Great breakdown of costs!

I also do not forget CA sales tax!

We get taxed on kibble at almost 9.0% but not on raw meat. Raw meat is not taxed at all!

 

Reading that makes me wish Bridget ate chicken...

 

Bloody hell your meat prices are sooooooooooooo cheap, no way could I buy chicken or pork at that price!

I reckon I pay NZ$3-5 per day for my dog, but I've only got the one and I'm not on a tight budget.

 

I was getting pork hearts cheaper like you but recently they are going up, don't know why, but not to bad. Lamb hearts have gone up also. Beef hearts have gone down though.

I use to spend over 200.00 a month on kibble, maybe more in the end. But my vet bills were killing me. I spend about 300.00 to fill my freezer and that will last about two months. I could feed a lot cheaper, but I don't, I feed the whole chicken which cost me about .95 a pound for whole chickens and .49 for quarters. I try to keep everything under a 1.00 a pound.

 

Those are some FREAKIN AMAZING prices! I hope the people you did this little comparison for will stop giving you grief. The proof is in black and white!

 

I debated on responding to this. I don’t want to start a Raw/Kibble war. I just wanted to give a perspective from the other side. While I understand why you did this, it is something that varies greatly by household and dogs. I have three dogs who do not have allergies, who never go to the vet other than annual check ups. I have been blessed with healthy dogs. I have one dog with hip dysplasia and that is something raw couldn’t fix or prevent.

My dogs don’t get hot spots, or loose hair, itch they don’t lick their paws, they rarely have runny poops. When they are brushed regularly they barely shed. When I got Sam he was fed Dog Chow and had horrible eye boogers, sine he has been switched to Orijen they are gone.

I don’t have a need to feed raw. I don’t have a dog with allergy or health issues. My dogs do great on good kibble. They have shiny coats, good poops, great energy and look fantastic. Why should I change? For me to feed raw fairly inexpensive I have to buy meat in bulk, get an extra freezer, which adds to my electricity costs and constantly search out new meat sources that may be cheaper. Spends hours on prepping the food and there still is no guarantee it will be cheaper than kibble.

I have never paid more than $60, $70 after taxes for a bag on Orijen Adult. I usually have some sort of coupon and it ends up being closer to $45 or $50. I don’t have price comparisons to meat because I don’t feed raw. But I have been feeding Orijen Adult for a while now.

Sam – 65lb very active feed 3 cups per day
Stoli – 60 lbs, sorta active feed 2.5 cups per day
Bella – 40 lbs, not active feed 1 cup per day

Using your calculations of a 30lb bag holding 120 cups with the cost I get my bags $70 at; it would cost me $.58 per cup to feed, and $3.77 per day and $113 a month for 3 dogs.

Most likely it would be $90 a month because of discounts.

In my household kibble is working and is much more convenient than raw. Because I have a demanding job and a busy life by feeding good kibble at a reasonable price I have more time to spend with my dogs and that works for me.

I also want to reiterate I am not bashing raw or that it is better for some. I am just showing how the argument can be made on the other side as well.

 

This. Very interesting thread though and a great resource for anyone considering feeding raw.

I appreciate those passionate about feeding raw. I think it's AWESOME actually and I definitely believe it's probably ideal for most canines.

But to be honest? Jackson does really great eating what he does now. All the issues that people talk about that go away with raw feeding... he doesn't have. He's on a kibble and wet food diet and also has a very shiny coat, amazing muscles, a ton of energy, great breath and teeth (I do brush), great poop, zero to minimal eye boogers, why change a good thing? It would require a lot more on my part (to be honest, I don't really prepare any meat for myself. I'm in college, still living at home, and hardly cook for myself). When I fed him pre-made raw, I saw no real difference (maybe a bit less poop).

And anyone who says PMR is just as easy as kibble is lying. It's obviously not. Yes it can be made simple, but it's not going to be as simple as buy bag, scoop, pour. Not that easiest is always the best or ideal. But those dogs who do fine on kibble, and owners don't want to switch, I don't see a reason to. An unbalanced raw diet can be dangerous to a dog too IMO so I think it's important that an owner does a lot of research first before beginning. It's not as simple as throwing a raw piece of chicken down and there's the dogs meal (which I think is what a lot of people think of when they hear "raw" diet).

 

nlboz, must be nice to get a bag of orijen that cheap because it kept going up in price when I used to feed it.

i'm curious, why do you feel the need to show how much it costs to feed your dog kibble when this thread is about how Makovach is trying to show people how it's not extravagant to feed her dogs raw? it isn't a kibble vs raw debate, it is her proof that raw is cheaper than kibble for her dogs because people she knows give her a hard time about it.

 

Like I said at the end of my post, its cheaper in my household.

I never spend hours prepping. Maybe an hour or so a month or every other month.

Raw has also done wonderful things for Annie's hip. Did it fix the issue? No. But there is a major notable difference.

 

nlboz - as pointed out this is the raw section, no one has asked you to change to raw as far as I have seen and we are not posting in the kibble forum trying to coerce anyone. I am glad your dogs are ok. No one was talking about getting anyone to change their habits or feeding methods. Some dogs do very on kibble and I am glad your dogs are healthy.

Makovach - I am glad you did this breakdown as I did the same myself and found it very satisfying to see where my money was going and exactly where I was saving. I try to never spend over $140.00 on my seven because that is what I would have paid for mid grade kibble. Mine were fine on kibble also - now they are astounding. I am also saving on supplements, chew toys, shampoo, pooper scoopering, and my costco membership. So for me I am saving about $150.00 per month. I don't count vets because my dogs have been holistically raised and naturally treated and reared for going on 9 years so vet care has always been minimal. The $140.00 I spend includes coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil which are pretty much their only supplements. DE is only purchased once a year so I have always absorbed that into household as it is for yard treatment also - and only $20.00 for a 50# bag

 

You are right, I am sorry. No one ever posts anything about raw in the kibble section. How dare I think it was okay to post a comment that did not bash anyone or anything. It just showed a different experience on how kibble works for my household better than raw. The post was titled cost of PMR vs Orijen. I feed Orijen and was showing a different example.

 

that was snarky.

here's the thing. this wasn't a post about raw vs kibble. this was a post about cost of feeding raw, since so often....it is said that feeding raw is more expensive.

as to you not feeding raw, that's fine with me.....we all do what we have to do.

my dogs don't have issues other than mild arthritis and comparatively, mild allergies....

and i feed raw because i think it's healthier in the short and long run.

i'm glad your dogs are healthy.....

 

melissa, i love that breakdown you gave. you should post that on facebook, too, so people can see how you've broken it down.

 

Its on face book in my mobile uploads. I'm trying to figure out how to make it a sticky.

 

All I did was come in with a different point of view. The OP was referring to cost, which is what I replied to. Then I was questioned as to why I would bring up kibble, when it was in the title of the post and was part of the post. I was bringing something to the discussion. I wasn't bashing or even being rude. But I was made to feel like I did something wrong.

I know why she did it. I commented on that. But if you are going to make an argument/point for something, you should be able to accept that people will disagree. She is making her point, I however I am making the opposite point. Doesn't mean she is wrong. That is why I stated it can not be a generic blanket statement. It should be a individual household/dogs needs.

I do have a frame of reference, I feed Orijen without issue and she was comparing costs of PMR to Orijen. Which is what I commented on.

If I came in and said your are just plain crazy, your numbers lie I think you made it up, then yes I would see there being an issue. But I didn’t do that. I came in and made a polite, rational argument/point that was different but still about the topic.

 

you didn't 'all i did'. you came in snarky. that's what i'm addressing. anything you said after that was pointless.

you can't possibly have a frame of reference because you have no idea what it costs to feed raw. you only know what it is to feed orijen.

please don't say all you did was......you know exactly what you were doing. come on. let's be real.

 

so, melissa. i think you did such a great job showing people how cheaply raw can be fed, what say you post this on your facebook page, too.

it's a great reference for those who want to make the switch but don't think they can afford it.

 

nlboz, calm down.....i don't see where anybody bashed you

if you want to post another point of view in a raw thread that is about somebody else doing a price comparison for their dogs, then why would you feel attacked when others questioned your post? you weren't doing a raw/kibble price comparison for your dogs, you were just trying to compare what you feed to somebody else's dogs, so i asked you what the point of your post was because I didn't get it. it was an honest question that seems to have struck a chord with you. i question other people all the time to learn and understand. i have never seen someone get so upset about it though.

i don't know what goes on in the kibble area, but maybe some of those discussion have caused you to enter raw threads with a negative attitude. that's not needed here. as far as I know, this sub-forum is here to support raw feeders because there aren't many out there. i am grateful for it. i'm honestly sorry that you find raw posts so provocative when they are not meant to be. based on the way you feel, it seems like a waste of your time to even look at threads in this section.

 

Have you read the last 2 pages of posts? That is was I feel bashed. My intention was not to start a war. Regardless of what some believe I know my intentions and that is all that matters. I really thought if I posted a rational argument it could be discussed. She did a cost breakdown to prove a point to her friends and family. She used MY food!! If she put up Canidae I wouldn't have said a thing because I have no experience with it. I made points as to why for my household Orijen is the more cost effective. I feel if you are going to do something like that that other people should be able to make rational comments. None of the comments made were directed at what I said in the post but why I posted it. It became a how dare you put anything about pro kibble in the raw section. I have explained why I added my reasoning for including health issues and why I choose not to feed raw along with the price it costs me. No one has yet to say well with this, this and this raw could be cheaper. If she is going to use this to show people, people are going to make the same points I did. None has said, well if they do make this argument maybe this would help. None of that has happened.

I did not come in with an attitude, but with caution. I have seen this happen, right or wrong on all sections of this forum. Kibble feeders attack raw feeders in the kibble section and raw feeders attack kibble feeders in the raw section. I don't know how may times I can say this, I am bothered by the fact I was questioned for posting what it costs me to feed kibble in a post about costs of feeding raw and kibble only because it was in the raw section. If the post was about costs of feeding raw and never mentioned kibble then I could understand. But that is not what happened. Then I had to go on to defend my actions, like I did something horribly sinister.

I am so tired of saying the same thing over and over again. I am frustrated and tired of defending something innocent.

I come into the raw section because I am interested and want to learn. But, honestly right now I am so disgusted I want nothing to do with this forum. Maybe I am taking the responses the wrong way, but it sure doesn’t seem like it. I have learned a lot about kibble and raw from this forum and felt comfortable enough to discuss it. But that is impossible with this group.

 

so, melissa. i think you did such a great job showing people how cheaply raw can be fed, what say you post this on your facebook page, too.

it's a great reference for those who want to make the switch but don't think they can afford it.

 

Nlboz, what I don't get is how you didn't see that she wasn't comparing raw to Orijen. She was comparing raw to Orijen IN HER HOUSEHOLD. If feeding Orijen is cheaper than feeding raw for you then that's what it is. She didn't say anything about raw vs Orijen in general. She has people who tell her that there is no way she can feed raw for less than Orijen so she made this up to show them that she can, indeed, feed raw for less money.

You blatantly admitted that your post was meant to be snarky. How can you even try to say that you did not mean any harm after that?

Melissa, I wish I was as organized as you are! My cost of feeding went up because I went from Pedigree to raw (I know, I know. Haha) but Buck would cost me a fortune on kibble because he eats like a boxer!

 

I was not snarky in my first post. I was honest and trying to have a good debate or discussion. I became snarky when all of the comments were not made about the content of my post but why I posted in the raw section. It was pointed out several different times. My response was true, raw is mentioned in the kibble section a lot. I have never called anyone out on it even though others had.

Even though I went on to say the same thing over and over again, that she can show that anyone who uses this spreadsheet to show cost analysis is going to have to explain it to people like me, who do well on kibble and are not looking for a change.

But it was ignored and I was wrong no matter what I did.

 

GREAT post Melissa! Thank you for taking the time and effort to put that up to show how much money you are saving!!!

I am sure your dogs love you for it.

I am sorry your thread turned to poop because some people didn't learn manners in preschool or how to read properly.

I look forward to your next post! :biggrin:

 

Raw is more expensive then kibble for me, but not by a great amount. We fed Orijen and canned (plain kibble by itself just seems....) and that ran us about 40 a month for one dog. We used the smaller bag as we didn't have anywhere to store the giant bag where the dog couldn't get at it. If we still fed kibble we likely would have found a way to store it as it would have been too expensive otherwise.

For 1 month we spend about 80 bucks on raw. For kibble + canned on one dog it was about 20 bucks for kibble and 20 bucks (10 bucks every 2 weeks) for cans. So about 40 bucks. We'd save a bit going to the bigger bag, so i'd say about 70-75 bucks a month on kibble.

Considering all i'm saving on dental work and whatever else may befall them, i'm happy. We drive our dogs up to the farm to get the meat and eggs for them, and us! and then to the butcher for the beef heart for them, and cheese and other goodies for us. So we never end up going far out of our way for food. In fact we don't go to the pet store anymore really...

My dogs are healthy - I didn't jump on this diet to a health issue, both my dogs were puppies when we switched. We did it as preventative maintenance, feeding processed foods to yourself and family all the time is not being health conscious imo. Being able to walk home with chicken for me and my dog is a feeling that a bag of... processed round weird bits could never replace. I especially like that they dig the dark meat (they dig any meat). I don't, so we can split up a chicken nicely.

Wish I could get some more super deals on MEAT.

 

I didn't switch because of health issues either. Dude was healthy on Pedigree and Buck was switched the day we brought him home

 

I'm just throwing this out there....
My raw feeding bill pushes $900/month. I don't feed much white meat, and I don't have an awesome source.
I spend a solid day prepping every month.
I have a room in my basement full of 5 freezers.

I could feed Evo for free.

Raw is USUALLY cheaper for people, but not always, and it DOES get annoying when people make it out to be the cheapest thing ever. That said, I didn't see that happening in this thread. I saw two seprate people giving their breakdown of cost, and then a bunch of people getting their panties in a twist... It's not a competition!
Though, with as upset as kibble feeders get when raw is mentioned in their section (even though it's usually brought up by kibble feeders themselves....) I'm not sure why the need to post here struck. Oh well. I'm certaintly not offended by someone.doing things differently than me.


Be civil, or the thread will shut down.

 

I can't agree with you more.

I have no problem with the post that was made about the kibble. I don't see why such a blow up. She wasn't bashing PMR, she was stating that in her house, she believes it is cheaper to feed Orijen Adult dog (The food I compared to) than PMR. Granted she doesn't know exactly how much she would spend on raw or if it would improve/disprove her dogs' health, but it is what she thinks, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It was just her own comparison.

I did not post this to become a "PMR is better and cheaper than kibble" argument, I did it to prove, as stated many times, to show the difference for me. And maybe to help some one out if they were looking into PMR but didn't think they could afford it. Maybe to give a few ideas to people looking into PMR or just learning. I think the post about her kibble being cheaper than PMR for her adds to the thread because it shows the other side from some one else. And as stated above, its not always the cheapest. Every house hold is different depending on number, size, age, breed and activity of dogs.

I don't get why everyone can't just get along.

Maybe I should have posted this in the dog nutrition section to be more neutral as to not start an argument over kibble/raw. :/

 

we didn't switch because of health issues. i was getting a migraine from the recalls and reading the labels to find the food that would satisfy what i thought they needed.

they did fine on wellness and then on home cooked.

 

I switched because my pitbull puppy had bad Farts on TOTW.

Not exactly a Health issue, it was more like a comfort issue!

My other dogs were fine.

Glad I switched because it's cheaper and more fun!

 

I personally switched to raw because of Nalah. When I had her before, she had epileptic seizures because of dog food ingredients. I had her on a raw diet (done so wrong!) for two years and she has no seizures or pancreatic attacks in those two years. Since then, I knew I wanted to switch all my dogs because I believe that it is better to feed whole foods in variety over the same thing day in and day out and processed. PMR opened a whole new door in my life to better health for my pets as well as my self.

 

melissa, after what you've been through, and still you stuck it out.....it's just such a well done, you....

and this will help you with your family and friends who think that feeding raw is unaffordable.

i know you have to be so proud of yourself and your beloved dogs. i know i am.

 

It was pretty easy to be cheap and stick with kibble when I had one very thrifty dog that only went through 4 large bags of evo a year. But then I got a second dog... That got real pricey real fast. When I switched from Evo (due to the P&G acquisition... sorry don't care to give them profits!) I knew I was going to Champion. I had to feed Acana grain free because Orijen is way too expensive. Even Acana grain free was not sustainable for us in the long run.

I was paying at or over $120/month to feed two dogs Acana grain free kibble. I tracked my expenses during the first year of raw feeding and I only spend $60/month on average that year to feed my girls. Even without calculating what we've saved at the vet its clear what wins.
Its even cheaper now because most of what they eat is stuff I have free access to because my family hunts and are high quality small scale livestock producers. Not everyone is that lucky and frankly I'd have a hard time feeding them (and myself!) if I didn't have that source. But this gives me the leeway to get specialty items like tripe from greentripe.com or really high quality turkey necks, etc. for more variety without breaking the bank.

But I finally bit the bullet and switched because Lily was began having health issues on commercial food. Voila zero issues once she started eating real food. I wasn't having specific problems with Scout, but after the fact I've noted huge changes for the better in her health as well.

My stupid cat eats a good food. She literally will only pick at anything other than Wellness Core kibble. Being an indoor cat she's always had atrocious teeth. Since she's out at my mom's because of my current living situation, she can safely be an indoor/outdoor cat. Guess what when she started hunting again (she was a barn cat before I rescued her) her teeth magically got better! Nice that free food could do what the $4+/lb fancy kibble couldn't... Next cat I get is being raised PMR, no ifs ands or buts!

To me its not about money or being superficially "healthy," its about real whole foods being key to health for both our animals and ourselves. Sure I could look healthy on prepackaged crap marketed as "health food", but that doesn't mean I'm going to be healthy... organic mac n' cheese is still mac n' cheese.

As someone with a vested interest in ethical, small scale livestock raising and processing who also works in an academic library I've been reading primary source books on CAFO's and our nations food economy as they come across my desk. We should all be very concerned about big corporate production of foods for animal and human consumption. And yes that includes grain/vegtable/etc crops as well as meat animal production.

 

Raw is also cheaper for me, as well.