Dog Information

How expensive is it to make homemade dog food?

About how expensive is it to make homemade dog food? My four dogs (3 large, 1 small) are currently on Science Diet (Large and Small bites) and it costs about $25-30 a week to feed them all. Does making homemade dog food with quality ingredients generally save money over feeding commercially marketed brands like Science Diet?

Public Comments

1. I have started fixing my dog a diet of rice, carrots, potatoes and peas. It goes a long way and seems to fill him up a bit more. I mix it in with a little bit of his dry food. Of course I dont give him the full amount of dry food as I was giving him before as the rice and veggies are fillers. He seems to really like it and it has cut down on his gas alot! Which is a breath of fresh air let me tell ya! ;P And yes it is cheaper to cook up all this stuff. Total cost for a big bag of baby carrots, frozen peas, potatoes and rice is about $10 and it lasts about a week for him. But mind you I have a pug so obviously he doesnt eat as much as a bigger dog would... and mixing it with a bit of the dry food extends the bag of dry food too
2. Well sometimes when you make their food they don't get all the nutrition they need. Maybe you should feed them something home made every one in a while. IDK if im answering their question, just thought you'd need it.
3. You'll have to do your own math here, based upon the ingedients you wish to us. For me, it was slightly more expensive to make my own-- boiled chicken with baked sweet potato and parsley. The parsley was home grown.. I factored that at .0$ because I was using as much in my own cooking as it was for the dog. The split chicken breast I could purchase at about 99cents a pound when I was lucky. Same price for the sweet potato.. so I added the cost of the energy to fire up my stove & stovetop, as well as the price for my time.. And the multiple vitamins I added... Probably +$1.50 a pound, but it was worth it. You can stretch that and reduce the price per pound by 'stretching' the chicken and potato with boiled rice, but of course you have to keep a closer eye on nutrition, since dogs aren't primarily vegetarians, I'd be reluctant to go too heavy on the rice for fear of ill effect. So, start with your own recipe, factor in price per pound of the components, divide by the ratio/s in the recipe, then you'll have your price. If you're lucky enough to have a hunter in the family, or can get your hands on free meat, then your cost is reduced accordingly.
4. It will be more to properly cook for your pet then Science Diet. The problem isn't just feeding them home cooked food, but also making sure they get all the nutrients they need. You can try giving a general vitamin, but you could still be giving too little or too much or certain things. I would stick with what you are feeding now. Science Diet is one of the oldest pet foods out there that ensures everything meets the needs of your pets without having to add anything extra. Not to mention that everything is also clinically proven with over 150 vets and nutritionists working year round of improving an excellent line of food. I also like that I do not have to worry about recalls as everything is tested before it leaves their facility. Sorry, I did a lot of research on foods instead of believing everything I heard from others who didn't and found out that out of all foods, SD is one of the best out there.
5. Do the research yourself. It’s lots of reading, but it's worth it, although sometimes it gets confusing :) I think if you are using good quality ingredients it might be a little more expensive but it's worth it. Good Luck! Real food can be time consuming, so a quality kibble is a good back-up. Here are some websites that might help you decide: Online free magazine that has good info: http://www.housepetmagazine.com/index.htm Yahoo Group you should join, they have lots of info in their files and will answer any questions you might have: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Kitchen/ Consumer reports on some commercial dog foods: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/dog-food/index.html Below are sites I came across when searching for the best food for your dog – you can do the search yourself if you want. Most of the sites I searched with the exception of those trying to sell you something list many of the same attributes that you should look for in a good food. http://dogs.about.com/od/dietandnutrition/f/dog_food_why.htm http://experts.about.com/q/Dogs-701/best-brand-food-dog.htm http://ebiz.netopia.com/yorkies/bestfoodforyourdog/ http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html#TopCanned http://animalark.eapps.com/animal/PetFoods.nsf/$$PetFoodsByRating?OpenForm http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/bestfood.html
6. For the size dogs you have, it would be more expensive to home cook and get the nutritive values right. You need to know all the vitamin and mineral requirements for the size dog you are feeding, then factor that out with what you cook for them. It's not a matter of just tossing in a few veggies and meat and calling that nutritionally adequate. If you want some good recipes for home-cooking, check out http://www.monicasegal.com Monica has a pamphlet on recipes and shows you how to make sure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy life on your dogs.
7. Homecooking is great. It is actually fairly low cost once you add everything thing up but with four dogs and three being large you might want to possibly look into RAW or BARF diet. Just as good but a bit cheaper. All these options are much better then Science Diet, so any one is good.
8. I honestly don't know if the initial cost of homemade will be less than Science Diet because I work at a pet food store right now and get my raw food for free, but I can tell you that you will definitely save money in vet bills. Studies have shown that dogs on highly processed foods like Science Diet have poorer immune system responses than dogs that eat real food diets. Because I can't completely answer your question, I'll just send you to a place where people can. Go here: http://www.dogster.com/ and set up an account. The helpful people in the homemade diets forum will be able to answer most of your questions. Go to this link to make absolutely sure that your diet is balanced.http://www.dogster.com/forums/Home_Prepared_Food_Recipes/thread/640881 You do need to be kind of careful with balancing the diet because dogs generally require more protein than people and always require more calcium than people. One way to get this calcium is organic bone meal (non-organic has too many heavy metals in it for regular use) or by baking and finely grinding the eggshells you use in their food. To make homemade easier on yourself you could also just consider buying a pre-made mix like Sojos Grain-Free. It is a very economical way to feed dogs because it is so affordable and then you just soak in water then add your own meat (if you belong to a raw co-op and buy in bulk, this can also be affordable). http://www.sojos.com/europa.html So I hope this helps! And just remember that you absolutely will save money in vet bills with a homemade diet. EDIT: This article will help you make your decision: http://sojos.com/worththepricearticle.html
9. No more than $20,or you may buy it.