why do people spend so much

ppink

on dog food?

Am i missing something here or whay do people spend so much money on expensive dog foods.
Are the dogs healthier? Do they live longer? Are there any studies done to this effect?

andreac

Why not?

Its their choice to feed what they want to their dogs. I would feed the best i can afford to my dog as i wouldnt want my dog eating a crap dog food if i can afford to buy him better.

Thats like saying, why do people spend money on organic foods when you can get it cheaper.

LBD

Equally just because its cheaper doesn't mean its "crap".

We found a dog food that both ours like and it by no means costs a bomb, 14.99 for a 15KG as a matter of fact! We checked with our vet and he agreed it was perfectly suitable for both our pooches

I ain't eating caviar everyday so neither are they

Outkast_IRE

I was using a Red mills premium food , the dog is a collie cross , i think a 15kg bag could be got for 20 or 25 euro ....... the dog started to develop small random spots on her skin , her poos werent solid at all, so i said i would try a better food i changed to Orjen which is around 55 euro for 13.5 kg bag but the difference in our dog was noticable straight away, after 2 weeks no more spots on her skin, her coat always looks incredible, her poos are just right , which makes cleaning up the mess far easier , and she just seems happier.
I wouldnt of changed to a better food if the dog was fine on a cheaper food, but she wasnt so i made the choice and am very happy with it and so is the dog.
And i find that the 13.5kg bag of food lasts me longer than the old 15kg bag, as its much more nutricious the dog eats less of it .

I only changed to expensive food cause the dog wasnt doing well on the cheaper food .
I see the good food as an investment that hopefully down the line it may lead to less vet bills as she gets older etc .

LBD

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

I was using a Red mills premium food , the dog is a collie cross , i think a 15kg bag could be got for 20 or 25 euro ....... the dog started to develop small random spots on her skin , her poos werent solid at all, so i said i would try a better food i changed to Orjen which is around 55 euro for 13.5 kg bag but the difference in our dog was noticable straight away, after 2 weeks no more spots on her skin, her coat always looks incredible, her poos are just right , which makes cleaning up the mess far easier , and she just seems happier.
I wouldnt of changed to a better food if the dog was fine on a cheaper food, but she wasnt so i made the choice and am very happy with it and so is the dog.
And i find that the 13.5kg bag of food lasts me longer than the old 15kg bag, as its much more nutricious the dog eats less of it .

I only changed to expensive food cause the dog wasnt doing well on the cheaper food .
I see the good food as an investment that hopefully down the line it may lead to less vet bills as she gets older etc .

Yeah you actually put it better then I did. The food our dog is on suits them, solid poo and bags of energy. If they werent doing well on it (like they weren't on some of the other foods we tried) we would of course spend as much as necessary in order to find one that suited.

What I kind of meant is I'm not spending more on dog food "just for the sake of it".

Graces7

ppink wrote: »

on dog food?

Am i missing something here or whay do people spend so much money on expensive dog foods.
Are the dogs healthier? Do they live longer? Are there any studies done to this effect?

I don't think the more expensive foods are really better than own brand. Someone here was scandalised at a vet recommending LIDL dog food; LIDL is a German firm and their pet foods are excellent; well regulated.

It is the name etc.

The only processed food we buy for dogs and cats is the ASDA own brand mixer for the dogs and their own kibble for the cats.

Just to supplement the raw food all of them get, which is cheaper and healthier.

I would not buy "top brand" and nor would I ask a vet what to feed.

I do not like the smell or consistency of tinned foods and much of the kibble has additives to make it appealing.

So indeed I do buy the very best for my dogs and cats; but that does not mean it costs more than other food.

All here are healthy and lively and happy.

On a small pension cost is a great issue; and we buy food for our pets on the same principle as for ourselves; own brand cheapest whenever possible.

ppink

andreac wrote: »

Why not?

Its their choice to feed what they want to their dogs. I would feed the best i can afford to my dog as i wouldnt want my dog eating a crap dog food if i can afford to buy him better.

Thats like saying, why do people spend money on organic foods when you can get it cheaper.

i never said people should not spend the money.......what I asked was the reasons why?

peasant

ppink wrote: »

i never said people should not spend the money.......what I asked was the reasons why?

Some of the reason would be marketing.

Pet food makers know how to tug at our hearstrings and guilt-trip us into buying only the best (i.e. most expensive) products for our animals.

Graces7

peasant wrote: »

Some of the reason would be marketing.

Pet food makers know how to tug at our hearstrings and guilt-trip us into buying only the best (i.e. most expensive) products for our animals.

Ah of course; we do not have TV and get no magazines etc so see none of this and are not thus influenced. Interesting.

crotalus667

Graces7 wrote: »

I don't think the more expensive foods are really better than own brand. Someone here was scandalised at a vet recommending LIDL dog food; LIDL is a German firm and their pet foods are excellent; well regulated.

It is the name etc.

The only processed food we buy for dogs and cats is the ASDA own brand mixer for the dogs and their own kibble for the cats.

Just to supplement the raw food all of them get, which is cheaper and healthier.

I would not buy "top brand" and nor would I ask a vet what to feed.

I do not like the smell or consistency of tinned foods and much of the kibble has additives to make it appealing.

So indeed I do buy the very best for my dogs and cats; but that does not mean it costs more than other food.

All here are healthy and lively and happy.

On a small pension cost is a great issue; and we buy food for our pets on the same principle as for ourselves; own brand cheapest whenever possible.

Supermarket own brands and supermarket brands tend to be the nutritional ebullient of feeding your dogs junk food , that doesn’t mean they all are but most of them are . My vet recommended dicing up the lidl dog sausage thing and mixing it with the dry food I am using (RC) he also recommended changing the brand of dog food back and forth so it does not become boring for the dog

ppink

outcast & LbD thanks
i actually had a situation with a GSD that could not eat dog food so I boiled him rice and chicken every day.
it just amazes me that these days there seems to be huge trade done on foods that are very expensive. I wonder if it is dogs these days needing the more special diets or what.
We had 10+ different breeds of dogs at home years ago and none of the had health issues and all were fed on scraps! It just kind of makes me wonder why.

Peasent- i think you may have a good point there!

Graces- even my dentist told me to get LIDL/ALDI sensitive toothpaste for myself as there was no difference between it and sensodyne (sp?):D

crotalus667

peasant wrote: »

Some of the reason would be marketing.

Pet food makers know how to tug at our hearstrings and guilt-trip us into buying only the best (i.e. most expensive) products for our animals.

the only tv advert i have seen for dog food that is sold over here is ped chum which i would not touch with a barge pole , i based by choice on recamendations from research and profresionals + people i know that have used it

crotalus667

ppink wrote: »

! It just kind of makes me wonder why.

one thing that does effect alot of peoples choices is bad breath and farts :rolleyes:

ppink

crotalus667 wrote: »

the only tv advert i have seen for dog food that is sold over here is ped chum which i would not touch with a barge pole , i based by choice on recamendations from research and profresionals + people i know that have used it

you see I wonder if it is also the vets pushing the sales. when our guy got sick they very strongly pushed me to RC......but he was a big 8 stone dog and it would have cost a small car loan to pay for it so i opted to cook his food myself.
what I would like to see is the research done on these foods to see what constitutes "crap" and what constitutes good food.

i also think back to years back when it was discovered that the top brand washing powder was the exact same powder, coming off the exact same production line as a lower brand but it had a fancier box so appealed to different people!

Outkast_IRE

ppink wrote: »

outcast & LbD thanks
i actually had a situation with a GSD that could not eat dog food so I boiled him rice and chicken every day.
it just amazes me that these days there seems to be huge trade done on foods that are very expensive. I wonder if it is dogs these days needing the more special diets or what.
We had 10+ different breeds of dogs at home years ago and none of the had health issues and all were fed on scraps! It just kind of makes me wonder why.

Peasent- i think you may have a good point there!

Graces- even my dentist told me to get LIDL/ALDI sensitive toothpaste for myself as there was no difference between it and sensodyne (sp?):D

Your right with the scraps , scraps are perfect for dog cause if you think about it a lot of scraps are meat and veg etc things that are perfect for dogs digestive systems well most of the scraps anyway..........

The main issue dogs have with a huge amount of over the counter dry foods is the addition of grains to the food, from a manufacturers point of view the grains are cheap and bulk up the food, but grains dont digest properly in dogs for the most part.

Put it this way a lot of the ingredients in dog food arent listed properly , there is a dog food anayalsis company that tests all the foods against their listed ingredients , some are very disconcerting , a particualar red mills mix had no listing of fish anywhere on the packaging yet fish was being discovered in the analyasis.

Have a quick look through this and it gives a good account of why their food is more expensive and the main differnces between it and cheaper food http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/orijen/

we give our dog scraps whenever we have them mixed with the food .

ppink

crotalus667 wrote: »

one thing that does effect alot of peoples choices is bad breath and farts :rolleyes:

:rolleyes:that can be said for the owners too!

peasant

crotalus667 wrote: »

the only tv advert i have seen for dog food that is sold over here is ped chum which i would not touch with a barge pole , i based by choice on recamendations from research and profresionals + people i know that have used it

It's not just TV ads that say "this is expensive, therefore it is good, so buy it" ...it's a bit more subtle than that.

Go on any large food website and have a closer look:
Within the same brand (or at least from the same maker under different brand names) you will find:
-puppy food, junior food, adult food, senior food
-normal, special, lean, sensitive, active food
-small dog, medium dog, large dog
- breed specific food (does a GSD stomach know it's in a GSD and not a Rottie?)

lots of it is the same stuff, just in different packaging, different kibble size and with more or less colourants/additives at vastly varying prices.

We are being manipulated left, right and centre.

crotalus667

peasant wrote: »

It's not just TV ads that say "this is expensive, therefore it is good, so buy it" ...it's a bit more subtle than that.

Go on any large food website and have a closer look:
Within the same brand (or at least from the same maker under different brand names) you will find:
-puppy food, junior food, adult food, senior food
-normal, special, lean, sensitive, active food
-small dog, medium dog, large dog
- breed specific food (does a GSD stomach know it's in a GSD and not a Rottie?)

lots of it is the same stuff, just in different packaging, different kibble size and with more or less colourants/additives at vastly varying prices.

We are being manipulated left, right and centre.

No you just dont under stand that the needs of a puppy are different to the needs of an older dog and size of nut needs to be different as well the breed specific are made to cater for different breed's because different breeds have different needs thats all

Graces7

peasant wrote: »

It's not just TV ads that say "this is expensive, therefore it is good, so buy it" ...it's a bit more subtle than that.

Go on any large food website and have a closer look:
Within the same brand (or at least from the same maker under different brand names) you will find:
-puppy food, junior food, adult food, senior food
-normal, special, lean, sensitive, active food
-small dog, medium dog, large dog
- breed specific food (does a GSD stomach know it's in a GSD and not a Rottie?)

lots of it is the same stuff, just in different packaging, different kibble size and with more or less colourants/additives at vastly varying prices.

We are being manipulated left, right and centre.

Oh we don't read any of that stuff.....

Just go for the simplest which is the cheapest.

So we do not get manipulated except by those big brown eyes...

peasant

crotalus667 wrote: »

No you just dont under stand that the needs of a puppy are different to the needs of an older dog and size of nut needs to be different as well the breed specific are made to cater for different breed's because different breeds have different needs thats all

Just makes you wonder how dogs survived all those millennia before there was a pet-food industry

crotalus667

peasant wrote: »

Just makes you wonder how dogs survived all those millennia before there was a pet-food industry

dogs can survive on just about anyh thing the questen is what is best for them , breed foods are great for breed that tend to suffer from different illnesses (sorry my spelling is gone to pot )

EGAR

Since I have 20+ dogs to feed I can't afford to buy expensive dogfood and I need to watch the protein contents of the food as my bullies would climb the walls with more than max 22 % protein.

I buy dogfood which is 12 Euro for 15 kg. I never ever had any problems even with dogs with dodgy stomachs. I often supplement with rice, noodles, or meat (boiled) etc

olaola

My dog gets loose stools and itchy ears if we feed her other foods.
We were recommended to use this type of food by the vet & by the rehoming charity we got her from.

Lucyx

this thread is very interesting to me.

I spend 60euro on a 15kg bag of james wellbeloved as recommended by a fellow dog lover when i first got my dog. the bag lasts me a few months but it does kinda break my heart to pay that eventhough i'm crazy about my dog and would spend anything to keep her healthy and hopefully have a long life.

I do find that the wellbeloved suits her very well. her number 2's are very healthy and her breath is actually perfect and her coat and overall appearance is fabulous having said that i wouldn't mind only paying about 20euro for another bag even a couple of times a year.

i do detest redmills though. i used to help out in a dogs home and they all ate that and their number 2's were very bad, not solid at all. now that could have been anxiety as well but still it put me right off that stuff.

olaola

Lucyx wrote: »

this thread is very interesting to me.

I spend 60euro on a 15kg bag of james wellbeloved as recommended by a fellow dog lover when i first got my dog. the bag lasts me a few months but it does kinda break my heart to pay that eventhough i'm crazy about my dog and would spend anything to keep her healthy and hopefully have a long life.

I just got 2 of JW Lamb & Rice 15kg bags delivered from www.zooplus.co.uk for €80.

Jennyfer

I feed my dog Orijen, I dont want to pay that much for food but have been through all the other brands you can think of and NONE of them did her any good. This is the first one I came across that didnt make her sick so Im sticking with it. It just so happens to be an expensive one, it could have been a cheaper one and I would have stuck with that!

morganafay

If I could afford expensive food then I'd buy it, just because I know how bad I feel if I eat crap food, so it can't be good for them either. I eat really healthy food, so so should they.

But I'm a student and have a lot of pets so I feed them food that's €10 for a 12.5kg bag . . . but they're fine! They're really healthy and have glossy coats, bright eyes, and loads of energy. They get a few scraps too (only healthy stuff, meat, vegetables, potatoes, rice, etc.) and lots of healthy oils added so I think that helps.

But then again, you should see how much I spend on the guinea pigs and rabbits! Their food costs much more, and then there's all the bedding, and even though they eat grass all summer, it's expensive to look after them. Way more than the dogs . . .

peasant

Lucyx wrote: »

the bag lasts me a few months

You do realise that even dry dog food, once opened, can go off?

Do you have an airtight container for it? If not, you should get one.

goat2

EGAR wrote: »

Since I have 20+ dogs to feed I can't afford to buy expensive dogfood and I need to watch the protein contents of the food as my bullies would climb the walls with more than max 22 % protein.

I buy dogfood which is 12 Euro for 15 kg. I never ever had any problems even with dogs with dodgy stomachs. I often supplement with rice, noodles, or meat (boiled) etc

i have 4 doggies jack russells, you could give us great tips on ways to get by cheaply
i make them a cake made of liver and bacon now and they love it
anytime i have a bit of bacon left over after dinner, i freeze it and wait until i have enough in freezer, then i buy a little liver, fry the liver cut it in small pieces also cutting bacon in tiny pieces and frying off in the frying pan, then i get flour in a big bowl, toss in the liver bacon, break in a couple eggs mix the lot together, use a little warm water to bring the lot together, lay it out on a baking tray scoring lines through it so i can break it up later, as i cook it for a short while at 180 degrees c, then a good while at 120 degrees c, i leave the loaves in oven when i switch it off so these things come out good and hard, great to chew on, they would kill for it, they love it, i make a few loaves
and freeze some
it is cheaper than buying pigs ears or bones
anyone have any ideas

ppink

Goat2 that its very impressive!

I never give my dogs bacon as I heard it was bad for them...is that right?? or maybe it is bacon fat?

goat2

ppink wrote: »

Goat2 that its very impressive!

I never give my dogs bacon as I heard it was bad for them...is that right?? or maybe it is bacon fat?

dont know, never heard
but they love it
this cake thing is great for when i am going to town, i give them a piece each and it take a while for them to get through it, it keeps them occupied, but when mixed with the rest, there would not be that much bacon, say for 3 big cakes, a mug full of chopped bacon, and it takes 3 days to get through one of those cakes
i found that they do not like those chewy things chicken strips, beef strips, pigs ears, nothing please like this, and if you want to add vitimins you can, whatever you like, and you know what rex is having, all good