a dog food thats comparable to Blue Buffalo

[brokenangel]

First off I'm going to ask for no hating on me.

We have a Newfoundland thats is about 7 yrs old and we were feeding her Blue Buffalo. Nice shiny coat, minimal stiff joints and itching. My husband lost his job and we are trying to pinch pennys, he said the expensive dog food had to go. I didn't agree but I said we would give it a try. She has been on Pedigree for about 2 months.... hair has dried out, bad shedding, joint stiffness, itching and she eats twice as much. We are going out this weekend to replace her food with Blue Buffalo.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a different food that will be gentler on her system and wont take so long to switch her over? The food is awsome but can give her the scoots if we dont switch her slowly. Imagine a 150# dog with the runs.... NASTY!

[piedpiper]

I switched my dog (2 yr old Weimaraner) from Blue Buffalo to Costco's Kirkland Signature Chicken & Rice. She loves it and has done wonderfully w/ it. Our Costco sells a 40 lb bag for $26.

[tbbucs03]

A vet will always tell you to gradually switch foods by incooperated the new with the old. A complete switch often upsets the dogs digestive system. I have four dogs,3 of which are allergic to wheat. I buy Nature's Recipe Lamb & Rice and there is a $5.00 q on coupons.com. Write the company of Blue Buffalo and see if they can send you some q's.

[Liz]

I'd do a mix of the Blue Buffalo and maybe something like Costco's brand. Also, a little bit of home cooking/good scraps (quality meats found on markdown, vegetables, cottage cheese, eggs--heck, my dog helps me clean out the fridge) that you get inexpensively would be a good way to make up for the lower protein. That should cut down the cost, but have much lower effect on the dog's health. I wouldn't skimp too much, because at that age they're seniors/hitting geriatrics for their size.

And while you're at Costco, I'd pick up the glucosamine tablets--it'll help with the joint stiffness. It's about $17 for 375 pills--I give my 140 pound almost 11 year old Saint 2 a day, and it has definitely helped with the creaking of his joints. I feed super-premium (Innova EVO red meat), and I won't go without this--the added amount they advertise in foods is nowhere near enough.

PS--I feel you on the runs. We've been dealing with that for about a month, possibly may have IBS and it is NOT fun for the carpets! Oh well, it gave me an excuse to buy a new expensive toy--a Rug Doctor.

[sdasilva27]

Blue Buffalo mails a $5 coupon if you take their true blue challenge, it is only once per household though. I had to trade for a bunch of qs.

Luckily, there are other good alternatives right now. The $5 nature's recipe coupon mentioned by tbbucs is a good one. There is also a free available for evo, innova, california natural or karma (link is in my sig) - all great brands. It's also one per household. You can use their comparison online to determine which is best for your dog. I'm not sure what protein level he/she needs but I can tell you that venison seems to be the way to go for our chow with severe allergies so we get the california natural venison. I asked lots of friends, family, and traded on here for a bunch. I'm in the process of picking up enough for a year for my male chow. My female chow eats a mix of blue buffalo and whatever other equivalent food I can get cheaper at the time (I mix 3/4 blue with 1/4 of the cheaper due to coupon stuff and she's never had a problem). Purina Pro Plan Selects Turkey and Barley is also pretty good, there are often coupons for it (PM me to remind me to check if you think you might want to use them, I may have a bunch of $3 coupons that I can send you if they haven't expired - Mod note: not trying to trade here, just RAOK and help someone out).

I would also suggest that you mix the food slowly to avoid the runs. We do 1 new:3 old for 2-4 days depending on tolerance, 2:2 for 2-3 days, 3:1 for 2-3 days then all new. We've had to do this several times with food trials for the male chow and he's never had a problem like this. He has had problem if we do it too fast though.

I also suggest looking for store coupons that you can stack. Petsmart and Petco typically have some. I'm not a fan of grocery store foods because I've seen it first hand and second hand cost more in vet bills than dog food but I don't judge if that's what people need to do. If you have to go that route, I've heard that Rachel Ray's is one of the better grocery store foods. I personally would do whatever I could to stay away from Pedigree but my chow while growing up ate that and had an extremely short life so I may be overly bias.

The last thing I'd suggest would be looking for feed stores in your area. I know ours here sells Nutro, Diamond, and Natural Balance and it seems to be cheaper than at the big box stores. They may also be willing to work with you. I know the one here gave a usual customer free food for awhile until he could find another job.

There are a few humane society programs that offer free food once a month too but chances are it'll be different food every time so I'd save that as a last resort if you can't afford anything due to the problem with the runs.

Hopefully I was some sort of help. With all my male chow's allergies and possible other health conditions, food has been something that I've been paying very close attention to for awhile. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. I also have a great friend that's a vet tech so I can ask her for free advice/questions for you.

[brokenangel]

Alot of good advice, thank you!

Dont have a Cosco around but have already started her on Glucosamine tablets that Ive gotten free with coupons and such.
I've forgotten about the Natures recipe coupons I have, I will check that out while I'm at the pet store. Already have one Blue coupon coming from them and hopefully I can hit my family up for more. I took the Natura Advantage challenge, thank you for that link. I also have tons of the Purina Pro Select coupons I should dig out.... good idea.

I have learned that changing dog food slowly is the key, I was changing her before and thought I was going slow enough and relised I wasn't..... learned the hard way.

[brokenangel]

Forgot to mention that I also cook her food.

After any dinner we have I throw any left over meat or vegies in a scrap bowl in the freezer then once a month or so I cook up a big batch of Abby food In chicken broth or what have you. Individualy baggie one cups servings and throw it in the freezer then at feeding time i defrost a baggie and throw it in her dry food. This is something I've always done with her the year we've had her, suprised me how dry her coat got after switching her dry food.

[kawakii]

Also you may consider Wellness, normally some good coupons floating around from them. Petsmart / Petco is really pushing wellness lately and their have been some good sales because of it. It is a high quality food, and they have chicken and rice formulas. I read today that Blue Buffalo has a recall going on, here is the link :

Blue Buffalo Recall — Vitamin D

[sdasilva27]

Just wanted to mention that I heard through the grape vine that this is the last week to request the Natura coupons. Retailers have been giving P&G a really hard time about the coupon so they're pulling it.

[benniecooper]

Purina also has a newer food out called Purina Pro Plan Selects. I saw it at Petsmart yesterday. It is formulated without corn, wheat & soy, which cause alot of allergies in dogs, like itching, redness & poor coats. There are several printable $3.00 coupons for it.

I am going to try some. I have a 2 year old American Pit Bull Terrier and he is allergic to corn. If he eats it, he chews his paws, turns bright red & constantly licks his paws. We usually feed Wellness, but I am going to see about supplementing the Wellness with this new Purina.

Pedigree foods are crap. I love the idea of Pedigree as far as their helping shelter dog campaigns, but their foods are trash. They are full of fillers & byproducts. That is why you noticed such a change in your Newfie. It's like us eating potted meat, potato chips & candy for every meal.