Raw is Hellish Expensive
philsergeant
Palm City, Florida, USA
Has anyone any better, safe, idea on how to get raw, cheaper... Damn stuff is costing me about $120 per month (for 2 insatiable pups) ... They only get about 25% raw.... And the idea was to increase it to about 33.3%.... But at $7.50 /lb. I don't know... The rest of their mix is TOTW at $1.50/lb., baked or boiled chicken breast $2.00/lb. ( not bad considering TOTW cost).... And Merrick canned puppy food at $3.80/lb. We are getting the Instincts brand frozen raw.... Need something easy to prepare... Dang bullies are already taking 50 % of my waking life $-)
In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
Comments
A dogs digestive system can't be compared to that of a humans. Read up on the benefits with raw meats compared to cooked meats. BARF has some good literature on that subject. Here's a statement coming from their website:
Living Enzymes are proteins found in raw foods which help the body function. Enzymes are only beneficial to the body if they are living. Once food is cooked or processed, it no longer contains living enzymes. Foods without living enzymes put stress on the pancreas to produce the necessary proteins to function. Living Enzymes in a raw diet restore, repair, and maintain health. Animals replenish their enzymes systems by eating raw unprocessed foods. Our convenient patties retain their living enzymes along with phyto-chemicals, antioxidants, and unprocessed amino acids. Your pet’s long term health depends upon these factors, to ensure a long and healthy lifespan.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
i feed my two dogs and now my 3 cats a prey model raw diet for about 10-20$ per month.
if you want to feed raw cheaply-you have to put some work into it, but its worth it.
most of my meat comes from our small locally owned grocery store. every morning around 5-6 am they cut meat for the day, whatever doesnt sell by leaving time, they simply junk along with the meat scraps (tendons,bones,fat ect) i will call at 6am and ask them to hold the meat scraps for me and pick them up at closing time (the meat department closing time-not grocery store closing time)
they give me a big trash bag of meat that they were going to throw away-its all good meat, just they are not allowed to sell it because its been out all day in the cooler.
dont expect to get things like this from chain stores-its illegal, but i know alot of people who like me go to the locally owned places and get it under the table for free so to speak.
also, invest in a chest freezer so you can stock up and dont have to turn down bulk.
try to find meat processors during hunting season and ask what they do with all the scrap, sometimes you can even ask to pay for der that some hunters take in for processing and leave behind.
know of any local farms? you can ask them to contact you when they have calves die or are still born.
know anyone who hunts or fishes? ask them to give you anthing they are going to be throwing away anyways hearts, livers, kidneys, spleens, genitals, heads, ect.
ask freinds and family to give you old freezer-burne meats, freezer burnt meat is still very nutritious, freezer burning only changes flavor-not nutrition.
if your like me who isnt afraid of getting "dirty" watch craigslist for free roosters, chickens, rabbits, goats, ect and get them and butcher them yourself (so long as you let hte person know what itll be going for-some rabbits people love as family and are looking for a pet home only, so just be honest with them and dont get offended if they say no)
post ads on craigslist looking for chicken farmers, rabbit farmers ect and ask about making a deal with them for the meat scraps they throw out, same with pig,cow,sheep,llhama,goat, farmers.
in the winter time-ill pick up fresh road kill (only in the winter though)
i am also a pet rat breeder, any of my litter culls or adult culls get frozen and fed to the dogs (i cull by either quickly dislocating the spine-or useing a homemade gas chamber of vinnigar/baking soda)
alot of raw feeders i know start out thinking of just "meat" as in grocery store, pre cut and cleaned ect, because thats how most eat meat- but if you can think of it as "animal" instead of "steak" youll start finding a heck of alot of sorces of meat!
i also know some people who wouldn ever dream of feeding a dog a cow penis-but its only humans who have the 'EWW" factor, dogs love them, and they are actually very nutritious! as is eyes, feet, spleen, and stomachs.
good luck and happy hunting!
just read your last comment philsergeant.
The way a human (or animal) gets e-colli or salmonella is due to irritation of the bowels-if your bowels are not irritated, then your chances of getting sick from eating bad food diminishes to about less then 1%
the reason being is-your stomach was designed to ingest germs and bacteria-nasty bactiera, so it protects itself with a barrier, when you eat somthing that causes irritation, your leaving yourself open to allowing some nasty bactieria to enter your blod stream and be absorbed, the more irritate your bowel, the mroe likly somthing will be absorbed.
so, for a human,we dont have veyr strong stomach acid to help eat away those bacteria, so we leave ourselves even MORE prone to E-colli and salmonella. now how does ones bowels become irritated?
sugars are a HUGE contributor,as well as grains, food dyes, preservatives and processe foods in general,humans who eat commercially prepared foods, bodies are in a constant state of irritation-eat one bad-ass bactiera and your pretty much guarnteed to get sick.
hence the reason kibble fed dogs are actually MORE prone to getting sick-there bowels are in a constant state of irritation. also straining the immune system, because all those normally un-harmfaul bacteria we ingest all the time (ever wonder what kind of germs live under your finger nails? ever handle money before eating? ever lick food off your fingers?) are getting thru the bowels/stomach barrier, and while not deadly-the immune system is working over-time trying to keep it that way, fighting it off.
SO, that is how your intestinal tract works, along with your dogs, except with dogs-they do have much strong stomach acids then humans (probably since humans have been cooking our meat for thousands of years)
i have fed my dogs bad spoilt rotten meat without problems-however, i suggest NOT feeding spoilt meat to begining with.
i have fed chicken so rotten it was green/black liquid, they had rancid breathe but didnt even get diareha or gas.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
If you can't find them I'll check when I get home later. If there's anything local to you that would definely drive cost down.
Reckon I'm gonna save about $100 a month and get better quality.