Pet owners who feed their companion pets correctly can save a lot of money. Many dogs are taken to the vet, suffering from nutritionally related problems, and the vet bills can be huge. i.e. dry/itchy/flaky skin, hot spots, yeast infections in the ear, thyroid - liver - kidney problems, just to name a few, cost the average dog owner hundreds of dollars every year. That is why we recommend that pet owners learn about the nutritional needs of the animal they are feeding before deciding on what they are going to feed their dog. When we first learn what our companion pet needs and then choose a diet that is correct for the animal being fed, it is a win-win situation: the dogs are healthier and the owners save money!

Some people believe that dog food is dog food, and buy the cheapest brand available, because, well, their dog is doing just fine, thank you! There are others that believe the most expensive brand is better because it costs more, so it must be, right? Neither of these people are correct. Saying "dog food is dog food" would be like saying "McDonalds food or TV dinners are equivalent to a meal at an expensive restaurant". However, saying that "the most expensive brand is the best just because it costs more" is like saying that a $10 hamburger and fries meal at a restaurant is more nutritious than a $2.99 Happy Meal."

We being quite informed due to our friendship with a local veterinarian and another friend who has been breeding German Shepherds for over 50 years, tried a variety of foods with our German Shepherd dogs.  With little working knowledge about foods, we tried a variety in a timely manner in developing our male River.  Medi-Cal was not one that agreed with River and it showed in the problem with non-firm stools, yet the diet was adequate enough to curb his appetite.  Next was Eukanuba FP to help with his coat, this it did but it dried out his skin extremely bad and River was never fully satisfying his hunger.  We were told about a dog food brand called Canidae.  It was a hit just after 1 month!  It takes usually 4-6 weeks to start seeing the truth about your dog food your are feeding your dog.  Best results are 2-3 months time.  Be patient!  Be consistent! Since then all our dogs have been on it, and we recommend it to all that want to know how River looks so good!  His breeder wanted to know if we were coloring "dyeing his hair!" because his coat was rich in color and perfect to the breed standard! Also River maintains his weight and is only eating 3 cups of food a day and he is a 92 lb. dog!

The key to choosing the right dog food is to know how to read the label. The most expensive food isn't always the best, but a store-brand is most certainly not as good as a holistic, all-natural brand either.

Price really shouldn't be a factor, yet you will hear that Ol' Roy is just working fine for us and it's only $20 a bag, because after you've been feeding a better-quality food for a month or two, you'll begin to notice that your dog will require less of the better food since it will be more nutritious, so you'll be feeding him less. As a result, the amount that you end up paying for the better food usually equals out to about what you were paying for not-so-good food before. However, just paying more for a dog food does not make it better. Take Science Diet, (or any of the Hill's brand foods) for example; Hill's foods are fairly expensive, but in reality, their foods are no better than the brands you can buy in the grocery store or Wal-Mart. Here's a visual for you:

These are the ingredients listings for Science Diet, Iams, Pedigree, and Purina ONE, not in this order, however. Can you tell the difference?

1. Chicken, corn meal, ground grain sorghum, ground wheat, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), corn gluten meal, brewers rice, chicken liver flavor, vegetable oil, dried egg product, flaxseed, DL-methionine, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, minerals (potassium chloride, salt, calcium carbonate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, beta-carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

2. Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), whole grain wheat, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), animal digest, chicken cartilage (natural source of glucosamine), dicalcium phosphate, salt, malted barley flour, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfate complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

3. Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Flax Meal, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract

4. GROUND YELLOW CORN, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA/BHT), WHEAT MILL RUN, NATURAL POULTRY FLAVOR, RICE, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, CARAMEL COLOR, WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT GLUTEN, VEGETABLE OIL, VITAMINS (CHOLINE CHLORIDE, dl-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN E], L-ASCORBYL-2-POLYPHOSPHATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN C*], VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], BIOTIN, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT), TRACE MINERALS (ZINC SULFATE, COPPER SULFATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE)

We realize that at this point you don't really know how to read dog food labels, but you should be able to see that all four of the previous foods are very similar, with almost the exact same ingredients. We want to stress this ... THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT ... DOGS CANNOT DIGEST CORN NUTRIOUSLY!!! ... HOW MANY DOGS HAVE YOU SEEN GOING TO A LOCAL CORN FIELD AND SHUCKING  A HUSK OF SOME CORN, BUTTERING IT UP AND EATING IT??? So why is one brand more expensive than the other? Because you're paying for the name, that's why.

The 'lesser-quality' dog foods are heavily advertised, so that their names become familiar to the general public, this is a marketing term called "BRANDING". The general public is more likely to purchase something that they recognize the name of, and trust what is said in the commercials put out by these companies as being gospel. For example, there's a new Purina commercial out now that says that they did a study and that dogs fed Purina from puppy hood lived 2 years longer. Longer than what? They don't say. They also don't say that dogs fed a better-quality food with more nutrition and less fillers (like Solid Gold, or Canidae) live on average 5 or more years longer than dogs fed lesser-quality foods like Purina. The Kibbles-N-Bits commercials are also misleading, leading you to believe that dogs love it, and that Kibbles-N-Bits is just as nutritious as the higher-quality foods, when in reality, it is one of the worst foods available (down there with Alpo and store brands). The companies that produce these dog foods can afford heavy advertising because they use cheap-o, bottom-of-the-barrel ingredients in their products. The foods that are much better for your dog, like Solid Gold, Canidae, Nutro Natural Choice, Wellness, Innova, California Natural, and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul are not advertised like the crappy brands are because:

1) The people that purchase their products do not need advertising because they already know they are buying a better quality product.

2) They use more expensive, better-quality (often human grade) ingredients in their foods, so advertising would make the cost of their products go up as they had to compensate for the cost of advertising, and

3) Their foods are usually only available in certain pet stores or specialty stores that are not located in just about every city or town, as the crappy brands are. Advertising, therefore, simply wouldn't be worth the cost for the better-quality dog food companies.   Does all that make sense?

how to read Dog Food Labels >>