Well, here we are, day 5 and the final post of the What Are You Feeding Your Wolf series. This post will not be as long as the others, I promise! There’s so much to talk about on the topic of raw feeding, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.
In this final post I’m going to talk about the monetary and health costs of feeding or not feeding your dog a raw meaty bones diet.
Feeding your dog a junk pet food diet and arguing that this method of feeding is less expensive than feeding raw meaty bones just doesn’t hold water anymore.
On December18th I bought 20lbs of chicken back/neck and 20lbs of a beef, bones & veggie mix, in frozen 1lb and 2lb blocks respectively. That cost me $106 CDN. That was three weeks ago and I still have about a weeks worth left. That’s about $3.50/day to feed TWO dogs with these two particular products.
Let me put it another way. For less than the cost of a triple Venti Hazelnut Latte from Starbucks per day, I can feed my dogs a very healthy and much more natural diet, compared to a kibble or canned diet and, they LOVE it!
If you’re a savvy shopper, you’ll be able to find even cheaper ways to feed raw. I’ve mentioned a few places to buy raw in yesterday’s post.
By the way, yes I absolutely will accept loaded Starbuck’s cards in the mail. 
If You’ve Got the Dough
My friend’s Rod & Amy of GoPetFriendly.com spend a lot of time on the road with their two dogs Buster & Ty, and they’ve been looking for a way to feed their boys raw while on the road. I remembered hearing about dehydrated raw food somewhere, so I hopped onto Google and found The Honest Kitchen. They happen to sell just such a product. I told Rod & Amy and they wasted no time picking
up some. If I recall correctly, Rod said they paid about $76USD for a 4kg bag. I spoke with him earlier today and he told me that you can save a good chunk of change when you buy in bulk.
This method of feeding is more expensive than the way I go about it, but it’s perfect for people that travel a lot with their pets like Rod & Amy. Buster & Ty love their new diet and have apparently licked holes in their bowls trying to get every last bit of raw food scent off of them!
I should remind you that in order to ensure good dental health, raw meaty bones like chicken & turkey (always uncooked), should be fed several times a week.
The Real Savings
The real savings of feeding a raw meaty bones diet comes from reduced vet bills. Dental cleaning in my area can range from $500 to $1000. Blood work to examine kidney and liver health is gonna run you at least $300 and more if you have a senior dog.
If enough bone is added to your dog’s diet, you’ll also save $$ by not having to have his or her anal glands expressed.
It’s a pretty simple equation really; a healthy animal requires fewer vet visits, so you save money.
Environmental Savings
You didn’t think about this one did you? I’m just gonna quote Tom Lonsdale here from his book Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw meaty Bones.
“By limiting the junk pet-food industry we will limit unnecessary processing, packaging and transportation. Land used for cereal crops grown for inclusion in junk pet food can be utilized for other purposes. When animals are fed a healthy diet there’s less need for products of environmentally harmful industries like pharmaceuticals, shampoos and flea treatments.”
Pretty profound stuff, don’t you think?
The Cost of Dog Bites
Here’s another point you probably hadn’t considered, I hadn’t either until I started researching for this series.
Quoting Tom Lonsdale again;
“In the USA there are almost 5 million dog bites every year …… Children are often victims and often suffer bites to the face. In almost every case the dog is fed junk food. The question arises: Was the diet the main factor influencing the dog’s behavior, a contributory factor or not a factor at all? We can say that dogs fed junk tend to be excitable and harder to train. One significant trial found some Golden Retrievers, normally a docile breed, attacked their owners when fed junk food, but became docile when fed cooked lamb and rice.1 How might the dogs have behaved if fed on raw natural food? Objective research is now an urgent priority; thousands of victims every day need answers.”
Clearly the economics of feeding raw meaty bones to your dog has potential savings and benefits, far beyond what you pull out of your wallet.
1 Mugford, R A (1987) The influence of nutrition on canine behaviour, Journal of Small Animal Practice, 28, 1046-1055
Leave a comment below and share your raw feeding experiences with others. Or, post a link to a good website that talks about raw feeding? Let’s help others learn how to feed their pets a healthy raw meaty bones diet.
I’ll leave you with the words of a very wise man;
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation nor does truth become error because no one will see it. ~ Mahatma Ghandi
Resources
Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones – this book has a ton of information and recipes, I highly recommend it!
Yahoo Raw Feeding Groups
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