Feeding Half Raw/ Half Kibble? UPDATE 4/2/16

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

To clarify, NOT at the same time. I am considering feeding Kibble in the morning but giving Raw diet at night.  Is anyone doing this and what research have you found regarding it's being ok to do? 

I am usually an ALL IN or ALL OUT kind of person, so this feels a little wishy-washy, however, I am feeling like one meal a day of raw is better than none at all.  

Raw has always made sense to me and I would love to go ALL IN. However, with two dogs, needing 12# of meat a week, it would get a bit too pricey for me. Besides, DH usually does the morning feeding and he just doesn't want to deal with the mess and clean-up of raw feeds, so kibble for that feed works best for us as a family.

Also, what do you feel/know you spend per week/month on raw feeds? Thanks for any input. 

UPDATE:

Thank you all for your responses. Every little bit helps. So far all is good, with a weird quirk from Murphy. He was totally baffled by the whole thigh w/ bone in last night. I ended up cutting it up into more manageable pieces for him.  Would never have anticipated that from him, any thoughts anyone or am I to keep trying with it whole or cut it up everytime?  Right now I'm trying to figure out the bone requirements and other than beef ribs, this is the only bone source I have.  Plus it's .99 per pound at Costco and it will need to become a main bone source due to finances. So he has little choice here.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara has pretty much eaten raw her entire life for meals but I have also used kibble or cooked treats for training and games during the day. So she has gotten a mix and doesn't seem to have any problem with it.

It's hard to say how much we spend a month on her raw food...are you planning to buy raw food from the grocery store and prepare it yourself or buy raw food that has been prepackaged? That will make a difference in cost.

There are several on-line calculators that will give you an estimate of how much food to use per day or per meal. From that you can calculate the per pound cost of the food.  Here's one:

http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Ricki, I did go to that site to calculate and I feel I have a good idea of their needs and since it's just one meal a day, I have some wiggle room with the kibble if they seem to gain/lose weight too fast. I am keeping a close eye on Murphy especially as I have been cutting back his kibble this last month due to being a little chubby and he's lost 3.5 pds in a month just with kibble.  I will be experimenting with the amount of raw this month, but I take him every week to be weighed at the Vets and they are tracking it as well, so I get feedback right away as to his weight.  The thought of a hungry Murphy makes me cry. :(

Thanks, I'm glad to see I am in good company with mixed feeds. And again, I don't mix kibble or even cooked foods with the raw meal. That I did learn from DK and Karen a long time ago.

[Joan]

I feed kibble in the morning, raw at night, for most of Riley's life. Almost 4 years and have never had an issue; very healthy. I mix up the kibble proteins a bit. I do Darwin's Raw, and Victors and Brothers kibble. I supplement with Darwin's beef rib bones too. Darwin's tab is maybe @ $100 for 4 weeks. Prepackaged raw is a bit pricey, but it is vey easy and no vet bills!

[Shari Becker]

You can definitely do a mix of both, but you need to split the two into two different meals. A lot of the salespeople in the store where I buy my raw do that because they can't afford to feed raw full time.

We spend far too much on raw food, and I have found some tricks to bring the price down, but it isn't as cheap as kibble no matter what you do. At least where I live the cost of meat is high. So buying in the grocery store only helps if you find chicken on sale. Beef, lamb and pork are pricey.

There are different camps on the raw front. Folks who do grocery store raw, folks who buy commercial raw. Folks who are adamantly for only meat and bones and folks who are adamant that dogs' raw diets should include vegetables. Basically, my take is that you have to watch your dog and see how it reacts to your food. I have a friend who does half a commercial raw patty and a cup of cottage cheese. My vet suggested ground chub commercial meat mixed with quinoa and green beans. But my dog hated the quinoa. She loves, loves green beans. Could eat them all day long.

I estimate that I spend about $20-$35 a week on raw food depending on how prepared I am. We go through about 7 lbs a week. If I've stocked up on chicken and frozen it for the right amount of time, I can keep my costs down. If I don't have grocery meat then I have to use commercial, and that comes in at $29.00 a bag and rarely lasts the entire week. I do one meal commercial raw and one meal grocery store raw. Grocery: I feed Lexi bone-in chicken thighs mostly. Those are the cheapest, and you can buy them in family packs. I freeze the meat for two weeks before serving. If I see other meat on sale, I get it. I also buy large packs of poultry necks. 

Commercial Chubs of meat are your cheapest option if you want commercial raw. The more processing the more expensive the product. And different companies come in at different price points. Oma's chubs are most affordable, Stella and Chewy's is the next most affordable option. You need to look at the serving sizes carefully. You may buy a bag that seems much cheaper, but you might have to feed double. Lexi likes working hard to eat her food, and she is happiest with grocery store chicken or almost frozen pellet-size commercial food.

For whatever it is worth, I don't find the raw clean-up a pain at all. If you go commercial, you just put it in a metal bowl and throw the bowl in the dishwasher. If you go with whole chunks of meat, I just spray the floor down where she ate and wipe it up. If you go with the chubs, the biggest clean up is when you cut the chubs into service sizes. I store everything frozen and defrost portions directly in metal dog food bowls. I own about six bowls of different sizes, and I just wash and reuse. I'd say the only rule we have in our house now that we feed raw is that we don't eat off the floor. If it falls, and it can't be washed or cooked, it's garbage. 

Hope this helps!

 

[Shari Becker]

Sorry if this is a little incoherent...I've been home caring for sick children for ten days. I realized later this was a little confusing! Hope it makes sense.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Not incoherent at all and you answered many questions. I just did a Costco and groc store Raw food trip this week to get an idea of how much I would spend if I buy that way and it came to $3.00 per pound and I packaged enough for 2 weeks. So $51.00 for the two weeks and that is about what I figured. I would like to get it down to the $2.00 a LB range as these are two 60 # dogs.  

Thank you and I hope your children are feeling better soon. Take care of you too!!!

[Shari Becker]

Thanks, we are all sick now, but here's hoping this is short lived. The yahoo groups are pretty militant, but I don't think it is realistic for everyone. Where I live, I can't get meat for much less than $2.50 a lb. And chicken is my only option at that price point. I bought some pork and lamb ribs on sale for $5.00 a lb, and that felt like a huge coup. It definitely adds up. My husband read somewhere that dogs have evolved by man's side and as part of that, they've also evolved and adapted what they eat. I think you can only do what you can do. We sometimes supplement chicken thighs with duck / turkey necks (good for teeth cleaning), canned sardines (which are pretty cheap) and raw eggs. If we have dog-friendly dinner, and there isn't enough for another human meal, I may give her that, too. She's very well fed, and she has no weight issues at all. Feeding raw has kept me err-ing on the side of underfeeding instead of overfeeding. ;-)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I like your idea of several bowls. Geez, why didn't I think of that sooner?  Great tip.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thank you Olga, I knew you did both and was directing that question to you mostly and to see if anyone else doing the same has any research.  The Yahoo group is pretty purist in their thinking, which I agree with actually, but $$$ being a factor, I just can't spend over $200 a month to feed 2 dogs all raw.  And I will have to accept that 1/2 raw is better than no raw at all.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Olga, I did read that and am adding on M-W-F so I can keep track. Like I said, I am watching Murphy's weight so don't want to add too much just yet.