Why do people pay so much for dog food?

[Wowbagger]

I bought some yesterday. The typical price for named brands is £35 - £40 for a 15 kilo bag. The woman in front of me bought a bag of Eukanuba something or other for £40.99.

I bought 15kg of some unnamed stuff for "working dogs"  for £8.50. It claims to be a complete dog food and ours seems quite happy on it.

[annie]

You get what you pay for at the end of the day

Mine all eat James Wellbeloved Ocean Fish and Rice but at one stage Murphy (IBD) was on a prescription diet that absolutely stank to high heaven, however he thrived and gained 10kgs in weight, it cost me approx 45.00 per bag.

What works for one dog may not work for another.  Many of the foods for 'working dogs' are very high in protein and therefore not suitable for your average sit at home dog.

[Charlotte]

It's the same for Moggy Mix.

When I got Monty, I thought that I'd feed him on the best I could buy - which at the time was the Science Diet.  Then I saw how much a week it was likely to cost.  Jeez - he could have fresh fish most days for that!

So then I asked Battersea what they recommend and they said Whiskers, which is what they feed them all at the cattery there.  So Monty eats Whiskers, as bought from Wilcos at a reasonable cost.  He seems quite happy and is generally a healthy mog.

I reckon that pet food is a swizz.  Sure, Iams is probably better quality than Whiskers, which is better than Tesco Value, but when they say it's Rabbit or Tuna or whatever, have you seen the percentage of Rabbit or Tuna that actually goes in there?  Unlike human grub, they're under no obligation to tell you the ingredients and from what I hear, they use all sorts of nasties.  Including, for some reason, caffeine...

[Kathy]

On the subject of pet food, is it better for me to feed my ferts free-range humaney-killed squirrel, or specially made ferret-food which I reckon is probably made from battery-farmed turkey?

The only advantage of the shop-bought ferret food is that ferret poo becomes less stinky.

[Charlotte]

I'd say buy yourself a .22 Theoben rifle anna compressed air tank.  Probably cheaper in the long run 

[pcolbeck]

Don't need an air rifle with furrets just some nets and they will help catch their own dinner.

[Tom M]

I was reading in the paper the other weekend that M&S employ a pet food taster (human) to make sure their food is extra tasty  

Am sure it's okay, it's just the idea...

[annie]

This is a useful
site

[tiermat]

On the cost to pet food, I was surprised at just how cheaply you can get the named stuff, if you know where to go.

For instance, Lord Dashworth eats Felix (although Whiskas would probably go down just as well I imagine, will have to try it soon). Cost at the local supermarket = between 50 and 60p per tin, from Costco a case of 24 is £8.99!  Masterfoods dry cat food is similarly cheap, being around £5.99 for a HUGE bag.

One thing my younger brother has told me is that cats should really be fed on dry cat food as they tend to get gum problems if they only eat tinned stuff...

[Ian H]

I was reading in the paper the other weekend that M&S employ a pet food taster (human) to make sure their food is extra tasty 

Am sure it's okay, it's just the idea...

It's not surprising. After all, the people who buy it are human, not animal.

[marna]

I don't think that,, say, Iams works out any more expensive than (wet) Whiskas. It takes my three over a week to get through a 1kg bag (which costs £5/£6). They're not hugely piggerish cats, and one of them's not eating all she should be (because of ill), but I still don't think £5 a week is excessive, or that tins would be cheaper.

I looked into what it would cost to feed them on proper, fresh food. Now, *that* was expensive.

[RogerT]

For an experimental period I fed our Dalmation on one of the "cheap" complete dry foods.  He seemed to like it but..

He lost weight rapidly  ( No bad thing )

He went from dumping twice a day to about 6 times a day.. this was a bad thing.

It would suggest that the "food" was of little nutrional value and was just passing stright through.  In fact it looked and ponged about the same on the way out as the way in.

he is now back on Pedigree dried food and all is well again.

[Notsototalnewbie]

Cheap foods often have lots of 'filler' in, meaning you have to feed more and they excrete more. With the expensive ones, you give them less and it doesn't go straight through them. Quality not quantity. It's why you often get a free measuring cup, it's quite exact, the amount you give with special diets. And some of them definitely do use better grade meat than others (I think JWB that Annie mentions is one of them).

There is also a whole host of 'nutraceuticals' (ie the Science Diet and so on) that can help with kidney disease, obesity, joint problems, digestive issues, and so on.

There is also debate among some vets on whether special dog foods are actually the work of the devil and if they should really just be fed raw meaty bones, far too much to go into here though.

[ABlipInContinuity]

My partner has visited Pedigree petfoods and the animals in the R&D department get treated very well, the factories are very hygienic.

I think she found a video online of animals that Iam's were using that seemed to be catatonic.

[annie]

Cheap foods often have lots of 'filler' in, meaning you have to feed more and they excrete more. With the expensive ones, you give them less and it doesn't go straight through them. Quality not quantity. It's why you often get a free measuring cup, it's quite exact, the amount you give with special diets. And some of them definitely do use better grade meat than others (I think JWB that Annie mentions is one of them).

There is also a whole host of 'nutraceuticals' (ie the Science Diet and so on) that can help with kidney disease, obesity, joint problems, digestive issues, and so on.

There is also debate among some vets on whether special dog foods are actually the work of the devil and if they should really just be fed raw meaty bones, far too much to go into here though.

Interesting you mention raw meaty bones.  For some time I fed all three of my dogs on a BARF diet (bones and raw foods) I did quite extensive research into this before I took it upon myself to feed such a thing to the dogs.  I used some vegetables, always chopped very finely, raw bones, 1 whole chicken would feed all three dogs for a day, I also included oats, linseed, olive oil.  I got hold of the chickens very cheaply as I know someone who runs a certain kind of unit and would provide me with a couple of boxes of chickens per week for a very small sum of money.  The bones had to be raw due to the risk of splintering.  Of course preparing raw foods does carry a considerable risk to myself.  I no longer feed this diet for several reasons but it does have its place.

Diets that are high in fibre are not suited to some dogs with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, two of my dogs have this condition and were diagnosed following a biopsy and undergoing major surgery.  I am unable to feed these dogs anything but a diet where fish is the main constituent, the result would be copious amounts of very large faeces, blood etc.

[MSeries]

I was reading in the paper the other weekend that M&S employ a pet food taster (human) to make sure their food is extra tasty 

Am sure it's okay, it's just the idea...

I once had an interview with Mars who make pet food. They told me that they employ humans to taste the pet food.

[alexb]

The mutt takes Arden Grange which costs us £2/kg when we buy it in 15kg sacks. Not too bad since she only takes 300g a day.
She's growing like a weed though, but her coat looks fabulous, so I'm quite happy with what we're feeding her.

There are several guides which let you know how to "read" the ingredients on the side of the pack.

[andyoxon]

I discovered that our 2 dwarf rabbits get Waitrose Organic Rocket from time to time 60p/55g or £1/kg, bargain...     Mrs ao says they don't get much of it at a time... 

[Jaded]

For some time I fed all three of my dogs on a BARF diet

I think I must be on that diet too.

[toekneep]

We feed our mutt on whatever is the cheapest in the supermarket we happen to be in at the time. He gets tinned meat and mixer and seems not to notice the difference between one brand and another. Just as well really. Since he is inclined to eat tissues, fag ends and even his own poo given half a chance he really would have a hard job making a case for being fed the finest doggie cuisine. He seems happy enough but I think he may be missing the sheep poo since we left Wales.  

[Chris S]

We feed our mutt on whatever is the cheapest in the supermarket we happen to be in at the time.

Same for our cats. They eat what we give them from the offers at the supermarket. Then they go out and supplement it with rabbits, mice, voles, and (I'm ashamed to say) birds.

[Regulator]

We had a Jack Russell who ate whatever we were eating.  She loved spaghetti bolognaise, apples (the sourer the better) and peanut butter on toast.   She lived to be 19 years old, which for a Jack Russell is a ripe old age. 

She wouldn't eat dog food.  The vet said we should really feed her dog food - but that as she was thriving on what she was eating not to bother forcing her to change.

[fred the great]

Well, we have two of the healthiest doogs in Bangkok. Their diet is usually any time expired stock we have; Royal Canin, Science Diet, Eukanuba or a  very cheap no name local product which they love. Our Customers are generally very fussy. If the pack says for Yorkshire Terrier then they think it's not suitable for Shitzu and they don't believe me if I say their pet won't mind providing the taste is OK

Our cats would only eat Science Diet which is damned expensive here. I gave 'em Mio (much cheaper) and they refused to eat it until they felt very hungry

A good tip. If you wish to change your Pet's food, mix the old and new together for a few days so that they can get accustomed to a different taste.

[marna]

Same for our cats. They eat what we give them from the offers at the supermarket. Then they go out and supplement it with rabbits, mice, voles, and (I'm ashamed to say) birds.

I did some research a while back, about the ideal cat diet, and a diet consisting of entire small creatures appeared to be the perfect option. They need bones and innards as well as meat.

(I was thinking about making my own catfood, but concluded that it was much too much hassle and expense. Sorry, cats!)

My lot of beasts will stick their nose up at cheap catfood. If they get hungry enough to eat it, at least one will chuck it back up. They have never caught anything bigger than a spider.

[andygates]

Mine chucks up random stuff.  Right now, it's the fancy-schmancy Balance stuff (it was on special).  She ate the whole bag last week, this week it's chunder and woe.  Bloody cat.