I feel you – my husband and I are in college, and a few of the regular posters here are too. We also shop on a budget, but manage to find good deals very often. Pure Balance is good, but if you feed rotational – switch between brands of kibble and between protein types (fish, chicken, beef, lamb, etc.) you can take advantage of good sales. If shopping online is an option, check out http://www.petflow.com , http://www.chewy.com , http://www.wag.com – they all have good sales often. On Petflow, go there at least once/week and type in “trials” in the search bar, it will give you super cheap foods in a “trial” (usually regular smallest) size (4-5lbs) for about $1/lb! It’s a steal! Also, this is a good thread to check out: /forums/topic/coupons/page/15/ It has all kinds of information on coupons and deals! 🙂
As for the natural chews, I put vice grips on Bruno’s bully sticks, cow ears, and fish skins to prevent gulping of big pieces and it works. With the Himalayan chews and antlers, I would take it away when it approaches less than an inch (maybe for your dog, 2 inches will be a good time to take the chew away and replace it). Also, they are good for teeth cleaning.
As for toys, Bruno likes the Nylabone and JW bone-shaped chews. He loves ropes too but he eats them often. He likes the tough Kong products too, I stuff them with doggie ice-cream (homemade), freeze and serve. Or play tug with them. He has a rubber ring we play tug with too. We never have nor will get him squeaky chews, those are evil to humans! LoL. But yeah, more often than not Bruno would prefer his natural chews (antlers are pretty loved in our household), or peacefully gnaw on a JW bone, or bring his Walmart rope to ask me to play tug with. 🙂
