dog food
I opened a 20 pound bag of dog food on Sunday night. This morning, I fed Ash his breakfast with his pills (for a nasty, nasty UTI), and the metal bin is empty. (Ash is the only dog who is getting breakfast right now.)
Monday night, I was a slacker and didn't get out to walk dogs until midnight and so only Ash was fed a full dinner. I fed breakfast to everyone yesterday to make up.
That basically means that I am going through 20 pounds of dog food every 3 days. That's a fucking lot of dog food.
My friend Molly told me that I could order 400 pounds direct from a supplier and get a discount. Whe she told me that, I was all, nooo, where would I store it? (I know I have mice in the kennel building.)
Maybe that's not an issue after all?
Dry dog food:
30 days = 200 pounds
60 days = 400 pounds
This volume (and gas prices) are why I'm no longer feeding raw to all my animals. Can't afford any pre-fab food and the 90 min drive to the place with affordable chicken means that... hmm. Let me do the math.
Raw meat daily consumption:
Ash: 2.5 pounds
Coal, Hunter, Ix, Inigo, Indy: 2 pounds
Nike: 1.5
Flint and Ruffian: .3 pounds
That would be... 12-13 pounds of meat a day. That would be 350+ pounds a month. So, I can store about 300-400 pounds of frozen meat. So, that's a trip once a month to get the meat. Figure aproximately $60 in gas to go get the meat from the store where it is cheapest.
You can buy chicken in 40 pound boxes. They get a bit aghast when I order 240 pounds at once, but let's say I can get 400 pounds at once for $0.45
So, that's $180 + $60 = $240 a month to feed raw. (Assuming all the meat I get is at that price.)
Dry dog food right now is costing me:
23.95 per 40# (but if I buy 5 bags at a time, $22.95, and 10 bags at a time, $21.95)
So, that means it would cost me $240 ($220) a month to feed dry dog food.
Hmmmm. Time to either buy in bulk or go back to raw...
And what am I getting for $23.95 per 40# of food?
I am feeding Diamond Naturals, Chicken and Rice and Lamb and Rice
26% prot, 16% fat
368 kcal/cup
Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
And
23/14
337 kcal/cup
Lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearled barley, millet, egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), rice bran, beet pulp, flaxseed, natural flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
From this very useful site, I steal the following table:
Weight cal/ Base Pets, Pets, Herd- Work-
lb Inside Outside ing ing
2.2 64 141 130 *
4.4 53 233 211 *
5.0 50 250 225 *
5.5 49 269 242 *
6 48 288 258 *
6.5 47 305 273 *
7.0 46 322 287 *
7.5 45 337 300 *
8.0 44 352 312 432
9.0 43 387 342 477
10.0 42 420 370 520
11.0 41 451 396 561
12.0 40 480 420 600
13.5 39 526 459 661
15.0 38 570 495 720 795
16.5 37 610 528 775 858
18.0 36 648 558 828 918
20.0 35 700 600 900 990 1000
22.0 34 748 638 968 1065 1078
25.0 33 825 700 1075 1182 1200
28.5 32 912 770 1197 1317 1380
30.0 31 930
32.0 31 992 832 1312 1443 1472
36.0 30 1080 900 1440 1584 1620
40.0 29 1160 1000 1560 1716 1760
44.0 28 1232 1100 1672 1839 1892
50.0 27 1350 1250 1850 2035 2100
57.0 26 1482 * 2052 2257 2337
66.0 25 1650 * 2310 2541 2640
88.0 24 2112 * 2992 3291 3432
118.0 24 2832 * 3894 4283 4602
150.0 24 3600 * 4800 5280 5850
* dogs under 8 lbs should not be "outside" dogs, and dogs weighing
more than 50 lbs should not be exclusively "inside" dogs.
Monday night, I was a slacker and didn't get out to walk dogs until midnight and so only Ash was fed a full dinner. I fed breakfast to everyone yesterday to make up.
That basically means that I am going through 20 pounds of dog food every 3 days. That's a fucking lot of dog food.
My friend Molly told me that I could order 400 pounds direct from a supplier and get a discount. Whe she told me that, I was all, nooo, where would I store it? (I know I have mice in the kennel building.)
Maybe that's not an issue after all?
Dry dog food:
30 days = 200 pounds
60 days = 400 pounds
This volume (and gas prices) are why I'm no longer feeding raw to all my animals. Can't afford any pre-fab food and the 90 min drive to the place with affordable chicken means that... hmm. Let me do the math.
Raw meat daily consumption:
Ash: 2.5 pounds
Coal, Hunter, Ix, Inigo, Indy: 2 pounds
Nike: 1.5
Flint and Ruffian: .3 pounds
That would be... 12-13 pounds of meat a day. That would be 350+ pounds a month. So, I can store about 300-400 pounds of frozen meat. So, that's a trip once a month to get the meat. Figure aproximately $60 in gas to go get the meat from the store where it is cheapest.
You can buy chicken in 40 pound boxes. They get a bit aghast when I order 240 pounds at once, but let's say I can get 400 pounds at once for $0.45
So, that's $180 + $60 = $240 a month to feed raw. (Assuming all the meat I get is at that price.)
Dry dog food right now is costing me:
23.95 per 40# (but if I buy 5 bags at a time, $22.95, and 10 bags at a time, $21.95)
So, that means it would cost me $240 ($220) a month to feed dry dog food.
Hmmmm. Time to either buy in bulk or go back to raw...
And what am I getting for $23.95 per 40# of food?
I am feeding Diamond Naturals, Chicken and Rice and Lamb and Rice
26% prot, 16% fat
368 kcal/cup
Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
And
23/14
337 kcal/cup
Lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearled barley, millet, egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), rice bran, beet pulp, flaxseed, natural flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
From this very useful site, I steal the following table:
Weight cal/ Base Pets, Pets, Herd- Work-
lb Inside Outside ing ing
2.2 64 141 130 *
4.4 53 233 211 *
5.0 50 250 225 *
5.5 49 269 242 *
6 48 288 258 *
6.5 47 305 273 *
7.0 46 322 287 *
7.5 45 337 300 *
8.0 44 352 312 432
9.0 43 387 342 477
10.0 42 420 370 520
11.0 41 451 396 561
12.0 40 480 420 600
13.5 39 526 459 661
15.0 38 570 495 720 795
16.5 37 610 528 775 858
18.0 36 648 558 828 918
20.0 35 700 600 900 990 1000
22.0 34 748 638 968 1065 1078
25.0 33 825 700 1075 1182 1200
28.5 32 912 770 1197 1317 1380
30.0 31 930
32.0 31 992 832 1312 1443 1472
36.0 30 1080 900 1440 1584 1620
40.0 29 1160 1000 1560 1716 1760
44.0 28 1232 1100 1672 1839 1892
50.0 27 1350 1250 1850 2035 2100
57.0 26 1482 * 2052 2257 2337
66.0 25 1650 * 2310 2541 2640
88.0 24 2112 * 2992 3291 3432
118.0 24 2832 * 3894 4283 4602
150.0 24 3600 * 4800 5280 5850
* dogs under 8 lbs should not be "outside" dogs, and dogs weighing
more than 50 lbs should not be exclusively "inside" dogs.