[Pitlove]

Hey all-

I usually feed my pitbull dry kibble with canned. Recently, I’ve been feeding kibble with dehydrated raw. Both are costing me a lot of money because of how quickly a 68lb dog goes through canned food etc. I was considering getting raw ground beef or turkey and adding a small amount of that to his dry kibble as a topper. I’m thinking with sales etc, it could be most cost effective than buying canned or dehydrated raw. Any thoughts on that?

Also, is it really just as simply as taking the raw ground up meat alone and using it with an already complete and balanced kibble? Or do I need to be adding something to this mixture?

Oh also, how long can that be left in the freezer for so I can know how much to buy

• This topic was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Pitlove.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Pitlove-
It does get expensive, doesn’t it? I remember reading one of your posts and was surprised/impressed at how much canned you were feeding your pup per meal! I thought, wow, lucky dog! I only give my dogs a couple of spoonfuls of canned per meal. For two 80 lb. dogs, the can lasts for two meals each. So, you could cut back a little on how much topper you are using to save a little money. The joy of the canned and dehydrated raw is that they are both balanced “add-ins”. If you start adding ground meat, it isn’t balanced and you have to be careful with how much you add.
I have thought exactly about what you are thinking many times because it does get expensive and I get real tired of so MANY cans between my dogs and cats, but haven’t quite figured out yet either how much to add per meal to avoid feeding them unbalanced meals.
Another option could be to mix some ground meat with a base or premix such as THK and use that as a topper. I was contemplating that as well, but my dogs, unfortunately, do not like The Honest Kitchen recipes! Good luck! I hope you get some good ideas!

[Pitlove]

C4C- When I started giving him canned I gave him a whole can with his dry food on top because he wouldn’t eat any other way. I didn’t want to fight with him anymore about eating and was worried about him going days without eating. I cut back on the dry food to make sure he didn’t gain too much weight and he hasn’t which is good. Now that he is on Nature’s Logic he will eat without canned which is something that impressed me about the food as I mentioned on the NL review. I’ve thought about stopping the canned or the dehyrated raw, but I can’t bring myself to only feed him kibble. Thats why I thought about adding the ground beef or turkey. But you’re right. I never thought of how much kibble he would need to balance the raw. The recommeneded amount on the bag for a less active dog, which he is right now because of the humidity, is 2 cups a day. I’ve been giving him 1/2 a cup of the Sojo’s and 1/2 of the Nature’s Logic. But does that actually equal out to 1 cup considering they are different types of food? I watch his weight constantly and he gets weighed pretyy frequently. He’s still at his ideal weight so I haven’t changed the way I’m feeding him.

Just looking for a more affordable way to feed him and keep him healthy. It’s so hard 🙁

[Jonathan S]

There are lots of great recipes out there… here’s a great video I found on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o_IOwiCN2I What these people do for their pups is amazing. I don’t have quite that capacity.

Most experts will tell you to feed raw separate from kibble because of the time it takes to digest (kibble burns faster than raw). I found with my dogs when I feed the raw separate from the kibble, they get very sick… one of my pups vomited within two hours of me feeding straight raw. I went back to serving raw at the same time as kibble and they were right as rain… I think the raw was just too rich for them.

I don’t see anything wrong with just feeding ground meat, but remember that there are other nutrients they need that they won’t get there alone. Just look at the ingredients on this website and where dogfoodadvisor.com praises 5 star foods for their good ingredients, and more importantly WHY they praise them. Personally, since getting on this site I’ve been reading reviews and where possible I’ve been including those beneficial ingredients in my mix. Currently my recipe is 2 lbs ground rabbit with bone(expensive!), 2lbs ground chicken or turkey, 1 pound ground lamb, 1.5 pounds chicken hearts/gizzards, 1 pound of reconstituted dehydrated lamb green tripe, 4 raw eggs, 2 cups of blueberries, two apples shredded, three carrots, some small peas, half a mango, mix of greens (I use Green Juju or the local equivalent), hemp seed hearts, pumpkin puree, coconut oil, turmeric. I also play around with some other additives like Firm Up just to see how they perform. Anything not already ground goes through the food processor to break it up for the pups to digest. That recipe gets me approximately 20 x 12oz containers which is enough for 10 days for both my dogs. No, it’s not cheap.

I like feeding half raw to half kibble because the kibble gives me a safety net in case I’m missing some vital piece of nutrition. As I continue to refine my mix, I’m hoping to change to 75% raw to 25% kibble. Going to wait until after their next vet visit to make sure I’m on the right track.

You can do it cheaper than I do. Just find the things your dog likes (apple slices, carrots, blueberries) and throw them in their with the meat… see how he does. The best recommendations for portion size I have seen is 2 – 4% of the dog’s body weight in raw per day if you’re feeding 100% raw. If you’re going to do half and half, cut the amount of kibble you’re feeding in half, then cut the amount of recommended raw in half. For me, that comes out to 1 cup of raw and 1 cup of kibble per day, per dog. I feed them twice a day.

Also, don’t feed raw raw if your dog is a grazer… they need to finish it when you put it out. Don’t want raw meat sitting around!

[InkedMarie]

At the cost of canned, you’d find it cheaper to feed raw grinds. Companies to look at are Hare Today, Reel Raw Dog, My Pet Carnivore and Raw Feeding Miami. If you happen to be in the northeast, Pawfectly Raw NE.

I buy grinds with bone, add a little boneless (from the store), weigh it, add the few supplements I use and feed.

[Pitlove]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, appreciate it as always.

C4C- How long can you leave canned food in the fridge? I’d be needing it to last for 4 meals, so 2 days. I took your suggestion and tried 3 spoonfuls of canned with his dry and he ate no problem. I could save a lot of money doing this as I would only need 1 case of food a month instead of 2 or more. Thanks for putting the thought in my head to try this again!

[crazy4cats]

Pitlove-
You’re welcome! Yes, I always have it in fridge for two days. I feed them fresh foods or frozen raw on their kibble for the afternoon meal and canned for morning meals. I have kept it just fine for three days when I forget there is already one open in the fridge with no issues. Lol! Shoot, sometimes my human family eats left overs that are in there much longer than that! You’ll get your routine figured out.

[Pitlove]

Great thanks. It works out perfectly to 4 meals, so I’m quite happy about that and once again this morning he ate no problem and was much more excited to eat than with the Sojo’s. And ya that’s true about the leftovers lol. I’m still working on some tuna salad from a few days ago!

[Author]

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