How to Find the Best Dog Food on a Budget

Before the economy tanked, I bought an English Mastiff. He is the greatest dog of all time, but he's 150 pounds, and, man, can he eat. My husband and I fed him premium dog food for most of his early life, spending sometimes hundreds of dollars a month. It was well worth it, as we wanted him to have only the best dog food.

However, times have gotten a lot tighter, and we have spent months researching and trying out other, less expensive dog foods. We've learned a lot of very interesting things.

Expensive dog food does not mean better dog food

You know what dog food I'm talking about. The two or three dog foods that you can buy at a discount chain or grocery store, that are in the 30 to 40 dollar price range. If it costs that much, it must be good, right?

Well, read the ingredients, and you'll see the true picture.

Ingredients to avoid in dog food

There are some known ingredients in dog food that you should be wary of. These include any non specific meat items. For example: meat, animal, poultry, vegetable oil. What type of meat? What animal? What kind of poultry? What vegetable are they getting the oil from? If they're not being specific, avoid the food.

Anything listed as by-product. You can imagine what this means. By-product is anything left after the meat is gone. Anything. Ick.

The corn controversy

I am not a corn fan, for humans or animals. It's low on nutrition and it doesn't digest well (oh, we're all familiar with corn poops). If you see a dog food loaded down with corn and corn derivatives, corn meal, corn gluten, etc, do not purchase it. This is a cheap, cheap filler that will cause your dog to poop mountains and can cause allergies in the susceptible dog.

This is why you shouldn't buy dog food from discount chains or grocery stores. Those 40 dollar bags of dog food are filled with corn, just like the 10 dollar bag of dog food sitting right next to it on the shelf. Don't believe me? Check the ingredients. I don't know how they get away with it.

The grain controversy

Super premium dog food is normally grain free. This is the dog food that costs anywhere from 50 to 70 dollars a bag and can only be found at specialty pet stores. The thinking is that a dog food should be similar to what their diet in the wild would be like. Therefore, meat, meat, meat, with some vegetables and starch thrown in.

And, to go one step further, there is the BARF diet (www.barfworld.com), where you feed your dog all human grade meats, starches, and bones (BARF is an acronym for bones and raw food diet or biologically appropriate raw diet). Again, as this is a diet the dog would eat if in the wild.

Ok. I'm not a vet, and I'm not a dog nutritionist, but, what? When's the last time a dog was in the wild? And if my dogs were in the wild, they'd be eating anything they could get their mouths on, including their own turds. But I will bow to the wisdom of people who obviously know more than I. And this diet is supposed to help with dogs that have allergies, so more power to them.

Really dangerous ingredients in dog food

There are some ingredients that are truly harmful. BHA, BHT, propyl gallate, propylene glycol and ethoxyquin. These ingredients are either toxic in large doses, or are known carcinogens. Ethoxyquin is used to preserve fish. So if fish is listed as an ingredient in your dog food, check to see if the label maintains that it is ethoxyquin free.

Dog food on a budget

Now this is tough. If you have the money and time to do the BARF diet, great. But most of us do not. So, what do you do? You have to do what works for you and your dog. There are good dog foods for less money out there, it just takes some research. A great website to try is www.dogfoodanalysis.com. They have a starred system, so it's easy to see how your dog food rates. But be warned. They are proponents of a grain free dog food diet, so the higher the stars, the more expensive the food.

And remember, your dog licks his own butt, eats tidbits from the cat litter and a hundred other disgusting things. If he gets a little grain in his diet, as long as he's not allergic, why not?

Sources: www.wisepet.com

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

www.dogfoodproject.com

www.barfworld.com