Dog Food On A Budget

[Poodle wrangler]

The more I read here about dog food, the more confused I become !

$100 15kg bags of dry food are not an option at the moment. I'm feeding a semi-lean pet mince+vege mix plus Supercoat puppy kibble (about 1/2-1/2) three times a day, plus bones with some meat, plus chicken wings/ necks (about 3/ day), plus some fish (tuna) 4 times a week. I add rice if there's left overs. Pup's a standard poodle i.e. medium-large breed and is lean. He's active. Breeder fed BARF.

Can anyone suggest some nutritious budget dog food ideas? I'm looking to replace the SC with something better.

Freezer space is a bit limited, so 100% BARF might be a stretch :D .

ETA: Are there any dog nutrition studies NOT funded by pet food companies?

Edited March 31, 2007 by Poodle wrangler

[shmoo]

SoG and i feed our crew a mix of Chicken Pet Mince, Rice, Pumpkin/Potato, Dry Bikkies and on the odd night they get a can of tuna or sardines mixed in. We find it the cheapest way to feed them a good diet.

The Dry Bikkies have been supercoat or bonnie lately (and i found the supercoat better than bonnie), but im off to the pet supplies store today to pick up some of their mixed bags of broken stock. they sell it pretty cheap and its a mix of all the good dry bikkies and since we have such a variety of breeds here i think its a good way to go

[espinay2]

A suggestion for 'diet on a budget':

The basics:

*Chicken frames (cheaper if you buy in 'bulk' by the box - ave $6-$8/box)

*Canned home brand cat food sardines (usually just the sardines with no additives which is good) (about 69c can ave)

*lamb or beef liver or kidney etc (look for markdown packets at woolies etc) (a few dollars - one 'bag' will last one dog a number of meals though as you only feed a small amount at a time - repack it into small lots to freeze)

*roo mince (or beef/pet mince of some kind but not chicken - this is probably the most expensive bit - ave $3/4 or so a KG more or less depending where and what you buy)

*anything else you happen to see at a good price or more expensive things you want to buy for the odd 'variety' meal like brisket bones, lamb necks, oxtail, pig trotters or hocks etc)

*Add to this a couple of eggs if you have them and a few of your leftovers (eg a spoon or two of your leftover veggies or rice/a spoonful or lick of your yoghurt container etc.

a weekly diet may look something like this:

Monday: chicken frame

Tuesday: chicken fram and a small piece of liver (or kidney etc)

Wednesday: sardines and some egg and leftovers

Wednesday: chicken frame

Thursday: Chicken frame and small piece of liver (or kidney etc)

Friday: Roo or beef mince (you can throw in an egg and/or a few leftovers too)

Saturday: chicken frame

Sunday: roo or beef mince (or brisket bone or lamb offcuts or whatever you got cheap)

Depending on the size of your dog, whether you have enough freezer space to buy bulk and where you buy from, you can feed a dog healthily for around $10 a week (and sometimes less)

JMHO

[KitKat]

Dog Food Project - This is a good site to get a good working knowledge of what to look for in a dry food etc.

Unfortunately for me i found BARF to expensive as i was having to feed so much of it (way more then RDI) to my dogs to keep any sort of weight on them. But it's worth giving it a go if you have the freezer space as it can work out cheaper depending on what you use and where you get it from. I tend to do dry with raw on the side now, with the occasional meal of just raw or just dry.

However for kibble on the cheaper end of the scale i'd suggest using Bonnies, Optimum, Purina One, Pedigree Performance. A number of Dol'ers have found this foods work very nicely for their dogs. And must admit my GSD's do well with the Bonnie Working Dog formula.

But either way...dry or raw try and buy in bulk when you can as it does work out cheaper! And feel free to try a few things and see what works out best for your dog and your budget

Edited April 1, 2007 by KitKat

[TangerineDream]

I buy bags of chicken mince from chicken shops at $1 per bag, mix with rice and oatmeal and Supercoat chicken...estimate that it costs me 76.5 cents per day to feed 1 32kg, very active GSP who is all muscle, no fat and has a stunning coat. My budget is happy.

[poocow]

I feed pet chicken mince, vegies and sometimes any left over pasta/rice if we are having that for dinner ourselves. They also get some dry biscuits (Eagle Pack Duck and Oatmeal). Sometimes they'll get sardines with their dry instead. I think it costs me about $1 a day per dog to feed them this. And they are happy and their coats look great - no extra fat on them at all.

I have to go with an expensive dry as Darcy (cocker) has digestive issues and can't tolerate preservatives or additives. Hes done really well on Eagle Pack and quite honestly it hasn't worked out to be expensive at all. Its such a high quality that I dont need to feed as much.

I used to feed supercoat to my fosters (+ mince etc), they did really well on it, only problem was the size of the poos!

[Rysup]

I feed 11 dogs for $30 a week - I go between a few different brands, but all are dry food.

Coprice, Great Barko & Uncle Elmer's are all around $30 a bag (20kgs) and my dogs do well on them.

When I can afford it, they get a variety of raw foods once or twice a week.

[MrsD]

However for kibble on the cheaper end of the scale i'd suggest using Bonnies, Optimum, Purina One, Pedigree Performance. A number of Dol'ers have found this foods work very nicely for their dogs.

We have all 3 of our dogs on Optimum now & they look absolutely fantastic - I wouldnt have believed that they could look so good on a "cheap" food unless I saw it for myself .

[ReXy]

my new foster girl is on large breed optimum and i have to say for a cheap supermarket food its not bad. cost $29.00 for 8 kilo bag, which she gets dry with sardines or egss and veg in morning then either lamb flaps chicken frames or any assortmet of brisket bones or whatever is going cheap.. she needs a little weight on..

i buy all the redcued bits and pieces as well as boxes of chicken frames

the checkout chicks must wonder what the heck i feed my family, with 12 or so tins of sardines at 45 cents each

lamb necks , beef bones, chicken frames,hearts or kidney, lamp flaps or of cuts, all the reduced bits of meat are usually around 2 or 3 dollars sometimes cheaper. they do well on this.

then i buy all the reduce packaged fruit and vegies for the birds. all really cheap. and nothing wrong wwith it at all.. they seriously must think im a cheap skate

Edited April 1, 2007 by ReXy

[Guest Pandii]

Whats the poop side like on optimum

[TeamSnag]

I had my boy on optimum to start with and his poop wasnt really much.. he would do 2 aday... he has been on royal canin now for ages and its pretty much the same just 2 a day

[SoL]

I've switched to Great Barko - 22kg bag for $25 and the quality is sooo much better than Supercrap - obviously its not a super premium food and you do get what you pay for but I'm also on a tight budget and the only 2 that aren't jumping through hoops to get this stuff are the 2 that are on the super premium - ie mum to be and puppy, spoilt little things!!!

[ReXy]

I had my boy on optimum to start with and his poop wasnt really much.. he would do 2 aday... he has been on royal canin now for ages and its pretty much the same just 2 a day

same here only the BM foster girl is on optimum,, and hers are small and 2 a day

[Sheridan]

the checkout chicks must wonder what the heck i feed my family,

Just wanted to reply to this bit, ReXy, as I get really weird looks when I go through the checkout with a trolly full of turkey mince! Sometimes I'll give the weirder looks, 'It's for my dog' and I get 'You feed your dog turkey??' At $4.99 per 500 grams it's not so cheap.

[Daisy]

I feed 11 dogs for $30 a week - I go between a few different brands, but all are dry food.

Coprice, Great Barko & Uncle Elmer's are all around $30 a bag (20kgs) and my dogs do well on them.

When I can afford it, they get a variety of raw foods once or twice a week.

You must have small dogs!!

With my dogs and fosters (lately 12-13 dogs here, mostly large - greyhounds, wolfhound, mastif/dane crosses) I go through almost two large bags of Bonnie a week. I can get it for work at a small discount but it is still $30 a bag. One of my dogs gets Supercoat because he has a sensitive tummy and actually does well on this. I have noticed that the price of the 8kg bag just keeps going up and up though. Started feeding him on it a couple of years ago and it was $15.95 a bag, latest price hike has brought it up to $20.95 a bag - which is a bit rich i thought!

They also get chicken frames occasionally, when I can get a bulk lot cheap, and I get bags of bones from the butchers, found one that does reasonable size bags for $2. And sometimes have tinned food mixed with the kibble - I never buy it but sometimes get it donated.

With the number and size of the dogs I have it is not cost or time effective to try and feed a BARF diet unfortunately.

[capanash]

We feed our Standards on Coprice ( with lots of fresh meat as well ). The puppy food is really good, but not many places stock it. about $25 for 12kg puppy and $25 for 20 kg adult working dog.

[MrsD]

my new foster girl is on large breed optimum and i have to say for a cheap supermarket food its not bad. cost $29.00 for 8 kilo bag, which she gets dry with sardines or egss and veg in morning then either lamb flaps chicken frames or any assortmet of brisket bones or whatever is going cheap.. she needs a little weight on..

i buy all the redcued bits and pieces as well as boxes of chicken frames

the checkout chicks must wonder what the heck i feed my family, with 12 or so tins of sardines at 45 cents each

lamb necks , beef bones, chicken frames,hearts or kidney, lamp flaps or of cuts, all the reduced bits of meat are usually around 2 or 3 dollars sometimes cheaper. they do well on this.

I buy the 18kg bags at my local produce for around $60, so that saves just a little bit more that way. Funny thing is that I don't feed my dogs any extras like sardines etc, they get dry food & no extras (apart from bones occasionally), I changed Jonty over from Royal Canin to Optimum a couple of weeks ago & his coat is so shiny now ! (even though he's lost most of it ) And I haven't added anything else into the diet so it has to be the Optimum , same with Jarrah & Ebony (both on Optimum only), they look fabulous.

Pandii, I've changed Jonty from RC & havent seen any noticeable change in what's coming out the other end.

[sidoney]

I was feeding optimum but was a bit 'spensive with my two growing shep fosters in addition to my usual doggies so have been giving a la carte a go, they are doing well on it. The dogs also get chicken frames and odd bits of fruit, veg, etc that are going around on the day.

[mita]

the checkout chicks must wonder what the heck i feed my family, with 12 or so tins of sardines at 45 cents each

...or the person behind in the queue. When we had 3 cats & 3 dogs, I've have a huge pile.

One day, a man behind me asked 'Do you own a zoo?'

I've found this thread brilliant...great ideas re feeding dogs.

[ReXy]

lol i had to ask 1 of the young men stacking the shelf one day to get me some sardines , they changed them to a higher shelf and lil shortass me couldn reach, he passed me 1 tin, i said ohh no i want 10 tins, he had the funniest look on his face and then said to me i dont know how u can eat that stuff, i siad i dont its for the dogs,, he then asked couldnt i find them i the dog isle..lol, i said,, ohh no i dont feed dog food to them yuk..

hubby gets annoyed. when he shops with me, if theres none on the shelf i have to ask someone, he says just get another brand.. lol (i buy no name 45 cents each tin) i go nooo i wont pay nearly 2.00 a tin lol not when i can get them for 45 cents and i by 10 or so at a time..