Raw Diet?

kpromero · Sep 17, 2015

Okay all, i know this has probably been posted already and i have been trying to find, but wanted some opinions from the best guru's on Frenchie feeding. Rosie is now 24 lbs. and 13 months old. We also have 2 Chi's with one being 8 lbs. and the other being 4 lbs. Now currently they are all eating Acana Grasslands which i get from Chewy's. A 15 lb. bag will last roughly a month and maybe slightly longer at most. This is $47.99 for 15 lbs.

Hear a lot about feeding raw and was trying to compare what cost would be if i switched to something like Stella and Chewy for all three of them. Online i am only seeing bags with Ounces but not how many patties come in them. From the site it looks like i should feed them 16 patties a day total. A 15 ounce bag at Chewy's is $26.95

Can someone help me with the math to see what cost over Acana and switching to Stella and Chewy would be? Also would it benefit doing this or should i just keep feeding Acana? I also read an article from Pet Paws saying that you are just wasting your money buying grain free due to the added fillers they put. Thanks to all in advance

kpromero · Sep 17, 2015

i think i may have found it and boy would this cost me if i am doing this right. 15 oz. bag has around 32 patties for $26.95
Rosie = 8 patties needed daily
2 Chi's = 5 patties needed daily
13 patties a day

One 15 oz. bag would only last 2 feedings roughly, so every 2 days or so it would be $26.95

KimB3384 · Sep 18, 2015

Yeah, commercial raw is crazy expensive because all the work is done for you. It's slightly cheaper if you have access to the frozen versions because the freeze-dried stuff is super pricey, but they're both still costly. Because of our allergies and yeast issues I can only feed duck, rabbit, and fish. I use Vital Essentials and it runs me about $120/mo. for my one dog - and she's tiny! Feeding three dogs a commercial diet would probably be cost-prohibitive, unless you're a billionaire.

If you're interested in doing a raw diet there are cheaper options that require some work on your part. Reelrawdog.com has an amazing selection of foods, and if you have a way to buy in bulk (like, you have a large freezer to store stuff in) they're maybe one of the best options. They have a program that will give you your daily meals already planned out. You just have to thaw and serve.

I will say this - it's taken 2 years to get all the kinks worked out, but we're finally at a point where we're doing really, really well. No itching, no yeast, no eye boogers, beautiful stools, and a freaking ripped body. And we've never had an issue with not eating. I'm so glad I took the time to switch to raw and would never go back.

Cbrugs · Sep 18, 2015

I had looked into commercial raw as well sometime last year and in order to keep Jax at his current weight, it would have cost me over $200 a month. I just recently switched him over to Great Life buffalo which is potato and grain free and no peas either. I am of the opinion to feed what works for you and your dog.

kpromero · Sep 18, 2015

Has anyone seen the article that was pretty much saying grain free is pretty much just overpriced food?

KimB3384 · Sep 18, 2015

Rodney Habib just did a post on it. He's Maple's Mom's co-worker, btw. I don't know if this will work, but here's a link to the post: Rodney Habib - THE GRAIN-FREE GIMMICK: IS BUYING A... | Facebook

MaplesMommy · Sep 18, 2015

He is my boss

It costs me around 90$/month for feed Maple (23 lbs) & my 2 cats raw.
And this is grass-fed,local meat. Of course I get a little discount because I work at the store etc but still. It shouldnt cost you more than 100/month.
Of course it depends on what you go with. Usually anything that is pre cut is more convenient so more expensive.
Stuff that you cut yourself (but is still already pre balanced with muscle meat,organ & bone) would be most econimal.
For example look up the 5 lb Mixes made by Primal.
It also depends on what protein you will mainly feed. Chicken is much cheaper than for example lamb.
You can also substitute some meat for veggies or even a low glycemic carb such as Quinoa or steel cut oats.
1/2 cup cooked carbs = 3 oz of meat.
Your frenchie needs around 8 oz of meat, the little ones at 8 lbs around 3 oz a DAY.
So if you add for example 1/2 cup carbs a day,that would go down to 5 oz of meat for your Frenchie.

You can kinda play around in order to meet a certain budget.

I know quite a bit of people in certain facebook groups get their raw food from Raw Food Miami (I think).
Or like I said check out the Primal 5 lbs chubbs. Or Nature Variety 5 lbs.

cnash · Sep 18, 2015

That reelraw stuff looks interesting. But for Bentley it would be close to 4 times the cost of Orijen or Acana he is getting now...

MaplesMommy · Sep 18, 2015

Like I said : There are definitely many ways to make a raw diet cost efficient.
We have Great Danes and many other large breed dogs on a fresh diet withouth the owner going broke

Even if it would cost me more, Id still do it, because you can't put a price tag on my pets health (well I guess considering vet bills you could lol).

KimB3384 · Sep 18, 2015

Acana is a good food and gets excellent reviews. There's that whole philosophy that says if it ain't broke...

If you're interested in adding raw but know the cost is more than you're looking to take on, you could always use the Stella & Chewy's as a topper for your meals. Add a patty or even 1/2 patty on top of the Acana every day or every other day. What might work out to be an even more cost-effective option is to add some green tripe to each meal. It's loaded with enzymes that are just super helpful to your dog's gut.

eeturk · Sep 18, 2015

We feed Tucker's brand (they're pork based and H can't do chicken so it works great for us) raw and it costs us about $35/week. We feed 2 patties per day plus goat's milk and sardines. Stella and Chewy's was more expensive but not by much. For us, it's worth every penny but that's because Hudson literally cannot eat kibble. We've tried all the "good" brands and H just gets completely miserable. So, like [MENTION=380]KimB3384[/MENTION] said, if it ain't broke...acana is a good kibble. I will never go back to kibble with this dog because he's a totally different animal on raw heath wise, but it certainly isn't super budget friendly.

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cnash · Sep 19, 2015

Reelraw vs Acana/Orijen per year... Depending on how big/much you feed.
Reelraw: $1,500-1,800 approx. (based on their pre-measured 21-30lb adult or 31-40lb adult)
Acana/Orijen $500-600 approx. (based on 15lb bags feeding 1.5-2 cups of kibble a day)

blushy · Sep 19, 2015

cnash said:
Reelraw vs Acana/Orijen per year... Depending on how big/much you feed.
Reelraw: $1,500-1,800 approx. (based on their pre-measured 21-30lb adult or 31-40lb adult)
Acana/Orijen $500-600 approx. (based on 15lb bags feeding 1.5-2 cups of kibble a day)

Holy ...

MaplesMommy · Sep 20, 2015

cnash said:
Reelraw vs Acana/Orijen per year... Depending on how big/much you feed.
Reelraw: $1,500-1,800 approx. (based on their pre-measured 21-30lb adult or 31-40lb adult)
Acana/Orijen $500-600 approx. (based on 15lb bags feeding 1.5-2 cups of kibble a day)

Im confused. Is 'reelraw' a company? Or do you just mean raw feeding in general?
As I previously said, there are many ways to feed fresh on a budget.
Check out different companies, check out the different cuts they come in (for example a 5 lbs Chicken brick from Natures Variety costs around 21$).
You can add a low glycemic carbohydrate to cut down the cost even more.
Lets say your dog needs 9 oz a day (example. I am not sure what your Frenchie weighs exactly).
If you were to add 1/2 cup cooked,lets say steel cut oats, then it would go down to 6 oz of meat a day.
The 21$ 5 lbs brick would last you a little over 13 days. So you would need about 2 1/2 a month. Thats under 50$ /month.
Plus the oats, but they really arent expensive at all.

KimB3384 · Sep 20, 2015

'reelraw' is the company I used to use. They're out of Maine and they have top notch raw foods. Now, to be fair, while their pre-measured service is quite pricey, they do have complete (80/10/10) grinds that are reasonably priced. Depending on how much you feed, you could get away with less than $80/mo. Less than that if your dog requires less food, or you supplement with grains or something like tripe.

The additional money being spent on raw is worth it if you have a dog that has food allergies or intolerances. Our first year saw a decent chunk of money going to vet bills to treat things like ear and skin infections caused by yeast. Now that we do a yeast-starvation diet, we haven't (knock on wood) incurred any extra vet costs. If your dog is doing well on a high-quality kibble and the only reason you want to switch to raw is because you 'think you're supposed to' then it might not be a good choice. There's either a LOT of work involved with trying to figure out the right ratios and/or portioning everything properly, or there's a lot of money involved with buying a pre-packaged product. Even the chubs you can get require you to spend time portioning out the servings to certain weights. And even though it might only take 20 minutes, that might be more time and effort than some people have.

Again, I am a huge proponent of feeding raw. I think it's been a lifesaver for us. But I don't think it's for everyone. And I don't think that people should feel bad about feeding kibble. Particularly if their dog does well on it, which lots of dogs do. I kind of look at it like being a vegan or vegetarian. Science tells us that the best diet for humans is a vegan one, but I'm not interested in that. I do what I can to keep my numbers where they're supposed to be. I think the same flexibility applies in the dog world. Do what works for you and your dog.

kpromero · Sep 22, 2015

Thanks to all again for the information

cnash · Sep 24, 2015

I did some more calculations.
Based on a 25lb dog (feeding 0.6 lbs of food a day). Feeding raw. Using Reelrawdog's bulk pricing (not pre portioned) it comes out to approximately $1,200/year.

cnash · Sep 24, 2015

I am still looking into feeding raw if I can do it for a decent cost.
I have contacted Raw Feeding Miami, since I live in Miami and seeing what they are all about and pricing and all that fun stuff.
Hopefully it's not too crazy and Bentley can be on a raw diet here shortly. If not, I'm sticking to Acana and Orijen.

eeturk · Sep 25, 2015

cnash said:
I am still looking into feeding raw if I can do it for a decent cost.
I have contacted Raw Feeding Miami, since I live in Miami and seeing what they are all about and pricing and all that fun stuff.
Hopefully it's not too crazy and Bentley can be on a raw diet here shortly. If not, I'm sticking to Acana and Orijen.

Raw feeding Miami is an awesome company. I contacted them a while back and it would be a lot cheaper for me to feed their stuff, even with shipping to CA. Hopefully that's the case for you too, especially since you won't have to contend with shipping costs.

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cnash · Sep 25, 2015

So... I contacted Raw Feeding Miami. And what they suggested (since Bentley is a frenchie) is still a really high price point. So I have to do some more research I guess.