Raw feeding DH is not on board...

chrisb · 07-31-2008, 11:20 PM

I talked to DH today about how i wanted to start Raw feeding with Shelb. And he said 'no'. Said we could barely afford to buy her dog food every month ($35/mo) and there is no way we'd be able to afford to buy her meat. He buying meat would be closer to $60-$70 a month. I tried to explain about the less shedding, less poop, general better health. And how I think Shelby's shedding is causing Emely's (our 5yr old) severe eczema, runny nose, watery eyes and sneezing. But that didn't even convince him

.

Right now he's stuck in his views, and i'm just hoping I can convince him to eventually raw feed. Maybe once i get a job, i can use my money to do the raw feeding. I've spent the past 9yrs being a SAHM but now that my youngest is off to Kindergarten, hopefully i can find a job.

chris

rosemaryninja · 07-31-2008, 11:28 PM

What kind of food is Shelby on? Raw feeding can actually be REALLY cheap. I don't know how prices go in the US but I know Briteday gets her raw for less than $1 a pound.

InverseLogic · 07-31-2008, 11:36 PM

It's similar here too Rosemary. It just depends on where you get it.

chrisb · 07-31-2008, 11:41 PM

Shelby's on premium edge dog food. Wow where do you get meat for less than a pound? I've never seen it that cheap around here. Shelb would need a pound or a little more a day. I know i can get a 5lb bag of chicken for like $6.00, but that's the cheapest i've seen it. That's for the chicken leg quarters.

chris

RawFedDogs · 07-31-2008, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisb

Said we could barely afford to buy her dog food every month ($35/mo) and there is no way we'd be able to afford to buy her meat. He buying meat would be closer to $60-$70 a month.

He's figuring wrong. You should be able to feed your little dog (I'm assuming around 25lbs) for less than $35/mo. I feed 2 Great Danes and 2 cats for $70 to $80/mo. It will take you several months to learn how to buy food real cheap for your dog but even in the beginning $35/mo shouldn't be a problem.

chrisb · 07-31-2008, 11:47 PM

Well hopefully i'll be able to convince him. He wasn't thrilled when i switched Shelby over to premium edge from Dog chow. And again it was because of the price. Dog chow is a lot cheaper. But even he now admits that there has been a change in Shelb since the change.

I'll just keep working on him LOL! trying to convince him.

chris

Quote:

He's figuring wrong. You should be able to feed your little dog (I'm assuming around 25lbs) for less than $35/mo.

LOL! shelby is far from small. She's an 85lb lab. Sorry for the confusion

chris

RawFedDogs · 08-01-2008, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisb

LOL! shelby is far from small. She's an 85lb lab. Sorry for the confusion

OKAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Nevermind. LOL You could still do it in 4 or 5 months but in the beginning it will cost a little more.

I don't think it will be near $60/mo. BTW: I just saw another post of yours. You can buy 10lb bags of chicken quarters at Walmart for around $5.

rosemaryninja · 08-01-2008, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisb

Shelby's on premium edge dog food. Wow where do you get meat for less than a pound? I've never seen it that cheap around here. Shelb would need a pound or a little more a day. I know i can get a 5lb bag of chicken for like $6.00, but that's the cheapest i've seen it. That's for the chicken leg quarters.

chris

It's different from buying meat that you would get for your own dinner.

First of all, about 10% of your dog's raw diet will be bones. Bones are easy to get for very cheap or even free from your butcher.

Secondly, dogs don't need prime cuts or even very fresh meat Dogs are pretty much almost 100% resistant to things like salmonella or e. coli on meat. They also don't care which part of the cow they're eating. It's pretty easy to get a whole bunch of scraps, or meat that is about to go bad, that your butcher would otherwise have thrown away.

You can order your meat wholesale or in bulk to make things more affordable. I believe I've also seen something called Freecycle mentioned by raw feeders around here, though I'm not quite sure what that is.

chrisb · 08-04-2008, 04:59 PM

Quote:

I just saw another post of yours. You can buy 10lb bags of chicken quarters at Walmart for around $5.

cool! i'll have to check my walmart to see if they have that deal.

Chris

briteday · 08-04-2008, 05:09 PM

Depending on where you live there may be raw food co-ops. When we had one that serviced our area (before gas $$$) I could buy 30-40 pound cases of stuff for 30-90 cents per pound. If you don't know how to find a co-op and you don't want to post your location feel free to PM me.

chrisb · 08-04-2008, 09:10 PM

I've never used a co-op. How do they work? I did a google search for raw food co-ops, and found some in Columbus, Akron, and Cleveland (i'm in OH). However those places are all over an hour away, and columbus is 3 hours away.

chris

briteday · 08-04-2008, 09:25 PM

Try this link, page way down to raw food co-ops listed by state:

http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html

All co-ops run differently and you just have to investigate the particulars with each group. The basic premise is that if a group of people get together they have more leverage on price if they are ordering large quantities from a supplier. The former one in my area had a cutoff date each month, ordered from the suppliers monthly, and about 2-3 weeks after ordering a group of people would volunteer to be at a refrigerated warehouse where orders could be picked up. Sometimes there are volunteers who will pick up multiple orders for remote customers and get the product a bit closer for you. And also sometimes you can split cases with other members. Co-ops generally order from wholesale meat suppliers (like ones that restaurants would order from) and product usually comes in 30-40 pound cases, but it is dirt cheap compared to groceries...if the co-op administrators can find good suppliers.

Even if a co-op is an hour away I wouldn't count it out. As I mentioned, maybe there is a member that lives 30 minutes from you who orders and would be willing to pick up your order when she/he picks up there own and then you would only have to drive to their house, 30 minutes. But remember that these will be large quantities of frozen product so you need to be ready to pick up product at the appropriate time. Rarely will the refrigerated storage or any other member have enough room to store your stuff even overnight.

melgrj7 · 08-05-2008, 12:53 AM

If you can have a large freezer you can meat a lot cheaper. We aren't doing raw right now only because we live in an apartment have very very small freezer space, so can't buy in bulk to get discounts

When we get a house though we are going to get a large freezer so we can buy in bulk and feed raw. For the little bit we fed Lloyd raw though he look awesome!

chrisb · 08-05-2008, 07:56 PM

That's the link I went to and found the co-ops in the 3 cities i listed.

I do have a large chest freezer, which is pretty empty right about now. I gave shelby some venison today, about a cup. We were having some for supper and i just gave her a little before i cooked ours up. She loved it. Kept licking her bowl even after the meat was gone.

chris

My Mutt · 08-07-2008, 10:54 AM

You can usually get chicken backs really cheap. The type that you use to make chicken broth. Also stewing beef is usually really cheap. I am thinking you live in the city. Does your city have a farmers market. If it does go to the farmers market and see if there is a farmer that sells meat there. You could talk to him and see what he does with his bones and other waste. Maybe you could make arrangements with him to buy this really cheap. Things like the heart, liver and bones. It doesn't matter if it is chicken or beef or whatever. Butcher shops like someone else mentioned is a good place to try. Try your local fish market. What do they do with the fish that cannot be sold. They may sell it to you cheap just to make some money off it. I also use some vegetables in the food. Try your local grocery store and see if you can arrange to pick up vegetables past their prime. You would be surprised how much you can get for basically nothing.

chrisb · 08-07-2008, 11:46 AM

Quote:

I am thinking you live in the city

nope. I live in a village (yes it's actually called the Village of___). We have around 2,000 people here. Our local school consists of 800 kids that grades K-12. so pretty small.

Quote:

You can usually get chicken backs really cheap.

I'll have to look. I can honestly say i have no idea what chicken backs even look like! I guess i've never needed them before.

Quote:

Does your city have a farmers market

No farmers markets near me. Well we have roadside stands but they all sell either corn or strawberries.

Kind of wishing i lived closer to a city so i could have access to a fish market or farmers market.

I have to run to walmart today for school shopping so i'll check out those chicken backs.

chris

My Mutt · 08-07-2008, 11:50 AM

I don't know if you would find chicken backs at Walmart. If you have a Safeway or some type of grocery store you will most likely find them there. Chicken backs are what is left after you take the breast meat off. There is still quite a bit of meat on them but it looks like mostly bone. Do you have any farmers close that may slaughter their own meat?

cshellenberger · 08-07-2008, 01:52 PM

If theree's a slaughter house nearby it can be a valueble resource too! You can get 'waste' meats for nearly nothing, also check with neighbrs that hunt, they may have older meat they need to get out of their freezers before the next season begins.

chrisb · 08-08-2008, 08:41 PM

Well i gave shelby a piece of chicken today and she wanted nothing to do with it LOL! I took it out to the deck. she sniffed it, walked around it a couple of times. Then left it to go back in the house. So i put it in her bowl. She picked it up took it to her cage, and left it there LOL! After about 30 min i decided to try again later. So 8:30 rolls around, which is the time i normally feed her. I try the chicken again. I put it in her mouth, and she promptly drops it and walks away. I go and get her dog food and of course she just scarfs that down. So doesn't look like she likes chicken. Beef and venison are on her 'yummy' list though LOL!

chris