TangerineDream Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 (edited) Have been cooking my chicken mince from various suppliers for 22 years and have never had a problem...just make sure that when they mince it, it is very fine not coarse, and that there's not too much fat in it. I have bought a bag to try from a butcher but it was minced too coarsely and the bone pieces were too large for my liking so that went straight in the bin. Atm, I'm using a chicken shop who really do sell at $1 per kg (by weight) rather than Lenards who have some shops who sell as $1 per bag and the bag weight varies from 780g to 950g. I'm feeding a mixture of chicken mince, rice, oatmeal, cooked pumpkin, broccoli, potatoes, beans, carrots and feeding Pedigree Adult dry food (with the German Wirehair on the bag) and have found that this is the best combo for Tango - it's putting weaight on him (he's notoriously difficult to put weight on because he's so active), poos are lovely and his coat is stunning. 7.5kg bag is about $18 I think and lasts for weeks. Edited September 9, 2007 by TangerineDream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Bonnie Complete may be a good choice for the budget minded Our dogs have the bonnie range when they don't get fresh meat..they do well on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pandii Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 The bonnie range is quiet good for the price but is not available through the supermarkets Also cobber range is quiet good too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Re cooking the bone in chicken mince - apart from any issues with cooked bone, cooking destroys the calcium, which then skews the calcium:phosphorus ratio. I don't think there would be any issues with chicken skin and interal organs in the mince - probably add something, unless the dog was too fat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacklabrador Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 (edited) In my kennel I find that many 'little fluffies' go mad over chicken carcass IF you first smash it to bits with a meat cleaver. I prefer to start with carcasses because it's much clearer what you're feeding. I think some places, perhaps some Lennarts branches as well, throw the skin and fat into the mincer, which could end out with a pretty fatty mess. Not to mention guts. Yes because dogs totally sort through skin and guts when they eat a whole chicken. I find Leonards chicken mince is very finely ground - it actually seems to be "whipped" and pasty. It is so finely ground I am feeding it to the 800g Pom puppy with total confidence. It is ground carcasses with nothing else (no sausage meat or preservative) added. Why would you bother cooking it? Why waste the time just to ruin it and make it less digestible? I've been feeding raw meat as part of the diet for years without Salmonella problems. I would see the risk of feeding cooked meat long term as much larger than the risk of food poisoning. Dogs are designed to eat rotting meat in the wild - they don't get sick as easily as us weak humans do! They are scavengers and opportunists and their guts haven't evolved too far in the past few hundred years. My local Leonards sells four large chicken carcasses (lots of meat still on) for $2 per bag. They are big enough to be a meal for a fully grown labrador at about half a kg each. I wouldn't and don't feed them exclusively but if you were running short of money it's a very cheap way to get by for you if you want to keep feeding the more expensive food. Edited September 9, 2007 by blacklabrador Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoilt lab lives here Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 I feed my dogs Bonnie Light food its about $35 for a 29kg bag. They are doing great on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKat Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 You'll probably find that PurinaOne and Optimum work out at about $15-$20 less per 15kg's then Euk etc - Bonnie Working dog and Cobber are quite respectable foods and are both cheaper then supercoat...but in my opinion much better. However you can't get them from the supermarkets - but your local produce type store will stock them. Chook frames are quite cheap and you can often pick up pig feet/hocks, turkey necks etc quite cheap depending on the size of yours dogs and how much they need per meal etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwioz Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Wow I go out for the night and come back to so many useful suggestions and great advice - thanks!! I'm pretty sure I have seen Bonnie in our local Pet Cafe so that may be a goer, or from the supermarket sounds like Optimum or Purina will probably be best. I hadn't considered doing a DIY raw diet, might consider that too. Thanks so much for all the advice you've all been a fantastic help!! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 (edited) I do like supercoat, my dogs do well on it and they are showing and doing agility. I do change from time to time so have just started on optimum and I can see my dogs are thriving on it, I found the webiste for their offer - http://www.optimumpet.com.au/ will have to check it out. I was doing what showdog suggested and buying advance and mixing it with supercoat, then went to supercoat. I won a best of breed at a show Advance were sponsoring a while ago and answered their questionaire when I went to collect my prize. The rep suggested the optimum as it fits somewhere between the cheaper brands and the premium brands so I tried it and really like it. PS - at a trial on Saturday Bella's first run was a bit feral and she ran faster than ever (at nearly 8 years), don't know if it was her mood or the change of diet. Edited September 9, 2007 by helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAX Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Apart from cooked bones splintering, the main problem for the dog eating cooked bone is it can be very difficult for the dog to digest which often leads to constipation. Not a nice thing to fix for vet or dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwioz Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 I do like supercoat, my dogs do well on it and they are showing and doing agility. I do change from time to time so have just started on optimum and I can see my dogs are thriving on it, I found the webiste for their offer - http://www.optimumpet.com.au/ will have to check it out.I was doing what showdog suggested and buying advance and mixing it with supercoat, then went to supercoat. I won a best of breed at a show Advance were sponsoring a while ago and answered their questionaire when I went to collect my prize. The rep suggested the optimum as it fits somewhere between the cheaper brands and the premium brands so I tried it and really like it. PS - at a trial on Saturday Bella's first run was a bit feral and she ran faster than ever (at nearly 8 years), don't know if it was her mood or the change of diet. Thanks Helen - its really great hearing people's actual experiences with the food. Good to hear that dogs are doing well on the ones we are considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaos Central Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 We did the purina challenge and we got great results, we only had 2 dogs then but our poodle cross has a lovely glossy coat and nice firm poos, our jack russell was allergic to something in royal canin so she eneded up on purina, we haven't had any problems. We also feed bucket o beef, the dogs love thier cooked foods and at around $3 a kg it is cheap and home delviered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffy-Lover Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 (edited) Bonnie Dog is bought for about $30 for 20kgs and is a good buy. Add chicken necks to this and you have a cheap but decent diet. My staffies used to have the Bonnie Dog and they had great coats. the chicken necks are for teeth. Bonnie dog works out cheaper than the supermarket brands. Edited September 10, 2007 by Staffy-Lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwioz Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 I think our Pet Cafe may sell Bonnie in smaller packaging - just in plastic I think they do it themselves? A very vague recollection though, I'll go check it out. When I know they'll eat it it'll be more worthwhile to get the 20kgs anyway I'm sure. If it works out cheaper and is decent its sounding good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKat Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Yup...pet cafe's usually do sell them in a smaller bag 'home made' bags You can also usually get a 'mix' which will have a variety of kibble thru it cheap as well. Which PetCafe were you looking at going to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pandii Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 I just looked in Safeway and optium is $9.50 for 2 kilos now is my maths out or is the $100 I pay for 20 kilos of Proplan about the same Bonnie is $30 for 20 kilos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwioz Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ah ok cool. We're not far from the Corinda one - nearly all our pet supplies come from there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwioz Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 I just looked in Safeway and optium is $9.50 for 2 kilos now is my maths out or is the $100 I pay for 20 kilos of Proplan about the sameBonnie is $30 for 20 kilos Wow it really is a lot cheaper!! Why is there that much of a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 (edited) Optimum is cheaper in the larger sizes, it is also a higher graded food than the bonnie - the rep told me it is made to fill in the gap between the premium foods and the cheaper foods. I pay a little over $30 for a 8 kg bag which makes it $3.75 per kg. At that rate it would be about $75 for 20 kg, but if you take into account the drop in price for bulk it might be more like $60 Edited September 10, 2007 by helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pandii Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Helen I have never seen the optimum in bulk, I looked at the 2 kilos and thought yeh right, 8 month old rotti pup 2 kilos isnot going far LOL Bonnie is not what I would call a high qualitly food, but the dogs do well on it with chicken frames thrown in, it is a cheaper option if you need it and your dogs will survive More importantly is the fact they are getting fed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now