Quote:
Originally posted by WHTFH
Rarely do they eat grass. We don't leave our garbage out in the open, so they don't root around in it, although they sniff at anything that resembles food.
More power to you though. Luckily, my dogs eat about $35 worth of food per day and require about $15 worth of meds (2 dogs aggregate weight of 76lbs). Much, much easier to maintain as well 
|
You could improve the quality and variety of their nutrition by rotating the dogs through 3-4 super premium foods per year. All of the following foods are better than SD (better quality protein source, better other ingredients, no chemical preservatives), easy to find in the DC area (this makes it on topic!), and probably cost the same per feeding:
Nutro (Petco & Petsmart)
Nature's Choice (Petco & Petsmart)
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance (Petco)
Wellness (My Organic Market, Pro Feed in Alexandria, other small shops in DC area)
Switching foods provides greater nutritional variety (as nothing is complete/perfect) and staves off food allergies. Also, a better quality diet will surely improve the dog's overall health in the long term. Just be sure to transition from one food to the next over the course of 5-7 days, by mixing increasing amounts of the new food into the old food.
I wish I had put my older dog and my cat on better diets long ago; as I'm sure some of their health problems that are now controlled through meds and prescription diets could have been, if not prevented completely, delayed in onset. My younger dog has had ear infections and skin problems that have improved by switching the protein source in her diet.
