Think you can't afford to feed raw?

wow, even at my discount price I still pay over 40 a month for dog kibble, not including the good store bought stuff I add to it. Now if I only had a place to store all that food, my fridge barly holds my own food in it. I need to buy a big freezer.

Do the math, and see if what you assume is correct!

Nothing against how you feed. Just misunderstanding the incomplete equation. I understand the raw costing $47/month, and I assume that includes everything, veggies and supps, etc. Or is that just the raw meat, no veggies or supps, etc?

The Innova was costing more than $40 a month if it was not lasting the whole month. Can we assume that they would eat about $7 worth into a new bag? That is, I'm not sure what your total cost of Innova is per month.

Like me, I think, you'll do what you think is right, regardless of cost. You asked a math question and I couldn't resist.

Th meat in raw costs far and away the most.  If you do veggies and whatnot it only adds a couple dollars per dog for a month, additionally.  Supplements don't count unless you do something like Volhard where the nutrient profile depends heavily on supplements.  The reason I say that is that many people who do only kibble do supplements, too.

If you do prey model the cost is only in the meat.  Prey modelers do not supplement.

 [oops, hit send too fast] Even though the math is imprecise, the conclusion is still the same.  I figured out the same thing years ago.  For me also, fresh/home prepared/strict raw costs about half what I'd spend on a diet based exclusively on premium foods.

Sometimes, you can find a deal you can't pass up. We have a Sears Deluxe 23. It is a 23 cubic foot deep chest freezer. My truck has a standard 6' bed with a camper shell. I had to lay it down sideways and leave the tailgate down to get it home. It's large enough that I can lay Shadow's large size cooler mat flat out to freeze. After having it lay down, when I got it into the garage, I had to leave it upright for a few days for the coolant to resettle into the compressor before plugging it in. We bought it from a friend who hunts and he had painted it camo colors. Anyway, we paid $75 for it. Brand new, I believe, they are over $400, though someone might correct me on that.
 

I've gotten my last two freezers free!  Freecycle rocks!  I also got a free fridge for keeping the dog food seperate when I made up their "breakfast" meals myself.  I got free fruits and veggies from the grocery store - just asked when they cleaned out the slighty off stuff and picked it up.  Boxes and boxes of stuff - hence the extra fridge.

I got oatmeal by the bag from an old-fashioned mill near where I used to live.  25 pounds lasted for ages and we enjoyed it too.  My neighbor gave me buckets of pan fish almost year round - now we have our own stocked pond.  and I'll spread the word around to the hunters that rent my landlord's cabins, in season, that I'm interested in any extras they have to share.

You have to kind of enjoy the excitement of the "hunting and gathering" lifestyle when you feed this way.  I also appreciate that the convenience of commercial food is very important to many people - I'm taking advantage of that myself now, in fact, in part.

Wow, I only have one dog and spend $ 80.00 a month on just meat and Romeo is 30 lbs.  By the time you add the extras I don't even want to know...I might just have to look into the raw co-op thing.  

I would love to know how to find raw co-ops in my area, just could not find anything listed. Any ideas?

ORIGINAL: lazlowe1

I would love to know how to find raw co-ops in my area, just could not find anything listed. Any ideas?

 
Sorry, I am in the same boat as you are.  Right now I buy almost everything except for fish at this place called Raw Bones 2 Go and my fish at the health food store.
I think I am going to google it and let you know what I come up with.

I wish I knew more about co-ops I've always wanted to join one but have no clue where to even start. I once had roomates who were part of one and I ordered food with them, it worked out great for poor college student.

I can agree to that.
 

I just googled it and found this site: [linkhttp://www.dogaware.com]www.dogaware.com[/link]  there is a link for raw food co-ops and it lists by the state.  I am so excited. Also [linkhttp://www.greenpeople.org]www.greenpeople.org[/link]

I really appreciate the info.
CUTE dog by the way!
Happy Sunday!!!

Yahoo has a forum/group of raw feeders too and you can find local co-ops that way too.  Surprisingly, a city as large as Sacramento doesn't have it's own co-op, but they have a drop-off/pick-up location not too far away.  I was leaning in that direction and was shopping for a freezer not too long ago, but based on the elimination diet I was doing for Sassy, the cost still seemed high to me.  I may revisit it again though.

There is no coop, within six hours of me. It's quite sad.

I do beg hunting and fishing scraps from relatives,  though,. LOL. I hadn't thought to ask the supermarket for veggies on dumping day.

Olinda, that's crazy! I can feed my two (Emma is 17 pounds, but eats enough for a moderately active 50 pounder, Teenie is 13 pounds) and my mom's 40 pounder for less than that. If you count Emma as 50 pounds, that's 103 pounds of dog, LOL. Emma thinks she weighs 50 pounds....

Anyways, I'd be looking for a new place to shop!