Are Dog Food Sold at Wal-Mart... (how much, allergic, clean, poop)

[sunset2000]

Are those dry dog food acceptable to feed your dogs?

[foxywench]

the do foods avaialble at walmart are the equivalent of junk food...
its grains covered in animal fat with no real meat...dogs dont need grains and DO need meat so nutritinally its the same a feeding your kids nothing but mcdonalds burgers...

YES its food YES its edible and YES dogs like it (because its treated wiht chemicals to make it smell realy good and is actually addictive...)

so is it "acceptable" yeah if you dont realy care about the ulity of ingredients your feeding your dog...

is it GOOD? NO...

read the bag...keep in mind dogs are carniovres (veggies and grains wont "hurt" (unless your dog is allergic) BUT they dont NEED them to survive they do however NEED meat)

walmart foods generally have corn and chicken byproduct as thier main ingredients...
(byproduct in pet food is beaks feet and feathers)
This is no different if your feeding ole roy or purina or science diet...there all CORN based...

look for a food with the first ingredient of MEAT (or meat meal which is meat after cooking)
look for a food with NO corn, NO soy and NO wheet.

[jbtx]

Modern day food scientists are able to produce a 15% protein dog food out of recycled motor oil and chicken feathers, this is what Wal-Mart's "Old Roy" is. It's a very poor quality dog food.

I'd say that the cheaper dog foods are not really your best buy. Buy your pet food from well known producers, such as Purina. "Purina One" Lamb and Rice is a proven good product. Purina ProPlan is another. Eukanuba is another good product. So is Natural Balance. I personally don't like "Science Diet", which is an expensive product pushed by a lot of Vets and it gives my dogs gas.

My vet tells me that dogs thrive on getting used to the same food everyday, once you have found a brand that your dog likes,,, don't change. Changing his dog food usually will result in several days of upset tummies along with diarrhea until he/she adapts to the new dog food.

Most important, don't give the dog table scraps,,, people food usually doesn't go well with dogs. We tend to eat a lot of veggies and dogs are pretty much total carnivores. The two diets don't mix well.

[Pruzhany]

Google "OL ROY". There isn't one site that had something good to say about it.

[nightbird47]

I use Iams. My ultra sensitive dog is doing wonderful on it. Walmart sells it. Does the OP mean the walmart brands or everything they sell?

I know there are really expensive specialty brands but I can't afford that. I don't go the cheapest but can't the 'best'.

I use Iam's Naturals. I give them dry with the bowl full of water. The biggest problem with Walmart is the tendency to run out of the 'large' bags.

[Pruzhany]

The biggest problem with Walmart is the tendency to run out of the 'large' bags.

Go online and order it. It arrives via Fedex from Indiana within three business days. I also use IAMS and order two bags at a time thus causing free delivery to kick in.

[zugor]

Originally Posted by jbtx

My vet tells me that dogs thrive on getting used to the same food everyday, once you have found a brand that your dog likes,,, don't change. Changing his dog food usually will result in several days of upset tummies along with diarrhea until he/she adapts to the new dog food.

For what it's worth -

The current thinking is that one should feed several different foods in rotation. Feed one brand for 3 or 4 months, then transition to another brand and feed that for 3 to 4 months and then transition again to a third kind which is feed for 3 to 4 months. Then back to the first brand.

The reason is that even very high quality foods have differing amounts of micro-nutrients and by changing what you feed every couple of months you can help to insure that they get a better balance over the course of time.

I tend to transition over about 9 to 12 days, going with a 75/25 ratio for 3 or 4 days, then 50/50 for another 3 or 4 days, then 25/75 for 3 or 4 days and finally 100% of the new food. Since I'm generally feeding 4 or 5 large dogs it's easy to mix up batches of each mixture. A slow transition helps to prevent those issues associated with changing foods that some dogs experience.

Of course when I pull dogs from the pound to take in to foster care there is no slow transition and most of them make the change from whatever they were getting at the pound to what I'm feeding without significant problems.

As for your original question on finding inexpensive food if there is a Tractor Supply near you they have a decent house brand - 4Health that is much less costly than some of the equivalent name brands.

[cittic10]

Originally Posted by sunset2000

Are those dry dog food acceptable to feed your dogs?

No but in fairness, the human food they sell isn't acceptable to human consumption either.


The best selling point to using a high quality kibble I can think of is simply this...
The higher quality foods contain more meat and protein. You can feed much less of it to your dog.
And that saves money.
You know what else it saves? It saves you from cleaning up excessive amounts of poo.


I think the lowest price on the top shelf foods is at Petco when used in conjuntion with the coupons. If you're a member of their Pals club they send you coupons in the mail constantly and they're constantly going on sale in the store. I don't know about online. Petco and Petsmart only recently (past few years) started selling the foods that many of us used to pay a fortune for at locally owned independent pet boutiques. No longer does one have to drive to an inconvenient location and pay a fortune to feed your dogs something other than recycled motor oil and chicken feathers.

As for online, I think Amazon has the lowest price when you factor in the free shipping but as long as I keep getting the coupons from Petco, that works out a tad cheaper and I can pick out the bags without any holes in them.

Walmart and grocery store kibbles would come out more expensive because I would have to feed around 3 times as much of it for the same nutritional value.

[foxywench]

folks...do our reaserch...
IAMS is actually not better than pedgree or old roy....they just pay more to make you think they are. READ THE INGRENTS!

Old Roy:
first 5 ingredients:
1.Ground yellow corn, 2. soybean meal, 3.ground whole wheat, 4.corn syrup, 5. poultry fat
So NOWHERE in those first 5 ingredients is any for of actual MEAT...add to that corn, soy and wheet are not only unnessicary, but some of the biggest causes of allergies in dogs...yup..looks yummy! chicken flavored corn! yay!

Iams:
pro active health:
1: Chicken, 2:Corn Meal, 3:Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, 4:Chicken By-Product Meal, 5ried Beet Pulp
Ok so we have meat...and its the first ingredient...BUT when you see "chicken" (or lamb ect) it means Weight BEFORE cooking and moisture content removed...anyoen ever buy those big packs of chicken only to be amazed that after cooking there about 1/2 the size they were?! yup, same problem here...add to that our second ingredient (and because of the water weight issue ingredient#2 is actualy GREATER quaintities, we once again have chicken flavore corn...
Iams premium protection line is even "yummier" with chicken byproduct meal as its first ingredient (beaks feet and feathers folks!)

the ONLY iams line worthy of being called dog food is their "simple and natural" line...(and get ready to shell out alot more than its worth for it)

so lets jump to eukanuba
these guys boast 100% nutrticion with NO Fillers...
but as we know, dogs, like people CANNOT digest corn at all (it comes out JUST the same as it goes in
heres there basic adult formulars first 5 ingredients
1:Chicken, 2: Chicken By-Product Meal, 3: Corn Meal, 4: Ground Whole 5: Grain Sorghum,
once again, take out chicken as the firstingredient becuase thats pre-cooked weight and our first ingredient is Beaks feet and feathers (chicken byproduct meal) followed by corn...yay for chicken flavored corn again! YUM!
despite the hype their naturals line isnt much better with again pre-cooked meat being listed as the first ingredient folloewed by rice, corn and sorghum...

THE ONLY eukanuba line id consider remotly dog food is the naturally wild line...(corn free) and again,be prepared to pay alot more tha its worth...

so lets go Purina, another well liked grocery store brand.
well go with purina "pro-plan" first
1:Chicken, 2:brewers rice, 3:whole grain wheat, 4oultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), 5:corn gluten meal
well it a LITTLE better, corn isnt the very first 2-3 ingredients...but its still not great...now we have chciekn flavored chex mix!

now thier "natural selects" line
1: Chicken, 2: barley, 3: dried egg product, 4: chicken meal (natural source of glucosamine), 5:brewers dried yeast,
MUCH better...while offically Barely would be the first ingredient (because again that precooked issue) the food has 3 ANIMAL PROTEIN sources in its top 5 ingredients and NO corn! YAY!
(this food would be even better if the chicken MEAL (chicken weighed AfTER cooking and all moisture removed) was the first ingredient
still woudlnt buy it for my dogs, because price per lb is reidiculous...BUT...its a grocery store option!

and thier Purina "one" line
1:Chicken (natural source of glucosamine), 2:brewers rice, 3:corn gluten meal, 4:whole grain corn, 5oultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine),
oh yay were back to chicken flavored rice AND corn in this one...

if your going purina stick with thier NATURAL SELECTS line, its the only one with no corn...and corn is the BIGGEST no no in pet food (the more corn in a food the more you have to feed and the more your dog will poop...

Science diet was mentioned so lets take a look there...
their basic adult dry:
ooo this ones YUMMY
1: Whole Grain Corn, 2: Chicken By-Product Meal, 3: Soybean Meal, 4: Animal Fat 5: Soybean Oil,
were going to completly pass on the chicken flavored corn thanks...

their "lamb and rice" (please note that any "and rice" formulars are designed for allergy prone dogs, these formulars SHOULD be corn free...)
1: Lamb Meal, 2: Brewers Rice, 3: Brown Rice, 4: Corn Gluten Meal, 5:Whole Grain Wheat
well its BEtter, first ignredient is even actual meat...but its mostly rice since both thenext 2 ingredients are rice, and theres still corn...and wheet, 2 big undigestable, allergy causing grains!

yup, theres not a SINGLE productin th sci-DIE line id consider feeding my dogs.


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i personally woudlnt feed anythign lower than 3 stars...

and i know what your all thinking "but "premium" foods are so expensive...
YAY marketing...

YES they are expensive for many brands...BUT you feed LESS of the food because the dog can digest it better...a dog that goes through 50lbs of puke-a-nuba a month would go through about 25lbs of the likes of timberowlf, blue buffallo, taste of the wild ect.
youll also have MUCH less poop to clean up, and generally a happier overall healthier dog with a better energy level, nicer coat condition ect.

As a side note there are a few lower cost premium foods that are VERY affordable.
i personally feed Diamond NATURALS (the rest of the diamond line is JUNK) a
its not "the best" its only considered a 3 star food, (and there was a recent recal for salmonella (which while not a pet health concern is a human health concern, the recal is noover, issue fixed but some people do have issues with any food thats been recalled) but theres no corn, no soy and no wheet, the first ingreident is chicken and the second is chekcne meal would rather it be the other way around BUT given the first 2 ingredients are meat this is a MEAT based food, and the main grain is rice (which is one of the grains least likely to cause issues)
add to the fact that i have 3 dogs (one of which is a growing 8 month old 75lb mastif/bulldg mix puppy) and a VERY limited budget, the price is right, a 40lb bag costs me about $30 after taxes AND lasts a month...$1 a day to feed 2 small and 1 veyr large rapidly growing puppy...i condier that a bargain!
Costcos kirkland and tracor supplies 4-health" is the exact same formular (and made by the same company just in a different bag) as the diamond naturals, so also good BUDGET options for a food that surpasses purina, eukanuba, ect by 2 stars!

as a side note...when i did the math, it would cost me $80 a monht to feed purina one, to my 3, based on current consumption, and $76 to feed my 3 eukanuba

Even if i were DESPERATE and had to feed ole roy, it would still gost me about $50 a month to feed my trio when you take into account how much extra theyd have to eat to get the same nutrition....

PLEASE folks, do your reaserch, tv adds and "your vet" are lovely and all but adds are paid to make you think whateve their selling is great, and unless your vet also has a seprerate degree in nutrtition (the basic nutrtiaion course in veterinary school is TAUGHT by pet food manufacturors, usually cience diet, eukanuba or purina reps) they generally push what they were taught to push...BIG names...remember they make a profit and get large subsidiaries from the big pet food maunfacturors...even a vet who things science diet is junk food, is going to sell it when sciece diet pays for that new x-ray machine, or anew ultrasound unit...Your vet is not a nutritionalist unless they have an ADDITIONAL degree from an independatn school...

so learn hat a carnivore should eat (meat) and read the bag...

[Fontucky]

My dog loses her fur in huge patches when fed kibble containing corn.