# Dog Food Price Increases???



## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

I just picked up my Wellness dry foods yesterday & have the prices ever gone up!!!!!!! $69.99 plus 13% taxes per bag!!!!! I must admit that I don't really keep my eye on this type of thing but I did notice the change - the clerk told me that it was a $10/bag increase due to the lower Canadian $$$$, the higher costs of grains (Wellness is grain free) and the higher costs of fuel for transportation (??????? fuel prices are lower than a year ago????????) The only "excuse" that I can't argue about is the lower Canadian $$$$$$. 

Anyone else notice the same increases????


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## Bock (Jun 23, 2008)

Yes, at the daycare facility I work at we sell Nature's Variety. Talking to our distributor he has said that ALL dog food prices are going up due to the price of grains AND meat, transportation, packaging-just everything. Also most of the increases and significant...not 50 cents but $5, $10, and $15 increases.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

The price of ingredients has gone up, the cost of energy for manufacturing has risen dramatically, the price of shipping (largely due to taxes and insurance) has gone up, the price of labor has gone up. Many cheap ingredients from overseas have been replaced with more expensive domestic (north american) ingredients. Last but not least, the retailers expenses have risen too (rent, energy, insurance, advertising, etc.)

The net result is dramatically higher prices for that bag of food. (Around 8% -10% over the previous year around here)

.


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## KiwiD (Jan 14, 2008)

We just switched Madison over to Now! Grain free food (she was previously eating Wellness Core Reduced Calorie) and the 25# bag we bought a week ago was $78 Canadian w/tax. It's a good thing she's an only child, I feel for those of you who have multiple mouths to feed.


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## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

I had that problem also here, plus the food was always old. And for that price it should be fresh!

For now I am ordering Wellness Core from petfooddirect.com. I always use one of their 20% off coupons which pays for the shipping. And their price for the bag of food is now about $17 cheaper a bag.


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## New Golden Mom (Dec 17, 2008)

Rufus is on Now! (grain free) and we paid $82 with tax in. When we bought the last bag it was about $10 cheaper so I asked why the big increase and was told the cost of ingredients and transportation went up. Then the owner of the store said, "be thankful you're not in the States, their food went up even more".


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## fuzzbuzz (Aug 3, 2008)

Switching my 2 over to Taste of The Wild. Picked it up Saturday, $46 (w/tax) for
30 lbs. Biggest problem was finding it in stock.

Cooki

Buzz..the big bro
Clover... the little sister


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## Wilson's REAL Mom (Nov 10, 2006)

What's wrong with this picture. My dogs get top-of-the-line, super-premium food, for which I pay an arm and a leg, and drive 35 miles to pick up, while my kids eat generic mac and cheese.

I hope this insanity in the economy ends soon.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I havent notice the increase at the feed and seed stores.. i bought 2 bags of taste of the wild 30 lb bags and with tax it was 89.00


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

Wilson's REAL Mom said:


> What's wrong with this picture. My dogs get top-of-the-line, super-premium food, for which I pay an arm and a leg, and drive 35 miles to pick up, while my kids eat generic mac and cheese.
> 
> I hope this insanity in the economy ends soon.


LOLOL!!! Just had to laugh at this! :wavey:  :doh:


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

An Eagle Pack can of Duck and Oatmeal was 2.59 just for one single can!


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

TOTW had a $2 price increase for me in the last 4-5 months. It's now $43.89 for a 30lb bag. 

Actually, after doing comparison dog food shopping recently, TOTW is priced really well! 

I couldn't believe how much Wellness food was either. I think around here it's the priciest food.


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

Wilson's REAL Mom said:


> What's wrong with this picture. My dogs get top-of-the-line, super-premium food, for which I pay an arm and a leg, and drive 35 miles to pick up, while my kids eat generic mac and cheese.
> 
> I hope this insanity in the economy ends soon.


How about feeding your dogs the equivalent of mac and cheese and your kids something better? I love my dog too, but I'm not paying $82 for a bag of dog food. I just switched from a 'premium' brand to a more middle of the road brand from an Ag feed store. Still pretty good ingredients and from the USA. Not grain free though.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

I also switched foods. NV went up $10 in a matter of a month so I switched to Natural Balance. Selka doesn't seem to like it much but eats it. I have noticed their bm's are smaller with NB! Or Gunner's as his were always pretty huge!
NB is not as healthy as NV but until prices go down or wages go up... we're feeding it.


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## BIGDAWG (Sep 28, 2008)

Wilson's REAL Mom said:


> What's wrong with this picture. My dogs get top-of-the-line, super-premium food, for which I pay an arm and a leg, and drive 35 miles to pick up, while my kids eat generic mac and cheese.
> 
> I hope this insanity in the economy ends soon.


 Now you just made me hungry for mac and cheese!:doh: Guess I'm going to have to go make some Kraft Dinner. (Yeah, I think we still have a few boxes of the "premium" stuff left in the pantry):--big_grin:


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## Goldilocks (Jun 3, 2007)

Yes I have noticed the big price increase and it's really maddening. I actually just discovered today that the Honest Kitchen prices have gone through the roof to the point where I don't believe it's realistic to keep feeding this to Pippa. $92 + 13% tax for a 10lb box of Embark! Give me a break! I just opened a box Sunday that I bought before the price increase and I have another set aside in the basement. I am considering trying her on kibble again with HK topper. I have an appt with a holistic vet on Friday so will ask her opinion. We haven't had very good luck with kibble in the past as a sole diet. 

I was just saying to my husband tonight how frustrating this all is. Groceries are more expensive, dog food has increased a lot, my commuter train pass went up by $10 per month to a whopping $260/mo. People are losing their jobs all over the place and those who are fortunate enough to still have a job aren't getting raises but yet everyone seems to think it's ok to raise prices on necessities. Very scary times now.


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## sifuyono (May 8, 2008)

for the minimum wage allowable in my area $80/ month, price of proplan performance 17kg is $46, how the sound of it??


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## LibbysMom (Jan 15, 2008)

I know where we buy our food, they were telling me that the prices are or did go up on a lot of the food . Our dogs eat much better then us!


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## Jackson'sMom (Oct 13, 2007)

I'm buying a bag of Taste of the Wild for Tia this weekend. I've been paying $50/30 pounds, and now will pay 9.25% sales tax on top of that. I hope the price hasn't increased too much. Fortunately, Tia's a little girl (45 pounds).


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## kjarv24 (Nov 7, 2008)

Jake is swtiching from Iams to Diamond Naturals so our prices aren't that bad. 
$28 for 35lbs...But I have noticed the price increases on the other foods, Esp. Wellness!! WOW! I would love to feed this food, but its $70+ for this food, & I think Jake is going to great on the Diamond - So we wills stick with this for now. 
I feel for you guys that have the Price increases in your dogs food, Everything is going up and I agree it is starting to get scary! My son still eats the Gerber snacks, and some of the meals and baby food's have gone up A LOT! Our grocery bill has gone up so much! Use to you could spend around $100 and have a FULL cart with some good foods, now I spend $100 on groceries get home and think what did I even get??!


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## skeller (Mar 5, 2008)

I'm trying to deal with this issue too. We are now feeding Orijen at close to $60 for a 30 lb. bag. I am considering Taste of the Wild too. I've heard some great things about it.
The economy is hurting everyone, just watching the news and it looks like they are closing 50 schools in Detroit. As a teacher, this is alarming. I love my Ben, but he may have to eat a cheaper food. 
What's the consensus on a quality food at a reasonable price? How are the prices of Merrick?


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## Bock (Jun 23, 2008)

Although made by Diamond, I think they have gotten their act together since there mess-ups, I would look at Premium Edge and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. Fromm, Eaglepack Holistic, Nature's Variety, TOTW, California Natural, Innova, Evo, Blue Buffalo...all really good foods.


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

Bock said:


> Although made by Diamond, I think they have gotten their act together since there mess-ups, I would look at Premium Edge and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. Fromm, Eaglepack Holistic, Nature's Variety, TOTW, California Natural, Innova, Evo, Blue Buffalo...all really good foods.


Premium Edge looks like the best deal of the bunch. But not available in my area. That's what you run into in a small town. Buy it from an online source, freight then blows it out of the water. 

I buy mine from a Ag feed store. Similar ingredients to Nutro Max. Not the Cadillac of dog foods, but not Alpo either. You might explore some of those stores as they offer different brands not often mentioned here at a decent price. Some examples:Enhance, VP Complete, Loyall, Pro Pac, etc....


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Goldilocks said:


> Yes I have noticed the big price increase and it's really maddening. I actually just discovered today that the Honest Kitchen prices have gone through the roof to the point where I don't believe it's realistic to keep feeding this to Pippa. $92 + 13% tax for a 10lb box of Embark! Give me a break! I just opened a box Sunday that I bought before the price increase and I have another set aside in the basement. I am considering trying her on kibble again with HK topper. I have an appt with a holistic vet on Friday so will ask her opinion. We haven't had very good luck with kibble in the past as a sole diet.


I just ordered my first Honest Kitchen to try as a topping for Eagle Pack. Will you tell me more about it?


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

I feed Flora Solid Gold and it's now $55.00 for a 33# bag, not including tax. Less than what some of you are paying for food, but it's still a pretty good price to pay for food.

Sigh. The prices we pay for our dogs.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

And the price increases are coming in more ways than one.

A few months ago, the standard 36 pound bag of chow magically became a 30 pound bag, seemingly overnight.

Now, I'm seeing signs that those 30 pound bags are becoming 26 pound bags, just 2 months later.

I really don't understand the price increases. All of the excuses given simply don't make sense, especially the one about higher fuel prices. We are HALF the fuel costs of the same time last year.


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## Noey (Feb 26, 2009)

It's like taxes. They say they need them to make up costs (bad spending choices and waste) and they tack them on higher and higher each year...they never go back down. Can you tell we did our taxes last night?

We had the same thing last year with people cereal and potato chips, among other items. They made the boxes/bags smaller less stuff...higher prices. Aren’t they talking a soda tax now? So hitting up the very lucrative “pet” industry is not surprising. 

I'm just grateful they did not pass the pet tax on health care they were talking about. But I'm sure it's still in a bill someplace. All these little increase add up to big spending someplace…just not at my place.


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

NuttinButGoldens said:


> And the price increases are coming in more ways than one.
> 
> A few months ago, the standard 36 pound bag of chow magically became a 30 pound bag, seemingly overnight.
> 
> ...


I saw the same thing in Petco yesterday. I guess they think they will try to slip the price increase by the consumer with a smaller bag. That really chaps me when they try the sneaky method. Of course the same thing is done at the grocery store.


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## Goldilocks (Jun 3, 2007)

Ljilly28 said:


> I just ordered my first Honest Kitchen to try as a topping for Eagle Pack. Will you tell me more about it?



If you intend to use the HK just as a topping I would hydrate 1/8 - 1/4 cup of dry mix and hydrate it for 10 mins and then add your kibble. No more cans in the fridge and I am sure it's cheaper than cans. I am not really sure what I will be doing now in regards to Pippa's diet. Seeing as the HK went up so much and I just found out Tues. my company is reducing all our salaries by 10% I really can't afford it now. Luckily, I travelled into a store in Toronto in February who have really good prices on HK, Orijen and all Natura brands. I have enough food for about 6 months for both dogs stashed in the basement - Orijen and HK. This was before the price increases.


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

Funny thing about the break-down of costs associated with a bag of kibble... I've been reading several (text)books on dog nutrition written by professionals (scientists) who have been working within the dog food industry for decades. You might be interested to know that according to them, by far the single greatest expense for a bag of kibble is not the ingredients, nor the manufacturing and packaging costs, neither is it the transportation/distribution system costs, rather it is advertising (marketing in all forms). Evidently people really buy into the whole 'aura' (marketing shtick) that surround various kibble brands and lines (these include boutique brands)... the pictures of oven roasted whole chickens, clusters of perfect bunch carrots, trendy words like holistic and all-natural, digestive enzymes (as if our dogs don't possess enough of their own), pro-biotics, exotic sounding ingredients from some desert cacti extract to the juice of some South American berries, whatever is the current selling human health trend appears to also work for selling dog kibble as well... it would appear marketing shtick good enough that most people apparently will still pay the price hikes (while complaining) rather that switch to a less expensive kibble brand. At least that's how it appears to be working for the up-$cale brands so far as I can tell... and I should know, I'm one of those people... fortunately my job is quite secure, pays well, and my home mortgage has long since been paid-off.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Bock said:


> Although made by Diamond, I think they have gotten their act together since there mess-ups, I would look at Premium Edge and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. Fromm, Eaglepack Holistic, Nature's Variety, TOTW, California Natural, Innova, Evo, Blue Buffalo...all really good foods.



Natures variety which I love, just went up to $60 for 30 pounds here. I can't afford that ongoing so switched to Natural Balance which then NB went up!
It's still 10 dollars cheaper for a bigger bag (35 pounds I think) and I had a $2. coupon. Also at petco after 10 bags, I get one free. I just hope their coats etc don't suffer. NB actually has no poultry fat at all which is what our opthamologist wants Gunner on anyway. NV had it as the lower top 10 ingred.
Food! ARGH!!!


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## dogluver04 (Jul 5, 2008)

I buy Fromm for my girls, plus the 2 cats get it too.. The price is getting ridiculous. Its now $69.99 for the cheapest flavours, while the Surf and Turf and other new flavours go up to $84.99 per 30lbs bag.. Im seriously thinking about switching foods.. I would like to try the Costco Kirkland brand, since Ive heard its not that bad of food..


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## Goldilocks (Jun 3, 2007)

dogluver04 said:


> I buy Fromm for my girls, plus the 2 cats get it too.. The price is getting ridiculous. Its now $69.99 for the cheapest flavours, while the Surf and Turf and other new flavours go up to $84.99 per 30lbs bag.. Im seriously thinking about switching foods.. I would like to try the Costco Kirkland brand, since Ive heard its not that bad of food..



Have you considered switching to the Fromm Gold. It is quite a bit less and comes in a 33lb bag. It looks really good to me and the only difference I see in the ingredients is that it's not a single protein formula like the 4 star varieties. The place in Toronto (Fit-Dogs) where I have been buying my dog food sells a 33lb bag of Fromm Gold for $57.99. If you buy a few bags at a time to last a few months the drive is worth it. I would call ahead to make sure they have stock or to place an order before making the trip though. Here's the link to their prices http://fit-dogs.com/shop_price.html. They say they go as low as they can and so far I have not been able to find cheaper.


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

dogluver04 said:


> I buy Fromm for my girls, plus the 2 cats get it too.. The price is getting ridiculous. Its now $69.99 for the cheapest flavours, while the Surf and Turf and other new flavours go up to $84.99 per 30lbs bag.. Im seriously thinking about switching foods.. I would like to try the Costco Kirkland brand, since Ive heard its not that bad of food..


You will save a ton if you do. I would give it a try.


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