The American Beagler Forum

green river wrote:Hey Leah,
I've heard that Exceed is the same thing as Pro Plan, only cheaper. Is that true?

Beagled1 wrote:I'm always looking for a cheaper way to care for my hounds. I do my own shots, worm them with panacur (horse wormer), buy my own FishMox instead of dragging them to the Vet everytime I think they have a mild infection, etc. My hounds are well cared for and healthy - everytime something comes up the issue gets addressed, even if it's not by the Vet, sometimes my home remedies cure the dog better!

Nutrition is one thing I can be pretty anal about, and will not cut corners on for ANYTHING. Food is the best medicine for keeping a dog healthy, and saves me thousands in Vet bills down the road. The most expensive diets aren't necessarily the best, but the cheapest are that way for a reason Pedigree and Ol Roy are very, very low in meat based protein & calories. I don't see it often mentioned here, but the "kcal" (kilocalorie) content of a food is MORE improtant than the ratio of fat/protein! A food can be 30% protein but only 380 kcals because the manufacturer is not using quality, digestable, animal based ingredients. That food is not going to keep weight on a hound for anything, you'll be feeding 4 cups a day and he'll still look ragged. Pedigree happens to be VERY low in kcals, because it's a grain based feed - so is Ol Roy - they're basically corn, soy & byproducts. I don't necessarily mind the corn and the by products, but NEVER as the main protein sources!




On that same note, I've fed diets that were 25% protein and 15% fat, but were 480 kcals per cup. The purcase price was more than Pedigree, but I fed an average of 1 3/4 cups daily to hounds that were run 3 days a week, at 4-6 hour stretches each day. Their coats were immaculate, weights were perfect. Just the right amount of fat and muscle on their bodies with maybe 1-2 small stools per day. Which food is the better value, regardless of purchase price?

Purina ONE & Pro Plan are much better choices, and you probably don't have to use a performance feed depending on how often you run them, becuase the higher end Purina foods tend to be high in calories. Regular Pro Plan is 489 kcals per cup - that's the 26/16 chicken formula. I checked out Pedigree's website and their dry food is on average 290 kcals per cup!!!!! That is INSANELY low. That is probabyl the lowest kcals I've ever heard of in any dry food.

You can also try Blackwood, which is a little pricy, but very high in calories & very digestable. The hounds always have the best muscle tone on this and very fat, happy pups, bitches who milk like cows. http://www.blackwoodpetfood.com I've also herad good things about NutriSource, which is moderately priced, and similar in formulation to Pro Plan, but with less corn, lol.

Right now I'm feeding Healthwise, which is very reasonably priced. I'm using their 30/20 active formula which is 446 kcals per cup. Running the dogs 3x weekly, an average of 12 hrs total weekly running time. They look GOOD. lol http://www.naturapet.com/brands/healthwise.asp