apple pomace and some other soothing things such as cinnamon and spearmint. It also contains flax seed which even adds more fiber. It is a little expensive so I don’t buy too often but it works better for us than just plain canned pumpkin.

[MARK k]

Looks like there are several retailers in my area, so I’ll have to go check it out. I will have to look into the Fruitables also. Do you mix that in with the food or how do you serve that?

[crazy4cats]

Yes, I mix it right in their food. They really like it. It just gets expensive for me. It keeps well in the frig after opening. But, I would transfer it into an airtight container instead of the can. I mix a topper in their food every meal. But I wouldn’t worry about that until you get his stools firmed up.

[Lou B]

Getting back to the question – anyone else have any great expeerince with “Inexpensive good quality dry food?”, especially for small breeds? Thx in advance!

[theBCnut]

I guess it depends on what you call inexpensive. I have had good results with NutriSource and Earthborn. And I liked the price on both of those, but I would gladly pay twice the price for more foods that my allergy dog does well on.

[DogFoodie]

I think Wellness makes great products that are affordable and they have a wide variety of toy and small breed formulas.

When looking for different foods for my adult toy breed, I frequently also take a look at puppy formulas. An affordable, good quality, example of this would be NutriSource small & medium breed puppy.

[Peggy]

Lou B. Pure Balance is fairly inexpensive, and you can get it at Walmart. It has a good rating on this site.

[Allyson D]

Isee this post is over 6 months old, but I’ll comment anyway. I just got my rescue pup about a week ago and found dogfoodadvisor in a search. Glad to see my food got 4 stars. I wanted to try the Kirkland, but there are no Costcos anywhere near where I moved to. I get Pure Balance, which is available at WalMart for 32.88 for a 30lb bag–$1.10/lb. Not too shabby…

[Linda J]

Amazon has a good price on their Hills http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CQZQQG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004CQZQQG&linkCode=as2&tag=bodybuilweb-20&linkId=GVFKXAQUZMJYCSHX

[james c]

Hi,
Choosing the best, affordable cheap dog food can be a real challenge. How do you know where to begin? Well first, for the most thrifty options you will likely consider dry cheap dog food.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by james c.

[Praveen K]

If you need inexpensive and quality dog food which is nutritious as well then http://www.dogcarehelp.com/best-cheap-affordable-dog-food/ will help you for affordable pet food.

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