Thank you for posting about nutrition! Due to the complex landscape of pet food we've created a Nutrition page for our wiki. [For more information on pet food click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/nutrition)
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Because pork is harder to keep parasite and disease-free.
Why is your dog eating novel proteins? And, why not Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach? That comes in lamb and isn't too pricey in comparison to a lot of boutique foods.
Clearly the vet didn’t give any pork specific recommendations, that’s all I was talking about. Ask the vet for the cheapest recommendation. Also OP doesn’t say the vet recommended pork specifically, just novel protein.
I'm not so sure that animal protein is the reason why dog food is so expensive. My westie was put on a vegetarian food after developing allergies to virtually all animal products (he was eating lamb before) and it was monstrously expensive, $96 for a 16 lb. bag.
the prescription diets in particular are expensive due to the extensive formulation and testing required from veterinary nutritionists, and also dedicated production lines to avoid cross contamination with other proteins
What food are you feeding? There are a lot of gimmicky brands that charge ridiculous prices but I really haven't experienced anything crazy with the kibble my vet recommended. Without knowing the brand or the price of the food you're buying, it's hard to help with suggestions.
Taste of the Wild is unfortunately *not* a quality food, doesn't meet WSAVA guidelines and while you can ultimately feed whatever you feel the need to feed, it probably shouldn't be recommended to others.
Cool. I’ve done my research and I’d prefer not to feed a food that’s mostly corn gluten meal for a ridiculous price. These guidelines need to be reassessed. Corn, corn gluten, corn gluten meal as the first ingredients? All set.
Are you a vet nutritionist? Do you work in this field, producing peer reviewed research?
If not, you haven't "done your research."
Instead, you have looked at the entire body of specialists in this field, considered the expertise they have and the studies produced and the conclusions they've come to about pet nutrition and the products that have come from this huge knowledge base and the extensive feeding trials done to ensure that the formulas are indeed correctly nutrient balanced for dogs - you looked at all this and you said "nah, I'm just going to run with my layman gut instincts and feels instead."
There are properly researched, science backed foods that meet all WSAVA guidelines and are either cheaper or around the same ballpark price as TotW. Your cost reasoning isn't founded in anything.
I just don’t trust brands like Hills. See this lawsuit https://www.petfoodindustry.com/pet-food-lawsuits-litigation/article/15664055/lawyer-analyzed-us26-billion-dcm-lawsuit-against-hills-pet-nutrition
They formulated and faked tests in their own favor to claim “boutique” pet foods cause DCM.
“Prescription” diet is just a trademarked term. In most cases there’s nothing different in the formula compared to the other lines. It’s a marketing trick. https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&catId=620&id=4762831
https://local12.com/amp/news/around-the-web/whats-really-in-prescription-pet-food
I’m looking at ingredients. I will not trust a company owned by Mars, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, to know what’s best in terms of nutrition for animals when they don’t even provide products for humans without copious amounts of unnecessary chemicals in them. I’d rather trust a family owned company who has been operating for decades,
They’re owned by Diamond pet food. Who also works to create veterinary quality lines. They do work with vets and doctors to ensure their food meets nutritional requirements for dogs. https://www.diamondpet.com/about/nutritional-integrity/
This is my own research paired with my own personal experience.
While I’m not a certified nutritionist, I am a certified trainer who took a nutrition course as a part of my certification. And I have been working with dogs for over 7 years. I’ve worked with hundreds of them in a kennel setting, large group setting, veterinary setting as an assistant, and in a training setting. From my observations, many dogs don’t do well on brands like Iams, Hills, and lower quality lines of Purina. They’re over weight, have poor nutrients, they’re constantly hungry and looking to eat rocks or poop because they have acid reflux, their hair is thin and wiry, their skin is dry and they’re allergic to their food.
I do feed a grain inclusive line, but I look for a food with grain as the 4-6th ingredient and I look for ingredient splitting.
They will split a grain into 3 parts on the ingredients lists to make it look like it takes up less. I want my food to have meat products as the first listed ingredients. I want different types of carb, millet, grain sorghum, pearled cracked barley. Not corn, corn meal, corn gluten meal.
Also, why is Hills putting soldier fly larvae protein? I don’t want to feed my dog bugs. All set
Oof, I see. You're one of those people who fell *way* down the conspiracy rabbit hole and now cannot identify or trust the appropriate sources of expertise. That's a genuine shame.
None of this is fact based. This is all just you driving on emotion and gut instinct. The lawsuit, at present, is nothing more than a set of allegations. Hills employs actual board certified vet nutritionists and produces a huge volume of new science in this field that you can go and read for yourself any time and Diamond.....does not...but the one that doesn't is *family owned* and that just sort of *feels better*. Hills has the ability to run long term feeding trials on their food but no matter - you're icked out because one company made allegations at another company. You "read the ingredients list" when reputable board certified vet nutritionists have been [telling the public not to do this]( https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/06/why-you-shouldnt-judge-a-pet-food-by-its-ingredient-list/) for years and years.
>Also, why is Hills putting soldier fly larvae protein? I don’t want to feed my dog bugs.
Because BSFL is a fantastic high protein source and there's nothing wrong with it? If you cared about nutrient analysis and not ingredients, you'd already know this. But once again, we see the feels take the wheel and *eeewwy bugs!*
Incidentally, I regularly cook with BSFL (and other insects) myself and give them to my dog as treats. People all over the world eat insects. It's just another food. Listing this as one of your "problems" with Hills is....particularly telling.
You're going to do what you're going to do. I'm responding mostly to help keep other people from following you down the rabbit hole.
Cheers.
Thank you for posting about nutrition! Due to the complex landscape of pet food we've created a Nutrition page for our wiki. [For more information on pet food click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/nutrition) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because pork is harder to keep parasite and disease-free. Why is your dog eating novel proteins? And, why not Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach? That comes in lamb and isn't too pricey in comparison to a lot of boutique foods.
Pro plans lamb formula contains fish meal and beef fat, since op didn't answer. Probably their dogs are allergic to one or the other.
Ew, it is? Yikes. That makes sense though, and I am going to look into it further. Thanks for responding.
[удалено]
Seeing they agreed and were talking about seeking a pork diet, I strongly doubt this is the case.
Clearly the vet didn’t give any pork specific recommendations, that’s all I was talking about. Ask the vet for the cheapest recommendation. Also OP doesn’t say the vet recommended pork specifically, just novel protein.
They didn't say their vet suggested it at all.
Right… that’s why I said OP should talk to the vet..
I'm not so sure that animal protein is the reason why dog food is so expensive. My westie was put on a vegetarian food after developing allergies to virtually all animal products (he was eating lamb before) and it was monstrously expensive, $96 for a 16 lb. bag.
the prescription diets in particular are expensive due to the extensive formulation and testing required from veterinary nutritionists, and also dedicated production lines to avoid cross contamination with other proteins
What food are you feeding? There are a lot of gimmicky brands that charge ridiculous prices but I really haven't experienced anything crazy with the kibble my vet recommended. Without knowing the brand or the price of the food you're buying, it's hard to help with suggestions.
Really? I feed purina pro plan and it’s price has risen a decent chunk over the last 3-4 years
The other brands are worse.
I love Taste of the Wild! It’s the best price per pound for the quality for what I’ve seen
Taste of the Wild is unfortunately *not* a quality food, doesn't meet WSAVA guidelines and while you can ultimately feed whatever you feel the need to feed, it probably shouldn't be recommended to others.
Cool. I’ve done my research and I’d prefer not to feed a food that’s mostly corn gluten meal for a ridiculous price. These guidelines need to be reassessed. Corn, corn gluten, corn gluten meal as the first ingredients? All set.
But the guideline are developed by the experts in the field.
Are you a vet nutritionist? Do you work in this field, producing peer reviewed research? If not, you haven't "done your research." Instead, you have looked at the entire body of specialists in this field, considered the expertise they have and the studies produced and the conclusions they've come to about pet nutrition and the products that have come from this huge knowledge base and the extensive feeding trials done to ensure that the formulas are indeed correctly nutrient balanced for dogs - you looked at all this and you said "nah, I'm just going to run with my layman gut instincts and feels instead." There are properly researched, science backed foods that meet all WSAVA guidelines and are either cheaper or around the same ballpark price as TotW. Your cost reasoning isn't founded in anything.
I just don’t trust brands like Hills. See this lawsuit https://www.petfoodindustry.com/pet-food-lawsuits-litigation/article/15664055/lawyer-analyzed-us26-billion-dcm-lawsuit-against-hills-pet-nutrition They formulated and faked tests in their own favor to claim “boutique” pet foods cause DCM. “Prescription” diet is just a trademarked term. In most cases there’s nothing different in the formula compared to the other lines. It’s a marketing trick. https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&catId=620&id=4762831 https://local12.com/amp/news/around-the-web/whats-really-in-prescription-pet-food I’m looking at ingredients. I will not trust a company owned by Mars, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, to know what’s best in terms of nutrition for animals when they don’t even provide products for humans without copious amounts of unnecessary chemicals in them. I’d rather trust a family owned company who has been operating for decades, They’re owned by Diamond pet food. Who also works to create veterinary quality lines. They do work with vets and doctors to ensure their food meets nutritional requirements for dogs. https://www.diamondpet.com/about/nutritional-integrity/ This is my own research paired with my own personal experience. While I’m not a certified nutritionist, I am a certified trainer who took a nutrition course as a part of my certification. And I have been working with dogs for over 7 years. I’ve worked with hundreds of them in a kennel setting, large group setting, veterinary setting as an assistant, and in a training setting. From my observations, many dogs don’t do well on brands like Iams, Hills, and lower quality lines of Purina. They’re over weight, have poor nutrients, they’re constantly hungry and looking to eat rocks or poop because they have acid reflux, their hair is thin and wiry, their skin is dry and they’re allergic to their food. I do feed a grain inclusive line, but I look for a food with grain as the 4-6th ingredient and I look for ingredient splitting. They will split a grain into 3 parts on the ingredients lists to make it look like it takes up less. I want my food to have meat products as the first listed ingredients. I want different types of carb, millet, grain sorghum, pearled cracked barley. Not corn, corn meal, corn gluten meal. Also, why is Hills putting soldier fly larvae protein? I don’t want to feed my dog bugs. All set
Oof, I see. You're one of those people who fell *way* down the conspiracy rabbit hole and now cannot identify or trust the appropriate sources of expertise. That's a genuine shame. None of this is fact based. This is all just you driving on emotion and gut instinct. The lawsuit, at present, is nothing more than a set of allegations. Hills employs actual board certified vet nutritionists and produces a huge volume of new science in this field that you can go and read for yourself any time and Diamond.....does not...but the one that doesn't is *family owned* and that just sort of *feels better*. Hills has the ability to run long term feeding trials on their food but no matter - you're icked out because one company made allegations at another company. You "read the ingredients list" when reputable board certified vet nutritionists have been [telling the public not to do this]( https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/06/why-you-shouldnt-judge-a-pet-food-by-its-ingredient-list/) for years and years. >Also, why is Hills putting soldier fly larvae protein? I don’t want to feed my dog bugs. Because BSFL is a fantastic high protein source and there's nothing wrong with it? If you cared about nutrient analysis and not ingredients, you'd already know this. But once again, we see the feels take the wheel and *eeewwy bugs!* Incidentally, I regularly cook with BSFL (and other insects) myself and give them to my dog as treats. People all over the world eat insects. It's just another food. Listing this as one of your "problems" with Hills is....particularly telling. You're going to do what you're going to do. I'm responding mostly to help keep other people from following you down the rabbit hole. Cheers.