I feed my two PWDs Purina Pro Plan Natural. So, halfway between brand name and premium?
My sister used to feed her dogs a combination of lean ground beef, rice, and vegetables–more or less what “fancy” dog food is made of. They did great on that combination, and it was relatively cheap (and corn free–one of her dogs reacts poorly to corn). Now she has more money and less time so she buys expensive dog food, but the home made stuff wasn’t TOO much trouble and worked well.
Taste of the Wild and similar are in the rotation for my dogs.
I feed Diamond Maintenance to the adult dogs and Diamond Lamb and Rice Large breed to the puppy. She seems to like the big dogs’ food better, though. It’s not super-premium, by it’s a step above grocery store food. IMHO.
StG
My little dog eats cat food. He won’t eat anything else. We adopted him as an adult so I wonder if that’s what he always ate. He would hardly touch the dry or canned dog food and was underweight until he got ahold of the cat’s bowl one night. We give him decent quality turkey cat food with scraps occasionally.
The horse I mean pit would eat anything in front of her. She gets Pedigree cans every other day in addition to the huge amounts of Alpo dry, plus scraps and bones.
Dogs are not supposed to eat cat food for the long term. Yes, dogs love cat food. It’s on par with table scraps as far as they’re concerned — super-yummy! Cats are total carnivores need a much higher protein level in their diet and this high protein level is too high for dogs. Feeding your dog cat food for the long term will lead to kidney and/or bladder stones. It’s okay as a treat, but not as a permanent diet.
I’d check with your vet to makes sure there are no underlying health issues that led to your dog being underweight. It may have been that he was turning his nose up at reasonable food because he wanted cat food yumminess, like a kid refusing brussel sprouts in favor of McDonald’s.
Soylent Green.
(well, it’s cheaper than Hundenflocken)
Stella gets Nature’s Recipe Healthy Skin Venison formula. She used to get Purina One, but she kept chewing on her feet. So, on a whim, I tried a better food without glutens or food colorings. The foot chewing completely stopped.
When my dog was only a year old he came down with Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (on Thanksgiving Day too, so the emergency vet made a fortune off us!). He was lucky because it could have been fatal- he was bleeding from both ends, both pooping and throwing up blood. I was terrified I was going to lose him. 
He was admitted to the doggie hospital and kept on IVs for a day or two (no food) and then when he was ready to come home we were instructed to feed him what the Vet referred to as the doggie version of the BRAT diet (that is often recommended for ill children). In the doggie world it was Beef and Rice. We were to feed him ground beef mixed with rice, a tablespoon or two at time (for my very large dog) until he was fully recovered and able to eat his normal diet again.
Beef and rice is healthy for them (although not perfect and they do need other nutrients as well) and easy on their digestive system.
My dog gets fresh meat every morning. The type of meat varies - for the next few days it’ll be blade steak with the bone in. In the evenings I alternate between fresh meat with rice, pasta and veggies, or a cup of Eagle Pack dry food.
We fed our dog Purina, this was long back in the 70s. We tried the cheapo Aldi Foods generic version, which Mr Dog absolutely LOVED, but he, to put it mildly stunk, when he ate it.
So he went back to Purina. It was funny 'cause he was a fluffy collie/shepherd mix and we never quite realized till he got skunked and I gave him a bath and after wetting him down he was still big.
Turns out everyone and his brother in the neighborhood was feeding him. Our neighbor facing our backyard was using him as a food dump for her leftovers. “But he looks so hungry” was her excuse. Yeah of course he “LOOKS” like that, all dogs do.
Another neighbor was giving him soup bones with enough meat left on it to feed a family. “Oh come on he’s not fat, he’s cute.” was that excuse
So then we had to put him on a diet. Poor guy he just couldn’t understand why none of the neighbors loved him anymore.
So he went to Purina diet dog food and lost the weight
Except for the nights when mum cooked liver and onions, then the dog got my share under the table 
My dog gets Pedigree for the older lazier dog. After she’s finished it, she gets the Wal-Mart version of a Beggin Strip. She goes crazy while I’m getting it out of the bag.
Beneful Healthy Weight. We’d buy the cheaper stuff, but they never have the kind we need in the bigger size. Oh, and table scraps.
We feed Beneful Playful Life to both our girls…a 13 year old Collie and a 9 year old Dachshund. We tried Pedigree, but the kibbles were too crunchy for the oldest and we had to wet it down for her before she would eat it. The Beneful has crunchy bits and chewy bits and they seem to have no problems eating it. No poop issues either.
I didn’t choose an option because my dog and cat’s raw diet is not ‘homemade’. I buy pieces of animals and organs and take it out of the packaging so they can eat. That’s all the labor involved.
They eat a varied diet including plenty of whole bones and organs (brain, liver, kidneys, stomach, lungs, pancreas, etc). They eat duck, chicken, turkey, pheasant, white fish, salmon, sardines, rabbit, mouse, sheep, goat, cow, pig and deer. They do not get any supplements, fruits, or vegetables and neither they nor I eat grains.
I started raw feeding 4 years ago and adore it. It cured both my old dogs health issues within about 8 months (lack of energy, bad breath, bad teeth, persistent infections in the ears, hot spots, worsening arthritis in one and joint stiffness in the other, general old-fogeyness - they act like puppies again and have fresh breath). My cats have been raw fed since they were kittens. My pets poop doesn’t smell and is tiny! That’s possibly my favorite part.
I say this with love and understanding, but… bullshit.
Cats and dogs have digestive systems designed to handle a diet of 100% protein and fat and mine thrive on such. I haven’t made one trip to the vet for a health issue in four years and do not expect to in the future. My pets have amazing health and I credit their diet, as on grain-based dog food my 10 and 14-year-old dogs had a variety of chronic ailments that have since disappeared.
Store brand (generic) dog food. When I first got her I got her some premium brand name, but she didn’t like it.
Just to point out, if you’re feeding them whole animals (or you know they’re hunting some of those animals), they are getting a bit of grain from the GI of their prey. Not to mention that they may occasionally munch on grass or whatever else is out there while they’re out.
Also, if they eat the whole animal, they ARE getting fed more than just “protein and fat”.
Lastly, just because an animal is labeled a carnivore, that doesn’t mean all their diets should be the same. For example, dogs can tolerate more grains than cats, and cats need even less protein than, for example, ferrets.
I won’t deny the claim about poop size and smell, since, duh, the less fiber in the diet, the less the bulkiness.
My cats used to go outdoors, years ago. I lived in the country and they hunted, killed and brought home plenty of prey. The one part that they consistently didn’t eat was the stomach and intestines. Often, those parts and some stains would be the only evidence of any kill at all. I had to clean those leftover parts off the deck, and it happened often. So I’d venture to say that stomach contents aren’t eaten all the time, at least not with my cats who were also getting cat food.
I liken grass to a dinner mint: nice to have but not necessary. My indoor cats never eat grass, and my dog isn’t getting any now either, since all my grass has been covered with snow for 2 months.
Dogs can tolerate more grain, but do they need it? I don’t think that cats or dogs should eat mostly grain, which is what most commercial pet foods consist of.
I think my dog’s food - Nutro Natural Choice - is expensive premium brand (that’s what I voted for). You can only buy it at pet stores.
You know…other than changing which “formula” of food I gave her (switching from Adult Large Breed to Adult Large Breed Lite), I’ve never looked at different foods and how much they cost. I used to feed her Eukanuba and switched to Natural Choice thinking it was cheaper…turns out it’s not!
I am really lucky that a PetCo opened up around the corner when Dolly was maybe 2 or 3. Before that I had to make a 40-min round trip to get pet store food. If I didn’t have the PetCo here, she’d definitely be eating whatever the grocery store had to offer.
As to your question, I think there is no carbohydrate requirements, as opposed to protein requirements in dogs’ and cats’ diets. And in that case, cats do have a higher protein requirement (and a different general nutritional requiremetn) than dogs, even though both of them are considered carnivores. I repeat, different animal species have different dietary requirements. Stop treating all of the ones labeled “carnivores” as if they were the same (they’re not). Same goes for the ones labeled “herbivores”, by the way.
And while it is true that your animals may not have eaten the guts of their prey, it is also true that they ate more than just “protein and fat”… because a whole animal is more than just protein (skeletal muscle) and fat (fat). That is my main complain when people talk about raw diets. In many cases, the diets contain more than just marbled meat. Stop being disingenous and spreading that bit of ignorance, please.
Do I believe dogs can eat less amounts of carbohydrates than present in some diets? Yes I do, and it is one of the reasons that I’m happy with the diet switch I made with my dog, years ago.
Here are some links about nutrition that I could find, because nutrition per se is not my forte, I deal more with nutritional and metabolic diseases instead… So I deal with the end results of crappy nutrition. 
:
American College of Veterinary Nutrition I linked to it some years ago, when someone was requesting information about homemade, raw diets, and veterinary nutrition. The last page, Nutrition Resources, has links to approved websites, including…
American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition.
Veterinary Partner’s Pet Nutrition Corner
Here is a blog from a veterinarian that has more experience in nutrition than I do. While I do not necessarily agree with everything she says, she does post some interesting information…
Pet Health and Nutrition, related to this topic…