Cost of Food

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by Sissy

I've tried almost all sorts of bones but to no success. She had a professional tooth cleaning 3 weeks ago, during her spaying operation and I'm trying to keep them clean, white and shiny

What kind of bones have your tried? A beef knuckle or marrow bone usually keeps their teeth clean, and a brushing a couple of times per week would also keep them clean. If she already needs her teeth professionaly cleaned at the time of her spay....this means either diet is poor or something else is going on.

I've had dogs for over 30 years (all different breeds), and have yet to have even one need professional teeth cleaning. My China is almost 9, and she get's a raw bone once or twice a week, and her teeth brushed once a week...and she has very nice clean teeth. There is a tiny bit of tartar in the very back, and her canine teeth are a bit chipped and worn (from chewing on bones)......but the vet was surprised at her senior wellness check-up how good her teeth were.

Take a look at the ingredients of the Hill's T/D.....all grains.

Gina

[salemsmom]

My 2 dogs eat a 40lb bag in about 3 weeks..I feed them smaller portions 3 times a day now that the hot weather is here....I'm spending about $18.00 on a bag of Beneful (they both love it compared to anything else I've tried). I buy it a BJ's...It's the only food that doesn't make Gia fart constantly (she's just awful!!)..Between the food and a Beano a day (vet recommended), everyone is much happier!!

[Sissy]

Originally Posted by brunie's mom

What kind of bones have your tried? A beef knuckle or marrow bone usually keeps their teeth clean, and a brushing a couple of times per week would also keep them clean. If she already needs her teeth professionaly cleaned at the time of her spay....this means either diet is poor or something else is going on.

I've had dogs for over 30 years (all different breeds), and have yet to have even one need professional teeth cleaning. My China is almost 9, and she get's a raw bone once or twice a week, and her teeth brushed once a week...and she has very nice clean teeth. There is a tiny bit of tartar in the very back, and her canine teeth are a bit chipped and worn (from chewing on bones)......but the vet was surprised at her senior wellness check-up how good her teeth were.

Take a look at the ingredients of the Hill's T/D.....all grains.

Gina

Gina, thanks a lot for your advice. The vet said maybe it's her saliva that is causing tartar built-up and I have to take extra care of her teeth. To tell you the truth, I have not given her raw bones, I'll try them.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by salemsmom

My 2 dogs eat a 40lb bag in about 3 weeks..I feed them smaller portions 3 times a day now that the hot weather is here....I'm spending about $18.00 on a bag of Beneful (they both love it compared to anything else I've tried). I buy it a BJ's...It's the only food that doesn't make Gia fart constantly (she's just awful!!)..Between the food and a Beano a day (vet recommended), everyone is much happier!!

What other foods have you tried?
Beneful is awful crap food......take a look at the ingredients. It's mostly grains and by-products and artificial colours. You would be better off feeding a more expensive food with better ingredients...because it will cost you less per serving. Do a search here on "Beneful".
If your dogs were eating a high quality food, without all of the grains...you would not be needing to use Beano. I can't imagine all of the huge poops that your dogs produce eating all of that grain.

Gina

[salemsmom]

They don't like any of the other stuff..I have tried so many different foods over the years (yes I mix the foods before I just change them over) It's funny, but for food that is supposedly "crap", my vet says they have the nicest coats and teeth that she has seen for a long time..Their coats just shine..I spent a fortune on the pricey stuff and they don't like it. Gia has farted since she was a pup...Gus has never farted once..And since you don't have to clean my yard, The one poop a day per dog shouldn't be your concern.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by salemsmom

They don't like any of the other stuff..I have tried so many different foods over the years (yes I mix the foods before I just change them over) It's funny, but for food that is supposedly "crap", my vet says they have the nicest coats and teeth that she has seen for a long time..Their coats just shine..I spent a fortune on the pricey stuff and they don't like it. Gia has farted since she was a pup...Gus has never farted once..And since you don't have to clean my yard, The one poop a day per dog shouldn't be your concern.

These are the ingredients in Beneful Original:


Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, glyceryl monostearate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.
F-4090

Your dogs may have shiney coats now....but as they age health problems will show up. Rottweilers are a breed prone to cancer...and feeding a food full of corn, by-products, chemicals, sugar and food colouring...are not going to help to keep your dogs healthy.

If your dogs need Beano, there is something wrong with the food that you are feeding. They are not digesting it properly.

Again..what foods have you fed? Have you tried them on Canidae? or Innova ? or Timberwolf Organics?
Canidae is cheaper than Beneful. I believe many forum members buy it for about $32. for a 40 lb bag. It's way higher in calories and digestable proteins...you need to feed much less.

You feed what you want to your dogs, but please do not tell us that this is a quality food and worth the cost.

Gina

[Ayoka]

All I have to say about Beneful is I don't understand why a dog food needs SUGAR!

All foods sold in North America have to follow basic requiremens and be tested on dogs. I'm not convinced these tests look in detail at the health of animals so much as the fact that the animlas don't seem to become sick or die from the food. I really do believe the AAFCO standard is a bare MINIMUM standard which is also applied to our food animals...(how scary is that!).

I too was a doubter when it came to foods. I started out buying a 16$-35lb bag food (feeding 4 cups a day) and thought my dog looked fine - so did the vet. But I noticed a few things like formed but mushy poop, runny eyes etc so I talked to a friend and tried something a better and more expensive just for one bag to see if all these people were full of crap.

Well for one, the new food cost double but I found I had to feed less (exactly 1/2 as much) so the cost was the same. My guys eyes improved and his poop was actually firm (nothing left on the grass after I pick it up) and WAY les smelly than before. Then we got into dog sports and a a runner I kow that good food means good performance and felt I owed it to my dog to keep him in top shape since he works so hard.

You sometimes don't know how bad something is until you try something different.

I'm also not a firm believer that dogs can/should turn their nose up at foods. Assuming your dog is healthy and not suffering from stress or recovering from something serious, I think the discussions on this forum have generally been that a dog refuses food it's either getting too much to eat or it isn't hungry enough!!!

[salemsmom]

I have tried Canidae, Science Diet, Eukanuba, and many others..My Shepherds were the same way, they only liked one kind of food, they lived to be 11 and 14..My older Rotties did the same..As for health problems, Salem was 11 when she passed, always healthy..Like I said, Gia has ALWAYS farted, even when I first got her as a baby... How about feeding them what they like instead of buying them stuff they won't eat and I end up giving the unused food to the local pound...If my vet doesn't have a problem with their food or health, why should you? So much for a friendly forum. Everyone seems to think they know what is good for everyone else's dogs, so when someone else has an opinion, you guys don't like it. Wicked sorry, i guess I'm done with this site. I'll take my Rotties that I don't know how to take care of and go somewhere else.

[Ayoka]

Well we don't agree and that, is in my opnion, the BEAUTY of online forums - What use it a fgorum where everyone agreees and no one questions ANYTHING ANYONE says...no learning going on there. you are totally missing the point of an online forum.

Many of the current members disagree (respectfully) on one thing or another and in reality we all do what we believe to be the right thing for our dogs and we (and our dogs) will have to live with the positive or negative consequences.

Nutrition is a subject many of us are passionate about and feel more people should be more educated about so discussions like these are always very interesting. I would encourage you to stick around and try not to get too offended when people don't agree with you.

[salemsmom]

Well, like I said, I have tried the other foods and they won't touch them....They will ignore the food for days and then walk by the bowls and dump them out!!! I throw it away after a few hours of it sitting and refill later...They are active..I walk them every day, they run in the yard when they want, they have plenty of toys, my 3 kids play with them constantly ...They just like what they like. I don't care about cost, if they liked food that was $100 a bag, I would buy it..But they like Beneful and that's that.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by salemsmom

Well, like I said, I have tried the other foods and they won't touch them....They will ignore the food for days and then walk by the bowls and dump them out!!! I throw it away after a few hours of it sitting and refill later...They are active..I walk them every day, they run in the yard when they want, they have plenty of toys, my 3 kids play with them constantly ...They just like what they like. I don't care about cost, if they liked food that was $100 a bag, I would buy it..But they like Beneful and that's that.

So, let's say your kids only want to eat cookies everyday. They won't eat anything else, only cookies - so you're saying that just because they like it and that's all they will eat, you will provide it? So anything that is nutritional is out of the question because they will only eat cookies. Pediatricians say the same thing - if your child will not eat what's on the table, too bad, they will eat when they are hungry, they recommend NOT making 7 different kinds of dinner just because the child is picky. That's the same with pets. Shelby would love if I gave her cheese all the time, but since it's not good for her to have cheese all the time, I make the decision what she will eat and what she will not eat. And I choose to put her on a quality food, Innova.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by salemsmom

Well, like I said, I have tried the other foods and they won't touch them....They will ignore the food for days and then walk by the bowls and dump them out!!! I throw it away after a few hours of it sitting and refill later...They are active..I walk them every day, they run in the yard when they want, they have plenty of toys, my 3 kids play with them constantly ...They just like what they like. I don't care about cost, if they liked food that was $100 a bag, I would buy it..But they like Beneful and that's that.

Your dogs are addicted to the sugar in Beneful. I'm sure if you offered them a better quality food...not Eukanuba or Science Diet (these are not quality foods), and put it down for 15 minutes and give them a chance to eat...they would eventually eat. No healthy dog has ever starved themselves with good food infront of them.

You say you have children? What if they wanted to eat McDonald's everyday? would you let them? Of course you would not! You know they like McDonald's ,and it is a food to eat on occasion.....but it would not be healthy for your children to be eating it everyday.

Your dogs h ave become addicted to poor quality food containing sugar....it would benefit them greatly to get them on a higher quality food and not to give in to their pickyness.

As far as your what your vet says....if you have read here for awhile...then you will see most vet's have no clue about what quality food is. They push the crap Science Diet or watch the same t.v. commericals you do...and think because the dog is dancing around....it's good food

I can guarantee you that getting your dogs on a higher quality diet will help with less shedding, less of the doggie smell, more energy and more muscle defintion.

Instead of leaving in a huff.....read and learn....and keep your mind open.
I work with dogs for a living....and I can tell what a dog is eating as soon as it jumps out of the car and comes to greet me.

There is a world of difference in feeding quality foods.

Gina

[trish603a]

i understand where the OP is coming from. when my husband and i first came to this site we were feeding our 9 year old pedigree, and our new puppy pedigree large breed puppy. When quite a few people expressed to us that pedigree was crap,i too was taken aback and thought well my oldest is 9 years it can be that bad. BOY WAS I WRONG. after switching to canidae, they eat less food, have less digestive problems (burps and stinky farts), and they poop a lot less too. Not to mention all the health benefits (no eye gunk,very shiny coats, and more energy). I realized you guys were right when i took them to the vet for a checkup and vaccines and the vet asked what i had changed....and said they both looked great. i still feed them both canidae, even though my 9 year old protested vehemently to the switch! they are dogs, they will eat. as for giving food away that they don't like to shelters..with high quality foods..you can take them back opened if they don't like them (100% guarantee).

[salemsmom]

I would rather donate the food than deal with the bubbleheads at the food store....Their eyes are fine, their coats are beautiful, no shedding, very shiny....They are very healthy, happy dogs...I know everyone has an opinion, but you guys gotta learn that when someone is trying to give their own suggestion to a question, don't turn on that person and make them the bad guy.. I've learned a few things on here, some helpful, some not so much..But the biggest thing is that some people seem to know everything and just won't quit...Sooo, I'm done.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by salemsmom

I would rather donate the food than deal with the bubbleheads at the food store....Their eyes are fine, their coats are beautiful, no shedding, very shiny....They are very healthy, happy dogs...I know everyone has an opinion, but you guys gotta learn that when someone is trying to give their own suggestion to a question, don't turn on that person and make them the bad guy.. I've learned a few things on here, some helpful, some not so much..But the biggest thing is that some people seem to know everything and just won't quit...Sooo, I'm done.

You shouldn't just leave. Stay and learn. These "people who seem to know everything" actually do have a lot of knowledge and experience with the breed and everything that I have taken in from this forum has been positive to both myself and Shelby. No one is making you the "bad guy" - you have your suggestions, so do others on this site. And their suggestions are backed up by the INGREDIENT list.