# How much do you spend on Dog food a month?



## rawforlife00 (Oct 27, 2014)

First and foremost, I did not know if this post was appropiate for this topic or in the raw feeders forum. So sorry to senior people if I made that mistake. nevertheless, How much do you guys usually spend on average. I live in Tulsa Oklahoma and there a good number of butcher shops around so lean, meats, exotic meats, pretty much anything I could get. Could even special order some really neat stuff like whole rabbit with fur and everything. my average prices are the following;
chicken whole legs 51$ a month on my leg quarters 40lbs of it.
organs liver/hearts/kidney/ETC.... About 15$ a month
FISH (10-15$ a month)
Beef muscle meat (20$ a month)

what is your food budget?

I got two dogs as well sitting at 60lbs so I'd say on average if i spoil them with some exotic meats (Which is always!) about 50-55$ a month per dog. Which I think is relatively good since I spent about 70-75$ on high end dog food when I'd gave them kibble the first year of their lives until I completely switched to RAW food. So I haven't really spend much more and can easily break even if I bought more of bulk.

Just wondering where do you get your meats, and how much bulk do you buy at once. I do a case for 40lbs of chicken routinely. anyone have any suggestions how to conserve cost, and what kind of deals (if any) do you get at butcher shops or other places. In a nutshell how do you shed off spending extra without sacrificing quality of meats for your dog


Would love to get some good hints/tips!

Thanks guys


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## bett (Mar 15, 2012)

someone else recently posted this and i asked nick when we get the ground beef from his store, a prime shop, how much does he pay per lb. about $4-5 and eli eats a pound a day. that's not counting the ground eggshell powder when the meat is from nick.

when i get it from hare today, it's more, as they have ground bone, liver, tripe and all the other stuff that i don't get from nick. so, not cheap. 

the others are on what i consider good kibble, ziwi peak, is expensive, and fromm and farmina not really expensive. i add eggs and pumpkin and yogurt for jake, and some green lipped mussel powder, as well as metamucil. vangie 's ziwi peak is changed after a small bag or she gets an allergic puking attack. and she gets small amount of pred every 5 days.

not cheap to feed dogs.tho I'm sure others pay somewhat less. depends on what you feed.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

I do think feed raw, but I generally spend about $50 a month on Baxter food and about $50 every other month for Matley now.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

I don't have a dog food budget. We buy what we need & since we order online, pay the bill when it comes due. One eats grinds from Hare Today, other two eat Farmina. Add occasional treats, canned, The Honest Kitchen and supplements. Too much!


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## Losech (Jul 10, 2012)

I used to keep very good track of this, but stopped a while ago. Nowadays I just go by how much per lb/bag I'll spend on meats/kibbles and such. 
For example:
The bag of kibble (Earthborn Holistic Primitive Naturals, 28lbs for $55) lasts about a month, give or take, depending on how many dogs are eating it, and how big the bag is. (There are 4 dogs in the house, 2 are mine, 2 are Mom's. Sometimes I feed Mom's dogs like mine.) I prefer the bags to be at least 30lbs but will go lower if I like the food and they do stupid sizes, like the Primitive Naturals.
Anywho, add in a 10lb bag of Chicken quarters for $6.50, 5lbs of ground beef at $12.50, some assorted organs for roughly $3, and a ton of eggs for $8.50. That's something like $30 +/- for whole foods, around $55-$60 for the bag of kibble, which puts it around $80-$90 a month, give or take $15. 
Sometimes I've got extra food at the end of the month and it spills into next month and reduces that month's cost. Sometimes it's less, so I spend more. There is no set number since I change around what my dogs eat all the time. It's less if I'm not feeding Mom's dogs my dog's food, less if they gets just kibble, or more of they get just raw/homemade.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

Hmm. I suppose around $30 for canned food, 70 for dry food$15 for crock potted chicken stew topper. 
Maybe another $20 for treats and chews. $135 total, for the dogs

Cat $15 in cans, 15 in dry$10 in treats and toys. $40 total. 

Then there's thebmatter of the rabbit and gerbils but it's months and months that a $10 bag of rabbit pellets and gerbil food last and a couple of years to get through on small square bale of hay. 

I don't have a budget I stick to really. Although not sure what next year brings with dh retiring from the military. May have to watch more closely.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I estimate I spend roughly $60-$80 on PMR food for a 30lb and a 40lb dog. Thats for everything, bone in, boneless and organs and treats. With my 8lb cat, I spend another $21 monthly, including shipping, for a bag of Farmina. That cost will come down a bit in December, when I can buy it locally and don't have to pay the $6 odd shipping costs.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Oh wow. My phone really stretched on that autocorrect. I meant to say "I don't feed raw" not "I do think raw". Wooow.


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## Lisie (Nov 3, 2014)

I'm very interested in the topic of feeding raw, but I haven't been able to find guidelines to ensure I am balancing my dogs' diets correctly. I'm sure there is a thread somewhere on here along those lines! We feed our dogs Orijen kibble, as it seemed the best in all of my research, plus wet canned food (Canidae), added pumpkin, marrow bones, peanut butter, and organic treats. I'd say it costs about $100/month per dog. Yes, my friends mostly shake their heads at me...I'd love for them to know I am not alone in this endeavor!


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## DwayneTaylor (Jan 8, 2015)

It depends on the breed of dog you want to buy or you have, the cost of Dog foods which mostly spend in a month will depend on different breeds of Dogs. Food of some breeds are less expensive and some are more expensive. The average cost that can be spend on Dog's food are $500 to 2000.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Yeah, big dogs eat more than little dogs. Other than size, I don't think the breed comes into the food cost.


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## Kritter (Jan 9, 2015)

I feed Orijen kibble 2x per week but otherwise feed raw. I have a 32 lb and 26 lb dog. If I am lucky it probably costs $50-60 per week but I stopped counting and just buy what I need to keep my dogs healthy. And it's sort of a hobby for me to make my own dog food.


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## jessephoenix (Jan 3, 2015)

I usually spend round about $30 for canned food, $70 for dry food, $15 for crock potted chicken stew topper. 
Maybe another $20 for treats and chews and a total of $135 total for my lovely beagles.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

Dh and I have been doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University program to get out of debt. I've been tracking our expenses just to see our actual amount spent... January's pet related expenses was a total of 609.98!!! 155.69 of it was food, the rest was shampoo, toys and VET expenses (the majority). 
This month so far on food we've spent: 130.84 on dog food, 5.50 on cat food, 34 on rabbit and gerbil food. 

The rabbit/gerbil food will last for months now. Looks like an average of 150.00 on the dogs each month for food alone. For the cat it should be something like a 6 lb bag of dry and a case of cans per month- probably around 40 bucks for the cat. 

I have 75 pounds of "dog" and a 15 pound cat, 2 pound rabbit and 2 gerbils


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## DDBsR4Me (Jan 23, 2012)

I try not to think about it lol. I have 2 Dogue de Bordeaux on Orijen right now. The ”big” bags don't last a full two weeks, prob closer to a week and a half. This doesn't include canned food, fish oils, coconut oil, my senior loves the Clear Conscious supergravy, treats, joint supplement for my senior, and raw bones. I don't keep track of what I spend, but I probably should.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

It also depends on what country you live in and what you feed. For instance high end kibble (we do make one or two) that has to be imported costs a fortune. NZ being a small country we don't have the population to support massive imports of specialist foods. If you live on a farm and want to feed raw that makes it much cheaper. Alot of farm working dogs get raw, Tux biscuits and maybe some dogroll which is pretty cost effective. Raw petfood suppliers if you buy in bulk are reasonably priced but it depends which company you buy from and whereabouts you live in the country. Fuel costs us alot more than it does than USA also our wages are much lower.

There is a product manufactured here called Mighty Mix and it is a combination of raw meat, fat and grains, green lipped mussels, kelp, eggs, ACV, garlic, salmon, flaxseed etc marketed towards working dogs. You can only buy through an agent but it is cost effective and probably a good choice for many dogs. I've never seen it up close but it sounds very interesting if you have a very active dog or want to put weight on. Mighty Mix Dog Food - Frozen Concentrate (for those that might be interested in a look).

Orijen and Arcana we would pay almost double to what you pay in USA.

We do manufacture canned foods but the ingredients are a bit scary and the high end ones are really expensive like $NZ4+ each.

Farmina sounds a really interesting food but again I think the cost would be prohibitive for the average New Zealander and would be up in the $150-180 per bag I would imagine if it ever makes it to these shores....actually they probably won't bother with us we are small fry compared to other countries.


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