Hey,

Happy Wednesday!

I met a man on the train last week. Carl was a homeless amputee wheelchair user and had with him a beautiful, sweet-natured Staffy called Ghost.

Carl had cuts and bruises on his face, the result of the fight he put up when someone tried to steal Ghost. 

He risked his own safety, possibly his life, to save his best friend. It wasn't the only sacrifice he'd made for Ghost.

I couldn’t help but notice how healthy and well fed Ghost looked. Carl said he’d often gone without food for two days so his dog could eat.

Dogs come in countless shapes, sizes, and personalities — as do good dog parents.

You can take a billionaire and a homeless person and each will love their dog as much as the other.

But my heart really goes out to those people who make hefty financial sacrifices to feed and care for their dogs.

An American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) survey back in 2017 found nearly 50 million households in the US had at least one dog.

Of those, more than half had a total annual income of less than $59,000 — and 13% earned less than $20,000. The median household income that year was $60,336.

That’s millions of people on below-average incomes spending a big chunk of their paycheck on their dogs.

Ok, the data may be a bit old, but I doubt things have changed much — other than everything is a lot more expensive now!

The good news is, you don’t need to be a billionaire, or even an average earner, to feed your dog good food.

We’ve warned how misleading the word 'premium' can be on labels. Well, the same goes for price tags.

Just because a dog food is expensive, it doesn’t necessarily make it good — and there are plenty of more affordable brands that we rate really highly.

That’s why we listed the Best Budget-Friendly Dog Foods for 2023.

We want you to know, even in these tough times, you can give your dog a healthy diet — as well as a whole lot of love.

Which, of course, is free.

Until next time,