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Post by angelollie on Jan 16, 2011 20:03:40 GMT -5
I'm in the process of changing my pack's food over as well. They have been on Performatrin Ultra (grain free) Lamb but sometimes I sense it may be too rich for some of them. So I've been changing over gradually with Kirkland Lamb and Rice. I may even continue half and half as long as the poop situation remains to be firm. So far so good.
Another web site that is excellent in providing a breakdown and rating system of all the dog foods available is dogfoodanalysis.com.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 16, 2011 20:44:01 GMT -5
We have decided to try Kirkland Lamb and Rice based on this thread. We have been feeding Maelle Acana Lamb and Apple but at $80 a bag which lasts about a month, it's getting a little pricey. We just wanted her to have a great food with no fillers and by-products and I found most of those foods ranged in the same price give or take $5 or so so we went with that one. I never even considered the Kirkland brand and always walked right by it, simply because it was an automatic assumption of mine that it would consist of a lot of fillers etc. because it was so cheap. However, I am pleasantly surprised with the ingredient list and glad to see an unexpected level of quality. We're nearing the end of the bag, so it was a great timing to start blending the two foods together and introduce the new one. We'll see how she tolerates it over the next little while. I hope she does ok, because the price sure is right!
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 16, 2011 21:09:40 GMT -5
We have decided to try Kirkland Lamb and Rice based on this thread. We have been feeding Maelle Acana Lamb and Apple but at $80 a bag which lasts about a month, it's getting a little pricey. We just wanted her to have a great food with no fillers and by-products and I found most of those foods ranged in the same price give or take $5 or so so we went with that one. I never even considered the Kirkland brand and always walked right by it, simply because it was an automatic assumption of mine that it would consist of a lot of fillers etc. because it was so cheap. However, I am pleasantly surprised with the ingredient list and glad to see an unexpected level of quality. We're nearing the end of the bag, so it was a great timing to start blending the two foods together and introduce the new one. We'll see how she tolerates it over the next little while. I hope she does ok, because the price sure is right! I think Kirkland is a great dog food for the price, but if anyone is looking for a cheaper grain-free food, the best price I remember seeing is Taste of the Wild. They're 30-pound bags and I think the cost is sixty-something dollars maybe, not sure exactly -- plus, certain places (like Global, which I love!) have "point" cards where you can buy 10 or 12 bags and get the next free (not sure if it applies to TOTW food though). Global also has coupons in a flyer book that I get in the mail, so there's more money to be saved that way. Depending on how Leo does with the Kirkland food, I might go back to grain-free. Also when comparing prices, don't forget that with grain-free or other higher-quality food, you don't have to feed as much. For example, Kirkland Lamb & Rice has 342 kcal per cup, while Orijen Regional Red has 480 kcal per cup! That's 138 calories more! So for example if you feed 3 cups/day of Kirkland, that's 1026 calories; whereas 2 cups/day of Orijen is 960 calories so you'd only have to feed maybe 2 1/4 cups of Orijen. At about 1/4 of the cost of Orijen for example though (Orijen costs about $2.75/pound and Kirkland costs about 70 cents/pound), Kirkland is still much cheaper so I hope Leo does well on it!
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 16, 2011 21:22:30 GMT -5
certain places (like Global, which I love!) have "point" cards where you can buy 10 or 12 bags and get the next free (not sure if it applies to TOTW food though). At about 1/4 of the cost of Orijen for example though (Orijen costs about $2.75/pound and Kirkland costs about 70 cents/pound), Kirkland is still much cheaper so I hope Leo does well on it! We switched a while ago to Global from another local store because they offered the buy 12, get one free thing. I like that I get a bonus for something I'm buying anyway, plus I really like the staff at our local Global store. 1/4 of the cost though is quite a bit so if she does well on it, Kirkland is what we'll give her. Thanks for the info, Monique! I'll check out the other one you mentioned as well in case this one doesn't work out.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 16, 2011 22:06:32 GMT -5
Also when comparing prices, don't forget that with grain-free or other higher-quality food, you don't have to feed as much. For example, Kirkland Lamb & Rice has 342 kcal per cup, while Orijen Regional Red has 480 kcal per cup! That's 138 calories more! So for example if you feed 3 cups/day of Kirkland, that's 1026 calories; whereas 2 cups/day of Orijen is 960 calories so you'd only have to feed maybe 2 1/4 cups of Orijen. Okay so this brings me to another question then. Purina ProPlan (which is what she was supposedly on at the kennel) and Acana Lamb and Apple have a similar cal/cup count. ProPlan is 385 and the Acana is 390 cals. We kept the suggested feeding amount from Bill the same. If the Kirkland is 342 cals/cup should we feed her more of it then? We're not switching from a grain-free food- the Acana had oats in it. What determines the feeding amount- the calories or the grain content, or both? Did I make sense here? I've had a long day and I can't make heads or tails of much it seems right now...lol!
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Post by krissy on Jan 16, 2011 22:25:31 GMT -5
You guys are so exact. I've never even bothered to look at the energy content of the food I feed my animals. I feed based on condition. If I feed a certain amount (whatever seems appropriate in my head as a guestimate usually) and the animal seems to be gaining weight then I decrease, losing weight then I increase. I'm pretty lazy that way I guess. lol. If he has a more active day I throw in an extra quarter cup somewhere.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 16, 2011 22:57:23 GMT -5
The only thing I focused on was the protein levels to make sure they weren't too high. I never thought to look at calorie counts until now. I usually do the same as you Krissy, and feed round about what Bill told me, what looked appropriate to me and to try to keep the amount consistent to what she was already getting. That's why I'm all confused now. I've never had a dog this big (all my others under 30 lbs) so I just followed Bill's advice for the amount. I just don't want her to be underfed.
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Aradex
Junior Grey Lover
Posts: 319
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Post by Aradex on Jan 16, 2011 23:48:55 GMT -5
I've never measured calories because dogs burn them so differently depending on the day they've had, how cold it is, etc, etc. Both of my two get about 3 cups a day, a bit more in the winter and a bit less in the summer. Sometimes I cut Dexter back because he's starting to look a bit plump and sometimes I up Araley because she's looking thin. Still, I'd expect most average-sized greys to eat around the 3 cup mark a day if they're on Kirkland.
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 17, 2011 0:13:31 GMT -5
You guys are so exact. I've never even bothered to look at the energy content of the food I feed my animals. I feed based on condition. If I feed a certain amount (whatever seems appropriate in my head as a guestimate usually) and the animal seems to be gaining weight then I decrease, losing weight then I increase. I'm pretty lazy that way I guess. lol. If he has a more active day I throw in an extra quarter cup somewhere. I'm being exact in comparing the cost of food beacuse I want to make sure I will actually be saving a decent amount of money if I'm feeding a food that's not as good quality (or else what's the point, might as well feed a better food), so I did the research. Also, some dogs you can feed them 4 cups/day or 3 cups/day and you won't see any difference in their condition; their metabolism seems to keep their weight very stable. My sister has noticed this with two of her dogs. Some people are the same -- they could eat more food and not gain weight; their weight would remain stable. So if you feed a dog just based on its condition, you might still be feeding more than you need to. I'm not very exact when I actually feed Leo; he gets about 2 cups/day (well, he got that much of the grain-free food) but I do the same, I give him a bit more if he gets tons of exercise one day (or less if he doesn't do much or if he doesn't seem as interested in his food for a day or two). Those are my thoughts about it.
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 17, 2011 0:56:49 GMT -5
Also when comparing prices, don't forget that with grain-free or other higher-quality food, you don't have to feed as much. For example, Kirkland Lamb & Rice has 342 kcal per cup, while Orijen Regional Red has 480 kcal per cup! That's 138 calories more! So for example if you feed 3 cups/day of Kirkland, that's 1026 calories; whereas 2 cups/day of Orijen is 960 calories so you'd only have to feed maybe 2 1/4 cups of Orijen. Okay so this brings me to another question then. Purina ProPlan (which is what she was supposedly on at the kennel) and Acana Lamb and Apple have a similar cal/cup count. ProPlan is 385 and the Acana is 390 cals. We kept the suggested feeding amount from Bill the same. If the Kirkland is 342 cals/cup should we feed her more of it then? We're not switching from a grain-free food- the Acana had oats in it. What determines the feeding amount- the calories or the grain content, or both? Did I make sense here? I've had a long day and I can't make heads or tails of much it seems right now...lol! I don't think you need to worry about it. There's a huge difference between 480 calories and 342, that might change things a bit, but otherwise I wouldn't worry at all. I would feed the same amount and if she looks like she's losing weight and doesn't need to, just start feeding her a bit more. I think she'll be fine though I think I took her for a walk at GRA during the summer and if so, I don't remember he being too thin. The recommended amounts on the bags of dog food often seem to be quite high -- for a dog Leo's size (tall and 90 pounds) I've seen some recommendations of 5 to almost 6 cups/day!
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obbki
Grey Lover
Posts: 550
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Post by obbki on Jan 17, 2011 8:26:26 GMT -5
Like greys4us, we use to feed Nutro as well. We tried the Kirkland Lamb and have never looked back. Wonderful.
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Post by twentythree on Jan 17, 2011 10:16:26 GMT -5
We switched to Kirkland shortly after getting our girls. The cost savings is great. I buy a bag of both lamb and chicken and mix them together. Our two just love it.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 17, 2011 10:17:13 GMT -5
I don't think you need to worry about it. There's a huge difference between 480 calories and 342, that might change things a bit, but otherwise I wouldn't worry at all. I would feed the same amount and if she looks like she's losing weight and doesn't need to, just start feeding her a bit more. I think she'll be fine though I think I took her for a walk at GRA during the summer and if so, I don't remember he being too thin. The recommended amounts on the bags of dog food often seem to be quite high -- for a dog Leo's size (tall and 90 pounds) I've seen some recommendations of 5 to almost 6 cups/day! Okay, great. Yeah, I never follow what the bag says either. Maelle's weight hasn't fluctuated much at all since we brought her home- she doesn't seem to have gained or lost much too weight so I guess I'm doing something right. Everyone says she looks healthy so I'll just stick to what works! Thanks again!
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Post by hammertown on Jan 18, 2011 10:51:37 GMT -5
I don't think you need to worry about it. There's a huge difference between 480 calories and 342, that might change things a bit, but otherwise I wouldn't worry at all. I would feed the same amount and if she looks like she's losing weight and doesn't need to, just start feeding her a bit more. I think she'll be fine though I think I took her for a walk at GRA during the summer and if so, I don't remember he being too thin. The recommended amounts on the bags of dog food often seem to be quite high -- for a dog Leo's size (tall and 90 pounds) I've seen some recommendations of 5 to almost 6 cups/day! Okay, great. Yeah, I never follow what the bag says either. Maelle's weight hasn't fluctuated much at all since we brought her home- she doesn't seem to have gained or lost much too weight so I guess I'm doing something right. Everyone says she looks healthy so I'll just stick to what works! Thanks again! Our previous dog alone,ate as much as our original three greys together,daily.When he was young and active during warmer seasons he would eat upwards of 10 or more cups per day. He maintained approximately 85 to 90 lbs all his life.On a 29 inch dog that was not over or under weight for his breed.I always use the recommendations as a guideline only. We feed twice per day,regardless of feed quality.Nothing extraordinary about the activity levels here. Now we have the four greys.All are approximately 5/6 years old.The addition of Herb has been noticeable to us when purchasing food,but not a surprising difference.Herb and Travis are eaters,or more delicately,fatsos!Both are stocky and heavy boned.Checks and Gypsy are not food motivated.They can walk away from a dish.Both have light agile builds.Same breed and all a little different. So far none of the greys have had issues with their feed.We have tried some different things and they eat roughly the same amounts and eliminate without noticeable issues.I have no explanation for that. I've been looking at Kirkland myself.It seems to be popular on many message boards for many different breeds.Thanks for the input everyone.I'm going to try it.
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OwnedBySummer
Hound Nut
"Summer" (aka Coach Standifer)
Posts: 1,392
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Post by OwnedBySummer on Jan 18, 2011 16:56:52 GMT -5
I wish Summer would eat the Kirkland food. I tried it but she absolutely refused. She wouldn't eat Acana, either. She's now on Taste Of The Wild but this last bag, she's really fussy about. I remember another thread about dog kibble (here? Greytalk?) and I actually wrote to the vet for the company and asked about the coloration and size differences from bag to bag. My guess with this current bag is that there is sufficient fat baked into the kibble so that the company didn't need to spray as much on the outside to meet the requirement, hence she doesn't find it as appealing. Sigh.
I'm tempted to try ProPlan and just say the heck with it.
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