# How much do you spend per meal or serve?



## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

Hi all,

I'm new around here but not to dog ownership. I have recently adopted a Fox Terrier who's extremely fussy and we've been trying a few foods to see what he'll eat regularly. 

To set my question up - I'm not really interested in feeding a full raw diet - I am pretty squirmish and very time and space poor. I do not have any issues with feeding a high quality commercial diet. This isn't a question about what to feed more "how much does it cost". 

So today - in what feels like a never ending quest looking for a commercial diet he'll happily eat for the majority of the week I went across town to buy some Ziwipeak. AND I NEARLY DIED AT THE COST!

On cooked mince/rice/veg he's costing about $4 AUD a day. He came (from the shelter) with a bag of Hills Mature Small bites I'm not sure what a bag of Hills works out to be per serve but it's about $32 AUD per 1.8 kilo bag (3.9 pound I think)

The one kilo bag of Ziwi was $42 - thank god they gave me a coupon. But at full price that works out at $4.60 per serve for a 10 kilo (22 pound) dog. 

The 5 kilo bag (11 pounds) was $147 - I have NEVER seen such expensive dog food. The Canidae was much cheaper but I hadn't really done that much research on it so I stuck with what I had looked into.

I should add - if he happily eats it (mixed with other types of meals - I'm a believer in variety for doggies) I will happily pay the price.

*So after that long winded story - how much do you think you spend per serve on your dogs meals?*


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

Depends on what I'm feeding.
Most of the time I feed a homemade whole-foods diet. That comes out to about $1.25 a day for a 50lb dog, which I've got two of. Add in a couple more dogs and that total is closer to $5 a day for the lot, IF food prices are cheap. They aren't always in my favor. I can't stock up on sale meat 'cause I have no freezer, so I need to buy fresh every 4-5 days.
Right now they are eating kibble. Costs about $0.20 per cup for three of them and $0.60 per cup for the speshul dog. Total is something like $1.60 a day.
It would be insanely expensive if I fed them all Ziwipeak or premade raw. Every once in a while I'll dump money on something like Ziwipeak or The Honest Kitchen for the speshul dog, but that doesn't happen often.


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## Damon'sMom (Aug 2, 2011)

Well lets see I buy 2 28 pound bags a month for Jasper at the cost of $120 a month. And he also gets $20 worth of canned a month. So $140 a month not including supplements, eggs, etc. I spend about $4.67 a day, probably more along the lines of $5 or so with the supplements and fresh foods I add in.

Luna goes through 30lbs a month at $49. And gets canned at $20 a month. So around $2.30.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

I get a 15lbs bag of acana chicken and potato for Levi every 2.5-3 months. It costs $38.99+ tax so before tax I am spending about $0.50 a day for super premium kibble. The perks of a 13lb dog!


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I feed 2 dogs weighing about 50 pounds total about 1 pound of raw a day. My raw is about $1.60 averaged out per pound and consists of chicken and lamb bony stuff, pork, beef and a couple of bone/organ/meat grinds at the moment to get in meats I cannot afford whole. Budget buster are the treats. Currently they are getting a couple of string cheese sticks a day for an additional $.40 or so - it is part of their total diet, have to include them! So $2 a day for a 33 pound and a 16 pound dog. The vitamin E, fish oil and mineral supplements should be included, maybe they cost $.03 for E, $.12 for fish oil, $.07 for minerals, $.02 for zinc daily which might come to $7 a month.

I couldn't feed commercial raw, too dear. Prices vary a lot by region. Here in California it is easy enough to find what I need to feed the dogs for a good enough price but other areas of the USA can be cheaper and other countries can pay a lot more than I do.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

I feed raw, and my dog is about 7.25 lbs.

He costs me at most $1 a day


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Does anyone know how many cups in a pound? Our dog food (new brand) costs about a dollar a pound and we feed 3 dogs a total of about 13 cups daily) plus raw whole goats milk and whole eggs from our pets (so its free).....So what ever that is.....


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

BernerMax said:


> Does anyone know how many cups in a pound? Our dog food (new brand) costs about a dollar a pound and we feed 3 dogs a total of about 13 cups daily) plus raw whole goats milk and whole eggs from our pets (so its free).....So what ever that is.....


I believe it is usually around ~110-125 grams per cup of food, but it will vary by brand and variety, depending on the density of the kibble itself, kibble size, etc. Many companies list a calories per cup as well as calories per Kg these two measures can be used to calculate cups per Kg (or lb) like this:


> (calories per Kg)/(Calories per cup) = cups in a Kg.


 Divide cups per Kg by 2.2 to calculate cups per lb. (There's 2.2lbs in a Kg)

For example, Snowball is on Nature's Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato which has calories per Kg = 3,590 and calories per cup = 336. 3590/336 = 10.7 cups per kg, or 4.9 cups per lb. Since I pay $38/35 lbs = $1.09/lb, that works out to $0.22 per cup. Snowball gets 0.75 cups per day, so... We spend $0.17 per day on food for Snowball. And now I feel bad and like I could be spending more on his food.  We don't really buy treats, because I prefer to home make them, but that's probably only another 5-10 cents a day?

Right when I first joined the forum, I actually started building a calculator to compare the serving size, caloric content, and per-serving costs of different dog foods. You can view it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkNJ4A-TXfT6dEtLSFBmOFNVV2RmaE13cWNpdWJCc1E&usp=sharing Someone on the forum (I think it was Shell or Canyx) suggested making it interactive, where you put in the number of calories your dog needs and it will adjusted all the numbers so you can directly compare what it would cost for your dog, but I never got around to it.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

gingerkid said:


> I believe it is usually around ~110-125 grams per cup of food, but it will vary by food, depending on the density of the kibble itself, kibble size, etc. Many companies list a calories per cup as well as calories per Kg these two measures can be used to calculate cups per Kg (or lb) like this: Divide cups per Kg by 2.2 to calculate cups per lb. (There's 2.2lbs in a Kg)
> 
> For example, Snowball is on Nature's Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato which has calories per Kg = 3,590 and calories per cup = 336. 3590/336 = 10.7 cups per kg, or 4.9 cups per lb. Since I pay $38/35 lbs = $1.09/lb, that works out to $0.22 per cup. Snowball gets 0.75 cups per day, so... We spend $0.17 per day on food for Snowball. And now I feel bad and like I could be spending more on his food.
> 
> Right when I first joined the forum, I actually started building a calculator to compare the serving size, caloric content, and per-serving costs of different dog foods. You can view it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkNJ4A-TXfT6dEtLSFBmOFNVV2RmaE13cWNpdWJCc1E&usp=sharing Someone on the forum (I think it was Shell or Canyx) suggested making it interactive, where you put in the number of calories your dog needs and it will adjusted all the numbers so you can directly compare what it would cost for your dog, but I never got around to it.


OMG gingerkid my AM brain cannot do the math at this time....I will try later! (you are such a Whiz lol)...


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

BernerMax said:


> OMG gingerkid my AM brain cannot do the math at this time....I will try later! (you are such a Whiz lol)...


lol, I'd feel the same but it's nearly lunchtime here so my brain has had time to process my coffee, haha. Plus, I love algebra because I'm a huge nerd.


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## Damon'sMom (Aug 2, 2011)

BernerMax said:


> Does anyone know how many cups in a pound? Our dog food (new brand) costs about a dollar a pound and we feed 3 dogs a total of about 13 cups daily) plus raw whole goats milk and whole eggs from our pets (so its free).....So what ever that is.....


4health is what you feed right? or maybe I am wrong. Anyways it is 4 cups per pound.

So 35lb bag X 4 cups a pound is= 140 cups in each bag. Then you take that 140 cups divided by how many cups you use a day.

So your dogs eats 13 cups a day. 140 cups in each bag/13 cups a day. It will last 10.7 days.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Damon'sMom said:


> 4health is what you feed right? or maybe I am wrong. Anyways it is 4 cups per pound.
> 
> So 35lb bag X 4 cups a pound is= 140 cups in each bag. Then you take that 140 cups divided by how many cups you use a day.
> 
> So say my dog eats 6 cups a day. 140 cups in each bag/6 cups a day. It will last 23 days.


Ok so 35 (dollars) divided by 140 cups equals .25 per cup, I feed about 4 cups daily (so thats their serving)= so about $1 meal per dog daily = 3dogs total (2 dogs get and extra half cup actually) so that is $3.25 day, so about $90 monthly on dog food....


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## Kira (Jan 6, 2014)

Both my dogs are giant breed dogs, weighing in at about 105 lbs at 2 years of age. They eat a high quality kibble wiht no fillers in the morning and raw in the evening. Each meal costs about $2.5/dog x twice/day. $10 for both.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Kira said:


> Both my dogs are giant breed dogs, weighing in at about 105 lbs at 2 years of age. They eat a high quality kibble wiht no fillers in the morning and raw in the evening. Each meal costs about $2.5/dog x twice/day. $10 for both.


I dont mind rice as a filler, the only true no filler (peas, sweet potatoe are filler in my opinion, many of the Grainfree have less meat protein sources than your basic meat/ rice blends) -- are dehydrated raw in my opinion.....Even my old 4-5 star kibble became prohibitively expensive (and such little bags) at $55 for 26lbs....
3 giant breeds here, and the goats are eating lot more than I thought they would .... so we are budgeting for the goats and dogs and chickens too....

It would be easier to just feed the goats and chickens when we can, but they are pets.... (although we will see after the summer's kidding season)....


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## Kira (Jan 6, 2014)

BernerMax said:


> I dont mind rice as a filler, the only true no filler (peas, sweet potatoe are filler in my opinion, many of the Grainfree have less meat protein sources than your basic meat/ rice blends) -- are dehydrated raw in my opinion.....Even my old 4-5 star kibble became prohibitively expensive (and such little bags) at $55 for 26lbs....
> 3 giant breeds here, and the goats are eating lot more than I thought they would .... so we are budgeting for the goats and dogs and chickens too....
> 
> It would be easier to just feed the goats and chickens when we can, but they are pets.... (although we will see after the summer's kidding season)....


True on the example of fillers you described. I don't mind the lower protein foods as lower protein diets are best for the breed of dog we have (Tornjaks). 

I had an trainer put it this way when considering what we feed our dogs... "When we come home from work, we can choose to eat healthy or grab a bag of potato chips. Our dogs don't have a choice so we need to make the correct choice for them." My wife and I spend over 1K/month on food just to eat healthy, so I'm ok spending more on better, with the hope that my dogs are health and I avoid the vet more often.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Kira said:


> True on the example of fillers you described. I don't mind the lower protein foods as lower protein diets are best for the breed of dog we have (Tornjaks).
> 
> I had an trainer put it this way when considering what we feed our dogs... "When we come home from work, we can choose to eat healthy or grab a bag of potato chips. Our dogs don't have a choice so we need to make the correct choice for them." My wife and I spend over 1K/month on food just to eat healthy, so I'm ok spending more on better, with the hope that my dogs are health and I avoid the vet more often.


Actually thats a very common idea I hear on various livestock forums, about how LGDs "cannot handle " higher protein food ( I have heard no more than 18% which I think is too low for a working dog)... and even to feed "oatmeal for 3 weeks " to control their behavior....
Maybe a new thread on this as I am very curious about this concept (oatmeal would sure be a cheap feed that is for sure)...


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## karayna (Jan 1, 2014)

Just spent $122,45 on a 28,6lb sack of Acana kibbles. Horrible pricing... I don't really know how long it will last as he's a growing boy. But hopefully, a few months...


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

karayna said:


> Just spent $122,45 on a 28,6lb sack of Acana kibbles. Horrible pricing... I don't really know how long it will last as he's a growing boy. But hopefully, a few months...


Wow!! That is expensive!! a 30 lbs bag of Acana here is $60-80 here... probably because it is made in Canada, and that's where I am.


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## Hermes1 (Jan 3, 2014)

For Kenji it works out to $2.50 per meal.


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## BubbaMoose (May 14, 2013)

taquitos said:


> Wow!! That is expensive!! a 30 lbs bag of Acana here is $60-80 here... probably because it is made in Canada, and that's where I am.


Nope, it's the same cost here in Phoenix, Arizona as you Taquitos.


Sent from Petguide.com App


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

I spend about $40 every 7-8 weeks for a 20 lb. bag of Annamaet Option. My dog gets about 1 1/4 cup per day (four overfull 1/4 cup scoops). But, add in her supplement too, and the cost is doubled. The container of supplement, surprisingly, lasts about the same amount of time as the bag of dog food, and also costs about the same.


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## karayna (Jan 1, 2014)

taquitos said:


> Wow!! That is expensive!! a 30 lbs bag of Acana here is $60-80 here... probably because it is made in Canada, and that's where I am.


Wow... I looked around in stores and online, and it's the same pricing everywhere. Well, some bags are "only" $100. The grain-free varieties are more expensive. Shipping to Sweden can't account for all of it, since they import huge amounts. I guess the retailers want their share...


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

karayna said:


> Wow... I looked around in stores and online, and it's the same pricing everywhere. Well, some bags are "only" $100. The grain-free varieties are more expensive. Shipping to Sweden can't account for all of it, since they import huge amounts. I guess the retailers want their share...


High quality, North-American-made pet foods seem to be very expensive in Europe (not just in Sweden). It wouldn't just be transport taxes, but also import duties, especially since Canada and the EU do not yet have a free-trade agreement (soon, though!). Plus, in North America we pay relatively low sales taxes (0-15%) compared to most of Europe and taxes are not included in the price that is shown when you are in store, where as most of Europe displays the actual payment price including taxes. And North Americans buying online sometimes don't pay any taxes as all, depending on where a person is located compared to where they are buying from. For instance, unless a package gets stopped by customs, I don't usually pay any taxes on anything I buy in the USA. Where as a lot of European online retailers will charge VAT regardless of where you're buying from.


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

A real mix of cost here. Thanks of the replies - it's interesting to read. 
As a side note - So far Scottie loves the Ziwipeak and is eating it one meal a day. I'm also using that portion as treats for training. He's started sitting without needing a tap on the bottom. I think we'll settle into this routine of Ziwi at night and something meaty / another meal for mornings. Not just for cost but also for a bit of variety.


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## Averyismypei (May 24, 2010)

I spend about $4 a day feeding prey model raw to 6 dogs. I spend $0.89 to $1.99 a pound on meat, averaging about $1 a pound and I go through 4 pounds a day.


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## ShoreDobermans (Nov 18, 2013)

I spend about .50 cents per day per dog. They are kenneled outdoors and work pretty much 7 days a week. Never a problem.

I used to use Sport Mix in the black bag but have changed to Tuffy Gold 30/20. It runs me about $30 for 40lb and they tried to sell me Nutrisource but the dogs didn't do as well and it costs a lot more.

I have one dog that is 16 and still kennels with the rest of them. 

The only supplements they get are deer poo and hoof trimmings after the farrier comes through.

Dog food is a racket my friends. Buy smart.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

I feed Zoey Annamaet dog food - the extra which is 26% protein; paid $30 for 20 lbs. Zoey gets 1 1/3 cups a day of kibble. Someone once posted that 1 lb. of dog food is approximately 4 cups so with 20 lbs. you get around 80 cups. 

It costs about $0.50 a day to feed her.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Hmmm I looked up an online conversion chart I feed about 12cups aday (13 maybe) and it says that is more like 6 pounds of dry.... I wonder if that would be the same as 6 lbs of raw meat (really only 2 lbs per dog?) most meat is like at least $1 a pound though (chicken is the cheapest).. so its still cheaper to feed dry than raw...


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

ShoreDobermans said:


> I spend about .50 cents per day per dog. They are kenneled outdoors and work pretty much 7 days a week. Never a problem.
> 
> I used to use Sport Mix in the black bag but have changed to Tuffy Gold 30/20. It runs me about $30 for 40lb and they tried to sell me Nutrisource but the dogs didn't do as well and it costs a lot more.
> 
> ...


Ah! Ours used to go crazy for hoof trimmings (when I had horses!)


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

BernerMax said:


> Hmmm I looked up an online conversion chart I feed about 12cups aday (13 maybe) and it says that is more like 6 pounds of dry.... I wonder if that would be the same as 6 lbs of raw meat (really only 2 lbs per dog?) most meat is like at least $1 a pound though (chicken is the cheapest).. so its still cheaper to feed dry than raw...


I think it really depends on the brand you're feeding. Do you have kitchen scales you can weight it out on - I would never rely on a conversion table to tell you what 1 cup weighs. 1 cup of marbles will weight a lot more than one cup of feathers.


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## aetolus (Jan 6, 2013)

Tai's food costs us anywhere between $1.50 - $3 a day, depending on what we're feeding. We loosely follow the raw prey model guidelines of 80/10/10 but it is quite dependant on what the butcher has when we do our own shopping.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Dog Person said:


> I feed Zoey Annamaet dog food - the extra which is 26% protein; paid $30 for 20 lbs. Zoey gets 1 1/3 cups a day of kibble. Someone once posted that 1 lb. of dog food is approximately 4 cups so with 20 lbs. you get around 80 cups.
> 
> It costs about $0.50 a day to feed her.


Different kibbles are different densities and weights and kibble sizes (The smaller the kibbles, the less air, thus the fewer cups per lb..). The number of cups per lb of the kibbles I've done the conversion of ranges from almost 7 (Acana varieties) to 3.6 cups/lb (Innova, EVO, and California Naturals).  Most of the ones that I looked at were closer to 5 cups/lb than to 4 cups/lb. I've added it to the spreadsheet that I linked to on the first page.

(I did calorie conversions based on stated calories/kg and calories per cup, or where manufacturers have listed the weight in grams per cup, I used that instead since it involves fewer conversion steps).


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Scottsmum said:


> I think it really depends on the brand you're feeding. Do you have kitchen scales you can weight it out on - I would never rely on a conversion table to tell you what 1 cup weighs. 1 cup of marbles will weight a lot more than one cup of feathers.


No scales, at all.... I have a 2.25 cup scoop... the kibbles are dense and alittle smaller than the Solid gold we had been feeding and more concentrated too (27/15 %protein/fat)....

Thanks gingerkid I will look at the spreadsheet....


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## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

My 95-pound ridgeback eats 3 pounds of frozen raw meals per day. He was on a raw diet since he was born, as was his mom. The frozen raw meals we get average $2.50 a pound. We get these from a company in Jackson, California in a once-a-month delivery. It's nice because they can custom mix them without salmon oil (he's allergic) without extra cost. So adding in $3 delivery fee, and 7.5% sales tax, and dividing by 30, we pay $8.16/day to feed him. This doesn't include treats or anything.

When he was a puppy, he would eat 4 pounds a day. That was insane.

I'm trying to convince the wife to transition him to a split of Honest Kitchen and frozen-raw. I don't like having to coordinate monthly food deliveries because I'm on the road a lot. Sometimes i have to spend spend extra for direct shipping when I'm working out of the state, and I'm tired of always planning exactly how many pounds of frozen raw to pack when I go on road trips and how to store them, making sure the hotel has a freezer, etc.


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## ShoreDobermans (Nov 18, 2013)

goffredo said:


> My 95-pound ridgeback eats 3 pounds of frozen raw meals per day. He was on a raw diet since he was born, as was his mom. The frozen raw meals we get average $2.50 a pound. We get these from a company in Jackson, California in a once-a-month delivery. It's nice because they can custom mix them without salmon oil (he's allergic) without extra cost. So adding in $3 delivery fee, and 7.5% sales tax, and dividing by 30, we pay $8.16/day to feed him. This doesn't include treats or anything.
> 
> When he was a puppy, he would eat 4 pounds a day. That was insane.
> 
> I'm trying to convince the wife to transition him to a split of Honest Kitchen and frozen-raw. I don't like having to coordinate monthly food deliveries because I'm on the road a lot. Sometimes i have to spend spend extra for direct shipping when I'm working out of the state, and I'm tired of always planning exactly how many pounds of frozen raw to pack when I go on road trips and how to store them, making sure the hotel has a freezer, etc.


I had to sit down and take a deep breath after reading this. So let's say the dog lives 12 years and you figure the time value of money, it doesn't bother you to spend over $40,000 to feed the dog? You can take my advice or not, but your dog is not better off on that food versus something like Pro Plan or Eukanuba which will cost you about $.75 a day. Buying food from small companies with no research capabilitiy is just a crap shoot.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

ShoreDobermans said:


> I had to sit down and take a deep breath after reading this. So let's say the dog lives 12 years and you figure the time value of money, it doesn't bother you to spend over $40,000 to feed the dog? You can take my advice or not, but your dog is not better off on that food versus something like Pro Plan or Eukanuba which will cost you about $.75 a day. Buying food from small companies with no research capabilitiy is just a crap shoot.


I went "yikes" at the $8/day also. 
But....



ShoreDobermans said:


> Dog food is a racket my friends. Buy smart.


I happen to think that a raw diet or whatever kibble/raw/etc mix best suits a given dog, IS buying smart. It doesn't need to be any more expensive than Pro Plan really (Pro Plan is way overpriced comparatively to other very similar dry foods)

I used to feed Purina. The results were a lot of shedding, nasty poop, nasty farts and bad breath. For about $20 per month more, I feed a mostly raw diet. Minimal shedding, non-smelly poop, no more gas and his breath smells like meat which isn't exactly minty fresh but is better. His vet is very happy with his body condition and his blood test results. $20/month well spent in my opinion and since it is my money, well, my opinion matters the most 

Do what works for your dog within your budget. Consider various options, try different foods and then do what works.


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## ShoreDobermans (Nov 18, 2013)

Shell said:


> I went "yikes" at the $8/day also.
> But....
> 
> 
> ...


Your experience with Pro Plan (if it was really due to Pro Plan and not just prejudice) would conflict with the fact that it and Eukanuba Premium are fed to more top dogs in any canine competition than all the other brands combined by a factor of 100. 

I know it is fashionable to trash Pro Plan but usually it is someone with little to no serious background with dogs, respectfully.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

ShoreDobermans said:


> Your experience with Pro Plan (if it was really due to Pro Plan and not just prejudice) would conflict with the fact that it and Eukanuba Premium are fed to more top dogs in any canine competition than all the other brands combined by a factor of 100.
> 
> I know it is fashionable to trash Pro Plan but usually it is someone with little to no serious background with dogs, respectfully.


So my dog couldn't possibly have done poorly on Pro Plan just because someone else's dog does well on it? Oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense. 

All I am saying is that feeding what a specific dog does best on will vary. It will vary in price and it will vary in ingredients. If the results a dog's owner sees in their dog is worth the price to them, then so what? 

And changing my dogs food most certainly did improve his overall condition, regardless of what brand is on the label. People who had no idea what I was feeding commented on his coat and teeth and lack of farts. Some dry foods have worked pretty well, some haven't worked much at all for him. 

I don't have any issue with cheaper foods for being cheap and I find some of them quite good depending on the dog. I do find Pro Plan overpriced though.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

gingerkid said:


> Different kibbles are different densities and weights and kibble sizes (The smaller the kibbles, the less air, thus the fewer cups per lb..). The number of cups per lb of the kibbles I've done the conversion of ranges from almost 7 (Acana varieties) to 3.6 cups/lb (Innova, EVO, and California Naturals). Most of the ones that I looked at were closer to 5 cups/lb than to 4 cups/lb. I've added it to the spreadsheet that I linked to on the first page.
> 
> (I did calorie conversions based on stated calories/kg and calories per cup, or where manufacturers have listed the weight in grams per cup, I used that instead since it involves fewer conversion steps).


Your chart peaked my interest so I went and weighed 2/3 cup of kibble (1/2 of daily food) and it weighed 2.5 oz.; 1 cup would then weigh 3.75 oz. Annamaet Extra 26% protein gives you 4.27 cups per pound. As you mentioned, calorie conversions should be used vs out and out cups per day; Annamaet is 425 Kcal/cup where a food like Nutro would only be 297 kcal/cup. Feeding Zoey Nutro would require about 40% more food. I used to pay $36 for 15 lbs. of Nutro for our last dog ... Annamaet is a much better buy!


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

Shell said:


> So my dog couldn't possibly have done poorly on Pro Plan just because someone else's dog does well on it? Oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense.
> 
> All I am saying is that feeding what a specific dog does best on will vary. It will vary in price and it will vary in ingredients. If the results a dog's owner sees in their dog is worth the price to them, then so what?
> 
> ...


Yup. We had a large dog who lived to 14 - only ever ate Pal Meaty Bites (one of the most common cheap supermarket brands here in Australia). No problems with him, happy, health, no more smelly then a big outside dog would be.

Scottie - on the other hand - is oily and smelly on commercial food - both cheap and premium. I noticed a high difference in 3 days when off commercial all together, going back onto premium and when swapping over to Ziwipeaks (which I would call ULTRA-premium)


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## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

ShoreDobermans said:


> So let's say the dog lives 12 years and you figure the time value of money, it doesn't bother you to spend over $40,000 to feed the dog?


In your computation, I am most bothered by the 12 year figure. I hope that my dog lives longer than that. 



ShoreDobermans said:


> ... Buying food from small companies with no research capabilitiy is just a crap shoot.


I don't believe that commercial dog food companies' research capability produces a superior dog food. I see your point, but I think our capitalist economy needs to be considered. I would guess that like most companies, the goal of their research is primarily to lower production costs and to maximize profits; and only secondarily, to improve upon the actual quality of the product. These scenarios can lead to unpronounceable things showing up on ingredients lists, often with marketing spin. I think this is one area where smaller and lesser-known companies produce a better product because they have a more pure focus than profit.



ShoreDobermans said:


> Shell said:
> 
> 
> > ... I happen to think that a raw diet or whatever kibble/raw/etc mix best suits a given dog, IS buying smart. It doesn't need to be any more expensive than Pro Plan really (Pro Plan is way overpriced comparatively to other very similar dry foods)
> ...


I find it difficult to quantify how this statistic could be computed. I've never had anyone survey me about what I feed my dog when I enter him in competitions, although I think that would make for a very interesting study. I don't know if I believe this statistic. Honestly, and to tie in with what I mentioned earlier, it sounds like the kind of thing a well-funded dog food company would spin on some questionable math, to improve profits.

Regardless, I think a better measurement of a healthy diet would consider a dog's longevity and absence of disease, and not just how well it does in competitions. The competition period for a dog seems to be the first half of its life; the period where health-based diseases tend to show up is the second half. Therefore, a proper study of dog food quality should also take into consideration what happens in the second half of a dog's life.



Shell said:


> Do what works for your dog within your budget. Consider various options, try different foods and then do what works.


I would like to keep feeding him raw, but also to intersperse it with a dry food, so that it's easier to travel with him and to take him backpacking without a painful "transition to dry" and "transition back to raw" period.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I've not had any problem feeding some dry food meals and other raw food meals. But if your dog has a sensitive stomach, a lot of raw feeders I know use the dehydrated foods for when they travel or for dog-sitters to feed. I like the Grandma Lucy's PUREformance. It used chickpeas as the starch rather than potatos and seems to digest easily. The Honest Kitchen is the other main brand for dehydrated food that is available all over. 

If you haven't checked out other pre-made raw options, it might be worth doing some extra digging to see what is cheaper. I could feed my 75 lbs RR mix for about $4/day if I was feeding all raw from a supplier. Of course prey model raw can run a lot cheaper if you can source the meats, but there are a few regional companies that do a ground raw that isn't as costly as what you are paying. 

With my mix of dry food, pre-made raw and grocery store/other raw meat, I run about $2-2.50/day/dog. The dry foods I feed are --gasp-- grain inclusive foods that run just $1 per lb (noticeably less than Purina Pro Plan for example...)

Most people I know buy a coffee at least once per day. I make my own coffee. Most people buy at least one or two fast food breakfasts each week, I shop the grocery store for breakfast items. The difference basically pays for the dog food  Everyone has a spending habit that could technically be cheaper but they happen to find their choice of purchase worth it, that's their decision.


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## Emily1188 (Jun 21, 2011)

I feed raw and purchase from a co-op. Typical fair includes chicken backs, duck necks, green tripe, beef heart, boneless turkey, beef liver, turkey hearts, eggs, ground beef, and some other odd organs (spleen and kidneys, etc), with random variety rotated in. The base of the diet is the cheaper stuff, chicken backs and duck necks, but they get lots of the other stuff too.

I spend $1.14/lb on average for their food. The 53 lb dog eats about $1.71 per meal, the 25 lb dog eats about $0.85. 

I don't care what other people want to feed. My dogs are extremely healthy on this diet, my vet supports it, and I pay much less than I would for most decent dry foods, so it's what I feed.


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## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

Shell said:


> The Honest Kitchen is the other main brand for dehydrated food that is available all over ... If you haven't checked out other pre-made raw options, it might be worth doing some extra digging to see what is cheaper.


My dog is allergic to salmon, salmon oil, and whitefish. That makes it tricky to find a pre-made raw (or dehydrated) that will work. THK is one of the few brands that can meet these criteria. It seemed to pass right through him though - he took massive poops 2-3x a day and was starving the entire time. Not sure if that's a transitional thing. 



Emily1188 said:


> I feed raw and purchase from a co-op. I spend $1.14/lb on average for their food. The 53 lb dog eats about $1.71 per meal, the 25 lb dog eats about $0.85.


That's a good price. Do you have to volunteer for the co-op? The co-ops we looked at had stringent volunteer requirements. Not to be selfish, but I simply don't have time to volunteer at a dog food co-op, or to make my own raw at home, so I buy pre-made raw for $2.50/lb. Whole Foods had a slightly less-expensive frozen raw meal (Steve's), but it has fish oil which was causing my dog to have chronic ear issues due to salmon allergy.


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## Emily1188 (Jun 21, 2011)

goffredo said:


> That's a good price. Do you have to volunteer for the co-op? The co-ops we looked at had stringent volunteer requirements. Not to be selfish, but I simply don't have time to volunteer at a dog food co-op, or to make my own raw at home, so I buy pre-made raw for $2.50/lb. Whole Foods had a slightly less-expensive frozen raw meal (Steve's), but it has fish oil which was causing my dog to have chronic ear issues due to salmon allergy.


No, you don't! And good thing because I don't really have time to either! This is a pretty big co-op, located in Indianapolis and I'm in Chicago - so no volunteering. I just pay a one-time $40 fee for co-op membership. You order online and they drop your food off at a "satellite point" in your area (it's a volunteer's house) and you just go pick up it. The pros are the price, the quality (they source it from non-certified organic local farms, it's always really fresh), and the variety I can get. The cons, IMO, are that you need a big freezer (I have one), the stuff is not "neat" (it's pretty blood sometimes), and you have to put in the time to sort it all out and break it down. But I can handle that so it works out for us.

Also FWIW, I've always occasionally given my dogs kibble, sometimes with their raw, and have never had issues.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Grandma Lucy's doesn't have fish or fish oils in the chicken blend at least
:
ingredients in the Chicken PUREformance
:
USDA Chicken, Chickpeas, Flax, Carrots, Celery, Apples, Bananas, Blueberries, Cranberries, Pumpkin, Papaya, Spinach, Garlic, Rosemary, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Niacin, Iron, Calcium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Riboflavin, Thiamin, Potassium, Manganese, Chloride, Copper, Magnesium, Pyridoxine, Cyanocobalamin. 

-----
I'd suggest looking for a dry food that doesn't have the salmon or fish oil that bothers your dog and try feeding it. I prefer to have a higher protein, higher fat kibble but I am fine with rice, oatmeal, barley and such. My foster dogs eat mostly dry food with a supplement of raw, such as chicken gizzards and hearts, sardines (not technically raw), beef heart and the cheaper cuts of beef. Since I keep their dry food percent at around 75%, I don't have to overly balance the raw (I do keep a general eye on it) and they tend to have almost as good of coat and such as my 30/70 raw fed dog. I see other benefits for adding more raw; my dog has better breath, passes less gas and such then the more dry food fed dogs, but basically if you put a minor portion of dry food into the raw diet you shouldn't see much difference.


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## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

Thanks for the Grandma Lucy's stat, I like that it uses a grain legume (chickpea) instead of wheat.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Hm... Math, okay. I can do this. lmao

Our dry dog food costs $39.99 per 30lb bag. With Canadian taxes it comes to about $45.20. We feed Juno and Charlie roughly 1lb of food per day. So that works out as $1.50/lb. We also pick up raw butcher scraps for $0.22/lb so sometimes we cut out dry kibble and feed just raw that day.

Our 13 year old, picky Bichon/Poodle mixes gets a meaty canned food only. A 624g can costs around $1.20 and we feed him half a can per day (plus raw meat). So I'm gonna say it's around $0.70 for him.

All together I suppose we spend around $2.20 per day for 3 dogs. Or something like that. lmao


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Now I'm curious, anyone want to calculate mine?

I buy 30lbs of Costco natures domain for about $38 after tax. I buy 29lbs of orijen for about $90 after tax.

I mix the two together (half and half) and he eats two cups a day of the mix, (so one cup of each food per day).


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

Rescued said:


> Now I'm curious, anyone want to calculate mine?
> 
> I buy 30lbs of Costco natures domain for about $38 after tax. I buy 29lbs of orijen for about $90 after tax.
> 
> I mix the two together (half and half) and he eats two cups a day of the mix, (so one cup of each food per day).


You're paying $128 for 59 pounds (so that's $2.19 per pound) How many days do you get out of the combination? Or how much does a cup full of food weigh?


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Scottsmum said:


> You're paying $128 for 59 pounds (so that's $2.19 per pound) How many days do you get out of the combination? Or how much does a cup full of food weigh?


Just weighed it, a cup of the combination weighs about 3 oz.

I could do the math, but it is the weekend 

EDIT: so about 82 cents a day? Not bad at all IMO.

(the dog in question, Bubba, is 80 lbs)


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## Scottsmum (Jan 3, 2014)

Rescued said:


> Just weighed it, a cup of the combination weighs about 3 oz.
> 
> I could do the math, but it is the weekend
> 
> EDIT: so about 82 cents a day? Not bad at all IMO.


I assumed you could do the mat - but yeh its the weekend and I'm more willing to help people. Plus I wanted to know the answer. 

And yeh - 84 cents is pretty good - much better than my $4


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

Baby*severe food allergies*- has 2 different food I alternate with her, 1 is $1.33/day and the other is $.56/day, she does WAAAAYYYY better on the $1.33/day food however, so I only buy the $.56/day food when I am in a pinch. 

Gem*allergies to chicken and beef*- $1.20/day for dry and $9/week(approx, it depends on what I buy) for Raw. *she gets about 4 raw meal a week in place of 1 kibble meal, to the days she gets raw would be $2.85/day(1 kibble meal + 1 raw meal) 

the rest of my dogs eat raw, at approx $1.85/day for 6 dogs(total, not each)...I spend more to feed my rabbits lol*

*this is the pricey way, if i wanted to do a bunch of cutting and had more room for storage I could get while chickens(all inclusive) in bags of 10 for $12 and all the game meat and organs I want for free and feed all 6 for virtually nothing


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## tltappan (Jan 15, 2014)

I feed raw as well - my dog is about 41 pounds. Costs me just under $2 USD per day, & he is one happy pup!


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Miss Bugs said:


> Baby*severe food allergies*- has 2 different food I alternate with her, 1 is $1.33/day and the other is $.56/day, she does WAAAAYYYY better on the $1.33/day food however, so I only buy the $.56/day food when I am in a pinch.
> 
> Gem*allergies to chicken and beef*- $1.20/day for dry and $9/week(approx, it depends on what I buy) for Raw. *she gets about 4 raw meal a week in place of 1 kibble meal, to the days she gets raw would be $2.85/day(1 kibble meal + 1 raw meal)
> 
> ...


I wish I could figure out how to do raw for $0.30 per day per dog. I think it would cost more in the long run though, since we'd need to buy a bigger house, get a bigger freezer, etc... I'm still reeling though. Where do you get 10 chickens for $12? Hutterites?


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## tltappan (Jan 15, 2014)

I agree!!! Miss Bugs must live in an area where hunting abounds!  Found my pup will only eat beef liver if it's cooked - which is fine, because he really loves it that way - that seems to be the only organ meat I can get in him - he totally didn't like the kidney! And I really don't have any butchers or ethnic shops to go to. I'm wondering if there are any online options for ordering raw foods - sent frozen. Hmmm...will have to check on that! Wait...after I get a freezer... ;p


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

> Where do you get 10 chickens for $12? Hutterites?


yup! they cull the laying hens twice a years, remove heads, feet an feathers and sell em to raw feeders for next to nothing. then a local butcher does game for hunters and they you walk into the back on their cutting days with a garbage bag and take whatever you want which is bones, organs, "hamburger" etc.. we've brought whole heads home before lol


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Ummm, really have no idea. I pay about $18 for a 5lb bag of Acana. He eats 1/2 cup per day. But I'd also have to factor in wet food (approx one can per week) so 4ish cans per month.


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## Damon'sMom (Aug 2, 2011)

Jacksons Mom said:


> Ummm, really have no idea. I pay about $18 for a 5lb bag of Acana. He eats 1/2 cup per day. But I'd also have to factor in wet food (approx one can per week) so 4ish cans per month.


I'll use the Regionals Grasslands as an example. It is 3.79 cups per pound. So you will take 3.79 X the 5lb bag. Thats 18.95 cups per bag. Divide that by half a cup or .5. So (1) 5 pound bag last you 37.9 days. Then you will take the cost of that bag of food divided by the number of days it will last. So the $18 you spend divided by the 37.9 days it will last. That means it would cost you .47 cents a day to feed. Not including the wet food.

I think I got my math correct there. lol


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## pawsaddict (Apr 17, 2013)

My situation is pretty out of the norm, as I have two special needs dogs. Nova, due to her major food allergies and potential IBD (getting a biopsy done this week) eats a very novel raw diet. She also has to put weight on. We spend about $275-$300 a month on just her food ($9 a day - or more- a day). Marley also needs a special diet, with a low phosphorous content. She eats raw (no bone, though) at about $60 a month, so $2 a day.

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