A good budget dog and cat food.

Hi everyone, 
My Family and I will be moving into rented accommodation soon and will be needing to tighten our belts. We are looking for a good quality pet food but reasonably priced. We have a cat (Exotic Shorthair) and a dog (Dobermann) they are both on Royal Canin foods but even now whilst we are living with in laws, it is proving costly to feed. Any advice would be appreciated! 

Thank you!
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Comments

  • Swap to a raw food diet, plenty of information online about what percentage, meats, bones and other things.
    Mortgage started 2020, aiming to clear it in 2026.
  • allaboutdogfood.com is a wonderful resource. Highly recommend it. Raw is great if you have the freezer space, but also takes extra work in preparation for hygiene reasons (not a lot extra, but some). so this is worth considering. Also, look at Zooplus as their website has a good range of decent quality foods.

    A few other things to note:
    1. When you do switch foods do it slowly and gradually - start by mixing a small amount of new food into their current food and every day up the amount slightly. Allow a week or so to totally switch over.
    2. Cheap food can be a false economy as it's often poor quality so you have to feed more of it to get the same nutritional value.

    My dog gets fed on Skinner dry food which costs around 20 pounds (sorry, sterling key not working on keyboard) for a 15kg bag. Wet food is forthglade or Butchers (the latter is cheap but decent quality. About 80p per tin. Forthglade can be had for around 1 pound per tray if you hunt around for deals - otherwise it's typically around 1.40-1.60 per tray).  I also invested in a bag of Eden semi-moist at cost of around 65 pounds for a 12kg bag. It's fed more as a treat/topper but makes the skinners go further. Appreciate it's probably not in your budget, but if you want to mix quality with cost efficiency and have the storage space, stretching a more premium brand by mixing with a cheaper brand could be a way to go.

    Cats were fed Harringtons dry food but the quality has deteriorated so now I just get whatever is on offer from Zooplus. Same with wet food. My cats have always been fed a variety so it doesn't upset their stomachs. If your cats are used to being fed the same thing all the time then switching foods slowly is important.
  • Apjs87
    Apjs87 Posts: 122
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    I'm currently feeding my dog this - https://www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/Canine-Choice-Adult-Medium-Grain-Free-Dog-Food/p/I9303278

    Switched from food that was very costly and although it was good, I could no longer afford. After lots of searching I settled on the above and so far so good. No skin flare ups and a nice glossy coat. We opted for Salmon in order to avoid any potential protein allergies.

    Give it a try!
  • RelievedSheff
    RelievedSheff Posts: 11,226
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    Our dog is currently on Harringtons dry food and he loves it and it seems to agree with him he looks really well for it.

    He also has an occasional Butchers wet tray which again he loves. Neither the Harringtons or the Butchers are expensive.

    It is just a case of finding what works for your animals. Ours was previously on Lily's Kitchen but it was a bit rich for him and while he loved the flavours it wasn't really very kind on his tummy so we had to switch. 
  • Thank you for your replies and recommendations!
  • Katiehound
    Katiehound Posts: 7,513
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    edited 20 February 2021 at 6:55PM
    My dogs are getting:
    boy: Skinners Duck + Harringtons Lamb (I think the Skinners is VAT free- working dog)
    Old girl: Harringtons Salmon & Potato

    I buy the Harringtons in quantity (I mean several sacks) - first order had 30% off. This order had 20% off as I did a survey for them.
    Join Pet Club- it's free. Bonus points for signing up, points for each order, for posting a review & for a photo (one per order) Next order I have 'earned' a £10 off voucher.  
    Free delivery if you have a subscription or spend enough on a 'one off' (Guess it will be £30-ish)
    Food is free of additives etc.- sold widely in supermarkets in small bags- great to try out.
    My girl has had very bad colitis but this food has been perfect (and she loves it)
    Being polite and pleasant doesn't cost anything!
    If you found my posting helpful please hit the "Thanks" button!
    Many thanks
    -Stash busting: 337 in 2022
    Stash busting: in 2023. 120 doggy duvets, 24 shopping bags, 43 dog coats, 2 scrunchies, 10 mittens, 6 bootees, 8 glass cases, 2 A6 notebooks, 59 cards, 6 lavender bags,36 crochet angels,9 woven bones, 1 crochet knee blanket, 1 lined bag,3 owls, 88 pyramid pouches = total 420...£119.50 spent- £114.50 earned= total spend £5. Total earned for 'Dogs for Good' £546.82

    2024:23 Doggy duvets, 24 pyramid pouches, 6 hot water bottle covers, 4 knitted beanies, 1 crochet angel= 58 £61 spent!!! already
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471
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    My boys liked Harringtons and Morrisons sometimes do a 3 for 2 offer.
  • Quality is quite subjective and depends on your particular dog and what he does well on - there are pets out there that completely thrive on very cheap feed, whereas some animals are quite sensitive and might benefit from a slightly pricier feed.

    I don't have a cat so can't comment on cat feed, but we do have four dogs of our own and a boarding kennels.

    We feed our dogs on CSJ dry feeds, and keep them in the kennels for dogs that come without their own feed.

    I'd say about 95% of dogs that I've fed on the CSJ feed do well on it, although of course most of the boarding dogs aren't with us for all that long so it's hard to say how they'd get on longer term, although we have had several customers switch from pricier feeds after their dogs enjoyed their food with us and all have said their dogs' condition has either stayed the same or improved.

    CSJ food gets pretty average rating on allaboutdogfood.co.uk but it is far and away the best brand within its price range. It's VAT free too which helps further.

    For our own dogs we feed a mix of their Champ Adult, Old Champ and Complete Tripe depending on their activity levels and the weather (they're outside dogs), but they do a large variety of feeds so you could have a browse of their website and see what sounds best for your Dobermann, or you could ring them and ask for advice, although I think their office hours are a bit restricted at the moment. Their website is www.csjk9.com, you can order online or see if you can find a local stockist (again, they can help you with this in the office).
  • I would add, most Royal Canin feeds are not as brilliant as you would hope for the high price tag, so you'll possibly find you might even have a bit of a healthier dog as well as a healthier wallet!
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