# What do YOU pay for RAW?



## pgr8dnlvr (Aug 7, 2011)

What do you pay for your premade raw food? Please include the weight of your dog and how much food you feed per day.

I have a toy poodle who started out at 4 1/2lbs. I'm only 1 week in and I'm trying to put more weight on her. In the one week she has gained over 150 grams so I'm not sure how much food I'll use for maintainance, I'm betting at least a little less. 

She's eating 1/4lb a day which costs either $24 a month if I buy 1lb blocks and cut them up myself or $35 a month for the precut cubes. I'm sure none of you have heard of the brand I'm trying though, its called "Chow for Now".


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## Lene (Jan 18, 2013)

I think the going rate - if you can call it that - is the amount of food equals 10-15% of the body weight..

I don't buy 'premade raw', just chicken necks and wings or mince from the butcher... I also feed kibble...


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I buy human-grade mince specially prepared for dogs (it contains ground bone and offal), frozen green tripe, chicken wings and sundry other meats, plus vegetables. I reckon the prepared food, allowing for collection, cooking, containers, etc, etc works out a maximum of 20p/30c per dog (Sophy 3.6 kilos/8 lbs, Poppy 4.5 kilos/10 pounds) or cat per day - that's about £1/$1.50 a pound. I could do it for less, but would have to bulk buy and I don't have enough freezer space.

So for each of my toys (much larger than yours!) that works out at around £6/$9 a month...


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Lene said:


> I think the going rate - if you can call it that - is the amount of food equals 10-15% of the body weight..
> 
> I don't buy 'premade raw', just chicken necks and wings or mince from the butcher... I also feed kibble...


You feed 2-3% of ideal body weight. For a younger puppy, 2-3% of expected adult body weight or 10-15% or current body weight.


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## pgr8dnlvr (Aug 7, 2011)

So it's early in the morning here and I'm feeling lazy, so humor me and check my math... 

If I want my dog to be about 5 lbs, I multiply 5lb by .03 and get .15. Does this mean in the end I'll (on average) be feeding about .15 of a lb per day? So is that just a little over 1/8lb?

FJM, sure wish I lived in Europe so you could make this all easier for me! Lol! I work in a vet clinic, so I very much feel a black sheep or a bad example in trying to feed raw diet. I don't wanna rock the boat at work so I'm not telling them what I'm trying, so my usual "go to" people for advice are of no help right now .

Wish me luck!

Please, keep the replies coming guys, I KNOW there are a heck of a lot more "raw feeders" on this forum who haven't chimed in yet! 

Rebecca


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Very good information and advice here: DogAware.com: Homemade Diets for Dogs

Mine get about 75 - 100 grammes/3 - 3.5 ounces each a day, but some of that is vegetables. With very small dogs you probably need to feed towards the upper end of the range, so assuming an adult weight of 5 pounds = 5*16*.3 = 2.4 ounces. How old is she, and how active? As pups, mine varied enormously in how much they needed on any given day. I found they grew fairly steadily until around 9-10 months, when they quite suddenly began to get plump, and I needed to reduce the amount of food they got.


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## pgr8dnlvr (Aug 7, 2011)

Ug, now I'll have to take the time to go on the internet and search how many ounces in a lb! Is 3 to 3.5 oz any where clost to "a little over 1/8lb?". Sometimes being Canadian is a pain, working in metric and standard at the same time is CHALLENGING to say the least! Lol!

Lucy is an adult now, at 1 year and 2 months. She "feels" mature as well. She's not active, but that is CERTAINLY not by choice  I excercise her when I can, but I work and take care of family etc. As well...

The premixed raw I'm using has been formulated by a dog breeder friend of mine who studied k9 nutrition and is in her third consecutive generation of feeding exclusively this diet. Its also been used by many, many of her clients for years with no malnutrition suffered by the dogs. It has chicken base, some cooked oats, vegetables, vitamins, minerals, oils and probiotics. I'm trusting her that it is balanced and complete and have been urged not to ad much else to the diet as it will change my dogs "nutritional balance". Who knows with raw eh? 

Rebecca


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

1 lb = 16oz
1 lb = 450g
1oz = 28.34g
3.5oz = 100g (as near as dammit!)
2.5oz = 70g (ditto)
4oz = 115g (ditto)

I am of an age to visualise in pounds and ounces, work out the arithmatic in metric because it is easier, then convert it back to imperial because I have never got round to replacing my ancient scales!

I'd ask your friend for the calorific values - it is then quite simple to get approximately the right quantity, and adjust up or down according to whether the dog needs to gain or lose weight.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

CharismaticMillie said:


> You feed 2-3% of ideal body weight. For a younger puppy, 2-3% of expected adult body weight or 10-15% or current body weight.


edit: oh, never mind.  I did my calculation wrong.


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