Bargain Brands – Are They Really?

Most everyone knows (but sometimes forgets) as a general rule of thumb you get what you pay for. The following is a good example. Fifty pounds of Ol'Roy Dog food for $16.97 at Walmart may seem like a great bargain. Compare the Ol'Roy ingredients to a nutritious product, Canidae that ATG feeds to their own pets. 

• Ol'Roy Dog Food: Ground yellow corn, soybean meal, ground whole wheat, corn syrup, poultry fat, Meat and bone meal (Animal Fat Preserved with BHA and Citric Acid), Chicken by-product Meal, Rice, Animal Digest, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin D and E Supplement, Niacin, Copper Sulafate, Manganous Oxide, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex Source of Vitamin K, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid

• Canidae All Life Stages: Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Herring Meal, Flax Seed, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Sunflower Oil, Chicken, Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Linoleic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Sage Extract, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin (from Chicory root), Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Mixed Tocopherols

Quality: Do you notice the difference in the two products? Poor quality ingredients are underlined. Dangerous ingredients are in red. Considering the costly, detrimental health implications of feeding inferior ingredients, the bargain brand is only short-term savings.

Price: Forty-four pounds of Canidae costs about $53. That may seems like a significant price difference for less kibble. However, according to the feeding directions on both bags of food, you must feed twice the amount of Ol'Roy to provide the same size dog with the same required nutrients as Canidae. This makes Ol'Roy's fifty pound bag more like twenty-five pounds.   

Many shoppers look at price first then quality when purchasing pet food, thinking dog food is dog food. Some believe because their dog eats it he must like it, therefore it must be good. Dogs eat many things that are not especially good for them, such as antifreeze or feces. Does that mean it is ok to feed it to them? No!  

If you want to switch to a healthier pet food, let Against The Grain help you select a food to fit your budget. The fact is better pet food does cost more. However, there are still ways to save money when feeding a premium food. Many of the brands ATG offers, such as Orijen and Canidae, have frequent buyer programs that reward loyal customers with savings.

Switch to something better today. In no time you will see the benefits of a healthier pet!

Against The Grain Pet Nutrition is a company that does things differently. We are a small business that is excited about offering pet owners better choices in pet nutrition. We believe that choosing appropriate pet food (be it commercial, raw or home prepared) is the most important factor in any pet's preventative health, convalescence and longevity.  Our name - Against The Grain - reflects our strong passion to provide pet owners with the knowledge to make healthy decisions about pet care even if we go ‘against the grain' of popular thinking.