Everything I've read says feeding raw is cheaper...I'm waiting for it to be cheaper haha. Right now Nikko is eating 1-1.5 chicken thighs per meal, so 2 or 3 times a day depending on if I'm home or not. The cheapest I've found so far is Costco at .99/lb, 11lb bag, so at the rate he's going he'll be through that in 5 days or so. How much do you all spend per week or month on raw? I know I won't find other proteins as low as .99/lb, and even that seems expensive when going through 12+lbs a week!

$1/lb or less is my limit for price. Although I often pay less than that, sometimes as low as 49 cents/lb for chicken quarters. I buy chicken thighs by the case at Costco which is 85 cents per pound for 60 lbs.

My sibe weighs 50 lbs and eats 1 lb of raw per day so it costs me less than $7 per week to feed him raw.

The price in Melbourne Australia is a lot different though. I'll be happy if I can get $1/lb. The price here is calculated by kilo, so it's like 2.2lb=1kg. The price for chicken quarters here are usually $4.50/kg. Occasionally I can get $3.50/kg but that's only a few times a year. For human grade beef or lamb, the cheapest is probably $7/kg. We can get bones and chicken carcasses for a lot cheaper but there are little meat on it so I only give it to them if they have loose stools. $1 for a bag of chicken carcasses that usually have 3 in it.

Hmm, I do get those pre-packaged raw mince of either beef, kangaroo and chicken in the pet store sometimes but they are about $5.50/kg so I would rather go for human grade. http://primepetfood.com.au/Pages/Our_Range/Prime_100_Fresh_Frozen.aspx

So I think I spend about $300 per month on a malamute puppy and a husky. But it's a healthier choice.

Holy lord.. I feed two onan average of .70/lb

However that is because I feed all grass ged antibiotic and hormone free meats

mheath0429 wrote:

Holy lord.. I feed two onan average of .70/lb

However that is because I feed all grass ged antibiotic and hormone free meats

Holy lord what, normal Foster Farms chicken doesn't even drop down that low.

Where do you get all your meats for $1/lb or less? The chicken I can see, but what about the pork, beef, fish, etc? Looking at costco yesterday the cheapest pork was about $2/lb I believe and The beef probably higher than that. And this eating almost 2lbs a day thing is just a puppy thing, right? haha

If you join a co-op you can get in on group orders and save a lot of money that way. I don't, but a lot of people do. Also getting meat directly from a butcher or from meat markets or even asian food markets can land you some cheaper meat.

I buy a lot of my meat when it goes on sale. Every week I flip straight to the meat section of the weekly supermarket ads to see what their meat deals are. When a good sale comes along I really stock up. I find that meat really drops around holidays. Turkey I usually get around 80 cents/lb for the whole bird and then cut it up myself at home, sometimes I buy ground turkey when it goes on sale for 99 cents/lb. After Thanksgiving I'll often score whole turkeys for 30-40 cents/lb. Pork I have to wait for it to go on sale for 99 cents/lb which happens approximately every 3 months here I have noticed. Other things I can get cheaper at the commissary. I also wait for chicken quarters to go on sale for 49 cents/lb which happens about twice a year, it goes to 59 cent/lb approximately every 3 months and 79 cent/lb every 3 weeks or so. Split chicken breasts often go on sale here for 99 cents/lb about every 3 weeks. Beef is the one thing I cannot get for less than $1/lb which is why I feed it the least but sometimes I do splurge when I can get it for less than $1.50/lb. For me, the key is watching prices and knowing how often prices drop to their lowest points and from there stocking up and knowing how much to buy to get me to the next big sale.

I know a co-op would be a lot easier but I don't feed exclusively raw so it's not that big a deal to me.

And yes, once Nikko is an adult he won't need to each so much. Eventually he'll drop down to eating about 2% of his weight as an adult. As I said before, my adult male typically weighs between 48-50 lbs and he only eats 1 lb a day (plus treats). Even a 65 lb adult dog would only need about 1.3 lbs/day.

I only feed Faolan a raw meal approximately every third meal and he mainly eats chicken leg quarters which I get for around .65/lb. My other dog, a 10lb papillon (on a diet) eats exclusively raw and I just scored 20lbs of deer meat for free so it'll cost us very little for the next three months. It has no bone so I'll just have to buy boney stuff which is pretty cheap at the Asian market.

Its just expensive. I am.in a co op.... it's the way I keep cost down.

ok great. What cut's do you go after? Does it really matter?

Whatever I can get within my price range!

You're guy is still a puppy, so until he's a year old it maybe more expensive, because puppies need to eat twice their weight. You're not limited to feeding you're pup merely chicken, which can get pricey depending on where you go and the cut on meat. I usually hit up my local grocery store and buy whatever is on sale that week and stock up, if it's a really good price. I'm feeding 2 Huskies (1 adult & 1 pup) and it runs me around $20 a week if I do chicken.

I've heard the butcher can be cheaper, so you may want to look into that as well. Some off brand grocery store tend to be cheaper as well. A lady at the dog park told me of a hispanic grocery store near my house has incredibly cheap meat, but I haven't checked them out yet.

I haven't checked any of the hispanic markets or anything like that. What makes their meat so cheap? Is it still good quality and safe to feed?

Garebear wrote:

I haven't checked any of the hispanic markets or anything like that. What makes their meat so cheap? Is it still good quality and safe to feed?

To be honest, I'm not sure and that's exactly why I haven't checked them out yet. Costco is great for buying in bulk, but can still get expensive if you don't watch the prices.

I just looked at Atlanta, GA Kroger's sale's this week and they have a whole turkey for $.59/pound w/a card. Maybe something to check out.

I usually look at ads and I am part of a co-op in WA. Chicken I usually buy whole at around .85/lb and stock up. Pork I can find for 1-1.25/lb and beef is the pricey one. I usually feed beef hearts and tongue and I get that at the asian stores. As for what makes the asian/ hispanic stores cheaper, I am not really sure but I've bought stuff there for the family and it tastes good to me When I'm at the store, I usually will buy from the clearance section for the pets and just see what is a good deal/ on sale, I think that is how I get most of my beef if it isnt tongue or hearts. I'm trying to clear my freezer to prepare for some turkeys to go on sale. I think I spend about 40-50 a month on raw.

Do you actually give them the meat raw or do you cook it first? Sorry I found the answer in other thread.

I've been looking through the raw feeding pictures and I love raw feeding my dogs. The sheer excitement of me even leaning towards their pantry where their freezers (yes plural) are kept.

So I have 5 dogs but only 2 are on full time raw. 2 of the dogs don't live with me full time and one lives with a person who owns children and despite my persuasion and constant reassurance she is not willing to change her and her other dog over. But Sadie does fine on dry food anyway and gets the odd bit of raw when with me anyway

Benjie is soon to be changed over to raw, he is my OH's dog but due to being my OH's autistic brothers support dog (unofficially - with his issues he'd never pass any evaluations) he lives with the in laws when the OH is at camp. And with us when he's home. Mother in Law has just adopted a chinese crested who is raw fed so she is in the process of changing him over.

Jack who is with me, is on dry food, however he may end up staying and so I'm putting him on raw because he is long haired and with dry food - even the quality stuff - he just stinks.

So March will be change over time.

Pen, Lou and Jack together weigh in at 158lbs Lou needs 1.7lbs a day to maintain weight and Pen needs just over a lb. Jack needs in between as he is a larger dog but not as active as he is nearly 10.

So to feed 158lbs of dog for a month costs me between $65 and $73. Which in our money is £43-48

I buy from a growing company who are a butchers first and foremost but their pet food service has shot up. I mainly buy Green Tripe and Liver from them. There is a butchers in a market near my parents who do 44lb of pork/lamb ribs for $15 and a poultry farm who supply Chicken carcasses for $2.29 per 11lb.

(Sorry - I didn't want to confuse you with KG/£'s so I changed it all for you )

We have a thread on this already, Aimee. Merged with the existing topic.

Huskyluv wrote:

We have a thread on this already. I will merge this with the existing topic.

Sorry..

The Dominicks near me sells chicken backs for $0.79 a pound. I plan on stuffing my freezer with 30 lbs of it before my puppy comes home. I read its a good to start a dog on raw chicken backs for the first couple of weeks.