how is the the cheaper brands of pet food worse then the more expensive brands?

Answer 1

Below is a quote from the "source" website....

"You get what you pay for

Don't always believe what you see in ads or on television. Producers often "stretch" the truth by saying their food will do wonders for show dogs, etc. For example, brands like Purina make their food sound absolutely wonderful. However, if you look at the ingredients, you will find the main ingredients to be rice, corn, or by-products. These are not high quality ingredients that will provide maximum nutrition.

Typically, the more expensive the food, the more REAL stuff they will have in it. The cheaper the food - the more fillers and the more they will have to eat to fill themselves. Better quality foods have more absorbed, thus they feel full faster. On average, you will SAVE money by buying the more expensive food because you will have to buy less of it. "

I hope this gives you a better understanding why cheaper brand foods aren't as great for your pet as the more expensive brands.

Answer 2

Iams used to be good but now they're pretty crappy. My kittens were being fed Iams from the start but I was given a sample of Purina kitten chow and didn't want to throw it away...my kittens refused the Iams within minutes of having the sample. I've had very good luck with the Purina. The Meow Mix packets are the only brand of wet food they'll touch-I don't know about the dry food but their packets are the best: you can actually see the scales on pieces of fish and they include the fish bones too (which are actually really good for them to be eating). Pregnant and nursing females need to be eating kitten food for the extra calories and nutrition. If you have other cats, it is better to risk them getting into the kitten food for a couple weeks than it is to feed regular food to a pregnant/nursing cat. As far as foods go cost doesn't matter as much as what's in there. Check the ingredients-the first four to five are the most important and should be forms of meat/fish but NOT "animal digest" (ie: manure). Cat's should NOT be eating corn, soybean products, flour, yeast, brewer's anything, veggies, ect even though cat food brands put a lot of hype into those ingredients. The most ideal diet for cats would be whole raw birds and small rodent with an occasional nibble of grass. Unfortunately, that is not practical for cat owners so ensure that the first three ingredients are meats of some sort and keep in mind that grains including corn should be pretty far down on the list. Many of the grains actually cause cats and dogs to develop allergies. I've heard Felidae is one of the best other than a raw food diet (which I would much prefer). Some petstores also carry frozen cat and dog food that is mostly meat with very few other ingredient and no fillers such as grains.

Answer 3

Next time you are at the pet store, check the protien content in a cheap bag versus a more expensive one...the difference will be clear...

I always check the ingredients and protien content when choosing cat and dog food..no matter whether I am going cheap or not...I had been buying a more expensive vet brand, but went to the grocery store one day with the nutritional info section of the expensive brand of dog food cut off the bag and managed to find one exactly the same, but at about 7$ per bag cheaper...(I highly suspect it is the same stuff, but one is name brand and one isn't) My dog didn't know the difference...so I suppose it can go both ways.

Answer 4

Cheaper dog food brands may be full of fillers, but more expensive food doesn't mean it's automatically better. For example, Royal Canin is 40 bucks for 35 lbs, while Authority Harvest Baked is better and only 30 bucks for 35 lbs. The more expensive brands like Eukaneuba have a lot of fillers in them, but that's only because they used up money on advertising. High quality dog food won't use money on advertising, just on their ingredients, so the better foods may actually be cheaper than the expensive ones. It all depends on the ingredients however. The less fillers, less corn, less wheat, less by-products,less dried products (like dried beet pulp and dried egg product), less salt, less sugar, more vegetables (not dried), more fruits, the better! Good luck!

Answer 5

The pet food industry is highly regulated so their really isn't many junk food products on the market. The biggest difference is the protein source. With the more expensive pet foods all the protein comes from the same source. The cheaper brands use proteins from many different sources.

Answer 6

Basically it's the quality of ingredients-more expensive foods use more expensive i.e. higher-grade ingredients. Cheap foods (like Ol'Roy) use a lot of corn and carbs and very little meat, and what meat they do use is of poor quality-basically the leftovers after the slaughterhouse gets cleaned up. Also the "fillers"-ash, insoluble fiber etc. translates into larger volumes of stool-your dog or cat has to eat more of a cheap food to get as much protein and nutrients as what's in a premium food. You want to look for a food thats been AAFCO feed trial tested-this means it's actually been fed to live animals to judge its formula. Cheap foods will say Meets AAFCO laboratory quality standards. That means it hasn't actually been fed to live animals before reaching the market.

Answer 7

Hi there...here's an excerpt on this:

Many foods contain by-products, meat meal or bone meal. The nutritional values of these types of ingredients can vary greatly from batch to batch. In poultry, these are ground, rendered and cleaned parts of necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines. These parts of the animal are generally less nutritious for pets and are of a lesser quality.

It is better, say experts, to look for specific origins when it comes to ingredients. "Chicken meal," for example, consists of chicken flesh, skin and bones only. A label that says "meat meal," however, doesn't indicate a source and can come from just about any animal. Experts say beef meal is a lesser-quality protein source for cats than chicken meal.

There are two schools of thought regarding the use of by-products in pet food. One point of view says that in the wild, a cat (or dog) will eat every part of its prey -- bones, fur, guts and all -- therefore, by-products are a natural part of a cat's natural diet. So a small amount of by-product might not be so bad. The opposing view believes that by-products do not belong in cat food at all, and many premium brands don't contain any. While some say a small percentage of by-product is acceptable, it should not be the primary ingredient -- just as a wild cat's diet would be composed mainly of meat, so should your cat's.

Artificial preservatives also give cat owners pause. There have been no studies done to determine the effects of long term build-up of preservatives. Even so, use of preservatives in human food has become a concern and has translated to pet food. Based on customer concerns, the best cat foods have switched to Vitamins C or E as preservatives rather than artificial components. If you decide to avoid artificial preservatives, check the label. Some common names of these chemicals include BHA/BHT, ethoxyquin and propyl gallate.

... for extensive information about commercial pet food focused towards cat food but can apply overall to all pet food: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/cat-food/review.html

Answer 8

The cheaper brands of pet food often have a lot of fillers in them like peanut shells and other things that aren't really good for your pets. It is reported that some even have dogs and cats in them!!1

http://experts.about.com/q/Dogs-701/good-dog-food.htm

Answer 9

everyone who has responded is correct. One of the most important things though that has not been mentioned is that the cheaper/less expensive/off brand foods contain a lot of ingredients that your animals body does not use or can not use. Therefore, they poop a lot more.

Answer 10

Cheap foods have a lot of crap in them, like ash, and animal 'by-products' (in other words, the stuff you wouldn't want to eat like snouts and eyeballs and viscera). Expensive brands, however, have good quality meat, fish, grain and vegetables. On good food, your pet will have a nicer coat, be more active, healthy, slim and toned, etc. And it tastes better, too (I'm guessing)