Feeding Animals OS?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i would be care full feeding chicken/poultry bones to dogs as the bones splinter...and can cause iternal damage...........as the splinteres bones are very sharpe.....i know some people boil the bones to soften them... but we never took the risk..... you could also find out if there is someone selling frozen minced tripe....as that is very cheap.. or used to be when we were showing the dogs........

with the brine shrimp...and daphnia..... live feed it is brill, but for 20 plus inch koi.....its not going to make an once of diff........and to bulk them up on that will work out expensive.......

but the best advice i can give you is that the animals will tell you what are teh cheap things that they will eat.... as what my dog likes yours might turn his nose up at........but i have never seen a dog turn his nose up and a nice big fat juicy knuckle bone.......

giggs11

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

i would be care full feeding chicken/poultry bones to dogs as the bones splinter...and can cause iternal damage...........as the splinteres bones are very sharpe.....

it's only cooked bones that can be dangerous, raw ones are fine and don't splinter

MrsTinks

Or do what I do... brush your dogs teeth honest! She now comes and sits ready for her teeth to be cleaned as she has her own chicken flavour toothpaste :rotfl: let's just hope OH doesn't use it my mistake mwarharharhar

katieowl_2

I'm reading this with a deep sigh - my poor fur baby is very very ill (he has an insulinoma) and will only be tempted with freshly cooked meat.... last week he enjoyed some marked down rump steak which I casseroled for him, yesterday it was chicken breast strips, and later I am going to do him a bag of turkey mince... He won't eat the same thing for more than two meals running, and the last three tins of pedigree chum I have opened for him have ened up going down the loo - he wouldn't touch it at all. As we might not have him for much longer I am not begrudging him the food, but I could really do with a couple of bargains at the supermarket as we are broke at the moment! Thank goodness he had pet insurance! Any suggestions as to cheap tempting treats????

BTW re other pets we are down to one giant catfish - who eats expensive algae wafers!!!, and two fat ratties. Ratties get a bowl of Rat Salad every night, fresh veg or salad from the day's dinner, garnished with cornflakes or bits of bread, scraps of meat, and bought rat food every morning

Regards

Kate

bulchy

Dont you find theres a lot of waste with rodent/bird food, IME they tend to pick out the bits that they like and leave the rest. Might be worth buying the individual seeds/whaet etc seperate and creating your own rodent/bird food, you may find you have to spend a lot of money to get started, but at least there will be less waste. An old friend of mine used to breed gerbils, and mixed his own food, he said it saved him money in the long run. As for exotic parrot mix, have you had a look at the ingredients? Maybe you could mix this yourself cheaper too.
Sue

Athravan

Thanks everyone certainly a lot of ideas to go buy. I don't have my own car at the moment and I go shopping with my mother whilst we're saving for a second hand car as a getaround, so it's hard for me to get to any of the small pet shops as they're all about 5 miles away and Tesco is right there - I guess you pay for convenience though!

I have a butcher within walking distance, never thought of going there but I will definitely make it a visit.

I do find the mice leave quite a lot of the food unless they're absolutely starving - although with 15 of them they often do get hungry enough to eat even the non-seed bits! They much prefer sunflower seeds and grains but I've never seen them sold on their own anywhere.

I am always a bit wary about switching to cheaper foods or to cooking my own because obviously whilst money is important, the health of my animals is second to none and I worry that they won't get the vitamins/nutrients that they need... but I will certainly have a look around and try and find some of the alternative brands suggested and see if that goes down well.

I think buying the koi food in bulk would probably be a good money saver, I will have to investigate where I can buy it from as the supermarkets only seem to sell it in small amounts. The koi are a bit of an extravagance really but they've been in the family a long time and are proper characters - and as they're worth a lot of money (good colours/patterns, including 2 ghost koi) I want to make sure they're kept bulked up and healthy and happy!

zar

Rather than buying fat balls, you can make your own by melting lard (cheap!) or leftover bacon fat etc. and mixing with the birdseed. Make it in a "tit bell" out of an old yogurt pot and hang it up.