So because I've seen it around lately, and it's not true at all: Feeding raw is NOT cheap. I don't know why people say it is. Even if you prepare the diet yourself, if you're considering it a cheap diet, you're most likely doing it wrong. Pre-prepared raw diets are awesome because they have a vitamin pack added to boost all the vitamins they need. Feeding your dog a raw chicken breast isn't the same. They need so much more than that.
Also, you need to be careful of the QUALITY of the meats/fruits/veggies you're feeding your dog. Organic is best, but mass-bred meats you find in the grocery store is LOADED with bad bacteria, even for us humans, and once you cook a meat, it removes all nutritional value for the dog. you also need to think about finding a good vitamin supplement to add to the mix so they get all of the nutrition they need.
Remember, when a wolf eats an animal in the wild, they get everything in its stomach too, but they also get bone and organ meat as well as muscle tissue.
Pre-prepared raw diets take this into account and include ground up bone and organ meat in their formulas because there are health benefits to these ingredients as well.
The pre-prepared diets are also handled and processed differently to ensure the bad bacteria is not incorporated into the food, thus creating a healthy option.
The average price of a bag of pre-prepared raw diet is around $25-$35 for a 6# bag of food. For most dogs this lasts about a week, give or take depending on size.
Take, for instance, Tucker's Raw diet (which we feed my American Bulldog), for a 6# with 12-8oz patties ($27.99), Brogan at 90# gets a patty in the morning, and a patty at night. This lasts him about 6 days. If I fed the same food to Feirin (19.6# Lab mix), he'd get just over half of that maybe a little more (Because he's a growing, active puppy), but it would last him just under two weeks.
For Brogan, that's nearly $139.95/month (ish) Leading up to nearly 1679.40/year.
That being said, raw has phenomenal health benefits, so it can result in fewer vet bills, but it's not much less for a home-prep diet. Think of it this way, you now have to buy everything in total, and its not all cheap, especially as little prices build up!
Took this off of what someone feeds their dog, and she added up the prices.
Chicken Thighs: $1.72/lb = ~ $78/month
Chicken Liver: $1.99/lb = ~ $8/month
Fruits/Veggies: ~ $20/month. (Fruit and veggie prices differ too much to put an actual price on it)
Yogurt (probiotic): $1.25/container - $19/month
Vitamins: Nupro (a good quality vitamin supplement, with added glucosamine from shark cartilage and other sources) ~ $30/container (should last about a month, give or take)
-This does not include any fish or coconut oils, any excess vitamins or minerals needed, nor does it count for any other food additives your dog may need individually)
This adds up to about $155/month ROUGHLY. as I said, it doesn’t include any other additives you may need to put into your dogs personal diet. Every dog is different and has different needs.
For a good quality, grain free kibble, I did some math. I feed Feirin Fromm four star grain free line. For a 26# bag, I pay $66.99. Now Feirin gets a cup in the morning and a cup at night. Doing the math, I determined that one 26# bag would feed him for 26 days. (Super easy to work out. 1lb = 16 oz. (26 x 16 = 416oz.) 1 cup = 8 oz (416 / 8 = 52c.) (52 / 2 = 26) 26c for morning feedings, and 26c for nightly feedings.
Now this leaves five extra days left out of a normal 31-day month to feed the pooch out of a new bag. Easier to find out now that we’ve done all of the original math, since he needs 5c each morning and each night, he needs an extra 10c total, which comes up to 5#. Obviously, 26-5 = 21. When you divide the cost per pound of the bag, 66.99 / 26 = 2.57/lb. 2.57 x 5= 12.85. Add 12.85 to 26.99 and you get $78.84/month.
$78.84/month. For a good quality grain free kibble, which has a frequent buyer program so some months you won’t even have to buy food, because it’s whatever bag you buy the most of.
Now, for a decent, cost-effective diet, for those who can’t afford all-raw diets, do both! You can either feed half and half, use a freeze dried raw for a topper, or feed dry in the morning, and raw at night! That way, you can find a happy medium, and find that some raw is better than no raw, and it won’t break your pockets!
