Raw food advice

[Hollie Irwin]

I have heard from many sources that feeding raw is the best way... after some research i think i agree with this and im looking into how to do it and the cost. My main worry is getting all the right nutrients into her food. Is this difficult to achieve? I have looked at a few pre made-up options which i think is the way i would like to go, but all seem ridiculously expensive (as in £3-5 a day where her current kibble is just over 50p per day), i expect to pay more but is raw food just that expensive or am i looking in the wrong places?

 

[Lorvig]

I am not an expert, but from experience know dogs sometimes like raw meet sometimes only cooked meat, sometimes dry food, or vegetables. So variety is the way. A lot depends on the breed and dog individual preferences. My puppy growing fast and I giving him multivitamins for the kids and salmon oil.

 

[niamh123]

There are a few of us on here who feed raw it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want.You can buy premade blocks which have the correct ratios of the nutrients your dog needs when feeding raw you need 80%meat,10%bone and 10% offal which would be ideal for when you are starting to feed raw.How old is your dog,how heavy and what breed.I am sure JudyN will see this post and will be able to advise you

 

[JudyN]

Getting the nutrients right is easy enough once you've got the basics, Hollie, and the 'complete' raw meals are a lot more expensive than a more DIY approach. How old is your dog and how much does he/she weigh?

 

[excuseme]

Our Cocker spaniels are fed about 1/2 lb raw each per day, quiet often less. (They do get more when they are working.) We have used the product for up to 40 years, our dogs love it.
The raw product does not have to be balanced every day. A good variety of meat types, with edible bones and offal will all balance itself over a period of a few weeks.
What type of dog do you have?
I always recommend a super little book "Honey's Natural Feeding for Dogs". This is an easy to read and easy to understand book, it is useful for both newbes to the raw product and regular feeders. It can be purchased from Amazon for as little as 1p (used but like new).
This book used to be free from the Honeys website, but not sure if it is anymore!

 

[Chadders]

As said it can be as cheap or exp as you make it. Costs are dependant on the size of dog as you normally feed around 2/3% of the dogs weight (adult) thats to keep it at around the right weight. Then where you buy it some of the "branded" foods will be more exp. I feed Landywoods & Durham animal feeds which are between 80p & £1.10 per 454gm. Bruce normally eats one and a half packs a day. Having said that sometime, he'll just have a couple of fish in the morning or a turkey wing, neck etc. Which means he only has one packet a day.
I buy chicken wings and drumsticks from Aldi which is cheaper than my dog food supplier, I buy meat from supermarkets when it's reduced kidney, heart, liver etc.
Bruce loves his food he's 32kg and does very well on it probably costs me less than £2 per day. I recommend a raw diet, never had a problem, there are lots of books available to give you info and a good supplier will always advise and guide.
In terms of getting the right nutriments, a variety of meats is essential chicken, turkey, beef, lamb. I feed either lamb or beed tripe at least once a week. I also feed veg cooked carrot, spinach, blueberries, banana etc blended up and frozen in small plastic containers. I feed this with his meat maybe once a fortnight. In all honesty he eats better than me LOL !!