I know this question is personal, and everybody feels differently, but I need to switch foods due to money. I'm currently feeding Royal Canin labrador(60 bucks a bag) and I need to find a new food for my 2 year old lab. His line has some allergy issues, so I want to be careful about what I feed. If I had to buy a less expensive food, would people recommend Iams or Science Diet? Or is there something else out there? I'm near a pet smart and a Petco. Looking for breeder wisdom!

I am not sure where you live, I have had good success with Premium Edge foods. Their sensitive skin formula is reasonable in my area (35lbs for $28) and I have been pleased with the results after using it for the past 5 yrs. http://www.premiumedgepetfood.com/products/dogs/dry_food/skin_and_coat_salmon_potatoes_and_vegetables_formula/

Science Diet is crap food. Don't go to that.
Pro Plan, Eukanuba, Iams, are all found at Petsmart or Petco. Look at your protein and fat contents: stay in the range of 30%protein and 15%fat.
Good Luck!

If your worried about allergy than stay away from corn and wheat. I feed Taste of the wild to all my guys and the price is not to bad.

You stated your dogs "lines" had some allergy issues but is your dog having any issues? You mentioned nothing about how he is doing on the Royal Canin. If he's doing well and you are only feeding one dog I'm not sure why you would switch.

I have been very happy with Costco's Kirkland Chicken and Rice. Ingredient wise, I like it better than Pro Plan (though I rotate that and Euk in on occaison) and you can't beat $25 for 40#.

Tom, I just tried to send you an off line email to your post, it was returned as an invalid email address. Please email me privately if you would like some dog food information that I compiled for you.

We feed Exceed L & R (bought at Sam's Club) to most of our crew, $28 a bag.

We've had good success with Diamond Naturals chicken with rice. They also have Diamond Naturals Lamb with Rice which is better for allergies. I agree with above poster who said to stay away from corn. It is the 3rd most common allergy for dogs and people. If you want to know more about Diamond Naturals there are several whole posts on peoples' experience with it.

One of my dogs has severe allergies along with a few other health problems and it took us about 2 years to find the right food for him. We started by getting him allergy tested with Spectrum Labs to find out what he was allergic to. After getting the list I found a few kinds of food he could eat. The food thats worked the best and is pretty cheap is Calafornia Natural. The food has minimal ingredients and not much filler. After starting it took about a year but he improved. He's also on allergy shots because his skin was basically sluffing off. If you looked at him now you'd never know he had allergies or any of his other health problems.

First do allergy testing to find out what he's allergic to,otherwise you could be switching foods again and again.With test results in hand,you can find a food to stick with.

I stopped using Premium Edge when they changed their forumula this past year

Premium Edge is good. I also like Professional Pet food. Both are made by the makers of Diamond.
I've been feeding Diamond Naturals Chick/Rice since PP announced they were changing to shreds and I have been VERY happy. GREAT coats, good health, for half the cost!
No corn, soy, wheat or by-products.

Donna could you email me and let me know what changes were made? I talked to the rep here and they said they were not changing the Sensitive Skin formula and I would like to know what they told others. TIA

I received a sample of the "new" PP shred and thought it wouldn't be a problem combining it with my other food at a very high ratio. Wrong. Stools were horrible. I have since picked out all of the shreds and triangle bits. With all of the complaints about this food you would think that Purina would have tested it better.

Oh no! Ran into our former Purina distributor last week at TSC. It seems the person who thought up the idea of the shredded blends got a big reward! Way to go Purina. You have successfully captured the pet market at the expense of your devoted breeder base.

yes, I will get you that info the best I can!

can you cook? meat sources at 1.00/pound, usually ground turkey and chicken thigh from grocery wholesale. Oats and brown rice from costco, carrots, sweet potatoes from costco. meat 50% veggie 30% rice 20%, add a multi vitamin and a fish oil capsule, you are good to go. You can also look at the raw diets and keep under $2.00 per pound Add parsley and/or kelp and other beneficial greens too. You can keep changing protein sources and avoid allergies. Use fish, cottage cheese, eggs- all are good for him-
it does work out to be a better price than $60 for a 25 lb bag and it is better for them.
An hour once a week, once you get organized and the dog is happy too!