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Post by Jessie99 on Jul 6, 2016 11:32:08 GMT
Hi all,
My Cavalier has been going off her food quite a bit lately, she is fed on James Well Beloved and so is my Westie, I am just wondering how much it would cost to Raw Feed? Is it expensive? She eats her James Well Beloved with wet food, but I am aware that Raw Feeding is a much healthier alternative for dogs. She may be going off her food because of her meds, but when we've tried her with other stuff she seems to be eating it (we tried Wagg, just to get her to eat, but that's not a brand I would prefer to feed any of my dogs on to be honest).
Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
Jessie x
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Post by alfiemummy on Jul 6, 2016 11:53:50 GMT
I don't find it too expensive to feed one 13kg dog. But I guess it depends what you interpret as 'expensive'!
I have never worked out how much it actually costs me, but at a guess it would probably not be any more than about £20-30 a month. I don't find myself concerned that I'm spending too much. I say this every time - I really should work it out one day how much its costing me!
I think its costing me about the same or maybe slightly more than when I used to feed kibble.
It all depends what you decide to feed too, pre made will almost certainly cost more than DIY.
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Post by bextull on Jul 6, 2016 12:51:30 GMT
The cost of raw feeding can vary from person to person Typically, feeding complete minces from suppliers is the most expensive route but it's also often the easiest for most people. But you've got a lot of choice when it comes to suppliers in the UK. Here's a list of UK suppliers you might want to have a look at - www.rawfeedingrebels.com/suppliers-raw-food-uk/There's also the rawfeeding rebels facebook page I've always feed DIY and it costs less than €1 per day to feed Oscar (13kg, highly active). |
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Post by smilesbetter on Jul 6, 2016 19:05:26 GMT
I feed my cat and medium sized dog raw, and it costs about 30€ a month. I have a really great raw dog food butcher round the corner from my flat who prepare the food exactly how I like and even offer to jar it all up for me (I prefer to do it myself though), I'm super lucky! My cat is much healthier seeming since switching over, can't speak for my dog though as she has only ever eaten raw. Everyone always remarks how healthy and full of life she is but who knows whether it's the diet or just good luck  |
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Post by Pawsforthought on Jul 6, 2016 19:49:21 GMT
We have tried numerous suppliers and Naturaw is one of the best. You get a lot of choice with them as they stock food from multiple suppliers.
If you are thinking of making the switch, do a lot of research! A lot of "completes" claim to be complete that aren't as they don't contain enough liver and other offal. If you want to go for DIY, it's actually not that difficult once you get your head around it (usually it's 80% meat, 10% offal (of which liver must be half,) and 10% bone, though we feed around 12.5% as that seems to suit our two.) The main hurdle after getting your numbers right (and writing them down so you don't have to remember them all!) is finding a supplier that suits you.
Raw doesn't have to break the bank, and our two have had very few stomach issues since switching so there is an argument for fewer vet bills helping to balance it out. For us with two almost 30kg (so 60kg of dog between them) it costs just over £100 a month.
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 6, 2016 21:00:00 GMT
Jessie99 I feed two dogs raw and don't find it too expensive. I spent £63 this month on 31kg of food from Naturaw which will feed the girls for just over a month (Pepper is 17.7kg and Ellie is 15.2kg). If I hadn't bought the rabbit mince, it would have been cheaper but I try and feed leaner meats to keep Pepper's weight down. I used to DIY, and still have 4kg of chicken wings in my freezer, along with various amounts of meat chunks and venison necks. I am currently feeding mostly complete minces as Pepper can no longer cope with chunks of anything after having the bone stuck in her throat at the beginning of the year and it's easier to keep Ellie on the same kind of food. Naturaw are a fab supplier (you might be lucky to fall into their local delivery route too, which is only £4.80 no matter how much you order - I am) and they do a good variety of the usual completes such as Nutriment but they also do MVM and The Dogs Butcher complete minces which are a lot cheaper. You are also in the range of Rawtdoor and The Wandering Dog. Rawtdoor do their own completes and The Wandering Dog are a bit like Naturaw. Like Pawsforthought said, do lots of research if you're considering switching over. It can be cheaper, but I didn't find it much cheaper until I got a chest freezer specifically for the dogs and was able to do bulk orders. That said, if you're lucky enough to be able to call into a raw supplier on a more regular basis, you'll save on delivery etc.
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Post by smilesbetter on Jul 6, 2016 21:06:31 GMT
I only have a normal freezer and buy monthly for the cat, fortnightly for the dog. I buy everything fresh on the day that it is picked up from the slaughterhouse, and I put it all into daily (Rosa) and two-daily (Mieze) jars.
I imagine it's quite different when getting bulk orders!
Is there any raw pet food butchers in the uk with fresh stuff? There is so many here in Berlin, there's four or five that I know of in a very small radius from my flat. The best one is the one that's a five minute walk round the corner thankfully.
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 6, 2016 22:26:24 GMT
I don't know of any raw pet food butchers specifically, but people can (and do) go directly to the abattoirs to get food.
I've never done that. I much prefer to get the bulk orders and then portion up regularly. I used to try and do a month's worth of food, but the way I've organised the freezer now means I can only really fit two weeks worth in.
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Post by Jessie99 on Jul 19, 2016 0:13:38 GMT
Thanks everybody for the advice so far! It seems as if I'm spending about the same, if not more, on James Well Beloved than I would on raw food as I get a 2kg bag for Charlie, and a 2kg bag for Gypsy (they are on different food as Gypsy is still on Junior but will be getting adult soon as she's turned 1). Each 2kg bag costs up to 10 pound and only lasts them about a week and a couple of days depending on whether I buy them any James Well Beloved meat to mix it a bit, sometimes I get WainWrights meat.
I am seriously looking into Raw Feeding, but omg where do I start? So much to research and so much to think about! Of course, I know of all the nutrients they need and causes of deficiency of nutrients/toxicity of nutrients! I am just not sure HOW to even Raw Feed to be totally honest? Can anybody point me in the right direction of where to start? I want the best for my dogs but have always been concerned on prices, but it doesn't seem to be much different than what I am paying now.
For anybody wondering why I haven't asked about any of my other dogs its because Roman is on a prescribed diet from the Vet (it's Hill's Gastrointestinal Health i/d) for his IBS and Chronic Pancreatitis (Roman was Raw Fed at one point but he was still getting upset stomachs all the time and struggling to digest). Brooke and Callie are on Royal Canin Shih Tzu (it's easier for them to chew with their squishy faces), and finally, Cindy the Yorkie who had her leg amputated this year is on a special diet from our Vet because she needs to loose weight as she's a bit on the heavy side so its making it harder for her to cope on three legs. She has lost weight which is good, but needs to loose a little bit more to make it easier for her.
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 19, 2016 20:11:53 GMT
I would say definitely look at complete minces at first. That way you just weigh out the right amount (start with 2% of body weight - or 2% of the weight you want them to be) and pop it in a bowl. Then when you're more confident, you can always look at DIY meals that you make up yourself. I started with Natural Instinct then moved on to DIY. Now we're back to minces, but I need to get Ellie eating proper bones again as she's getting plaque on her back teeth.
I believe that Natural Instinct will send out free samples for you to try with the dogs before you commit to buying.
Raw food could help Cindy lose the extra weight, but obviously that would be up to you. Pepper is a different dog since being on raw food i.e. nowhere near the weight she was.
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Post by Pawsforthought on Aug 3, 2016 21:47:46 GMT
I am seriously looking into Raw Feeding, but omg where do I start? So much to research and so much to think about! Of course, I know of all the nutrients they need and causes of deficiency of nutrients/toxicity of nutrients! I am just not sure HOW to even Raw Feed to be totally honest? Can anybody point me in the right direction of where to start? I want the best for my dogs but have always been concerned on prices, but it doesn't seem to be much different than what I am paying now. Raw feeding isn't as scary as it sounds, and it's not like if you get something slightly wrong to begin with your dogs will explode  we didn't realise that for months we were feeding an unbalanced diet because there was no offal in the food. The dogs are fine! Lol Definitely start with a complete. Nutriment would be my recommendation. If you look at the ingredients of each 'flavour,' make sure you mostly feed the ones that contain liver and kidney. If something says it contains 'whole fish' it is usually complete. (ie. the salmon nutriment should be complete.) So when we feed Nutriment we mostly feed chicken, turkey and salmon but we also get some duck and also beef (beef is boneless so we feed a chicken foot at the same time.) It isn't as difficult as it sounds, and I think if you just go for it you'll learn as you go. You can't really go wrong with Nutriment! |
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we didn't realise that for months we were feeding an unbalanced diet because there was no offal in the food. The dogs are fine! Lol 
