How much variety do I need in my dogs raw feeding diet and what's the cheapest way of feeding the meats part of raw food?

[kitsmummy]

Hello, I'm almost ready to raw feed every day (have now got a chest freezer) and I've been gathering bits and pieces and have found a great butcher who can help me on the bones front. I can get an almost unlimited amount of free bones I think (mainly venison but also lamb, pork and beef - not beef leg bones I know). I've got pigs and sheeps heart on order which I know counts as the "meat" part rather than offal and I have another butcher who can do me a cheap offal mix. I presume though that I should be giving them more variety than this - eg feeding different sorts of meat?

I'm planning to go to a car boot meat stand and hopefully get cheap chicken there, but are there any other suggestions for very cheap cuts of meat? And it really does have to be cheap as DH is v unimpressed at our total spend on pets each month!

Or would I be ok just feeding heart each day? ps, pigs trotters are a step too far for me - I'm v squeamish, I've tried trotters and cannot cope with great hunks of leg and toe on my kitchen floor! I have looked at other raw feeding threads by the way, but am struggling to glean the exact info I need.

thanks

[alwaysworking]

I am a little bit further forward than you but i'm afraid i don't have all of the answers.

i started feeding HDog raw food when she was about 14 weeks old as she wasn't great wtih standard stuff.

she is now fed exclusively raw. wehn we started off we bought some processed food (i.e. minced food in packages speciically made to feed raw food to dogs)

www.honeysrealdogfood.com
www.naturalinstinct.com
www.basilsdogfood.com
www.wolftucker.co.uk

the problem with this is that it's terribly expensive and indeed honeys recommended that my standard, just less than 6 months old, Labrador to eat 1.6kg of minced food per day. 28 days = £220 odd.

I can't afford that (!) and so have started to look at far cheaper ways to do the same thing and that gives her lots of biting / chewing and gnawing opportunities.

so what i've been doing is a mixture of lots of different things.

1. bought lots of tripe from natural instinct as i can't find a butcher prepared to do that.
   

1. bought lots of boned chicken meant for humans but very cheaply. wings, legs etc. Been trying to find a local supplier of chickens backs etc which would be great for her but not found them yet.
   

1. from butcher lots of beef heart, tongue, liver, kidneys
   

1. morrissons old meat etc department is very good for finding things that are nearly off plus they have a section of "who'd eat that?" type meat. they also do bones for me.
   

the only problem with all of the above is that i have to be very careful that she gets the right balance of muscle meat, bone and liver.

I've found this extremely useful

rawfeddogs.org/rawguide.html

and try to get that balance but with more bone to get the calcium in into a young dog.

the supply and constantly having to remember to find stuff etc is the bit i don't really like. i wouldn't do it any other way though as the dog looks great on it and i don't miss the farting!

[yesbutnobut]

Sounds like you're making a good start, OP. I feed my small spaniel a mixture of chicken wings (from supermarkets - about 10p each) and meat I order from Honey's. I do buy the 'sausages' for convenience and my dog only eats small amounts but you can also buy ribs, chicken necks, bones, tripe, and other raw meats from them.

If you look on the //www.northlondondogs.co.uk website you can find a voucher for a starter pack of Honey's for half price. It's in the 'reviews' section.

[thegriffon]

Heart might be a bit rich to give every day, although it probably depends on the dog. My lab can only tolerate small amounts, gets the runs if he has more although he loves it.
PAH sell 2kg bags of frozen beef chunks for £5.80, you might have to rummage amongst the bags of frozen mince to find it. Some of the chunks are quite big and if left half frozen give dog's jaws a good work out.

[monkeyfacegrace]

Youch, you are all going to the wrong places.

I feed 3 Pugs raw for around 75p a day TOTAL.

Try TMPS.co.uk (obv depending on where in the country you are)

I paid today, £50 delivered, and got 80 individual 1lb bags of minced chicken/lamb/tripe, 5kg chicken wings and 5kg chicken carcass.

Between them they get a 1lb pack split three ways for brekkie.

Then for tea they get a raw egg, 2 chicken wings and some value natural yogurt.

Cheaper than dried shit food.

[monkeyfacegrace]

Oh, and fwiw, PetsAtHome frozen meat is a rip off.
£6 for 2kg?? I pay £1.60 for the same. And PAH meat is PUMPED full of water, so it looks bigger than it is.

[kitsmummy]

Hi, thanks everyone for all the info, it's much appreciated. Grace - that company looks great, I'm going to look into it

[thegriffon]

monkeyfacegrace - wow, that's cheap, £1.60 for 2kg frozen beef chunks.
Where can I buy it for that price? The TMPS.co.uk site doesn't seem to be anything to do with meat

[monkeyfacegrace]

Maybe its TPMS.

[kitsmummy]

Grace, I had realised the slight error but have got a price list from them and can order, their prices are amazing!

[monkeyfacegrace]

Its awesome stuff.

My pugs adore it.

Ive had to buy a chest freezer just for them, but its worth it x

[thebestpossibletaste]

I'm just looking into raw feeding for my cavalier, who is a bit itchy, I'd like to rule out an allergy.

I received a quote from Honeys but found it quite expensive so I'm now looking for someone local as I don't want to have to weigh out offal and bones etc, I'm quite squeamish about raw meat so the easier and more convenient the better.

I have seen the bags of mince at P@H, do they contain everything they should, i.e. bones and offal?

Does anyone know of a company that delivers to North Yorkshire where the prices are reasonable?

I have room in the freezer to store probably a month's supply.

[Notonaschoolnight]

Natural instincts have stockists around the country my local one is a grooming parlour about 10 miles away they have a big ice cream fridge in the front with it all in if I incorporate a shopping trip I don't mind the time and petrol getting there, I hate paying for delivery if I don't have to.

[mrslaughan]

I don't know about price - but we get ours delivered from raw2paw

[mrslaughan]

Natural instinct gave our dog the runs - I wondered if it was the salmon oil they add?

[Mandytm]

One thing that I always add, to the great variety mentioned on the previous posts, is a small tin of sardines once a week. Everyone comments on my dogs coat since I started giving him that. And he loves it. I buy in bulk from Costco but the supermarkets sell them pretty cheap too.

[Notonaschoolnight]

Try googling Durham Animal Foods (DAF) I intend to try them over the course of the year when the qty of puppy food will be too much to buy all natural instinct

[ihatethecold]

Great thread.
I'm getting a puppy in 5 weeks that will have been weaned on a raw food diet.
I plan to continue.

[thebestpossibletaste]

I contacted DAF for prices but then found a local supplier that is much cheaper. I pay £0.40 per lb of minced meat. Just started my cavalier on raw food at dinner time and she loves it :-)

[kitsmummy]

I've ordered from Grace's supplier, delivery is due today, so we're full swing into it tomorrow!