Dog food suppliers (raw)

Chakani

Can anyone let me know of any good or bad experiences you have had with suppliers of raw meat for dogs? Our local butchers don't do any scraps or bits, so I need to order it and have it delivered.

If it makes a difference, we are in west Kent.

Welshwoofs

I find http://www.naturalinstinct.com/ very convenient as all the raw food and veg portioning is already done for you and it comes in handy 400g tubs so easy to stack in the freezer.

krlyr

The Dog Food Company may deliver to your area - he comes from Suffolk and does a route down around the M25 into Surrey. He can be a little difficult to get hold of, unfortunately - his one flaw really. But the food is well-priced, he's a lovely guy to deal with, reliable once you're established as a customer (generally always at the start of the week to say he's due down - he delivers on a 4 week schedule to me, I think he has some more regular routes too though) and the dogs love the food. He can get hold of some more unusual stuff too - the dogs had pigs trotters before Christmas, and he's got hold of some giant bones to keep them busy.
https://www.thedogfoodcompany.co.uk

scheming_gypsy

I use http://www.daf-petfood.co.uk/4-daf-frozen-dog-foods and used to use http://www.landywoods.co.uk/price_list.html and also been given http://www.manifoldvalleymeats.co.uk/barf-diet-products/ but not used them yet.

not really had any problems with Landywoods or DAF

sharloid

I second the recommendation for either DAF or MVM. We had our first order from DAF the other day and apart from not knowing what mince is in the assorted box it's fine. I'd also recommend Morrisons, as that's where I get sprats, pork rind, salmon trimmings, heart, lamb bones, kidney and liver. I also bought 20kg of chicken carcasses for £6 from a poultry factory the other day so it might be worth seeing if there's anywhere like that near you.


DAF order


Morrisons haul


20kg of chicken carcasses


I don't see the point in buying ready made i.e natural instinct and if you have a large dog then it'll work out pretty expensive.

krlyr

sharloid, what sort of times of day do you find good to get reduced meat at Morrisons? We don't have one locally but were considering visiting the one near my mum (tying it in with a visit) to try to get some bargains (for our groceries), would be handy to get some more variety for the dogs. I used to find that popping in to the local Tesco late at night or first thing in the morning, I could get loads of reduced meat for the dogs but nowadays you're lucky to get 30p off a £15 joint with a BB date of that day!
(ps, serious kitchen envy!)

sharloid

krlyr wrote: »

sharloid, what sort of times of day do you find good to get reduced meat at Morrisons? We don't have one locally but were considering visiting the one near my mum (tying it in with a visit) to try to get some bargains (for our groceries), would be handy to get some more variety for the dogs.

Only the sprats were reduced (and only by about 10p) the stuff I mentioned is all under £2 a kilo so I buy it at normal price. Our Morrisons usually reduces stuff at about 8 but by then most of the bones etc will be gone so as long as you think they're a fair price I'd just go in the afternoon.

Chakani

Thanks for all the recommendations - I'll have a look at them all. Sharloid, your dogs are beautiful, they look pretty satisfied with their delivery!

We have a 1 year old Sprollie, so not huge, and at the moment I'm going on for 7 months pregnant with my third, so I'm looking for ways to make things easier rather than cheaper for the time being.

Saying that, I bought a sack of kibble to try (she's been on raw since 12 weeks old), and by the end of a 10kg sack I can already see that her coat is not as good as it was, and the poo is just unbelievable! So we are heading back to raw, but looking for an easier, more straightforward way of doing things for a while, at least.

scheming_gypsy

sharloid wrote: »

I second the recommendation for either DAF or MVM. We had our first order from DAF the other day and apart from not knowing what mince is in the assorted box it's fine. I'd also recommend Morrisons, as that's where I get sprats, pork rind, salmon trimmings, heart, lamb bones, kidney and liver. I also bought 20kg of chicken carcasses for £6 from a poultry factory the other day so it might be worth seeing if there's anywhere like that near you.


DAF order


.

you stoled my dog :eek: looks like a Naughty Idiot from that angle and the same colouring as mine, but you'll probably say it's a malamute now.


From DAF, the lamb ribs are good value and the meaty lamb bones go down well.
I'll usually get meaty lamb ribs, pork bones, lamb ribs and duck wings. The wings come in useful to bulk up meals.
Not a fan of the mince packs though, they take ages to defrost in winter and stink in summer when they've defrosted.
The chicken backs are expensive from there, we used to get them local and they'd charge about £2 for a bin bag, just because we saved them the hassle of mincing them.... so that's a pretty good deal at £6

sharloid

Chakani wrote: »

Thanks for all the recommendations - I'll have a look at them all. Sharloid, your dogs are beautiful, they look pretty satisfied with their delivery!

We have a 1 year old Sprollie, so not huge, and at the moment I'm going on for 7 months pregnant with my third, so I'm looking for ways to make things easier rather than cheaper for the time being.

Saying that, I bought a sack of kibble to try (she's been on raw since 12 weeks old), and by the end of a 10kg sack I can already see that her coat is not as good as it was, and the poo is just unbelievable! So we are heading back to raw, but looking for an easier, more straightforward way of doing things for a while, at least.

Thanks . I guess with raw you can make it as easy or as complicated as you like. It depends how much variety you want to give them.

I played around with a few menus for mine and this is what I came up with to make things easier

One meal will be a chicken carcass and the other;
Day 1 - Mince
Day 2 - Fish & kidney
Day 3 - Mince & an egg
Day 4 - Heart
Day 5 - Fish
Day 6 - Meat chunks (e.g. turkey)
Day 7 - Treat (e.g. lamb leg)

Liver is fed as treats.

I worked this out to be less than £11.50 for 30 days for a 20kg dog on 500g a day.

sharloid

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

you stoled my dog :eek: looks like a Naughty Idiot from that angle and the same colouring as mine, but you'll probably say it's a malamute now.


From DAF, the lamb ribs are good value and the meaty lamb bones go down well.
I'll usually get meaty lamb ribs, pork bones, lamb ribs and duck wings. The wings come in useful to bulk up meals.
Not a fan of the mince packs though, they take ages to defrost in winter and stink in summer when they've defrosted.
The chicken backs are expensive from there, we used to get them local and they'd charge about £2 for a bin bag, just because we saved them the hassle of mincing them.... so that's a pretty good deal at £6

Stole your dog? You're welcome to have him... :P

They're both huskies:





I only got mince as we're on a tight budget and they're cheaper than chunks. In an ideal world they'd be fed on chunks and whole prey.