If Menu Foods makes most the pet food sold, why am I paying more for a premium brand?

Question

I feed my dog Nutro brand dry dog food. It was one of the brands (but not the kind) listed in Menu Foods recall. So was Walmart's brand and other lesser cost foods. It doesn't make sense that I'm paying a lot thinking I'm feeding my dog a higher quality product. Anybody know if there's actually a difference in pet food brand quality?

Answer 1

I would say generally with pet food, you get what you pay for. Don't be fooled by posh packaging, it'll be very yummy for your pet but probably full of fat and sugar.

Best way to tell quality of any food - check nutrient listing on the packet, should be high in protein and LOW in ash (i.e under 2%, but preferably none). Having 'cereal and animal derivatives' listed is also not a good sign!

I can't actually comment on the brands you mentioned because they're different to English ones - but I can say that over here the most popular pet foods (popular for low price and tastiness) are some of the cruddiest. The cheapest foods are THE cruddiest (like Asda's/Walmart's own brand!)

Chalice

Answer 2

I know that in the human food industry the same plant may make say cottage cheese for Light & Lively AND cottage cheese for Kraft. BUT they may not use the same recipe though of course the ingredients would come from the same raw ingredient bins. I would not surprise me if they would withdraw everything made there even if the suspected bad ingredient isn't used in that recipe.

Answer 3

They DON'T, they supplied the WHEAT GLUTEN to 17 out of the 20 dogfood companies out there only. They don't make 1 dog food and everyone else puts it in their own can. They all buy the wheat gluten from Menu Foods.

Answer 4

http://www.dog-food-nutrition.com/comparison.htm

There is a lot of difference! I feed a very high quality kibble and a mid-range canned with no wheat in either.

Answer 5

I have been wondering the same thing! Maybe they do use a higher grade of meat in the fancy stuff- but how would we ever know?

Answer 6

the amount of filler used in premium brands is less than in the no name brands.