Complete Raw Food / Nature's Menu

[Millie1]

Still researching foods though pup has now arrived so need to make a decision soon! Has anyone heard of, or does anyone feed with, Nature's Menu? I've been recommended their Complete Nuggets here. They're 33% meat, the remainder made up of various veg and 16% brown rice. What do knowledgeable or experienced raw feeders think? The bags are around £2.86 per 1kg which contains 60 nuggets.

The man I spoke to today (local distributor) recommended feeding our ageing and overweight Lab 28 nuggets each day, so it would cost £1.33 per day (£9.35 per week) to feed her. Currently, she's on Beta Senior and it costs around £6 per week so this seems like quite a jump. The pup, he said to feed around 6-7% of his bodyweight - no idea what he weighs just now but I'm presuming, from reading up on raw food elsewhere, that the 6% should reduce to 2-3% of his bodyweight at about 9 months. Does that sound right? For both dogs, he said 1-2 bones each week for calcium and teeth.

Would welcome opinions on content and costs if anyone can help please.

Thanks

[musicposy]

I think it is good natural stuff, but I find it a bit too much in the way of veggies, as I think lots of raw feeders would, and it works out expensive, but useful if you want convenience. I did try it when I was transitioning to raw with Poppy but it didn't particularly suit her (she had quite runny poo). She definitely does better on a diet of almost exclusively meat with very little in the way of veg or grains.

I feed mainly prize choice because it is available at our pet shop and that works out much cheaper. They do frozen blocks of various mince/ meats which are around 74p for 400g. Taking around 2% of bodyweight, Poppy needs 220g and Budgen 180g, so a block divides perfectly between them, meaning it costs me 74p a day to feed 2 dogs. In reality I also buy their poultry necks and meat chunks and feed table scraps on top for a bit of veg content (DD1 ususally obliges by leaving her vegetables ), so it works out cheaper than this.

Usual guidelines are 2 - 3% bodyweight for an adult dog and up to 10% for a puppy, depending on age (so get nearer the adult figure as they approach adulthood).

I think there are some great suppliers out there which I am still investigating - I'm relatively new to raw - but the above is convenient for us for now.

[Millie1]

Thanks Musicposy - that's really useful. I guess it's going to come down to paying extra for a complete raw food or buying meats and adding my own veg and bones. Am looking now at Natural Instinct too - they seem to have a higher meat content but no rice ... heck, it's confusing!

[misdee]

i got some of these for ralph naturesmenu.co.uk/products/Lamb_Complete_Blocks/Frozen_Complete_Bocks/Frozen_Complete_Blocks/ to have as an extra.

i rodered in bulk from berriewoods, and most of my order is chicken mince, and frozen meat packs.

we also give him chicken carcasses, wings etc as and when i get room inthe freeze3r for them.

www.berriewoodwholesale.co.uk/sec/148/Frozen-Meats-for-Dogs/

[Millie1]

Misdee ... Thanks for the Berriewoods link - looks great if delivery to NI is reasonable. The Natures Menu nuggets are only £2.26 compared to £2.86 locally - makes a difference of almost £2 per week for the Lab! Shall ring them tomorrow.

[misdee]

They have a postcode checklist on their site as they don't cover all areas.