I keep hearing, again and again in the dog community, that you shouldn’t buy dog food from the grocery store. That it must either be home made, come from a boutique store, ,PetSmart/Petco, or be ordered on line.
Clever marketing by the $$$ brands or dog owner snobbery?
From people trying to sell you expensive dog food.
Then again, you can buy cheap grocery brands at chain pet stores, so does that make them okay?
Pretty much. The groceries will mostly stock the inexpensive varieties which can be full of grain, not necessarily the best diet for a dog, but the claims of the high end ‘healthy’ brands are sometimes dubious. Several low end brands are very high in protein though, perfectly good for most dogs. Pet food makers aim at whoever is paying for the dog food, most dogs don’t carry much money so it’s usually some human that is the marketing target. You’ll also notice that vets recommend the dog food they sell.
cheap grocery store (and pet store) dog foods are mostly grain, and some people have a problem with that.
Grocery stores/Super markets do not make the pet food that they sell. If someone has a problem with Purina, or any of the other well know pet food product makers, they should say that they object to Purina and why.
The price of the products of long-established, well-known pet food makers is generally cheaper because they move a very large volume of product thru grocery stores. That, and the competition between the larger brands.
If you’re interested in experimenting on your pet with the boutique brands, I suggest that you start with small doses and gradually increase the percentage until you completely replace whatever your using now. Keep an eye on your pets poop, coat, skin, hair, fur, feathers, energy, and eyes. Look for any changes. Maybe the changes will be an improvement, maybe they won’t.
I actually ended up going BACK to the grocery store food due to the boutique foods either not interesting my dogs or causing loose poops. Right now we rotate between Rachel Ray and Purina.
Because dog food in grocery stores are crap. If dog-food commercials are any indicator many dog-owners are not aware that dogs are carnivores and their digestive system is not made to process vegetables and grain. Moreover, the grain used in that food is usually “spent” grain meaning it has been used for a different purpose and has virtually no nutrient value left. Look up Purina Dog Chow. It is only 21% protein and 57% carbs. Did I mention canines are carnivores and don’t process corn and gluten? Blue Buffalo by comparison is 30% protein
To those who say that grocery store dog food is just as good as a healthier alternative, then I guess a McDonalds diet is just as healthy for you as a well-rounded diet plan. But what does AAFCO (think Consumer Reports for pet food) say is a healthy diet for dogs
What’s the Best Dog Food?
How does Purina fare? Read its one-star report.
I feed myself from the grocery store! Why should the dog have higher aspirations?
I literally have no dog in this fight, but this is exactly why pronouncements like Saint Cad’s come across to me like snobbery.
Try telling this to a cat. My cat won’t eat anything other than Friskies, and believe me, we’ve tried. (She has a sensitive stomach) And she won’t touch dry cat food.
This, exactly. Also, many dog breeds have inherent ingredient-based allergies. For example, none of our huskies could, and currently cannot eat anything soy-based. Our late Aussie mix had a corn sensitivity. So yes, as pet owner/parent, I will spend the $ for a grain-free product they will eat.
I’ve had to buy supermarket-based kibble in a pinch at times, though. In that case the Nutrish brand, although not great in terms of protein/grain percentages, is a much better choice than Purina and its ilk.
Yep. When I tried to move my cats to Iams on a vet’s suggestion, my cats’ opinion was along the lines of “I ain’t eatin’ this weird smelling shit. Make with the Fancy Feast, you dumbass hindfoot.”
I bought Iams from the local Farmers Coop for a decade.
They changed the formula and started selling it in grocery stores. I thought the quality went down.
I started buying Hill’s Science at Petco.
The difference of course is that the supermarket stocks a wide variety of human food, from packages of ramen noodles to fresh arugula. But their range of pet food tends to be far more limited( a little expanded if like me you live in an area with affluent people and fancier supermarkets ).
Dogs actually aren’t quite obligate carnivores( cats more or less are ), more carnivore inclined with some omnivorous capacity. It is possible, not advisable IMHO but possible, to keep a semi-healthy vegetarian dog with an awful lot of work. But that doesn’t imply that they can make great use of a lot of the filler in cheaper dog foods. And it is really isn’t possible to keep a healthy vegetarian cat.
I’ve owned a cat that lived for 17 years on mostly “crap” dry food. But I do feed premium brands these days ( and only wet food )and I do notice a difference, mostly in a softer/glossier coat. Anecdotal, but there you have it.
Not all types of dogfood by the same manufacturer are of similar quality. Go to the websites and see what you should be looking for on the ingredient lists. I forget - it was some time ago, but I concluded that IAMS Lamb and Rice was sufficiently good for my dogs. Other IAMS foods are much lower in the important areas. It is pretty easy to essentially see if one of the first couple of ingredients is actually meat, as opposed to sweepings from the slaughterhouse floor and corn. It is really handy to be able to pick up dog food during your regular grocery trip, rather than making a separate trip.
IIRC, Science Diet, which is sold by many vets, ranks pretty poorly.
Also, when we tried one different brand, our dogs responded with the runs.
I also seem to recall that one of the Purina brands was decent - whereas most of them were total crap. Just check out the first 2-3 ingredients, and the nutritional data.
My filthy hounds will eat cat and chicken shit, as well as random offal from around the barnyard. I really can’t get my wife’s obsession with premium dog food.
I buy them whatever the store has on sale when a bag breaks open and they mark it down to half price.
They seem to not be too bothered, as long as they get their Jeep ride every day.
I bought them a big-ass bag of this https://www.aboundpet.com/ that looks fine to me, but the wife won’t feed it to them. Guess I’ll have to…
I remember a David Letterman bit on the Tonight Show. He observed that a dog food advertised that it included “not a speck of cereal” (I think).
He said something like “My dog eats crap and drinks from the toilet. I don’t think he’d be bothered by a speck of cereal.” 
And all of the dogs I have known appear to strongly believe that what is good enough for their masters is good enough for them.
This thread makes me nostalgic for the 60s, when your dog food choices were essentially limited to Purina and Alpo (or, if you wanted to get all exotic and fancy, Gravy Train or Chuck Wagon).