Broke college kid here. I'm looking if you guys have any suggestions on a quality puppy/dog food that's a little on the cheaper side. I've been feeding Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy and I CAN get more for Vegeta but I'd prefer to find a cheaper alternative without losing quality. Any suggestions?

I feed Lucian Earthborn holistic. I have him on the puppy vantage right now, which is 44 bucks for a 28lb bag. It has a 4 star rating, and they have adult formulas with a 5 star rating. I'm in the same boat. I want Lucian on a good food, without breaking the bank.

I think Taste of the Wild is cheaper than Blue as well. I'd feed TOW before BBW anyway, but that's just a personal opinion. Canidae also has there Pure line of food and I don't think it is overly pricey. Kale did pretty well on the Canidae Pure Elements.

My dogs all love the Costco Natures Domain Salmon and Wild Brown Rice.
Its $35 for a 30lb bag. No corn, wheat, or soy. Decent Kcals, etc.

Going to second Costco's food. It's not bad and you get a lot for the money if you are on a tight budget but don't want to sacrifice good food.

I am on a grad student budget and we feed Costco's Nature's Domain. Even if you don't have a Costco membership, it's worth the $55 a year simply on saving on pet supplies for us, not to mention grocery shopping. We got a bed for Bode for $20 that would have been like $60 at the pet store and we also get our Frontline Plus there for one of the lowest prices I have seen.

My dog was raised on Iams. They have a new Iam's naturals that has no corn and meat is the first ingredient. This is the food she loves right now:

http://www.iams.com/dog-food/formula/sensitive-naturals-dog-food

I should add I'm a grad student on a budget, too, so I know the feeling!

You people and your Costco! lol. I had never heard of that store until this forum!

I now feed Earthborn and you should see if a store near you is offering their special where you buy X amount of bags and then you get one free!

Totally agree with the Nature's Domain suggestion.

The membership is worth it for the dog food alone, but there is a ton of other fantastic stuff there too.

I've got mine on the ocean fish and potato formula from american natural premium right now but afer a month maybe two i'm thinking of trying the nature's domain food also, just need bella to gain some weight again before i switch her once again. A dog store around here also suggested Native and Annamaet. Both were under $60 for a 40lb bag i believe, I tried Native 1 and it didnt agree with bella she lost a lot of weight but we had no major digestive issues a little soft stool, Annamaet is on my try list but my boss and dog trainer insisted on anp so i went with that first. Only thing i dont like about anp is that its a 28 or 30lb bag at almost $55 and I dont know if that will last an entire month between the two of them yet which is what i really need, a bag a month.

I'm feeding Earthborn Holistic right now, it's grain free, and 28lbs for 48 bucks online. It's pretty good deal too. I just switched off of BB wilderness too, and me and my boyfriend are also poor college students. We wanted to still feed our dogs good but not have it cost as much.

I was at Costco today and did see the Nature's Domain dog food. It seems like a really good deal. The only worries I have that it is made by Diamond, and I know they have had a good amount of recalls in the past. That's kept me on the fence of switching them over to Natures Domain.

I vote for Costco Natures domain grain free as well, it's what we feed

Wouldn't Diamond Naturals be good too? It is a four start but not grain free but plant and meat.
Usually this is found at store for the lower price. {I do not look for grain free as it is usually high Kcal adn I am gonna do all lifestages for my pups. My sedater dog got fat on high protein and high cal food} I know people say Diamond has recalls but Diamond is also TOTW, Kirkland ( including Nature's Domain), Chicken Soup, 4Heart etc and they were all done at the same plants with the same salmonella (SP.) As far as I know it is not just the Diamond "line" brand it is the whole company of Diamond that had the recalls this past year and the last large one before was in 2005 I believe.

Val what is your take on this, I know that you before have mentiond Diamond naturals chicken if you are gonna feed rice.

Maybe I said I would chose that over another food someone was deciding between?

Colleen, Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice is extremely similar to Kirkland Chicken & Rice. Because of that, and that they are both Diamonds products, your best bet would be opting for the cheaper of the two since the ingredients are so similar they're not worth arguing over. My guess is the Kirkland (Costco) version is probably slightly less.

Edit: A quick search online shows 40 lbs of Diamond Naturals Chicken going for approximately $30-$35 online while 40 lbs of Kirkland Chicken goes for $25 and some change at my local Costco.

Sorry Val - yes that (choose one over another) was I believe what it was. I figured it could not be bad if you did not say no I would not choose.
I was just trying to offer up a non Costco alternative for I believe not all places have Costco even it Seattle does. Also did not realize that there was a non (grain free version) which makes it cheaper than Natures Domain. Was looking for a way that if they did not want a membership they could go to a pet or feed store. Thanks for the help. I thought there was similarities. But I did not want to add too much information becuase I feed grain and stay away from the high cal extreme meat foods cause my older dog porks up on it. (Too rich for her I guess.)

hypers987 wrote:

I think Taste of the Wild is cheaper than Blue as well. I'd feed TOW before BBW anyway, but that's just a personal opinion. Canidae also has there Pure line of food and I don't think it is overly pricey. Kale did pretty well on the Canidae Pure Elements.

curious Brooke why do you like TOTW over Blue? Balon is on Blue Wilderness but I too hate the pricey price lol....

We feed Black Hawk in Aus and both dogs are doing really well on it.