# I was really surprised, I guess -- Price of kibbl vs raw



## hcdoxies (Sep 22, 2010)

So I pay probably on the higher end of my price of raw -- avg 95c a pound.

Someone asked me if it's comparable in price. And I have always heard (and believed, of course!) that raw is cheaper or right on line with high quality kibbles (depending on your sources, of course)... but the benefits FAR outweigh the price, etc.

But this time I actually did some math. I used to pay $28 per 40lb of Diamond Puppy (yeck, I know). They free-fed, too (yeck, I know). That's 70c. per lb. Now I feed a FAR SUPERIOR food (PMR) and it's 95c. per lb. And they at much, MUCH less! 40lbs of Diamond would be gone in a week. Now 40lbs of meat is gone in 2+ weeks.

Not to mention, of course, not losing puppies at birth anymore, not paying for emergency c-sections, not paying for dentals, or additional vitamins, so and so forth.

And my dogs look amazing!

It makes me happy


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I actually think i spend alot more on food. I haven't bought much of anything below $1.50 a pound except my great deal on chicken quarters for 49 cents. I'm not much of a shopper, I guess. But one bag of dry food would cost something like $40 and last about a month. I spend way more than that on raw food.

But I pay alot less in vet bills. And like you say, no additions like with dry food - glucosamine, pumpkin, green beans, yogurt, etc. etc. etc.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

We were spending at least $140.00 on kibble and $60.00 on supplements, plus food additions like eggs, oil, etc. Plus chewy toys, treat all the time. Now we spend about $140.00 - $150.00 on meat, and use some of it dehydrated for treats and they rarely need chewies because of the bones they get every day. I buy less shampoo because they don't stink and don't have to by toothcleaner, breath stuff,, etc. I try to pay under $1.00 for anything they eat. Beef heart is a tiny bit more but chicken is so much less it all balances out.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I think I was spending like $100/month on kibble that they could stomach. Scout was really a food hog on kibble, even the high calorie top end grain free stuff. Now Its like $25-100/month depending on when I stock up on stuff that lasts us a long time, etc. In the long run its considerably less though. Especially given the vet trip Lily had for hard poo issues on kibble.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

We feed 6 dogs on roughly 600 lbs/month. We usually average about $1.20/lb once our splurges are taken into consideration, like the occasional $20 duck for Annie because she's just THAT cute. Our tab per month is usually somewhere between $700-800, and how much we splurge just depends on what our finances look like on any given month.
I figured out the other day what it would cost me to feed Taste of the Wild. It's a little more expensive here, considering our wholesale price seems to be what a lot of people are paying retail for it. 30lbs retails in my area for $49-$51. I'll go with the price at my facility of $49. Based on what other Dane clients of mine go through, I'd estimate that for all 6 dogs, I would need about 2 bags/ month per dog, so 12 bags... and a total of $588 + tax of 6.85% for a total tab of $629 per month. Now, this is assuming that it agreed with ALL my dogs (which I already know it doesn't for zailey and annie...) and NOT taking into consideration that Annie has an insane metabolism and probably requires double the amount of any of my other dogs, which would essentially add another 2 bags or $100 to that. NOW, taking into consideration that I don't pay retail value for anything, I'd pay the wholesale price of $39/bag which after tax would be $500. 

So, it costs me $200 more to feed raw. If I did not have the resource I have for wholesale pet products owning a business, then I would only be spending $70 more per month. That's very little more than $10/dog. 

BUT, I do not pay for dentals, and I don't even want to imagine what I'm saving in overall vet costs having healthy dogs. Dentals would be very expensive for me. I have big dogs. 

The real kicker for me though... is that I am spending a lot more than I really NEED to. I feed more red meat than poultry, by far, and because my pack likes fish so much and it is essentially the "perfect" meal being whole prey, I feed it every single day... and it's not cheap. If I had to, absolutely had to, I could reduce my cost to an average of $.70/lb by cutting back to just 70ish% chicken, turkey, and 30ish% beef heart, beef liver, and lamb kidney, which would STILL be far, FAR better than any kibble, and adequate variety. Annie would sure miss her duck, and the puppies would miss their fishies, but all would survive just fine. That would put my cost at $420/ month and make it balance out to saving $80 at wholesale value, or $130 if buying commercial food at retail. 

if I really took it to the absolute bare minimum, of just 90% chicken, and 10% Beef liver, and Lamb kidney... I'd be spending $300/month, saving $330 at retail value, or $200 at my wholesale value. 
That's $3960 a year saved on the food itself!!!


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## pogo (Aug 28, 2011)

When i feed kibble (which wasn't for very long) i was paying roughly £40 a bag which lasted about a month, so weekly was a tener. Now he's raw feed i spend about £40 when i order his food in bulk and this lasts roughly 3 months! I'll admit i do buy other bits and bobs when they are on offer but still it works out about £3 - £4 a week, so alot cheaper :thumb:


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

For my littles Raw is a little more expensive, but TOTALLY worth it, as a 6# bag lasted Zoey almost 6 months and I was paying about $13 for that. Zoey eats about 2oz per day so she eats roughly 4# per month (is that really right lol?) Anyways I do get most of my meats on the 'quick sale' and do some wholesales as well as well as craigslist. But to me not having Zoey on steroids, and other medications she was on, it TOTALLY worth ANY price I pay to feed my baby. Ziva eats about 6-8oz per day, so her costs are more, but again...TOTALLY worth it, I will NEVER go back to kibble. Shellie eats a about 1 & 1/4# per day. Her 40# bag of dog food was lasting us about 5-6 weeks, so yep it's more, but I love the benefits of it. I really have no idea how much I spend per month, but I know it's under $100 for all 3 dogs, 5 cats (who eat partial raw). But to me it doesn't matter, yep my hubby and I's freezer may be down to the bare minimum but by golly our dogs are well fed LOL!


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## lozzibear (Sep 13, 2010)

When Jake was getting kibble, before his allergies his food cost £35 (I think that is about $60 or something). Then, when he went on his elimination diet, his food cost £50 (so about $80), and both of them were for a 15kg bag. His hypoallergenic food was great quality though (if I ever had to go back to kibble, that is what I would feed... I will only ever do that, if a future dog can't have raw for whatever reason) and he ate less of that, than he did with the previous stuff. Jake racked up BIG vets bills on kibble though lol. The non-hypoallergenic food last about a month, the hypoallergenic stuff, slightly longer. 

Now, on raw the price of his food changes. But, I have found a butcher who will give me food for a really good price (and they have their own farm, so I am so happy :biggrin. The other day, I got 2kg of chicken backs, and 2.5kg of lamb ribs, and for the whole 4.5kg he only charged me £2 (I think thats around $3/3.5). That 4.5kg is enough food for 9 days... for only £2 :biggrin:


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm not 100% sure how much kibble was costing me per day on average, I never really worked out how long a bag would last, but I think it probably worked out a bit cheaper than raw, but that doesn't bother me at all, knowing how good raw is for my baby 

I just worked out, based on an order I'm placing at the butcher later today, it'll cost me $2.20 per day to feed duke (on average, from that lot of meat I am buying), which is equivalent to $1.10 per pound (when converted to US dollars, and then from kg to lb). So I'm pretty happy with that  when I see some of the prices you guys list, I forget about dollar conversion and lb to kg conversion when comparing it to what I pay  though I can guarantee I will never get a deal as good as 49c/lb for chicken quarters!! Haha I pay about $2/lb and can't see it getting much cheaper than that, unless they are on special (which won't bring them down to less than probably $1.60/lb, on a SUPER special, lol)


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

There IS water in raw meat though, so wouldn't you have to factor in that?


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

hmbutler said:


> I'm not 100% sure how much kibble was costing me per day on average, I never really worked out how long a bag would last, but I think it probably worked out a bit cheaper than raw, but that doesn't bother me at all, knowing how good raw is for my baby
> 
> I just worked out, based on an order I'm placing at the butcher later today, it'll cost me $2.20 per day to feed duke (on average, from that lot of meat I am buying), which is equivalent to $1.10 per pound (when converted to US dollars, and then from kg to lb). So I'm pretty happy with that  when I see some of the prices you guys list, I forget about dollar conversion and lb to kg conversion when comparing it to what I pay  though I can guarantee I will never get a deal as good as 49c/lb for chicken quarters!! Haha I pay about $2/lb and can't see it getting much cheaper than that, unless they are on special (which won't bring them down to less than probably $1.60/lb, on a SUPER special, lol)


Yeah, I've often wondered if you've been looking at the conversion rate, plus the kg to lb ratio. It puts in more in perspective thats for sure.
I know I pay probably at least $3 a day, $2.00 on a good day to feed Mollie. But, then again, I don't put much effort into sourcing really cheap meat, not that I think there is a good supply of it round here without travelling some distance, which defeats the purpose for 1 x 40lb dog. Mol normally eats pretty much what we do, just various meats from the supermarket.
So, yeah, I definitely spend more now than I did on kibble. But thats fine, anything for my little moron.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

MollyWoppy said:


> Yeah, I've often wondered if you've been looking at the conversion rate, plus the kg to lb ratio. It puts in more in perspective thats for sure.
> I know I pay probably at least $3 a day, $2.00 on a good day to feed Mollie. But, then again, I don't put much effort into sourcing really cheap meat, not that I think there is a good supply of it round here without travelling some distance, which defeats the purpose for 1 x 40lb dog. Mol normally eats pretty much what we do, just various meats from the supermarket.
> So, yeah, I definitely spend more now than I did on kibble. But thats fine, anything for my little moron.


Yeah I always considered the lb to kg ratio (was doing it as 1lb = 0.5kg, though thats not quite right, just easiest when calculating off the top of my head) but the dollar conversion makes a slight difference too. Definitely some of the specials people mention on here are WAY cheaper than I think I will ever find, but I'm pretty happy with $2 a day to feed my dog a kilo of good meat! (Realised this order is more like $2 a day, rather than $2.20, because there is heart in the order too, so I will feed slightly less of that than I do the other meats). Now I'm just trying to get whole turkey necks (from a different supplier, the butcher doesnt deal with turkey), I ordered some turkey necks from them for a reasonable price, but didn't realise they cut the necks in half/thirds, so they are small enough for Duke to fit the entire thing in his mouth - which means he chews about a maximum of two times and then swallows the whole freakin' thing!! he's got a few screws loose, that one... so hopefully the whole necks will be big enough that he has to crunch through the bone while he's eating the meat off it too!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I never really figured it out and don't much care. If it cost me hundreds more, I would still feed it as who are we feeding anyway! These are my family, my kin and my life................enough said


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## Angelwing (Feb 20, 2011)

It costs me just under $250/month to feed 2 dogs and 2 cats. On dry food it was a little under $150 (Orijen, and some natural balance wet for kitties). You guys have no idea how lucky you are that you can get ridiculously cheap meat. But I'll still be feeding raw anyways.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> I never really figured it out and don't much care. If it cost me hundreds more, I would still feed it as who are we feeding anyway! These are my family, my kin and my life................enough said


oh yeah, I'd definitely still be feeding raw... i'm just the kind of person who HAS to know what it's costing me, in comparison to something else haha so I'm pleasantly surprised to find out its $2 a day  I think I can spare that for my boy


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

For me, it costs a bit less or the same as feeding kibble. But that's because I choose to feed raw fish (instead of fish oil) and as much red meat as possible. I could actually do it for a lot less if I made chicken a staple. Considering that the kibble I fed was mostly chicken and turkey...well, I'm kind of annoyed at how much I had paid.

Sometimes it's more expensive because I splurge on something pricey like mutton. I just consider it a treat .

But even if it's the same or a little more...

-I no longer have to buy chewies every month like bully sticks...a frozen turkey neck or hunk of pork works just as well and lasts longer
-None of the dogs have needed dentals (they probably would have needed them within a year but not anymore...raw cleared most of the tartar)
-I don't have to buy tooth paste or anything
-Gracie needs less ear wash and no prescription meds for her ears when on raw
-I save on eye wipes since the Cockers don't tear much now
-I save time/gasoline because I can walk to the place I get their meat (this one is just for me, I guess, ha)

Besides, having Sophie go months without getting sick even once? Having Bambi eat her meals without fuss? "Curing" a rescued dog with chronic ear infections? Priceless.


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## AkCrimson (Aug 26, 2011)

I definitely spend more on raw, since my pup is so tiny he will hardly ever hear much. However, a lot of that is due to the fact that grocery prices are are stupid (island life *sigh). I pay about 1.25/lb when I'm lucky, often it's more. If I were living in Alaska I would have a lot of free meat from hunting friends (moose, caribou, ptarmigan, duck, salmon, etc.). If I were living in the states I would have much cheaper prices on meat, and I'm sure my fiancee would be doing some hunting also. 

Being as having a toy terrier makes is so that he only eats about 1/4lb a day, it's not a huge difference in my budget. I will be getting a Golden someday though, and a 75lb dog will put a much bigger dent in the finances! It's so worth it, though.


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