Feeding raw.

kle1986

I am switching to raw because I just went through a 37lb bag of dog food in a week and a half feeding Lillie,Joker,and Fynn. 40 bucks for a 37lb bag of dog food. If Im gonna have to buy 3 bags of dog food a month I might as well switch them to raw which all of them love. I have a job now so I can afford to feed them raw.

A 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters at Walmart is only 4-5 dollars so I think that is a great deal. Plus I found a butcher near me that I can get other cheap goodies at.

     Just something to consider ... the purchase price of some food items are sometimes cheaper for raw. I used to get backs & quarters for between .59-.69lb, occasionally could get red meat for .99lb, all of which are much cheaper than the per lb. price of most kibbles. However, we always went through more pounds of meat per day than we did with pounds of kibble. So for instance, 5#'s of chicken quarters would comprise the morning meal for all the dogs including the Beagles and a 65lb Shepherd mix. And would go through another 3-5#'s of meat for the evening meal. Wherein, if I bought a 10# bag of kibble it would last me probably 2-3 days depending on the nutrient density. Also consider that you'll need to buy red meats and organs to have a properly balanced diet, and may need to supplement with fish oil or zinc, especially if you're feeding mostly chicken.

     Not at all trying to discourage you from feeding raw, but that's one of the mistakes I originally made! Raw is almost always either as expensive or more expensive than a good dog food, though sometimes you'll find a great sale and will significantly lower the cost for a while - and OTOH, when you can't find sales, you can sometimes pay double   BTW, always check Walmart meats to ensure they're not "enhanced" with a saltwater solution ... we made that mistake ONCE, and the dogs were leaking all over the house, lol.

P.S. ~ The best book I ever read on raw was by Kymythy Schultze & was budget friendly too!

 I find that the longer I feed raw, the cheaper it is becoming.  I'm getting good at looking for deals I guess.  Plus I all of a sudden know when a roast for us is a good deal or not.  I've never paid attention to that stuff before.

I feed once a day most of the time.  But not everyone does.  My dogs just seem to only need food once a day when we're feeding totally raw.  I had a bag of kibble a couple weeks ago and my dogs seemed to be perpetually hungry so we went back to twice a day feeding while we had the kibble.  Now that we are back on raw, we're back to once a day and they are content all day long now.

huskymom

I feed once a day most of the time.  But not everyone does.  My dogs just seem to only need food once a day when we're feeding totally raw

So true for us, as well------Right now I am feeding 2 small dogs and one medium sized dog (border collie mix)---when fed an all raw diet, I feed once a day-------when I add homecooked or canned into the mix, it's twice a day or I have starving dogs, that are scavenging for food. I do like to add in a variety, just for kicks, but find they seem to be more at ease on a totally raw diet.

If you are looking to save money, you'll have to work really hard to find some super deals.  To bring the cost of home prepared even with moderately priced premium foods (say, Purina Pro or the old Canidae), you would have to keep the price of meat around 50 cents a pound.  That means you'd have to find some meat that was LOWER than that per pound, and some that was no more than about $1.00 a pound.

It's possible you could find that but I haven't heard of many that can these days.

I don't want to discourage you, because there's lots of really good reasons to feed home prepared diets these days.  We just had yet another recall,, for instance!

I feed twice a day.  I have one meal that is the main part of their diet - the carbs (which bring down the cost of feeding them a TON), the boneless meat and organ meat, the fruit and veggies, the herbs, the fish.  Then in the evening they get their raw meaty bones.

What Houndmusic is trying to say, by the way, is that you can't compare the cost of kibble and fresh foods pound for pound.  You have to convert to calories and then compare.  And you will find in most cases that the kibble wins out.

BUT, it doesn't have to.  My diets are comparable to Orijen, Prairie, Wellness - and calorie for calorie are about half the cost.  And I believe strongly that the dogs are at an advantage eating fresh diets compared to kibble. 

 Im not looking at raw to save money. Just figured if Im gonna be spending 160 bucks on dry dog food a month might as well feed them raw which they all love and is better for them. I have a job now so JJ wont die knowing Im buying human food for the dogs!!

 I feed three times a day, with a bedtime snack after everything. You can feed as often as you want Emma cannot eat enough at one meal to maintain her weight. That happens, sometimes, with high metabolism, active dogs.

brookcove

BUT, it doesn't have to.  My diets are comparable to Orijen, Prairie, Wellness - and calorie for calorie are about half the cost.  And I believe strongly that the dogs are at an advantage eating fresh diets compared to kibble. 

  Same here. If you want to be sure you're feeding a balanced raw diet, may I suggest a booklet by Monica Segal that only costs $6.95;

http://www.monicasegal.com/catalog/product.php?cPath=25_26&products_id=81

  It's written for beginners, has 19 recipes for dogs of different weights, and the diets are well balanced.