Another advertising ex"scam"ple: I was watching Good Morning America while doing the
morning crossword (because I have that kind of time) and a spot came on for Natural Balance Dry dog food, touting it as simply a "superior" dog food. Curious, I went to Dog Food Advisor, a non-industry rating site for pet foods run by a dentist who specializes (as a hobby, I guess) in nutritional analysis. He rates dog food products on a one star to 5 star scale, based solely on the nutritional quality of the product.
You will find some surprises there; for example: Pedigree canned dog food, a brand we've all seen and heard about is a "1 star" food! Worse, however is the fact that Hill's Science Diet (adult mature) canned is also a "1 star food". Pedigree is priced as what it is (or isn't), at about 80 cents per can, but the Hills is almost $2 per can! Another surprise is that Walmart's low end store brand (Ol' Roy) is priced about 10 cents less per can than Pedigree, yet is rated 2 1/5 stars (250% better than Pedigree!)
Meanwhile back at the kibble. The 10 pound bag of Natural Balance original Ultra (Venison, Turkey meal, Lamb meal) which was the one I saw advertised is a 3 star (slightly above average) rated food, priced at about $3.90 per pound in the ten pound bag. On the other hand, Blue Wilderness Rocky Mountain recipe (Bison, beef, venison, lamb) is rated 4 1/2 stars and costs $3.10 per pound and is frequently available with coupon for under $3 per pound. Blue, of course, is what Belle the queen of the Bassetts (see the proud dad's photos below) is fed.
The moral here, if any, is that you should do your homework re; Pet foods. Even if the store website shows "reviews" by customers for different foods,those ratings are almost always , if you read them, based on how much the reviewer's pets seem to like eating that particular food. Remember, pets are in many ways like children and your kids would always give a five star rating to chocolate cake, ice cream and big Macs. That doesn't make them the best thing to feed them for nutritional purposes! Also, manufacturers reviews are obviously biased. There is not a whole lot of linkage between price and quality, as I illustrated above.
Take the time to check and compare at the site below. There could well be two good outcomes - saving money for you and better nutrition for your dog.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Meanwhile back at the kibble. The 10 pound bag of Natural Balance original Ultra (Venison, Turkey meal, Lamb meal) which was the one I saw advertised is a 3 star (slightly above average) rated food, priced at about $3.90 per pound in the ten pound bag. On the other hand, Blue Wilderness Rocky Mountain recipe (Bison, beef, venison, lamb) is rated 4 1/2 stars and costs $3.10 per pound and is frequently available with coupon for under $3 per pound. Blue, of course, is what Belle the queen of the Bassetts (see the proud dad's photos below) is fed.
The moral here, if any, is that you should do your homework re; Pet foods. Even if the store website shows "reviews" by customers for different foods,those ratings are almost always , if you read them, based on how much the reviewer's pets seem to like eating that particular food. Remember, pets are in many ways like children and your kids would always give a five star rating to chocolate cake, ice cream and big Macs. That doesn't make them the best thing to feed them for nutritional purposes! Also, manufacturers reviews are obviously biased. There is not a whole lot of linkage between price and quality, as I illustrated above.
Take the time to check and compare at the site below. There could well be two good outcomes - saving money for you and better nutrition for your dog.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
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