Cheaper ways to feed your dog(s)

Tarimoor

Having five large dogs, I have to watch the pennies when it comes to feeding them. If you put in the effort and have the storage space, you can feed your dog(s) pretty much for free. It's not for the squeamish as it does involve handling a lot of raw meat and offal, but it's also an incredibly healthy way to feed. Firstly, you need to apply for a licence to transport and use animal by products, this is free, just a record for the AVHLA of who does this in case of disease outbreak, the form is AB117, it comes up when googled. You need to find out who in your local area is willing to either sell you their ABPs cheaply, or even give them to you for free, and make sure you have enough storage space, freezers for storing, fridges for defrosting.

For those who don't want to go down the raw feeding route for whatever reason, shop around for better quality foods than those available at supermarkets. I wean my pups onto a good quality kibble, with a high percentage of meat, none of the colourants and large amount of wheat used to bulk out many of the off the shelf products. Learn to read and have a basic understanding of the labels, which are listed in the order of highest percentage of ingredients, so if it begins with maize, corn etc. It's easy enough to find good quality kibbles online with higher percentages of meat, and as many dogs are intolerant to wheat, potato and rice as alternative fillers.

Also check if there is a breeder scheme available, most of the time you don't need to prove you breed dogs, but some companies offer great discounts.

Fred.Hedgehog

My 2 Cavs are on raw... I didn't want to do it myself (from a time, storage and nutritional perspective) but have them on Natural Instinct which still only works out to under £1.50 per day for both of them.
From a health perspective it did my older boy the world of good when I swapped last year... He is on chemo which was playing havoc with his digestive system but coped with it brilliantly since swapping. Nice clean (and white!) poos!

Ash_McCloud

I fully raw feed now after going most of the way but still giving a bit of dry in a morning.

My dog had parvovirus when I got him and his stomach was really sensitive for a year afterwards. It settled down with a good quality grain free food but he still struggled to put weight on and would suffer from the runs regularly. I researched raw feeding and fed him slightly more bone than was recommended. This firmed his stools up and he put weight on, so much so that the vet said he was creeping up to being overweight and to watch what he was eating, which when you've carried a half dead bag of bones into the emergency vets is great to hear.

I usually get the meat, bones and offal for him from Morrisons. Apparently because of the way they run the butchery they're able to offer all of the animal for sale, unlike other supermarkets. It does need a bit of freezer space, but the stuff I get him is often yellow stickered and I keep the price under £1 a day.

Rev

I feed my two raw.

My eldest dog had terrible stomach issues. The poor thing spent almost 4 months unable to eat anything but boiled potato and scrambled egg. You can imagine how unhealthy he became. But all commercial food caused terrible bloody stools and massive hives to the point his eyes would swell shut.


The vet said try hypoallergenic, the. Grain free. Then nothing with chicken, then Turkey, beef or fish.


I saw someone mention raw over at pet forums. Within two months he was back to full health. He can eat all the things raw that he can't eat when processed. He's not had an upset stomach in 5 years no. He gets the occasional skin Flare up usually due to someone visiting wearing strong perfume or having used fabreeze but I use dermacton which settles it and I don't have to pump him full of steroids any more. Which generally made him grumpy and miserable.


I use manifold valley meats. We have a local supplier who delivers once every two weeks. Cost me about £30 to feed two 25kh dogs for a month.


I couldn't bring myself to ever feed kibble again. But that's personal opinion. Millions of dogs do absolutely fine on dry food.

MallyGirl

another raw feeder here - our local pet store stocks both MVM and DAF so I have a lot of choice. I also get meaty bones and offal from Morrisons, along with the occasional turkey leg or yellow stickered meat. I also never cook whole chickens - I buy whole then take the legs and breasts off for us and give the dogs the carcass and wings.
My 2 36kg dogs cost me about £2 - £2.50 a day to feed this way.

Thistle-down

My husband has a butchers shop and he gives his "waste" meat and bones to a lady each week who feeds her dogs raw food. She is doing him a favour by picking it up, and her dogs are doing great.

If you have a small independent butchers shop in your area, it might be worth asking...?

SeduLOUs

I wanted to go raw with my dog but he's so fussy and he turned his nose up when he was presented with offal! He had bouts of bad stomach when trying him on raw chicken and he didn't seem to enjoy it (leaving it sat there for hours and only eating it when nothing else appeared).

He's had every dog food known to man and doesn't get on with most of them, but we've found a kibble that he is settled and healthy on and he always wolfs it down so I figure just leave him to it.

He will chew on raw bones so I get him some as often as I can from the butchers when he has them spare (you have to be lucky with the timing round here as everyone wants them) so I guess that's better than nowt.

MallyGirl

Thistle-down wrote: »

My husband has a butchers shop and he gives his "waste" meat and bones to a lady each week who feeds her dogs raw food. She is doing him a favour by picking it up, and her dogs are doing great.

If you have a small independent butchers shop in your area, it might be worth asking...?

I would love there to be a small independent butchers shop in my area - for me and the dogs. Unfortunately I live in a town with 9 Tesco including 2 hypermarket versions. The lovely game butcher in town finally closed just before Christmas