No Magic Money Tree....

Katieowl

enjoyyourshoes wrote: »

We have never fed dogs meat (except one which owe tried the raw meat diet, but did not solve the problem)

All our dogs eat dry working dog feed an own brand from an agricultural merchants.

Dogs thrive on it, and its £9.99 per 15 KG bag

I used to feed that to my old girl and her mum when she was still alive... It's on the list but I have to be 100% percent sure that the little one wouldn't get any...she literally passes straight blood for about five days if she gets anything wheat based. I just feel safer not having it in the house. It might come to it though....

LameWolf

Katieowl wrote: »

Dogs are all rescue Staffies, one is old and I think she'd struggle with kibble, but the other two would I think eat almost anything! I've looked at big sacks of grain free decent quality food and its sooo expensive! Like £80 a sack expensive! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a reduced bag in Tesco to experiment. I suppose if I took complete charge of the food I could keep them from eating each others? At the moment I've kind of come to the conclusion that if I can pick up meat under £2 a kilo and pad it out its cheaper and prob healthier. Frozen chicken is pretty cheap.

Do they all eat up their food as soon as it's served to them? If they do,would it be possible to feed them in separate rooms?
When I've looked after two dogs at a time, sometimes I've been asked to feed them apart, as one will bolt their food and then try for the other one's meal, so I feed one in the kitchen and take the other one into the lounge for their meal.
Obviously this won't work if they're grazers.

Gypsy'smum

Hi, long time lurker here, hope you don't mind me butting in but just wanted to throw in a couple of suggestions.
I use Millies Wolfheart dog food, all varieties are grain free with a range meat/veg ratios and prices. I feed my girl the Riverside mix (duck & trout) which is 60% meat and just over £40 for a 12kg bag with free delivery unless you need it next day. They use DPD who text a 1 hour delivery slot on the morning of delivery.
If avoiding wheat is the only issue I IIRC Costco's own brand has rice but no other grains, around 20% meat content and last time I checked was around £25 for a 20kg bag.

Don't know if that's any help?

GM

herbily

I don't know if you've ever considered either cooking your own dogfood or raw feeding? You mentioned that if you could get human-grade meat for under £2 a pound, you might give it a go.


I started cooking when my senior dog developed cancer, and wouldn't touch most food, but he was happy with boiled mince, veg and rice. I used to add a spoonful of bonemeal from Pets at Home. (Vet said he didn't advise raw meat for him because of the chemotherapy and reduced immune system.) If you google Raw Pet Supplies, they claim to deliver anywhere, but there's a few suppliers around of raw pet meat. (PS don't cook tripe, the smell is just too much!) That way you'll be sure of what goes into your dogs' food. I went for rice because it's easily stored, and the "ethnic" section of supermarkets does big sacks cheaply.

Katieowl

LameWolf wrote: »

Do they all eat up their food as soon as it's served to them? If they do,would it be possible to feed them in separate rooms?
When I've looked after two dogs at a time, sometimes I've been asked to feed them apart, as one will bolt their food and then try for the other one's meal, so I feed one in the kitchen and take the other one into the lounge for their meal.
Obviously this won't work if they're grazers.

Yes they all get fed separately, but there is always the odd bolt for someone else's dinner if a door gets opened! It has happened more than once, but I think it's him not me that forgets LOL! I'm the one that has to deal with the devestation, it concentrates the mind.

Katieowl

Gypsy'smum wrote: »

Hi, long time lurker here, hope you don't mind me butting in but just wanted to throw in a couple of suggestions.
I use Millies Wolfheart dog food, all varieties are grain free with a range meat/veg ratios and prices. I feed my girl the Riverside mix (duck & trout) which is 60% meat and just over £40 for a 12kg bag with free delivery unless you need it next day. They use DPD who text a 1 hour delivery slot on the morning of delivery.
If avoiding wheat is the only issue I IIRC Costco's own brand has rice but no other grains, around 20% meat content and last time I checked was around £25 for a 20kg bag.

Don't know if that's any help?

GM

I'll have a look? How long would that bag last a 20kg dog do you think?

Wheat is the absolute worse, she doesn't tolerate any grain well, but wheat is the one that makes her bleed 😥....I'm not sure what grain they have in Butcher's tins, but it does say wheat free. I think it might be rice?

Katieowl

herbily wrote: »

I don't know if you've ever considered either cooking your own dogfood or raw feeding? You mentioned that if you could get human-grade meat for under £2 a pound, you might give it a go.


I started cooking when my senior dog developed cancer, and wouldn't touch most food, but he was happy with boiled mince, veg and rice. I used to add a spoonful of bonemeal from Pets at Home. (Vet said he didn't advise raw meat for him because of the chemotherapy and reduced immune system.) If you google Raw Pet Supplies, they claim to deliver anywhere, but there's a few suppliers around of raw pet meat. (PS don't cook tripe, the smell is just too much!) That way you'll be sure of what goes into your dogs' food. I went for rice because it's easily stored, and the "ethnic" section of supermarkets does big sacks cheaply.

I'm definitely going to look into HM food, but I think it will have to be a combo. The little sick one eats nature's menu, country hunter stuff, I get it delivered from the local pet shop and I wanted to continue to support the little high street business, although I've started mixing it with free flow frozen tripe and the odd cube of liver. I have a home based food business and I can't be doing with the bones and it's a nice fine mix in this stuff. I really do believe it's made her well... Long story but if anyone wants to look, am I allowed to post a FB link?

Katieowl

Generally casting about, some of my previous choices have been ethical, like buying a Welsh organic milk, but I never checked the price �� 'fraid the farmers have taken one for the team, I'm still buying Welsh, but we've ditched organic.

I want to carry on supporting the pet shop for Bizzy's food, because it's the same price practically everywhere, but the other two it's all fair game, I buy in Mr T.

I also decided that I couldn't bear for the little birds to take one for the team, so I I'll carry on buying fat balls �� I've just been given two tubs, but B&M have them pretty cheap. I think if I made those, the dogs would attempt to snack on them!

Gypsy'smum

Katieowl wrote: »

I'll have a look? How long would that bag last a 20kg dog do you think?

Wheat is the absolute worse, she doesn't tolerate any grain well, but wheat is the one that makes her bleed ��....I'm not sure what grain they have in Butcher's tins, but it does say wheat free. I think it might be rice?

It usually lasts my German Shepherd about 6 weeks and she's around that weight but depends on how active the dog is (mine isn't very. The Millies stuff ranges from 40 to 80% meat but all are grain free and chicken free as a lot of dogs apparently are allergic to it. Not cheap but less expensive than Orijen etc. They sell trial size bags.
The costco food seems to have gone up, the online price is £36.99, probably less in store as I think that includes delivery but not that much cheaper than the better quality stuff - you get a bigger bag but you have to feed more of it.

Some kibbles use oats instead of maize or wheat, would that upset her? Might be worth browsing one of the big online stores eg zooplus just because they list all ingredients so you can compare the different brands.

Or it might be easier just to raw feed them all. I did for a few years but I had to stop as I didn't have enough freezer space for a delivery and I just wasn't up to carrying a couple of weeks worth at a time from town any more. Lots of good ideas from other posters too, so maybe one of them will suit you better.
Hope that all makes sense, I'm half asleep here, lol:)

Eta There's a really good website with lots of information on all the dog foods including what each would cost per day for your dog's weight, it's allaboutdogfood. co . uk without the spaces.

VfM4meplse

Katieowl wrote: »

I've started an Excell spreadsheet, and I'm logging all my shopping in various categories, so far the only pattern that's emerged is that the dogs eat more than we do

I know nothing about pet food, but I do know that keeping track of every receipt on a .xls spreadsheet for the first 3 months of 2017 was a valuable exercise. Combined with setting a monthly target of NSDs, this really worked - but I should say that it was relatively easy as it’s just me to consider.

At the end I added a column for “want / need” and I was still able to incorporate little treats from the chazzer, in the form of books.

I shall resurrect on 1st Jan 2018.