Feeding raw

[Queenfreak]

We've just brought home the most beautifully natured rescue with a Foster to adopt contract.
While we are fostering they are providing us with food, but obviously once adopted we will be footing the bill.

It is SO expensive!
Can anyone recommend a quality brand to look at please? I appreciate I could make it myself, and in the future I may well, but for now I'd like to continue buying the complete frozen blocks.

Also- continuing to feed raw is a condition of the adoption. So alternatives aren't an option right now.

Many thanks in advance!

If you’re in the uk, Honey’s is good. Good reliable delivery, easy to use, doggo loves it!

Also- continuing to feed raw is a condition of the adoption. So alternatives aren't an option right now.

Wow that's a fairly odd criteria.

Sounds like you need All about dog foodd*.

You can put in your DDog's age and weight and your budget and it gives you the best options.

The most popular food of any of the dogs that stay with me is Basils - no idea how much it costs as I don't pay for it. ALL the dogs, even the least bothered about food or ones given other raw food all want a bit of it.

We feed Nutriment, we get it from a local dog food shop but you can buy online.

I have 5 dogs on this 80/10/10 prime raw £105 for 100.

I
fed raw from weaning to a large breee dog. I’d say it cost me £120 a month.
I started on nurtiment and natural instinct and changed to The Dogs butcher to help with cost a little.
it did have huge advantages, my dog (working guard breed) was extremely level headed, even natured and biddable plus his poo was less offensive than my kibble fed toy dogs and his teeth and breath were excellent.
it helped with teething too, feeding frozen turkey necks helped his teeth come in without too much upset etc

If you’re struggling with feeding how will you cope with vet bills. Just putting that out there, vets bills have increased so much the past few years.

Not being nasty honestly, I love dogs and think what you are doing is amazing.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Honeys is who I've been looking at, but I'll take a look at the other mentioned, thanks!

@RickyGervaislovesdogs I do appreciate you mentioning vet bills. We can afford the raw food, we both earn good money, I think the thought of spending £5 a day on food, plus bones etc was a bit of a shock! As to vet bills, we are looking for a good policy, if we can't find one we will put money aside each month. We used to have reptiles and their bills were phenomenal, so am prepared.

Raw feeding is so good, and once you get into the swing of our very easy.
I use Prodog Raw for the frozen blocks. I spend about £100 every 6 weeks ( I have a very active labrador).
I also add vegetables and/or fruit to each meal. I use peelings from our food, eg carrots, or chopped stalls from broccoli or cauliflower. Shredded cabbage, chopped apples, blueberries, whatever is going really. She loves it all.
In addition, in the morning add a raw egg and in the evening I give her a raw chicken wing.
She also ADORES bananas! She's gets one of those most days too.
Occasionally she gets dried sprats.
I also add ground linseed every few days.

@Queenfreak Glad you aren’t offended. A friend of mine recently took on a cat (dumped by moving neighbours) she’s on a tight budget and is shocked by how much vet charges have increased. She’s going without for the cat.
Our dog has Forthglade dog dinners plus meat and veggies/eggs/fruit. Honestly feel pets have become a luxury item!

Mine eat bulmers complete 80 10 10

I'd ask your Vet about insurance. Ours was very clear about how much cover they thought we might need based in the age and breed of our DDog and which insurance companies they found the easiest to claim through.

After reading this I've just ordered some for my little senior dog to try. He's always been a fussy eater and we have tried everything so I'm hoping something in their very reasonable trial pack will tickle his tastebuds 🤞🏼

We raw feed our 8 year old goldie and I much prefer it. It suits us and our lifestyle but its not for everyone so unless there is a medical reason your new dog needs to be raw fed I would make the right noises and then do what you want (assuming the Rescue wont find out).
We buy ours from a local provider who makes their own on the premises and its around £1.20 per day

@Queenfreak if you are going to change a dog from an established raw to a different diet, you need to do it very slowly and carefully. It takes time for their metabolism to adjust, it’s a big change

Mine is fed with Paleo Ridge (morning) and Butternut Box (evening)

He's tiny so doesn't cost much, I'd day it's less than £50 a month, including treats.

Also- continuing to feed raw is a condition of the adoption. So alternatives aren't an option right now.

What do you mean ‘right now’? Do you mean when you adopt you’ll change the dog’s diet to what suits you best?!

Raw food is used in some cases because the dog cannot eat/tolerate other foods for health and digestive reasons… If they’ve said that raw food is a condition of adoption and you change that, that’s very poor - rescues often don’t care if food is changed. The fact this one does, says a lot.

If you’re going to do this, please talk to them first and don’t put the dog at risk.

One of mine is a rescue and is raw fed - her digestive system cannot process anything else. Someone once gave her a treat when I was out before I could stop them (I was ordering food at a coffee shop and the idiot behind me thought ‘oh I’ll give the pretty dog some dog treats from the counter’), and it cost me a bloody expensive vet trip.

I have a stuffy so she is a medium sized breed and weighs approximately 18kg. We feed her DAF which costs £32 per month. She has 1 block per day but then we also buy duck wings/neck/chicken backs as an extra treat which are around £4 per bag (we go through 1-2 per month)

Sorry meant to type staffy not stuffy!

The issue with a lot of premade raw foods seems to be the bone content is on the high side. I find Dogs Butcher isn't too bad in that respect, although I think it comes in 1kg tubs rather than blocks. I normally pick up mince from the supermarket when it's on offer to keep in the freezer to use alongside premades.

There is zero evidence that raw is better than GOOD QUALITY complete. It's also a faff and can be expensive. I have fed raw in the past for a medical condition but wouldn't as a matter of course.

Don't feel you need to keep on it if you are finding it hard. A dog with happy owners and good quality food is going to be better long term than stressed owners who don't know what they are doing. My last dog lived until 18 on good quality dry and wet food.

It is a faff. the day you forget to defrost some ready = argh. I used to keep small
portions frozen flat for this so I could defrost quickly.

However I can tell you first hand with both kibble fed and raw there definitely are plus points even if those are not health and are just convenience.

I am no raw evangelist because my toy dogs are happily kibble fed but I have to say when my 42kg dogs poop is less horrendous than theirs-it says something 😊

Update! The Basils wet food went down a treat, literally - arrived yesterday, left the lamb tube out to defrost and my little fussy dog enjoyed it without any fuss! Big thumbs up and I would certainly recommend.