Home Made Pet Food

Alwaysthebusybee

Hi All,

I am wondering if any pet people can help me out - I have managed to reduce my shopping quite well however I find my most expensive cost is pet food.

I have 2 dogs (a labrador and a lakeland) and 1 cat. At the moment they eat the frozen tripe (as this is all the lakeland was fed when we got him and I didn't want to change too much too soon.)

We feed them 3 to 4 bags of tripe a week which costs £12-£16 which is never wasted ... If I was to buy tins then I would be spending £15 a week and it doesn't always get eaten so I end up binning some which I find very wasteful.

Does anyone have any ideas how to bring this cost down? I have tried adding biscuits but the dogs seem to turn there noses up at it.

Any ideas and help would be appreciated.

Many Thanks
Atbb

jackieglasgow

Where do you buy your tripe? Pets at home do bags of frozen tripe, chicken and beef mince, is it that you get, if not maybe it is cheaper than what you do buy? Its also worth speaking to your local butchers, you may be able to negotiate a deal for raw bits and pieces. My dog eats raw, and a variety of chicken, some lamb, some pork (not a lot though as it makes her very thirsty for some reason) and the frozen chicken mince (she didn't like the tripe, and I avoid beef as its not natural prey for dogs). I also occassionally buy her a bag of frozen chicken pieces from Tesco for the freezer as a back up. She's only a Staffy, but I estimate it costs me about £3.50 a week to feed her at the very most. Also, with stuff with bones in, it fills her up better too. Have a look at the pet board for more ideas about raw feeding and cost savings.

Mrs_B

Hi there - just wondering where you get your tripe from - and how much you feed?

I bought 30lbs of green tripe yesterday for my two - cost me £8.50 so on that basis that would be 60lbs to me.

Anyway. I know you are asking about home made food - but personally, my two preferences for feeding are either a dry food - I find these to be better quality than some of the tinned - but even then cheapest is not necessarily best - bit like buying the cheapest pies where there is more bulk than goodness, and if that is all they are eating, not necessarily best.

The second route you could consider depending on storage and so on is to investigate feeding raw food - if they are keen on tripe, then they may also enjoy the raw meat and bones - but it needs to come from a quality pet supplier, and I always insist on DEFRA approved. I'll pay around 60p/lb, depending on what I choose. My biggest dog is only 22kg and eats a little over 1lb meat a day.

If you're really lucky, you'll find a butcher prepared to give you decent scraps for free, or cheaply - although sometimes these are just fat and exceedingly well scraped bones!

Alwaysthebusybee

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Where do you buy your tripe? Pets at home do bags of frozen tripe, chicken and beef mince, is it that you get, if not maybe it is cheaper than what you do buy? Its also worth speaking to your local butchers, you may be able to negotiate a deal for raw bits and pieces. My dog eats raw, and a variety of chicken, some lamb, some pork (not a lot though as it makes her very thirsty for some reason) and the frozen chicken mince (she didn't like the tripe, and I avoid beef as its not natural prey for dogs). I also occassionally buy her a bag of frozen chicken pieces from Tesco for the freezer as a back up. She's only a Staffy, but I estimate it costs me about £3.50 a week to feed her at the very most. Also, with stuff with bones in, it fills her up better too. Have a look at the pet board for more ideas about raw feeding and cost savings.

I already buy it from Pets at home Unfortunately I have already tried them on raw and they leave anything that isn't tripe (except the cat which eats anything :rotfl:)

My main idea was trying to bulk it out with other things such as rice / vegetables.

But thanks for the ideas I think I need to be more persistent with them!

Atbb

jackieglasgow

Well I would suggest trying the butcher and seeing if they can offer you a good deal on tripe. My dog also gets table scraps, she is especially fond of potatoes, carrots and apples. If the boys are eating apples, she knows the core is hers. I also occasionally give her pasta mixed through her mince. My Co- op does good reductions of meat at the end of the day and I have bought some nice meat from there that she always enjoys. Will your dogs not even eat chicken wings or drumsticks?

Alwaysthebusybee

Mrs_B wrote: »

Hi there - just wondering where you get your tripe from - and how much you feed?

I bought 30lbs of green tripe yesterday for my two - cost me £8.50 so on that basis that would be 60lbs to me.

Anyway. I know you are asking about home made food - but personally, my two preferences for feeding are either a dry food - I find these to be better quality than some of the tinned - but even then cheapest is not necessarily best - bit like buying the cheapest pies where there is more bulk than goodness, and if that is all they are eating, not necessarily best.

The second route you could consider depending on storage and so on is to investigate feeding raw food - if they are keen on tripe, then they may also enjoy the raw meat and bones - but it needs to come from a quality pet supplier, and I always insist on DEFRA approved. I'll pay around 60p/lb, depending on what I choose. My biggest dog is only 22kg and eats a little over 1lb meat a day.

If you're really lucky, you'll find a butcher prepared to give you decent scraps for free, or cheaply - although sometimes these are just fat and exceedingly well scraped bones!

Hi,

I get my Tripe from Pets at Home - It is 2kg bag which lasts a day and half (I feed them twice a day)

Thats a really good price for 60lbs of tripe - can I ask where you buy that? I have tried them on other raw meats and they just leave it ... I am hoping to bulk it out with rice, pasta or veggies to make it go further.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Atbb

Alwaysthebusybee

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Well I would suggest trying the butcher and seeing if they can offer you a good deal on tripe. My dog also gets table scraps, she is especially fond of potatoes, carrots and apples. If the boys are eating apples, she knows the core is hers. I also occasionally give her pasta mixed through her mince. My Co- op does good reductions of meat at the end of the day and I have bought some nice meat from there that she always enjoys. Will your dogs not even eat chicken wings or drumsticks?

Only cooked The cat eats anything really!

We have a lot of fish mongers in town so I will try them - Thanks

Mrs_B

I 'think' that Pets@Home sell washed tripe - this is definitely green, not washed. My friend kindly collects this for me - so I am not sure exactly where it comes from, but think it's Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire border somewhere - next time I empty a bag, I'll try to see what the 'phone number is - I can't read it straight from the freezer.

Have a look at http://www.landywoods.co.uk/price_list.html or http://www.daf-petfood.co.uk/wb/pages/products/frozen-food.php - if you have a freezer that can cope!

I'd also try starting to add in some of the raw meat on a "mainly tripe with a little bit of meat" basis ........... then try to introduce variety that way - that way if you have the chance of buying some cheap meat, or have some give aways, you know you can use them.

Oh, and please take this nicely - but don't feed your dogs cooked chicken wings and drumsticks - unless you mean you are just feeding the meat from them. The cooked bones can splinter and cause real damage to your dogs - raw bones are fine because they are bendy, and dog's teeth/throats/digestive systems are designed to cope with them raw - but not cooked.

Pink.

Hi Alwaysthebusybee,

As you've had some Old Style input I've moved your thread to the Pets & Pet Care board to see if you can get more advice.

Pink

Alwaysthebusybee

Thanks for that Mrs_B, My husband can not stand me doing it but I completely strip the bones of meat to treat the dogs (I take the best bits for leftovers) but it is nice to treat them. I will check them websites out and I have 2 freezers (at the moment it is one for them and one for us)

Thanks Ping-winged.

Atbb