Which of the mid-priced dog foods are best? (golden retriever, science, diet)

[Townandcountrygal]

Can't afford the best/most expensive brands of dog food, having a large breed. Which of the mid priced foods are considered healthiest? Or maybe there's a web link for ratings?

Hobbs is not picky but I don't want to give him "Ol Roy". Last week when our road was washed out and we could not get out to buy more dog food, he got cooked brown rice and elk meat--he loved it--but I believe in prepared dog foods for a regular diet.

[jaredC]

See and that's a great question. The general rule, for me anyways, is to see what is the first ingredient on the bag. That's a good indication of how good the food is. For example, if the first ingredient is corn meal...not good. Get one that has the first ingredient as chicken. I feed my golden retriever iams, or fed her iams. Now with the recalls? I don't know what I'll switch her to. Lots of options out there. Science diet is pretty good, but really expensive.

[DawnMTL]

Artie gets grain-free food and it's not expensive in the grain-free realm. He gets Taste of the Wild.

[Jessiegee40]

One thing to remember about the more expensive food is that you feed them less so it really doesn't cost more. Bella is 72 lbs and she only gets 2 cups of food a day. I feed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck.

[zugor]

Costco's Kirkland brand is decent and very inexpensive - 40 lb bag of lamb and rice is 28.99 and the chicken and rice is 27.89.

Tractor Supply has a house brand called 4Health and it's relatively inexpensive too.

[Squirl]

These are pretty good value and decent foods: Pure Balance is available at Walmart. Aurthority is Petsmart's house brand. Kirkland is Costco's house brand, and also Costco has a great grain-free kibble

Customer Reviews for Pure Balance Dog Food, Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe, 30 lb - Walmart.com

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-f...-dog-food-dry/

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-fo...ture-dog-food/

[Spazkat9696]

Originally Posted by Jessiegee40

One thing to remember about the more expensive food is that you feed them less so it really doesn't cost more. Bella is 72 lbs and she only gets 2 cups of food a day. I feed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck.

We do the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by zugor

Costco's Kirkland brand is decent and very inexpensive - 40 lb bag of lamb and rice is 28.99 and the chicken and rice is 27.89.

Agree, but it's been recalled a few times.

Focus on "made in Canada" labels with actual meat as the first ingredient. Canada has much stricter standards than the US for dog food production.

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by Jessiegee40

One thing to remember about the more expensive food is that you feed them less so it really doesn't cost more. Bella is 72 lbs and she only gets 2 cups of food a day. I feed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck.

Seriously? Two cups of BB for a 72 pound dog? We feed BB to our puppy, used to feed it to both dogs, and the recommended daily amount is 3 - 3.5 cups per day for a 61-80 pound dog. I feed more than 2 cups per day to our 6 month old puppy, and he's only 33 pounds.

Better food is going to cost more. You don't really feed them that much less of a good food. It costs more, but the benefits are worth it. If you simply do not have the money to buy a high quality food, just go with Nutro or Wellness, any lower priced food you find at a pet supply store. But stay away from any dog food sold in grocery stores, no exceptions.

[Cabot]

If you can get it in your area, Victor Dog food is very good and compared to other premium foods, inexpensive. Check it out at Dog food Advisor.