# Good food for a budget????



## andy norris (Jun 23, 2008)

We have 5 dogs total. We were feeding Canidae, but since everything has become so expensive lately we have had to cut back on some of our spending. We wanted to ask what would be a good food for folks on a budget. We looked at Diamond Naturals and so far that seems to be a good choice for us. It's sold close to us where we had to go a very long distance to get the Canidae. Of all the foods sold at the local feed store this seems to be the best. We are considering either the lamb/rice, or chicken/rice formulas. 

I know I'll get flammed for the switch, but it's what is mostly affordable right now. Anyone else feed their dogs Diamond Naturals? If so how has it worked for you? I know this has been asked before, but just wanted some input. 

The store also carries Nutro Max, Science Diet, and the less desirable brands. We've had bad luck with Nutro Max, so that's a big no for us. Science Diet is less desirable from all that I've read and heard about. So we went with the Diamond Natural stuff.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

I used Diamond a few years ago and ALL of my dogs had the flaming sh&ts! I don't know if it was a bad mix or high fiber in the food, got off of it and all was well.


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

What about Chicken Soup? Or Pinnacle or Eagle Holistic?


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## Amy Swaby (Jul 16, 2008)

ii love chicken soup for the dog lover's soul and recommend it to anyone looking for a cheaper good quality kibble it''s the last thing i fed before switching over to raw completely.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

I feed 45 dogs Nutro. Been doing it for years. Their coats are great, they have the energy they need, it seems to be palatable because they eat it. 

DFrost


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## andy norris (Jun 23, 2008)

Thanks all for the replies thus far.


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

I have five dogs too. After I had been laid off from my job and unemployed for several months were were forced to cut costs. We switched from Canidae to Costco's Kirkland food. It works for us, I've noticed no ill effects and the ingredients list looks better than other food at it's price point


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## Chase Mika (May 2, 2008)

Natura (makes of Cal Natural, Innova, EVO, etc) makes a product called Heathwise. It's their budget line, but for a budget food has very good quality ingredients. You might see if your feed store has it or if not, if they might consider ordering it.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Chase is right, Natura's HealthWise is a good budget food. The only drawback is they haven't released it to all parts of the country quite yet, like the Midwest, for example. 

I had fed Diamond Naturals (the beef and rice one is about the cheapest I've seen that I wouldn't have major personal qualms with feeding) to my foster dogs for quite some time. As I'm a Natura student rep, my fosters now get California Natural, but I was paying like $22 for a 40 lbs bag of Diamond Naturals Large Breed Adult a year or so ago, which is pretty respectable and way better than Beneful or any of that similarly priced garbage.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I am using it right now and hate it.

Emma _was_ a honey-colored red brindle with a gorgeous sleek coat. Now she looks like a humane association special - tufty, scraggly, no brindling showing, pale... yuck. Loose, yellow stool. Nasty.

Abby was the picture of health, her teeth plaqued up, her gums were turning white, her color faded noticeably, her fur was falling out.

Kado has a goreous, sleek solid black coat. But it turned to brown, frizzy, stickup, tufty, dandruffy mess, his endurance and muscle mass were down and he had loose stools too. 

I get my house (and the big freezer) back and I cab't wait to switch back to RAW. It's cheaper than this crap-kibble and dramatically better. I should do a little photo journal of switching back to raw.


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## Greg Leavitt (Aug 31, 2006)

i feed diamond naturals lamb and rice for a long time but have switched some dogs to raw and some are still on the old cannidae. I have also had very good luck with a food called strongpoint hi pro. its no corn no wheat no soy and seems to work well for lots of my dogs. I started using it about a year ago when it was 16 a bag 40lbs and now its right at 20 for 40lbs not too bad when you compare with dog chow which here is the same price.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

I feed Diamond Naturals to my foster dogs, and to my house pet dog. I prefer the Chicken & Rice to the Lamb or Beef & Rice simply because it has a little more meat in it (1st 2 ingredients: chicken, chicken meal - 26% protein vs. lamb meal, rice - 16% protein, or beef meal, barley - 25% protein). I have no complaints with it, and have been using it for probably 2-3 months now. I also used the 'Extreme Athlete' formula - 32% protein - with Jak, and had no issues with_ it _either.

Just a little note to those that may not know - Diamond and Diamond _Naturals_ are two different foods. I would _never_ feed regular Diamond, which is made with by-products, generic meat meal (in some formulas), corn, & wheat.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

I have been feeding Diamond Naturals to my rescues since it came out. Just recently I have noticed a decline in dogs coat, teeth and body mass. Since opening the last bag, dog refuses to eat it and I had one rat die, 2 rats become blind and one has serious skin issues. I took my rats and dogs off of it and am still up in the air about what brand to feed my rescue.

I have to say I am shocked as to what happened to the food and why the dog refuses to eat, she is a pig of a dog that will eat anything and everything, so she isn't being picky. I'm thinking the food has been tainted again and caution others feeding it, to watch their dogs for strange signs.


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## Mario Fernandez (Jun 21, 2008)

Like Annie ...I generally feed raw or Abad y... my freezer went out of commission and even if I had room for anew freezer we are currently in a remodel job. I like healthwise all my dogs do well on it. Feeding mainly the weight control as I have two older dogs, supplement some vegies, chicken backs and flax seed oil, all my dogs look decent and are happy with the results.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Michelle, tell your vet ASAP so they can report it to the company (they'll have more clout, especially if they have multiple people reporting it). Also report it yourself.

http://www.diamondpet.com/contact_us/


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## Greg Williams (Aug 5, 2007)

Diamond Naturals is a good food for a budget. Our close friend fed Wal Mart brand food for a long time. My GF talked her into upgrading to Diamond Naturals and with in a months time you could see the difference. The dogs stool was solid, coat was shinnier and fuller, less shedding, and less of a doggy odor. 
A food I used to feed and found affordable is Chicken soup also by Diamond. The only reason I stopped feeding was b/c I started feeding Raw for awhile. I now feed Solid Gold Wolf cub to puppies and Solid Gold Barking at the Moon for adults.
But I think you'll be god with either Diamond product.


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## Alex Corral (Jul 10, 2007)

My sister can't afford to feed Canidae, so she put her Pit bull on Kirkland. He's doing really well on it. Looks great.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2008)

Winter road kill.

From October through February, I didn't spend a dime on dog food (for one dog). In fact, I even gave away significant quantities. I ran out of room in the chest freezer.

It's a little effort, but it's the labor of love.


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## Jamielee Nelson (Apr 24, 2008)

Solid Gold- Barking at the Moon (?)

Or whatever it is called. It costs less the Innova and Orijen. I acutally just bought a small bag and my dogs love it.


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## todd pavlus (Apr 30, 2008)

you could look at this link http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ It's a dog food review.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Steven Lepic said:


> Winter road kill.
> 
> From October through February, I didn't spend a dime on dog food (for one dog). In fact, I even gave away significant quantities. I ran out of room in the chest freezer.


Oh my. I have fed the occasional roadkill. Unfortunately here the only things hit are squirrels or possums. I don't feed possum, ever, because of their parasite load. And the squirrels that are hit are the ones that are too fat to run across the road - way too greasy to be more than an occasional snack!

Before I had dogs, a friend and I were camping working on a field study, and picked up two roadkill deer off the highway. That would have fed the dogs for a LONG time... We just took the skulls and some samples, and dropped the rest at a distance, for coyotes.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2008)

I'm not talking about vermin. :-s 

Only deer.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

You must have a lot of suicidal deer where you live. We hardly EVER see deer on the side of the road around here.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Deer here are all over the local subdivisions. If you don't have a fence they bed down right in your yard. I live just 2 miles from downtown. They have no natural predators close into town so they have no fear. They are used to seeing cars and people. The dogs are on leashes or behind fences and the deer run all over. I love when we have city folk for company. They get quite a kick out of sunset when they all start moving around.


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## Konnie Hein (Jun 14, 2006)

Steven Lepic said:


> Winter road kill.
> 
> From October through February, I didn't spend a dime on dog food (for one dog). In fact, I even gave away significant quantities. I ran out of room in the chest freezer.
> 
> It's a little effort, but it's the labor of love.


Ditto!!!


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## Meena Moitra (Jul 11, 2008)

Although new to board, not new to feeding.
I have to say that feeding my 2 raw has been manageable $ wise and I spend nothing on vet bills for my 13 yr. old hound. It takes me about 5 minutes to prepare daily rations for both. I use a human quality grain base by www.sojos.com and it costs me $54 x 25# including shipping and to that I had real food. Right now they get a whole lot of chicken necks at $1.39# which is less per pound than sojos! You can get a meat grinder to push through stuff into a mash for feeding all 5...


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Yeah, I've thought about getting a meat grinder actually. It would be helpful to get in case one of the dogs was on chemo or had just gone through a course of antibiotics or something where a raw diet would not be a good choice. That way, it could be lightly cooked without having to worry about supplementing the proper calcium levels to a meat only diet, if the bones could be included and ground. I know an excellent cat vet in California who does that with her resident and foster/rescue cats. I don't agree 100% with everything she says, but I think it's an informative site.

http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

I ditched the Diamond Naturlas for Natures Recipe. I have fed it before and it's pretty good. About $30 for 40lbs.


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## Russ Spencer (Jun 2, 2008)

Keep us posted. It's not much more than what I'm paying now, but I've got a couple of more dogs than you. lol.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

Ha, yeah huh? Just a few. I only have 1 on this food the others are on the Orijen. Sorry but no stinkin' rescue is getting Orijen at my place, you have to work for that stuff! Everybody gets RAW for the next few days until I run out. It's kennel party time over here.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Kristen Cabe said:


> You must have a lot of suicidal deer where you live. We hardly EVER see deer on the side of the road around here.


C'mon down to south Cackalacky- they are like rats down here. I remember not seeing so many when we lived in Asheville. Also saw a lot when I lived in GA [Athens area]


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Illinois has cut the State Hwy Dept budget on cleaning up road kill. If it's not in a traffic lane it's left to the critter to clean up.


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