Dog Food
- Thread starter Crea936
- Start date
I've got a Jack Russel and a GSD and I've been feeding them the premium food from Walmart. Store brand. Comes in chicken and pea and Salmon and pea, with no grain. Grain always made loose turds, hard to clean up in the yard. I also give them some rotisserie chicken from Sam's in the evening and something leftover from the fridge in the morning.
My brother in law is a retired machinist basically living on Social Security and his wife’s tiny pension, so they’re on a very restricted budget but always have a pack of dogs running around their place. He truly cares for them though and spends an inordinate amount of time caring for and feeding them, but obviously has to be very frugal in his approach.
He will buy kibble sometimes, but asks for donations from grocery stores and pet stores for food they’re gonna dispose of because it’s about to expire. Most places won’t do this for liability purposes, but he gets enough to serve as a base for his pups and he pours his own homemade dog food over the top of the kibble.
The main actual nutrition they get is from food he makes himself… He tries to use 50% meat content or higher in his homemade food, and a lot of it is scraps he gets from local butchers, or cheap meat from grocery stores and places like Dollar stores, etc. that’s about to expire. He tries to use as much beef and lamb as possible but uses all types of meat, including organ meat (liver, lungs, etc.) and chicken, so he has to be very careful with the preparation. The only thing he really emphasized is to keep the fat content of the meat <15% if at all possible.
He also throws in eggs if he can get ‘em cheap.
He basically makes a stew that he mixes with fresh veggies…again almost all of it free/donations from local markets and grocery stores. He mostly uses ‘orange’ veggies and/or peas and says he tries to keep the veggies at ~25% of the mix.
He almost always mixes in some cooked whole grains as well, but will also use small amounts of rice if the budget’s tighter than normal, or if they’ve adopted an extra dog to feed and they need to stretch the food out. He tries to keep the grains to 25% or less of the mix as well.
He also puts fish oil or some kind of liquid vitamins in the mix if he can find it cheap...again, usually stuff that’s about to expire and he can get for free.
So yeah, it’s possible to feed your furry friends well and do it on the cheap, but it’s a pretty labor-intensive process…it’s basically a full time job for my BIL. YMMV.
He will buy kibble sometimes, but asks for donations from grocery stores and pet stores for food they’re gonna dispose of because it’s about to expire. Most places won’t do this for liability purposes, but he gets enough to serve as a base for his pups and he pours his own homemade dog food over the top of the kibble.
The main actual nutrition they get is from food he makes himself… He tries to use 50% meat content or higher in his homemade food, and a lot of it is scraps he gets from local butchers, or cheap meat from grocery stores and places like Dollar stores, etc. that’s about to expire. He tries to use as much beef and lamb as possible but uses all types of meat, including organ meat (liver, lungs, etc.) and chicken, so he has to be very careful with the preparation. The only thing he really emphasized is to keep the fat content of the meat <15% if at all possible.
He also throws in eggs if he can get ‘em cheap.
He basically makes a stew that he mixes with fresh veggies…again almost all of it free/donations from local markets and grocery stores. He mostly uses ‘orange’ veggies and/or peas and says he tries to keep the veggies at ~25% of the mix.
He almost always mixes in some cooked whole grains as well, but will also use small amounts of rice if the budget’s tighter than normal, or if they’ve adopted an extra dog to feed and they need to stretch the food out. He tries to keep the grains to 25% or less of the mix as well.
He also puts fish oil or some kind of liquid vitamins in the mix if he can find it cheap...again, usually stuff that’s about to expire and he can get for free.
So yeah, it’s possible to feed your furry friends well and do it on the cheap, but it’s a pretty labor-intensive process…it’s basically a full time job for my BIL. YMMV.
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Anyone’s dogs had issues with Blue Buffalo? We’ve used it for years and had no allergies or issues but considering a new puppy, and the breeder uses proplan which seems well regarded in this thread.
