Puppy/Dog Food Question

[jreach72]

Ok, just curious what your thoughts are on the best lower cost dog foods for EM's as puppies and into adulthood. Right now we are feeding our puppy the same food our lab/mix is on which is Blue Buffalo Freedom, our Lab has a skin condition they believe to be food allergies. This is somewhat affordable for a 55lb dog who is eating 3cups of food a day (roughly $89 per month), but our concern is when Payton our EM grows up and is over 100lbs the bill could be around $239 per month in dry dog food just for the EM not including the lab.

My concern is dual, sure there is the cost to consider for the dog food. The secondary concern is I do not want to feed my dogs garbage, if I wouldn't eat the ingredients I have a hard time feeding my dog that kind of food...considering I am a primal eater we most likely share the same likes in food minus the 90% dark chocolate treats for me.

Thoughts?

 

[m0rg4n]

Run a search on the username Smart_Family. Her posts frequently include the answers to your questions.

 

[DennasMom]

We went raw, about 5 weeks ago. Being an engineer, I have a spreadsheet going that's tracking costs... Most of my meat is coming from Costco and the local Kroger affiliate (Fred Meyer). So far, I'm averaging $1.50/lb, and even at the potential for 5lb/day for Denna (3% of 165lb adult weight), that would "only" be $230/month. We've only gotten up to feeding 3lbs/day, and she's gaining weight at that - and losing her figure... so we're going to be cutting her back to 2lbs/day to see if we can slow her back down (she's almost 8 months old). At that rate, I could feed her beef at $3/lb and still only be at $180/month.

Besides knowing what she's eating and having less potential for allergies, it's nice not to be subject to all the food recalls and formula changes that kibble seems to go through these days.

And - she LOVES it. Of course.

 

[ravendarat]

I am feeding Taste of the Wild Sierra mountain formula. My guy is getting 6 cups a day which works out to about 2 bags a month and the bags are 60 bucks a piece, after I buy 10 I get one free so its not to bad. 120$ bucks a month is not bad at all in my opinion.

 

[jreach72]

After more research I am thinking we need to move our pup off the "puppy food" she is 18 weeks now. She is still really skinny (her brothers didn't let her eat much) so I would like for her to gain a bit of weight first. Thanks for all the replies.