# How to feed your dog for free



## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

For anyone interested, I know I've posted before that it currently costs me nothing to feed my dogs a raw diet, with plenty of good variety, and I've started a blog to give an idea of the sort of food I get, and the way I prepare and store it. It does mean more work sorting through it all, putting some through the dehydrator or mincer, but they get very good quality food, which is completely. Last week the surplus generated about £60 to pay for any fuel costs and extras I buy in, such as chicken carcasses, tripe, free range eggs etc. So it can be done, if you can find a few places willing to give you freebies 

Tarimoor Gundogs: How to Feed Your Dog for Free!


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## rottiepointerhouse (Feb 9, 2014)

Thanks for posting that - very useful. Are you going to update it regularly? 

Do you remember I posted earlier in the week about spending £323 in a month on raw stuff for my lot? I had a major wobble about whether I was doing the right thing and ended up giving them a couple of days of kibble  the result, a mess in the garden to clear up and a very manic rottie doing the wall of death around the lounge. So I'm determined to make it work so the more info I can read the better. One thing I took on board was that I was probably giving them too much so I've cut the amount particularly of the pre prepared minces so that they are a bit hungry and my fussy boys are tucking in with gusto again.

I want to move away from the pre made minces eventually - your set up is amazing and something I would love - I wonder if OH would go for some alterations to our kitchen/utility room. Mean while I'm aware that as I give mine carcasss or ribs or necks most days I need to up the flesh content of their meals. I see all your fish stuff and you mention bones but do you feed any meat flesh or just what you mince?


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

I can update if you want. What you can't see in the freezer shots are some really meaty pork, beef and lamb bones, and chicken carcasses. I don't put any of them through the mincer but they have a fair bit of meat on there, I just feed them whole. 

I'm lucky in that my utility room in the basement is huge, it's where the dogs sleep, and there's two small rooms off there for the freezer/food prep room, and a further storage room.


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## rottiepointerhouse (Feb 9, 2014)

Have signed up to follow your blog as I'm keen to learn more. Roughly how much does a dehydrator cost please?


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## victoria171168 (Apr 8, 2013)

Wow l wish l had the space but since starting Max on his new diet l have prepared more meals in the kitchen for him than l would normally spend on our food.

Little exhausting at times for me especially after work but getting used to it slowly. 

My other two are getting more raw as well but still working on it. 

I do get a lot of carcasses,beef heart,lambbones , end of meats and stuff near its date for between £5-10 a week so it does save some money ,but for free l wish


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## pogo (Jul 25, 2011)

rottiepointerhouse said:


> Thanks for posting that - very useful. Are you going to update it regularly?
> 
> Do you remember I posted earlier in the week about spending £323 in a month on raw stuff for my lot? I had a major wobble about whether I was doing the right thing and ended up giving them a couple of days of kibble  the result, a mess in the garden to clear up and a very manic rottie doing the wall of death around the lounge. So I'm determined to make it work so the more info I can read the better. One thing I took on board was that I was probably giving them too much so I've cut the amount particularly of the pre prepared minces so that they are a bit hungry and my fussy boys are tucking in with gusto again.
> 
> I want to move away from the pre made minces eventually - your set up is amazing and something I would love - I wonder if OH would go for some alterations to our kitchen/utility room. Mean while I'm aware that as I give mine carcasss or ribs or necks most days I need to up the flesh content of their meals. I see all your fish stuff and you mention bones but do you feed any meat flesh or just what you mince?


IME a lot of people new to raw over feed massively, not saying you are but you know. They tend to over feed thinking their dog is starving and end up spending a fortune on extra food that really wasn't needed, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

The dehydrator I've got cost £200, but it's got a huge capacity in comparison to some of the cheaper ones. The mincer was approx £280, but is paying for itself pretty quickly. All the fridge/freezers I've got are either A or A+ rated, so nice and efficient, and I keep them as full as possible to ensure they are running as efficiently as possible as well. 

It is certainly a bit more effort than feeding a kibble or wet food that's off the shelf, but looking at the quality of the food I give them, I feel it's worth it.


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## rottiepointerhouse (Feb 9, 2014)

You're right though I was over feeding them all - as shown by a roughly 1-2kg increase in weight for all of them when I checked them at the vets this week  I think when I started adding in the carcass and ribs etc I didn't reduce the mince by enough. I was weighing everything but obviously they were getting too much as they were turning their nose up and walking away from perfectly good food that they had previously enjoyed. I'm going to try and use my local butcher for bones as the portion sizes are much smaller and with more variety than where I have been going plus it works out cheaper.


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## pogo (Jul 25, 2011)

rottiepointerhouse said:


> You're right though I was over feeding them all - as shown by a roughly 1-2kg increase in weight for all of them when I checked them at the vets this week  I think when I started adding in the carcass and ribs etc I didn't reduce the mince by enough. I was weighing everything but obviously they were getting too much as they were turning their nose up and walking away from perfectly good food that they had previously enjoyed. I'm going to try and use my local butcher for bones as the portion sizes are much smaller and with more variety than where I have been going plus it works out cheaper.


I know that particularly with larger dogs, that the amount of food can look pathetic. Obviously they are all different but if you take my Chance vs. Dogloss's Kilo they are both about 48kg - Chance needs an average of 500g a day and Kilo if i remember rightly over 1.5kg a day to maintain their weights.

It's about finding the right balance for that dog


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## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

Thats a great, informative post about how to raw feed for little or no money. On the flip side to you, I get chicken carcasses for free but now have to tell my butcher I dont want them any more since I have gone back to feeding kibble after more than 5 years. However, I suspect it may be a fair way for you to travel to take over the freebies! I did consider the idea of still collecting them from the butchers and giving them away to friends who raw feed but to be brutally honest, I cant be bothered to do it out of the goodness of my heart!


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Leanne77 said:


> Thats a great, informative post about how to raw feed for little or no money. On the flip side to you, I get chicken carcasses for free but now have to tell my butcher I dont want them any more since I have gone back to feeding kibble after more than 5 years. However, I suspect it may be a fair way for you to travel to take over the freebies! I did consider the idea of still collecting them from the butchers and giving them away to friends who raw feed but to be brutally honest, I cant be bothered to do it out of the goodness of my heart!


So if you still collected them, and sold them on cheap to your raw feeding friends, you could pay for your kibble


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## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

Sleeping_Lion said:


> So if you still collected them, and sold them on cheap to your raw feeding friends, you could pay for your kibble


True, but they are used to getting them for free now!


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## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

I used to get some bits and pieces free from my local butcher (I purchased meat for me from there regularly, obviously!) who was lovely. However when he retired and closed his business, someone new took over. The new owner looked at me like I had two heads when I asked after extras, then said he bought all the meat in pre-cut and didn't do any actual butchery!? I never went back.


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## CheddarS (Dec 13, 2011)

I don't get anything free apart from what he catches or road kill. However, buying in bulk keeps cost down. Think my boy is intolerant to chicken (just testing) so is probably even more expensive however haven't noticed any increase in cost.


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## victoria171168 (Apr 8, 2013)

How did you choose your mincer and where from

I get beef heart and chicken carcasses and would love to be able to mince them down for use but my last mincer lasted two minutes on beef heart


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

victoria171168 said:


> How did you choose your mincer and where from
> 
> I get beef heart and chicken carcasses and would love to be able to mince them down for use but my last mincer lasted two minutes on beef heart


That was an ebay purchase, and I just waited for a fairly heavy duty one to come up, for the right price. The guy who sold me it also gave me the big white tray, he'd bought it for the same purpose ie to mince up his own dog food, but couldn't be bothered with the hassle of doing it.


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## Dingle (Aug 29, 2008)

Nice blog... thanks for sharing. 

Unforunately for us no one gives nothing for free round here, although I have just found a good farm shop near my work that sells pet grade minces, green tripe and carcasses etc... for less than a pound per kilo.


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## dexter12 (Aug 28, 2012)

thanks for sharing 

i never get freebies from my butcher and i go their every week for dexters carcass and pigs trotters! 

dont suppose you want two new house mates do ya lol


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## victoria171168 (Apr 8, 2013)

Does your mincer cope with bones well,also what make and model so can compare


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## paulbeeston (Jun 28, 2009)

You must have a strong stomach to go through all that fish :arf:


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

victoria171168 said:


> Does your mincer cope with bones well,also what make and model so can compare


I would only put fish bones through it really, as I want it to last as long as possible. I'll try and see if I can find out what make it is, unfortunately I have no idea where the manual went for it.



paulbeeston said:


> You must have a strong stomach to go through all that fish :arf:


You should see the whole pieces of green tripe, they're much worse!


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## sharloid (Apr 15, 2012)

Wow, how lucky to get all that for free. Sadly I can't find anything free or cheap in Sheffield.

How come you mince the fish and don't just feed it as scraps?


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

sharloid said:


> Wow, how lucky to get all that for free. Sadly I can't find anything free or cheap in Sheffield.
> 
> How come you mince the fish and don't just feed it as scraps?


Because three of them don't like it whole, so I mince it up, and add in other bits. Zasa would eat it whole, but the rest wouldn't. It's also a good way to add in the extras, garlic, acv, olive oil etc.


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