So I am out of my normal dog food for Magnum. I have had him on Nutro Natural choice large breed puppy food since I got him. I have to choose between making an hour or so trip (there and back) to my closest petsmart and grabbing a 22 dollar 20lb bag to hold me out for another 2 weeks or so, or I can go to Kroger about 5 minutes away and grab a 50lb bag of this old yeller inspired dog food for 9.99. Somebody tell me that he will be fine on the 9.99 food, cause I am poor! Really I just wanted to know how bad off the cheaper stuff would really be for him. How important a high quality food is. It says 100% balance diet on the bag. :) For ALL Breeds. lol seems a lil too general. Any thoughts?

Drive the hour. ....your dog will thank you for it. That Old Yeller stuff is just nasty.

Take Magnum with you for the hour drive. Not only will he love the car ride, but he'll love that his diet hasn't been abruptly switched...something you may come to regret if he experiences digestive issues with the unfamiliar food-loose stools, gassy, etc.

An hour drive will be well worth it. Magnum would love for car ride.
I'm not intent to put you down but cheap food is just like stuff they scraped up from slaughter house to make it.

Do you have a Costco near you? Their Kirkland brand is great and very reasonable ($16 for 40/lb)

If you don't want to drive the hour, you can order food online. The amount of money you'll spend in gas is probably comparable to what you will spend on shipping.

I agree with everyone else, drive the hour. Old Yeller is bad food. Give your dog better quality food.

Somebody tell me that he will be fine on the 9.99 food, cause I am poor! You'll be even more poor because of the countless vet bills. Sorry, that Old Yeller kibble is basically saw dust...$9.99 for a bag of saw dust... now that's expensive.
It says 100% balance diet on the bag. For ALL Breeds. lol seems a lil too general. Any thoughts?What's next, "this kibble will produce gold nuggets in the end", lol??? Don't believe everything you read.

Happy trails :).

Another vote for the good stuff. Cheap food does add up to extra vet bills, bigger poops and you will feed TONS more of it to attempt to get the nutrition of the Nutro. There are cheaper brands of food that will save you some bucks and still give your dog good nutrition. I guarantee you that Old Yeller is NOT one of them! :) You will never fine quality food in a grocery store....

Here is a link to check out-
http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/showthread.php?t=41451&highlight=yeller+dogfood

im not gonna lie i switched to purina pupppy chow about 2 weeks ago..vet said it is a good food.troy hasnt had any adverse affects at all...

Of you care about your dog...please don't feed him Old Yeller...horrible food...horrible ingredients...there are many other better quality foods that are reasonably priced..Diamond Lamb and Rice is a great food...not expensive...Nutro Natural Lamb and Rice is also very good....I also like Eagle Pack Holistic...very reasonably priced...your dog will be happy and healthy....

im not gonna lie i switched to purina pupppy chow about 2 weeks ago..vet said it is a good food.troy hasnt had any adverse affects at all...

If it works...

I think there's a big difference between Purina Puppy Chow and the Old Yellar dog food.

Patrick-
Where in Atlanta do you live? You can find a PetSmart or Petco almost everywhere here! There are also several feed stores and smaller pet stores that carry Nutro as well as other reasonable priced kibble.

Costco was mentioned as they carry Diamond under their Kirkland name. If you tell me what part of town you live in, I could tell you where you would best find food. I think I have a list of just about every store that carries dog food! :rolleyes:

i'm poor too....i feed Beka with Strongpoint NP that only cost about 22 dollar(230,000 rupiahs in Indonesia currency) for 40 lbs....

I know that some ppl use the cheap food with no problems but I encourage you to find a better quality food..to me the cheap food is like fast food..it will keep you alive but will it keep you healthy?

If the drive is that inconvenient for you, you could opt for the iams or purina one brands that are in the same isle as the old yeller. They are higher quality and many breeders feed them with very good results.

I'm still ammused that someone chose to name a food after a dog who got rabies and had to be shot... :rolleyes:

I think there's a big difference between Purina Puppy Chow and the Old Yellar dog food.

I totally have to agree with this statement. :)

You get what you pay for. That's pretty much true across the board from dog foods to fridges.

I had an uncle that smoked like a chimney and lived to be 85, so everyone has it wrong, smoking is good for you and causes no ill effects.

Just curious, for those of you feeding so called inexpensive foods, how many cups a day does your dog eat; 4,5,6?

Also, if my vet told me Purina was a good food, I would quickly get a new vet.

I had an uncle that smoked like a chimney and lived to be 85, so everyone has it wrong, smoking is good for you and causes no ill effects.

I don't feed Purina, but I do object to your logic. Whenever you point to one single piece of research that says Purina kills your dog (as there is ample evidence that smoking kills) I'll buy your argument.

I wasn't looking at smoking or Purina from the standpoint that either would kill you. My logic simply was that smoking is bad for you and does nothing to promote a healthy life. I feel the same way about dog food full of corn, glue, road kill, animal digest, etc. It may not kill your pet, but it certainly can't be healthy for them.

its always worth the drive AND the cost .. since some labs tend to be so sensitive to the adatives put in cheaper dog foods .. and the fillers used ... Jake Goes through less of the expensive food. he smells better, poops less often and on a more regular basis. To me all of those factors are worth 25 bucks a bag.. and an hour drive if i have to ..

I feel your pain we do not have a pet store anywhere near us, it is an hour drive each way. I feed mine Iams and they seem to do really well on it. No side effects and they are nice and healthy according to the vet. He said Iams was a decent dog food, but I supplement with real meat like chicken etc. My two love turkey so I give them some of that as a special treat and once in a great while a little cheese.

HELLO ALL,

What is everyones take on Science Diet? I have fed this to Bella my 7 month old Chocolate Lab pup since I bought her at 8 weeks old. She actually eats Science Diet Puppy for Large Breed. Anyone else know much about this particular food, is there better out there. Reason I am asking is that it is expensive, which I dont mind paying if it is best for the dog, but I am hearing alot about Purina Pro Plan and this Nutro. Any advice or knowledge of either? Hope all are doing well preparing for the holidays!

I've just done all my research on this so I can bore someone else - Andy is fed up hearing about how bad cheap dog food is :)

Mine are on Burns which is a Holistic food with no cruelty or animal testing involved (think only in UK). I used to feed a food that cost £15 for 15kgs the new food is £36 for 15kgs but because its a premium food they eat less so the £per feed works out to be around the same.

Cheaper foods are loaded with fillers which cause bloat, wind and tons of waste. they have 'animal derivatives and cereals' listed rather than naming the actual ingredients. This means that you cannot know precisely what you're feeding. One of the commenest reasons for ill-helath in dogs is down to their food. I would work out how much you can afford to spend per day and then buy the best food for that price.

I switched Origomi to beneful....He eats less and has gained more weight. The vet said his coat and skin looks healther....
Its about $22 for about a 30lb bag...not quiet sure I paid $7 for 5lb bag to gradually switch over.

HELLO ALL,

What is everyones take on Science Diet? I have fed this to Bella my 7 month old Chocolate Lab pup since I bought her at 8 weeks old. She actually eats Science Diet Puppy for Large Breed. Anyone else know much about this particular food, is there better out there. Reason I am asking is that it is expensive, which I dont mind paying if it is best for the dog, but I am hearing alot about Purina Pro Plan and this Nutro. Any advice or knowledge of either? Hope all are doing well preparing for the holidays!

I haven't researched this much, but from what I know, Science Diet isn't the best, In fact, I don't think it is good at all..... Your better off with Nutro......

Here are the ingredients for Beneful: I would run and find a new food!! The first ingredient is corn and the second is chicken by-products!! Dogs need meat protein as the first ingredient, and not just by-products.

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.

Don't mean to be on a high horse, but I would not feed my dog a food with any corn in it, expecially as the first ingredient. My thought is, if you can buy the bag at the grocery store then that isn't the food for your pup! I don't pay much more than you do for Eagle Pack Holistic and I bet I feed a lot less!

I'm sure you can get Iams or Purina ONE nearby. While not the choice of many, they are a lot better foods than anything called Old Yeller.

labby- I love that Budda pose!!

Thanks. I cracked up laughing when I saw that puppy sleeping like that. I wish I could sleep that easily.

Mine are on Burns which is a Holistic food with no cruelty or animal testing involved (think only in UK). I used to feed a food that cost £15 for 15kgs the new food is £36 for 15kgs but because its a premium food they eat less so the £per feed works out to be around the same.

Oh my goodness! That's about twice as expensive as our best foods over here - I mean you can find things in any price range, but generally the "better" foods are around $1/lb, which is about the same as £1/kg.

All the premium foods are round the £35-40 mark, for a 15kg bag - Don't get me started on how expensive things are over here! :rolleyes:

I don't know if it would help or not, but if you buy a 40 lb bag of the Nutro it's about $32.99 at Petco and if you have the Pet PALS card they track the food and after 10 bags you get one free. Plus, the bigger the bag you buy, the more you save. If you are spending $22.99 for 20 lbs, multiply it by 2, it will save you about $13.00 on 40 lbs.

I would not buy Old Yellar or anything commercial. It has really crappy ingredients in it. A lot of preservatives and nasty stuff.