# Who says raw feeding doesn't cost more?



## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

All I can say is WoW! That's a bunch! Don't feed raw so cant help you there but wow that's some shopping trip. Good thing my girls are doing fantastic on their diet so I have no worries.


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## Deblakeside (Oct 2, 2015)

That freezer is really impressive! I a really small chest freezer in my painting studio which has helped to make feeding raw to Billy possible, but he doesn't get all of it! 1/3 of it is used to store palettes of oil paint, 1/3 for food for dh and I - mostly frozen sale meat and portions of soups and stews. Anyway, I'm really glad I don't have a big dog, or more than one little one- I'd have to get a whole new freezer, too. As it is, when the dh went out to pick up a "few things" from the store, I told not to , under any circumstances, to buy anything that needs to go in the freezer- there is absoluatlely not room in either one! BTW he came home with ice cream. He said he'd eat it in one sitting if he had to!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Well, looks like you can feed half the neighbourhood with gourmet meals, as well as feeding the dogs! I use one shelf of my fridge/freezer for animal meats. I buy batches of 20lbs of assorted ground meats every month or so (lamb, beef, chicken with 10% organ and 10% bone), plus one or two 1lb packs of salmon and chicken; when I have used some of that I buy a box or two of chicken wings from the supermarket, and if I am feeling brave a 2 kilo bag of frozen tripe chunks from a local supplier. I try not to buy everything at once or I run out of freezer space. I keep a bag of frozen mixed veg to hand, but often use whatever I have available in the fridge and garden. If I see sprats or sardines on extra special offer I will buy a few, but mainly I use canned sardines, so those don't need freezer space. If I have eggs that need using up I will freeze a few egg meals for the dogs, but usually I cook them as needed. Half the fun is trying new things, though - and finding out whether the dogs like them. I discovered white fish was not a good idea (clouds of acrid pong ...), that Sophy cannot tolerate turkey, that Poppy is fine with tinned sardines but tends to regurgitate fresh ones, that they all LOVE the raw fishy chicken, and that nothing can every be quite as good as whatever I am eating (and not sharing) myself!

The best buy I made was several hundred small lidded containers, just the right size for a meal for two animals. I wash and reuse them as many times as possible, and so far they are lasting well. They stack neatly in the freezer, and make it very easy to pull out and defrost exactly the right quantities. I think I paid about £18/$27 five or six years ago, and there is still a stack of them that have never been used.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Fjm, it's mostly the bottom two shelves that I use too for the dogs, plus a shelf or two on the door for organ meats.




I try not to use too much ground meat per information I found on a raw feeding forum. So there's a lot of chunks that they have to use their jaws and teeth to rip at. It's apparently more satisfying to that instinct to rip and chew and less apt to have pathogens, though they're not terribly susceptible to some of those things as we are. Fresh sardines I found online where I placed that order for tripe. The company is called_ Hare Today, gone tomorrow. _

I think you're smart not to get too much at once, as I did. I won't be feeding kangaroo or venison on a regular basis, I can tell you that right now. lol. There's no way. But I thought for a treat maybe...they deserve it right? 

Deblakeside, I'm glad I don't have big dogs too. I don't know that I'd be feeding this way if I had 3 big Poodles instead of 3 little dogs, all under 10 lbs. I love the story about your husband buying and eating the ice cream in one sitting. LOL. Too funny. 

AngelAvery...My dogs seemed to do fine too on their commercial food but they had bad breath for one thing. But the more I read about it, the more I thought about all the recalls and poisoning, the lack of truth (the Blue Buffalo labeling story for one tip of the iceberg), some other links I posted on other threads... the stuff that it turns out is in many of the commercial foods, the more I re-visited the fresh, whole food idea. I'm sure all commercial food is not created equally though. Some must be better than others. I started to try raw feeding once before years ago and gave up on the notion. But this time, I think I'll keep at it. They're loving it. Their teeth look amazing still at almost 3 years old and toy breeds just really have problems with that. I am quite a nervous novice though...am I feeding a good balance? Are they getting all they need? So, I joined a raw feeding forum and there's a lot of help there as well as here. 

Anyhow, I think I'll follow Fjm's method of not getting carried away with too much stuff all at once. We'll go through this most of the way and when it's getting low, start watching for good deals. lol. 

The containers are a good method too. I do use some for my veggie mixture which I've steamed fresh and run through my Vita-Mix. And also ice cube trays are a good method but I don't know what to cover them with besides aluminum foil. But the little cubes are a good size that just pop out.

Funny story...you know how dogs back chain when anticipating something. Well, when I walk into the laundry room and come out with two towels to put in the Poodles' crates to eat their meaty bones in, as soon as they see me with the towels, they charge like the running back approaching the end zone into their crates, waiting for their bones. They LOVE their raw meaty bones like nothing I've ever seen before! And I like knowing what they're eating.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Dulcie would be in heaven at your house! What a fantastic variety of meats you have there! I like how organized your freezer is too.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I feed raw but I buy an all prepared recipe with vegetables and some vitamins added. I could never do what you do, wayyy to much work for me !

I just have to unfreeze the patties and give it to them, and sometimes I find it's a hassle... I'm impressed by your dedication !


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Congrats on the freezer! That's some authentic raw-feeding mojo right there! Yep, we invested in a freezer, too; ours is one of the chest types.

We, too, love finding "weird" stuff. Ethnic markets or supermarkets that cater to an ethnic population in the area can be a great source. We have an HEB here where I have found whole pig and lamb heads. Our dogs love chicken and duck feet; they make an awesome snack. Bags of mackarel are something else we've found there. And oh my gosh, those bags of chicken leg quarters at Wal-Mart! Nice! Sometimes we pick up a box of fryers at Sam's, too. 

Most of the time, though, we shop at a raw dog food area we are lucky enough to have in our area, Bones 2 Go. They have freezers full of all kinds of raw meaty bones (from rabbit to ostrich), pretty much every prepared patty-type of raw food (we don't do those, but they carry them!), along with containers of ground organ mixes (kidney, heart, liver, gizzards, etc.), tubes of green tripe (a staple for us), and pork riblets, turkey necks and tails, chicken backs, etc. We buy by the case, bring the cases home and thaw them in the bathtub, then box them into the plastic boxes with smaller servings to be placed in the freezer and brougth out for the meals. Pork riblets are our go-to RMB, but we try to do a variety. 

Of course feeding raw is generally more expensive than feeding kibble. Feeding ourselves whole food rather than processed is more expensive, too, but the theory is that it pays off in health and overall wellness in the long run. For us, raw feeding has been a fun adventure. We've been involved in this adventure since 1997, and we've learned so much, loved every step along the way, and have (in our opinion) happy, healthy dogs because of it. 

Good luck on your journey!

--Q


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I admire you raw feeders very much! It must be fun to feed such a variety of foods and see your dogs' reactions.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

You are right about chunks rather than mince where possible, although it does make balancing organ % more difficult. I must pick up a bag of beef chunks as soon as I have freezer space - they would also help to reduce the amount of chicken mine eat. They love it so much it is easy for it to creep way past the 50% mark!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

What 50% mark? Do you mean they should not eat more than 50% of any one meat? Oh, and I forgot that I also have pork tenderloin that was on sale at Costco. But when I tried pork ribs, they were so hard and sharp because I guess they were cut that the dogs couldn't do much with them and I freaked out and took them away. So basically the only bone they get is from chicken. Does it matter about the bones themselves being varied do you think? 

Quossum, thanks for your great and informative post! I hope you pop into these raw feeding threads more often. You seem to be a wealth of experience and knowledge. 

But what in God's green earth is 10%? I mean, when you're putting food in the bowl, how much liver or kidney should I be adding. I've been doing a tiny tad...2 or 3 pieces about the size of a penny every day rather than a whole bunch all at once. Maurice does not like organ meat and so I need to sneak it in. Or the other day, he separated it out. So, I shoved it down his throat manually. It's slippery so it went right down. Anyhow, it seems all I can do is estimate. There's got to be a better way. Is it 10% by weight or volume? I don't even know that. So is what I've been doing okay do you think for my 4 or 5 lb, 7 lb dogs and sometimes Jose`, my 10 pounder?

Dechi...it is a lot of work or has been. I feel the easier times are just around the corner. I think at first it takes a lot of though and figuring out what containers to use, what amount to feed, how to vary it but also introduce things gradually. (which I haven't done that well on but they seem to be okay) But as the bugs are worked out, it seems it's getting easier and once I've gotten everything made into small, meal sized packages (that's work) and into the freezer, all I need to do is think the night before what the next day's meals will be and get things out of the freezer. It just becomes easy. And I keep some Nature's Variety pre made raw on hand just in case I think I need it. Or for Jose` who can't chew bones. He gets that and some egg shell powder on his food if it's not the store bought. But I worry about him so I give him pre made quite a bit.

The Poodles are getting chunky so I need to cut them back. They use to self regulate and didn't over eat but with this food, they tend to eat it all usually. A few things they would rather do without. lol.

Nifty...there are a lot of different meats there but I don't expect to be buying those things that are upwards of $20 a lb too often. lol. That's ridiculous. So, I expect it will be more inexpensive things as long as there's variety. Gizzards and hearts are muscle meats, not organs. They are inexpensive but quite rich in nutrients....possibly too rich to feed a whole bunch at once. (?) 
I also have tongue, also, though an organ, apparently not considered an organ for raw feeding. I got one of those and spent a very long time cutting it up. LOL. I should have asked the butcher to do it for me. I bet they wouldn't mind. Actually, that's not cheap either at $6.99 Lb. But these tiny dogs don't eat much. 

Zooeysmom, it is sort of fun...sort of gross too. You have to be very conscious of cross contamination and though sterile technique is not needed or even possible, being very clean is. LOL. And no doggie kisses on my mouth thank you very much. However, something I read was saying that dogs fed kibble actually have dirtier mouths than those fed raw meaty bones. The bones scrape the gunk off the teeth which otherwise would hang around all day and become septic. The dogs fed raw meaty bones have cleaner mouths in all actuality, apparently...so the story goes. At any rate, I prefer no kisses on my face. Sometimes they can get you though, if they're very quick. lol. Yikes! But yes, I'd say this raw feeding is quite the adventure.

Well, thanks everyone for joining into the discussion. I see it's sort of evolved on account of my newbiness and how I go off on tangents. But I do appreciate your experience and comments. I am pleased with my new freezer although it does one weird thing. If the door closes and I forgot something and want to open the door again right away, it won't let me. It's doing something with the vacuum to make sure it's sucked closed. lol. And I have to wait about a minute to open it again. Grrrr. Sometimes it's annoying. I guess though, it's good that the door is for sure closed tightly, right. Thanks. Hope you come back to this thread. :angel:


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