What does it cost to feed a dog “dog food’ or actual Meat?

Have you ever thought of feeding your dog a mainly meat diet?

It can take a lot of preparation but perhaps 2016 will be your dogs year?

A raw diet for dogs DOES NOT NEED CARBS for energy or protein. It might need it for fibre – but that depends on what else you feed your dog.

If you do it right – you will be feeding your dog close to an 80:14:06 split for meat, offal and bones.

You will vary all components and keep it interesting. You can add eggs twice per week, and make sure you give Omega 6 and Omega 3 in the right amounts (total amount and ratio).

What meat do I feed my dog and what’s it got to do with meat dog treats

The image in this blog is of our freezer. My wife has just dedicated the second tray (bottom of the fridge) exclusively to dog food (meat offal and bones).

You will see beef, lamb, chicken, and various offal and bones in there.

Why you don’t buy your dog food or dog treats from supermarkets

I have been over the dog food thing many times before. Dog food in cans is mostly grains disguised to look like meat. In pellets, they cant disguise it as easily so you usually get just a brown baked grain look.

DOG MEAT in supermarkets is poor quality often including a large percentage of meat by product and ‘meat meal’.  There is a reason why they say not for human consumption on the packet.

So if you would not be willing to eat it, why would you give it to your dog?

You might end up paying a little less than quality whole meat, but what are the long term implications. My rule is that if it’s not a whole meat, in good enough form for me to eat, I would not feed it to my dog!

Dog treats in supermarkets are either grain based, raw hide or pigs skin based, or poor quality meat (by product) based.  These are NONE of the things that make your dog healthy.

At bulk meat butchers in any capital city you can usually buy roasting meat at around $10 per kg. A 20 kg dog would need about 500g (to give sufficient kj or calories) per day, and a 40 kg dog around 1 kg – but this kg also includes offal and bones.  Most people consume well over $10 of food per day for themselves so if they really loved their dogs why is $10 out of the question?  Well usually its a question of convenience, education and knowledge.

Dog treats can be seen as a gimmick, but the dog treats I sell are 80% meat or 100% meat – around 3 times that of most dog food and dog treats.

That is why I always suggest that if you are not confident of constructing (buying, proportioning, freezing, defrosting combining) meat based dog food (ie real meat and human grade offal) – then buying dog treats (that are typically better than most dog foods on the market) should be a priority rather than a ‘nice to have’.

What did my meat shop cost today? around $120 (for my dog MEAT food alone) and it will last nearly a month. Buying in bulk at a quality butcher is the only way to go – unless you decide on the much easier and equal quality option of buying meat based healthy dog treats options.