Feeding Dogs on a Very Tight Budget

In an ideal world we would all be feeding a beautifully fresh diet with organic meat and vegetables, but sadly we don’t live in an ideal world! If for whatever reason you are really struggling financially at the moment, but still want to do the very best you can for your dog, here are some NO BULL tips.

I must stress that some of these recommendations will not be suitable for dogs with health issues or allergies, and must only be put into practice if you really are struggling financially.

If you feed raw but are struggling to afford to continue, rather than coming off raw completely swap brands to a cheaper mince, and vary brands. Many brands offer large discounts on first orders so make the most of these offers.

Here are some ideas to make that mince stretch further.

Up the plant matter content; instead of only adding 10% you could go up to around 40% ideally sticking to low carb veggies.

OR

Add in soaked oats; soak oats overnight in cold water. Oats are a grain - something we generally don’t recommend, but they are the best of the grains if you need to feed them. Ideally chose organic and gluten free if possible, no more than around 20% ideally, you can also add in 20% of plant matter alongside the oats.

OR

Quinoa is a seed, you can add in around 20% of this with a further 20% of plant matter to bulk out the food.

ALSO

Other tips when raw feeding on tight budget:

* Ask your butcher if they have any free, size appropriate raw bones and any off-cuts of meat you can have.

* You can also pick things up like heart, liver and kidneys quite cheaply.

* Look at adding in eggs, this can be a cheap way to boost protein levels.

* Tinned fish like mackerel or sardines in spring water or tomato sauce from the cheaper supermarkets are great add ins. If this is still out of budget go to your fish monger and ask for some free fish heads, these are super nutritious.

If after all this you’re still struggling and have no option but to go for a processed food, then a tinned food would be best. At least the moisture content is still high, and you can add in offal, off-cuts of meat and fish heads to this, as well as low carb veggies.

If kibble really is your last option I don’t recommend adding in oats and quinoa as you don’t want to add in more carbs. In this instance add in as many cheap off-cuts of meat, offal and fish as you can as well as eggs and some low carb veggies.

Freeze any meat from the butcher or supermarket for one week, game and fish three weeks.

To add to this a few members of our Facebook group have suggested growing your own veg as an option to cut down costs further, which is a fab idea! You can pick seeds up for pennies!

These recommendations will not be perfectly balanced so vary ingredients as much as you can and remember that you’re doing your best!

Again I must stress this information is only for people that are really struggling financially.

Karla Pearson, No bull just natural health for dogs