What do you feed your companion animals?

[Girl Next Door]

I have a Chihuahua with liver problems (well, at 12 something has to give) and joined a canine nutrition group to learn to figure out recipes for him. When I joined this site I saw talk about livestock feeding but, little of nothing of companion animals. Please let us know what you are feeding whom and how much it costs you.

[westbrook]

somewhere around here is a discussion about homemade dog food. Your fur friend has a medical issue, and the liver is a tough one. the liver processes all the poisons from the body, and it has a very hard time processing certain meats. Bacon is a no no, not that you feed your pup bacon, but the nitrates are a killer on the liver.

 

What has your doctor told you to feed him? his very expensive canned dog food? made with rice and chicken? check the ingredients. You can make that yourself. You will need to provide some pumpkin in it (cook it right in the rice) so he doesn't get constipated. Vitamins are important also.

 

I raise livestock, and the dogs get leftovers when we butcher. I feed my dogs dry food, One 50 pound bag per month per dog. But I bet your little one doesn't eat 50 pounds a year! <smile> Currently I have 3 dogs and that is 3 bags a month.

 

My goats? about $500 a month, Chickens about $25 a month, rabbits .. currently don't have any because of my health, but the cost depended on how many I had. One cup per day per rabbit. A 50 pound bag of feed 18% protein was $12 a bag. If the does was lactating then I free fed.

 

My dogs are free fed kibble.

 

I would like to know more about what you are doing for your pup.

 

 

[Snowmom]

 

This is Minnie and the only type of dog food we can get her to eat is the most expensive little packet, it is called, 'Cesar' and she will eat a varity of it. But, there are days she doesn't eat it at all. She also gets some of the table scraps, she loves most meats and she will eat some veggies. Carrots and beans are what she likes. The carrots, raw, the beans, right out of the can, she won't eat them once they have been warmed up very often. She doesn't like the dog food with rice, but, she will eat regular rice with some flavoring in it. These little packest of food cost $.80 each so say 30 days a month, that is $24.00. Man, that is a lot to spend on dog food, isn't it. Guess we need to do some home canning for her too. This is the first dog that wouldn't eat dry foods.

 

Ok, wes, you are smart about these things, Ill have to go check out recipes you have put in here. Do you know where they are?? We have to buy all of our meats too, so will have to take a look for what is the least expensive.

 

 

 

[Girl Next Door]

I joined a canine nutrition group who's moderator has written a book on the subject and is used by a university as a teaching text someplace. I am going t.o send her my dog's blood work and she is going to create a custom diet for me

[Aint2nuts]

I have two cats. I feed them Cat Chow Indoor Formula -- because except when Star excapes each day to roll in the horse dung in our front yard, they are indoor cats.

 

Food has gone up. They get very few table scraps. Occasional bites of chicken that is cooked. For a big bag, it is 13$ and it lasts us two and a half months for the two of them. I just got coupons from Cat Chow because I complained about them raising the cost. LOL Two 2$ off coupons. Brings the cost down to where it was before for the next five months!

 

We also have a cockatiel. Moon is a little brat that I have been tempted to FEED to the cats. His food costs 8$ for a 3lb bag. That bag will last us about 4-5 months. We don't feed him anything else, but after I get the garden in, that is going to change.

[Crazy4Canning]

Well, it's a known fact that I'm crazy about canning, but I'm also crazy about our kitties. (why don't we have a kitty smilie?!)

 

We have 2 kitties (1 soon to be a year old in March) and feed them on whole food based pet foods.

 

I buy Precise, Felidae, and Innova in different flavors and rotate them. They're not so wild about California Natural. However, the Trader Joe's Holistic Kitty Crunchies are a favorite as well. We give cans of Tiki Cat and occasionally wet Whiskas as a treat once or twice a week.

 

Maybe per month, we spend around $13-$18. Maybe more, maybe less depending on the month and if it is winter or summer. (When little kitty hits a growth spurt, it generally is MORE, boy can she pack it away!)

 

Because they are females and a bit picky (Food Fatigue, thy name is Cat!) we rotate crunchy food and treat a couple of times a week with wet food. We do splurge on little kitty snacks around bedtime...I'm not quite sure how that got started...(oh..when the kitties are sick and need antibiotics, we had to give them a snack with the medicine...the medicine stopped and the snacks stayed...thanks, DH!)

 

They also get tuna juice, chicken scraps, and bits of fish, and of course all the water they want. Cat grass on occasion.

 

For the 'outdoor' kitties that wander through the neighborhood, I buy the Costco generic or whatever they have on sale when I need it in the 25# bag. This is generally about $15 every 5 months or so.

 

I was so relieved when there was that IAMS scare a couple of years ago that I didn't feed my cats anything that was processed poorly. It is worth the peace of mind to feed them well knowing that the food is a solid brand with good nutrition behind it.

 

I began buying the whole food kitty food when our senior kitties (now in kitty heaven) began to need higher nutrition and special diets.

 

P.S. Our pet bob's have samples of these foods and a container of blended food that we rotate out regularly...

[CrabGrassAcres]

I have a cat who is allergic to grains. He is a good mouser, but likes dinner in the house daily too. He gets scrambled eggs, or liver/hearts from whatever was recently butchered, or canned salmon, or home canned meat. Sometimes the house quail chase him away from his dinner. LOL

 

I also have two Great Pyrenees. The female is having a major growth spurt. They get lots of scrambled eggs with lard, rice, butchering leftovers, whatever they find in the woods (neighbors like to drag their dead animals into the woods and my dogs drag them on over here. Mostly goats, but sometimes they find a deer that was butchered and the waste left behind.) They also snack on the poultry feed including whole corn. I tell them it isn't a good idea, but....

 

I also make dog bread with freshly ground grains and lots of eggs. They really like that.

 

I have a small poultry farm and keep pigs, rabbits and goats as well.

[bluegrassmom]

I feed our cats Friskies that I buy in the big bags at Sam's. Two cats, one big bag lasts about two months if not longer. Two big dogs eat the dry store brand food from our local store. One big bag is about $9, lasts two to three weeks. One small dog, she prefers the cat's food and she gets table scraps because her stomach cannot tollerate an all dry food diet.

 

I've done the homemade dog food in the past and still do it sometimes. They like it but tire of it after about two weeks. So I just make it here and there throughout the year when money is extra tight. That way it's more like a treat and they eat it and it doesn't go to waste.

 

Westie was right about the pumpkin - it's also a natural de-wormer so it's really good for them. I also like to cook any scrap bones we have down to mush and add it to their food. It's full of nutrients for them and really stretches the recipe. I know some people cook the bones down witha pressure cooker with good results, but I don't have one so I cook mine down with the crock pot. It takes one or two full days to get them done, but once they are done you can just crumble them right up with your hands. Talk about nothing going to waste. Egg shells. If you're not using them for compost, you can rinse them out and crumble them up in the dog food. Along with any other scraps you have on hand (anything from leftover gravy to veggies mashed up - I always try to add some veggies but *never* corn, it's very bad for dogs), the bone mush, egg shells and pumpkin help make up a really good and healthy food for them. It has gotten us through some hard financial scrapes with the dogs still being fed and none ever went hungry.

[Ginger]

 

 

We have 2 spoiled indoor cats and they go through a bag of cat chow about every 2 months at about 12-13 dollars at Walmart. They are really picky eaters and do not eat our food whenever offered. They do get out for short visits in warmer weather and hunt mice, chipmunks and birds. I have never witnessed them eating their kills...but if they had to....I know that they would have to or starve.

 

We added a golden retriever puppy to our family last Fall and she is a growing girl. At 6 months she weighs in at about 60 pounds and is all energy. Because she is growing rapidly, we buy puppy chow for her and she goes through a bag every 10 days at about $12. She does eat tablescraps with gusto although we are trying to limit her. I am looking forward to buying adult dogfood that will come in bulk and will cost much less. At least with her I know that she can eat most anything.

[urbanforager]

Seems like a whole lot of people here are doing the same thing I do with my critters -- makes me feel like I'm doing something right!!!

 

My girls (two german shepherd dog mixes) are VERY good about eating anything that's put in front of them. The german shepherd- pitbull mix has hip issues, so we get a dog food that has extra glucosamine in it. We get it from the pet store, and it's $28 for a 50 lb bag. She also gets a fish oil capsule and one Bufferin aspirin (crushed). That's the only difference between the two bowls is that Kirby gets the pills. Other than that, the girls each get about half a bowl of dog food, then "dog soup" to fill up the bowl. This dog soup is more like a stew -- it's leftover meat scraps, veggies, oatmeal, rice, and the like. If I'm fixing us dinner and I peel some carrots, the peels get tossed in the dog soup pot, for example. DH likes to chop chicken bones and scraps really fine, then cook them to mush with rice for the girls.

The three cats are super simple. I get the middling-inexpensive cat food at the store -- not Cat Chow or anything, but Pet Pride. It's $9 for 20 lbs. They free feed. I also use the cat food to put out for the strays when it's super cold out like it has been here. (I have to put it out at night, or the starlings will eat it. Grrr. I don't mind feeding the birds, but they eat it ALL.)

As an aside, for the past two years, I've been keeping track of our food spending. We spent an average of $36 a week in 2008 to feed two humans, two dogs, and three cats. Without the pet supplies (which includes kitty litter), we would spend an average of $28 a week. So I think the dog soup really helps, and it cuts down on wasted leftovers, which pleases me a great deal.

[jakesnana]

My kittygirl is five. I have had her for four years now and she only eats

the dried food she came with. Kit Kaboodle by Purina is all she will eat

even though I have offered her many tasty foods. It cost about $9 per

month to feed her. Until I came to Mrs S I had not perpared a BOB for

Tinkerbelle, honestly it didnt cross my mind. I love her too much not to

grab her if we have a reason to leave home but now she has her supplies

packed and ready along with my things. Thank you all for that.

[KallieKat]

We have 20 something rescue kitties here, some in house, some outside, some in and out. I feed Purina dry and to that add cooked rice, after that, anything goes....leftovers, mashed bones, veggie juice, gravy, whatever it takes to make a wet food. If all else fails they get a can of stinky food with hot water added to the dry food and rice. They get this for morning feedings, at night I only put out a little dry, enough for them to munch right away, otherwise the coons and possums feast on it. Indoor cats are fed the same but they also can free feed during the day.

[Tracy R]

Lucy the Wonder Dog is a 2yo tri-colorAustralian Shepherd X -- apparently crossed with a small breed of horse, as she currently weighs 85 lbs and is twice the height of an "average" Aussie. She is one of the lights of my life, even when she's being a royal pain (she's very, VERY active )

 

We feed her a version of BARF -- bones and raw food. She gets 1 lb a day of ground meat, along with free choice of meaty raw bones. On our vet's recommendation, we cook the meat offered and mix it with vegetables.

 

I supplement with IAMS kibble.

[michelle]

My Pyr gets dry dog food. I'm working on converting him to the BARF diet or similar. Right now he gets cooked grains (oatmeal, rice, etc.) in with his dry dog food. I'm getting him use to this and then we'll start adding in a little other food as we replace the dry dog food. He's doing very well with the grains for now and we're just slowly adjusting him so we don't have any issues with it.

 

The cat gets dry cat food free fed and who knows what he picks up outside since he's in/out. I'm working on converting the cat to the raw food diet like the Pyr slowly. I feed strays dry dog food when they are around. We usually have at least one stray something at all times. All our livestock are fed commercial feeds now too but we're working on getting everyone to homemade feeds. (Us included... working on cutting out anything commercial I can.)

[Darlene]

Right now, all of mine are on dry kibble that I get at the feed store. for 4 dogs, I am like westie...1 50lb bag/dog/month. It runs me about $18/bag.

 

Westie and I have the same kind of dogs (as will several other members shortly), and for me, in a SHTF scenario, I will rely on feeding the dogs grains/goats milk/veggies/various protein sources. Fortunately, these dogs are pretty sustainable on other things besides store bought dog food.

[cheles2kids]

We have 5 dogs:

A lab/retriever mix

A chihuahua

3 adopted Greyhounds

 

 

2 kitties:

a white female

a black male

 

 

I feed the pupsters Diamond Naturals Chicken and rice or Lamb and rice.

The kitties get Purina.

 

I used to feed the pups the Costco Chicken and rice & they did really well on that, but now that we're back in TN., we don't have a Costco close by, only Sam's club & Sam's doesn't sell a corn free food.

 

My labbie doesn't do well on anything with corn products in it, so we have to always get something without corn.

 

I buy the Diamond Naturals at Tractor Supply Company, and we pay around $38.00 for a 40# bag.

It takes them about 3 weeks to go through one 40# bag.

 

 

 

Michelle in middle Tennessee