Addicted to Expensive Dog Food

[LittleBarbarian]

So I caved in to the online infomercial and bought my Cairn some Dr Marty dog food. The raw food that's freeze dried and over $30 (!) for a tiny bag. Bashful had been foraging way too much. Eating strange things from the woods and beach. While some of this behavior is her way of having fun, I got the impression that at least some of it might be related to inadequate nutrition. She also had runny poop way too often. So I gave in to marketing and bought Dr Marty. The good news is she gobbled it right up. I used it as a topper on her regular food. All was good for half the week, but now she ignores her regular food and only eats the Dr Marty food. The other good news is her poop isn't runny, there's less of it and she isn't foraging quite as much. But this food is a second car payment -- even as a topper. I can't imaging feeding it to her exclusively.

My question for you is: what are you feeding your Cairns? 

[sanford]

Food has been an endless topic on this forum. What one dog loves, another won’t touch. When you factor in cost and nutrition, the search can become complicated and time-consuming. I’ve been tempted to try Dr. Marty’s, but didn’t because of $$$.

(Food aside, foraging in the woods and on the beach and eating strange things can also cause runny poop, as many of us have discovered)

[pkcrossley]

i'm a firm believer in the fundamental importance of nutrition, and i see the results in my animals and myself. vets think about how to fix what's wrong more than they think about how to prevent things going wrong.

that said, i can't feed raw or self-prepared (though many on here do and can tell you all about it). i don't know how to cook anything and i would not trust myself to get the spectrum of nutrients right. so i too am a bit of a sucker for the fab food fads. i can say: i have had very good luck with the premium commercial brands, particularly Wellness, Merrick and Castor & Pollux. none of them will break the bank, they are not impossible to find (my grocery carries both Wellness and C&P), they cover the nutrients while excluding the worse ingredients and pollutants like melamine, and they all have minimal or no recall records.

i would still prefer fresh food to avoid high-temperature carcinogens (and causes of hyperthyroidism). i tried Portland Pet Food (not frozen but vacuum packed) and liked it but it was very expensive. i looked into the subscription things (all of which have extremely aggressive marketing, so if you visit the site be prepared to be pelted with passionate love letters from the company for some period of timd). Farmer's Dog seemed ideal, but the subscription is very expensive. Nom Nom seemed close, and was about 20% less. i am giving it a try. in general i don't think the subscription service is going to work for me, i imagine the food being delivered at the wrong times and uneaten food piling up while the bank account drains. i may go back to Portland Pet Food because it does not require a subscription and i can order as needed (for both dogs and cats). because i have multiple pets, i think that if i subscribe for a single pet i can probably parse the food out in combo with a premium brand and achieve most of what i am looking for --increased nutrition, decreased contamination, and food appetizing enough to not provoke picky eating among my crew. 

a good portion of what you are paying will come back to you in non-existing vet bills, so don't flinch at the sticker price until you put it in context. truly well prepared, and well-packed and reliably delivered food cannot be cheap. but i think there are strategies to balance out the cost (and of course cooking for your own dog is the cheapest and best of all).

Edited May 31, 2021 by pkcrossley
more thought

[Hillscreek]

I gave up on which food is best for dogs. For many years our dogs ate our food leftovers as topper in some sort of biscuit. The dogs were rarely sick. They lived a normal life span. 

Using a long line when out walking will allow a dog freedom to explore and will also allow you to control that freedom so maybe less scavenging. I used 20ft 30ft and 50ft lines with Angus when he was young and first walking out on the open land. 

Since kibble became popular the market has gone wild. There's no agreement on what the "best" food is for dogs. The ads often seem to prey on owners' guilt about properly caring for their dog. The pricier it is often means it maybe the best. Personally I'm not convinced. There are plenty of dogs round here that do just fine on cheap grocery food store. We bought the slightly more expensive Wellness because the feed store where we bought stuff for the horses sold it. It was convenient. 

I think additives are sometimes added to the kibble to make it more tasty and possibly addictive - possibly encouraging picky eaters. 

Good recipes are available on this site if you want to cook for your cairn.

Best advice I can give is find a food your dog likes and eats and you can afford. Stick with that. Changing from this to that can sometimes have a negative effect on the digestive system. 

[LittleBarbarian]

Hi Sanford, "I’ve been tempted to try Dr. Marty’s, but didn’t because of $$$." That's the smart move; don't let the vampire in the door.

Hi pk crossley: "i have had very good luck with the premium commercial brands, particularly Wellness, Merrick and Castor & Pollux." Thanks for that tip. I've been using a "base" of iams, and I think the dog is undernourished. She eats a heap of it, then pushes her bowl around the kitchen, then forages when we're out. One thing I'll say about the pricey Dr Marty stuff: she is satisfied with a small bowl of it. 

Hi Hillscreek: "Using a long line when out walking will allow a dog freedom to explore and will also allow you to control that freedom so maybe less scavenging. I used 20ft 30ft and 50ft lines with Angus when he was young and first walking out on the open land" I use a retractable 16' leash. Bashful has become very crafty, with stealth foraging. By the time I get to her she's already swallowed whatever tempted her. She used to carry the (nasty, whatever things) out, then eat them, but I kept grabbing her and making her spit things out. Now she's a pro at it, and comes out of the bush laughing at me. It's become a game. 

"I think additives are sometimes added to the kibble to make it more tasty and possibly addictive - possibly encouraging picky eaters." I'm convinced that's true of the dept. store food. It's like McDonald's for dogs. I don't know about the Dr Marty raw food. If there are additives there I'd be extremely POd, considering the price. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by LittleBarbarian

[pkcrossley]

this is a follow-up to my note above. i cancelled the Nom Nom description. nobody would eat it. the cost was ridiculous. i will stick with premium brands Castor  & Pollux, Merrick, and Wellness until I have time/skill to prepare their food myself. disappointed the subscription did not work out. i think the animals don't like food that has been frozen and then thawed. it fed the septic system but not the pets. 

[LittleBarbarian]

Thanks for the follow-up. Sorry that particular program didn't work out. My follow-up on the Dr Marty is a bit more positive. I had to vacate my mother's property, with the dog. I was worried she would be traumatized, but so far so good. The Dr Marty food has been very convenient, being freeze dried. She eats it and her energy is good and poop normal. No accidents. Of course it all comes down to whether the dog will eat the food. What with traveling and staying in strange places, it's good to have bagged food that the dog will eat. 

[pkcrossley]

oh, good that worked out. in my note i meant "prescription," as you guessed, not "description."