Saturday meal preparation

Saturday is usually the day I prepare the veggie mash for dogs. I have been grading their vegetables for a while now and they eat them like that, too, but now I wanted to prepare the mix again just because it has all the goodies in the same pack.

Minus the beginning of this routine, meaning the preparing of the vegetables, our routine is the same every evening. In the morning things are a bit more simple because there are no meds or supplements to hand out nor is there any dishwashing.

I started today at 6:30 P.M

1. Preparing the vegetables

Our vegetable mix usually consists of broccoli, cucumber, lettuce and zucchini.

Broccoli is very rich in about everything. It has lots of vitamins and minerals and would be best used raw, but I have noticed it may cause gas to some dogs. That's why I tend to boil the broccoli. It does cause some of the nutrients to vanish, but as vegetables should always be considered as a possible plus in nutrients, but mostly a source of fiber, it's not a big thing.

Lettuce is mostly good for fiber, as it does have some vitamins and minerals but not nearly as much as broccoli, for example. I find lettuce a good add on to the mix mainly because dogs like it's taste a lot. I am not sure what exactly charms them as much, but they like to munch it in pieces as well as eat it blended. The same goes with cucumber. 


Zucchini is said to be beneficial for digestion and helps to clean up the system. Whether or not this is true with dogs is to be debated, but once again, dogs like it's taste and it's also very good source for fiber. I tend to use one zucchini and two cucumbers when I prepare this exact mix, but sometimes during the summers when mother provides me with home grown zucchini and cucumber the ratio might change depending on how much cucumber and zucchini I have.

 At this point, when everything is chopped and broccoli is boiled I will invite my trusty Elsi The Electrolux Blender to the party. Life has been better after Elsi joined our family. I am bad at eating (poor teeth. Not good breeding material :P ), and Elsi has helped me a lot by turning everything into a gorgeous liquid of nutrients.

True, sometimes the product looks exactly like dog vomit, but at least usually it does taste good.

Last but not least, I pour all blended vegetables into a huge bowl and add some dried seaweed. Seaweed has many health benefits and nutrients and for raw feeders one of the most essential of them is the iodine. Dogs needs very small amounts of iodine, but they DO need it. Seaweed is the best and the easiest source, so I highly suggest using it. It's usually easy to find from almost everywhere.

2. Distributing of the meat

Ah, the best part. Vegetables are beneficial for dogs, but as some dogs are more carnivore by their digestive system than others, and we can't really tell who is what by just looking at them, vegetables are always to be seen as a possible plus. You can't really consider them as a main source for anything (except in some cases, like with iodine and seaweed, because seaweed is so packed with iodine even if just a few percents are absorbed, it is enough). 

Meats are what dogs are supposed to eat. After I have washed the bowls it's time to take out our meats from the fridge.

Here are the meats for the day! 

On the upper row a crowd favorite; boneless turkey. A classic, loved by everyone. If I would have to choose one meat and only one, boneless turkey would probably be the pick.

On the bottom left we have minced beef meat and heart. I always try to go for as much meat as I can when I buy minced meats. This product is meant for puppies and hence it doesn't have cartilage or anything like that, only meat and some heart minced together. It's super quality and even smells just like the beef meat I eat myself. 

On the bottom left another crowd favorite; MUSH Vaisto Sininen (MUSH Vaisto Blue). MUSH is a Finnish pet raw food provider and it has many products I use daily. One of my all time favorites and something dogs love too is their complete raw food formula Vaisto. Vaisto products have many meats minced together with liver, finely grounded bone and other intestines to provide a good, balanced mix to use as it is or as part of the feeding. I tend to use it as a part of our feeding, mainly as a source of calcium and vitamin A (because of the liver). Vaisto Sininen (Blue) has beef, turkey and salmon in it, along with some vegetables and sunflower oil. My dogs like this formula the best, but they do love other Vaisto products, too, for example their Wild formula and Vaisto Vihreä (Green). Vaisto Vihreä is also a very easy way to start raw feeding, as it consists of products that are easy to digest and it has less bone in it.

I like to prepare the meals myself to make sure everyone has their individual needs met, but I have always recommended Vaisto for those who just simply want to feed raw without all the fuss.

At this point I usually give meals for the ferrets first. They tend to roam free while I am preparing food, so I go and give them their food and leave them to eat it in peace. Sometimes I may feed them with a spoon, because 1. they are cute 2. they are spoiled 3. Private is picky, but everything fed with a spoon turns into a culinary delicacy in his mind.

Trooper needs his insulinoma medicine every day and because it should be given about the same time every evening, giving the food for ferrets first is a good way for me to make sure he eats his quarter of a pill before I continue with anything else. Today's supper consisted of minced boneless turkey meat and an egg yolk. Ferrets can eat the whites, too, but just every now and then.

3. Supplementing 

Almost done! When ferrets have eaten their portions (or are eating them currently. I only stay to make sure Trooper has his medicine eaten for sure) I get back to prepare the meal for the dogs. Supper also has all the supplements added, so depending on what the dogs are eating today I add all the needed extra.

When there is not that much fish in the dish, I add vitamin D to make sure dogs have their needs met. I don't supplement vitamin D every day. If I give lots of salmon, white fish or herring that day, supplemented vitamin D is not needed. What I DO give every day is zinc for everyone (this product is actually only used by the hounds. General doesn't do good with it, so I use Avital Biotin for him) and WorkingDogHyaluron 365 for Jester and General. It is like liquid GOLD. 

That's it! Supper is served at 7:45.Vegetables took about 30 minutes, so usually distributing meals takes me about 45 minutes in the evening. During the mornings it's about 15 minutes less. 

My feeding style does require some time but as I find it relaxing to mix and match, it doesn't matter. In the beginning I was intimidated by preparing the meals myself, but the more I learned and read, the less I stressed. You can't really go THAT wrong if you keep it versatile and use quality products. As I said earlier, there are also complete formulas for those who like their feeding simple and fast.

Higher cost, better food?

A little while ago I asked in my personal Facebook page how much people spend to the foods of their dogs, no matter what their dogs eat, and what defines how much money they are willing to spend. Do they go with what is equally “pretty good” and “pretty affordable”, or are they willing to spend more to get top quality.

Most people said they are willing to spend more for a quality product, but that they will settle on “pretty good but also pretty affordable” rather than “very expensive allegedly top quality”, because they didn't think the cost actually correlates with the quality after certain prize point. This was true specially with kibble. No matter prize does say something about the quality, with kibble name most certainly adds a few extra euros to the prize. Super cheap kibbles are usually not that rich in nutrients and protein, but after passing a certain point on quality, kibble doesn’t get better the more it costs. Raw feeding is more tricky; better quality costs more. The more the product has actual meat inside, the more it costs.

Kibble

I did some researching and compared some kibbles together. The prizes I use here are euro prizes of Finland, so bear that in mind.

The first brand I have here is a common more expensive brand, and this product is for medium size dogs. One bag of 12 kilos costs approximately 70 euros in Finland. Here’s what they say about ingredients:

• Dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour, maize, wheat flour, animal fats, wheat, hydrolysed animal proteins, beet pulp, fish oil, minerals, soya oil, yeasts and parts thereof, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligosaccharides (0.05%). Crude ash: 6.1%. Crude fibre: 1.3%. Crude oil fats: 14%. Moisture: 0%. Protein: 25%.

Here are the added vitamins and minerals:

• Vitamin A: 12500 IU, Vitamin D3: 800 IU, E1 (Iron): 43 mg, E2 (Iodine): 4.3 mg, E4 (Copper): 13 mg, E5 (Manganese): 55 mg, E6 (Zinc): 133 mg, E8 (Selenium): 0.11 mg - Preservatives - Antioxidants

The second brand I chose is about 60 euros for 12 kilos. It, too, is meant for medium breed dogs. Here’s the list of ingredients:

• lamb meat meal (38%), rice (37%), chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols), dried apples, salmon oil (2%), natural flavors, brewer’s yeast, hydrolyzed crustacean shells (a source of glucosamine, 260 mg/kg), cartilage extract (a source of chondroitin, 160 mg/kg), mannanoligosaccharides (150 mg/kg), herbs and fruits (cloves, citrus, curcuma, rosemary, 150 mg/kg), fructooligosaccharides (100 mg/kg), yucca schidigera (100 mg/kg), inulin (90 mg/kg), milk thistle (75 mg/kg)

Additives next, like last time:

• vitamin A (E672) 20,000 IU, vitamin D3 (E671) 1,500 IU, vitamin E (α-tocopherol) (3a700) 500 mg, vitamin C (E300) 200 mg, choline chloride 600 mg, biotin 0.6 mg, vitamin B1 1 mg, vitamin B2 4 mg, niacinamide (3a315) 12 mg, calcium panthothenate 10 mg, vitamin B6 (3a831) 1 mg, folic acid (3a316) 0.5 mg, vitamin B12 0.04 mg, zinc (E6) 80 mg, iron (E1) 70 mg, manganese (E5) 35 mg, iodine (E2) 0.65 mg, copper (E4) 15 mg, selenium (3b8.10) 0.25 mg

The third brand is most certainly to the more expensive side, costing about 85 euros for 12 kilos. Ingredient list looks like following:

• Deboned chicken, deboned turkey, atlantic flounder, whole eggs, whole atlantic mackerel, chicken liver, turkey liver, chicken heart, turkey heart, whole atlantic herring, dehydrated chicken, dehydrated turkey, dehydrated mackerel, dehydrated chicken liver, whole dehydrated egg, whole red lentils, whole pinto beans, whole green peas, chicken necks, chicken kidney, whole green lentils, whole navy beans, whole chickpeas, lentil fiber, chicken fat, natural chicken flavor, pollock oil, ground chicken bone, chicken cartilage, turkey cartilage, mixed tocopherols (preservative), whole pumpkin, whole butternut squash, freeze-dried chicken liver, dried kelp, zinc proteinate, kale, spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, whole carrots, whole apples, whole pears, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, thiamine mononitrate, D-calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, chicory root, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, althea root, rosehips, juniper berries, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product.

We don’t really get other percentages than min 38% of protein, 20% of carbohydrates and min 18% of fat. Added vitamins look like following:

• Vitamin A 28.0 kIU/kg, Vitamin D 32.00 kIU/kg, Vitamin E 170 IU/kg, Thiamine (B1) 25.0 mg/kg, Riboflavin (B2) 17.0 mg/kg, Pan. Acid (B5) 25.0 mg/kg, Niacin (B3) 100 mg/kg, Pyridoxine (B6) 20.0 mg/kg, Folic Acid 2.50 mg/kg, Vitamin B1 20.12 mg/kg, Choline 2000 mg/kg

The fourth brand is a cheaper kibble that doesn’t want to write anything in English damn it, but I managed to get some basic information for us to compare to the previous ones. This brand costs about 50 euros for 12 kilos.

• Chicken meal, oat, potatoes, flax seed, beet, rapeseed oil, forest berries. Protein 26%, fat 13%
• A-vitamiini/vitamin 13 000 IU, D3-vitamiini/vitamin 1500 IU, E-vitamiini/vitamin 110 mg, B1-vitamiini/vitamin 10 mg, B2-vitamiini/vitamin 15 mg, B3-vitamiini/vitamin 55 mg, B5-vitamiini/vitamin 20 mg, B6- vitamiini/vitamin 15 mg, B9-vitamiini/vitamin 4 mg, B12-vitamiini/vitamin 0,07 mg, biotiini/biotin 0,2 mg, rauta/iron 160 mg, sinkki/zinc 140 mg, kupari/copper 18 mg, mangaani/mangane 14 mg, jodi/iodin 2 mg, seleeni/selenium 0,2 mg. All are per kilo.

We do see some change and variation, but I’d say keeping in mind the cost range between all four is from 50 euros to 85 euros, there isn’t that much that changes.

Raw feeding

With raw feeding costs depend on how much meat the food has. There are some brands offering complete raw food formulas, and they tend to cost about the same as medium to higher end kibble. One complete brand available in Finland costs about 45 euros per 10 kilos, another offers complete raw food mix about 65 to 70 euros for ten kilos. The first one hasn’t got added vitamins, the other one has added vitamin D, zinc and glucosamine.

It is cheaper, no doubt, to build the diet oneself. I use a mix of both methods; I use the first brand’s complete food formula as part of our diet every now and then, and otherwise I mix and match based on what my dogs need. This way does expect you to actually know what you need to give to the dog and how much they need, but in general if you feed many meats and organs consistently and you use good quality products, you will automatically answer to most needs.

My style of feeding as well as products I use have changed a bit from last time I did a full-on in-depth post about it, so I will roughly give an idea here about how much feeding four dogs and two ferrets costs now, with my current feeding style.

These prizes are, once more, based on euro prizes of Finland and I do get a discount from certain products, may it be because I am a regular customer or I have a breeder’s discount card.

Our monthly costs at the moment are:

• D-vitamin product, minced boneless turkey (10kg), minced beef meat and hearts (10kg) 63 euros
• Random amount of chicken fillets, pork pieces, boneless chicken, chicken with bones, white fish, salmon, random meats for fun 50 to 70 euros per month (I can’t say the exact amount, but my animals eat about two kilos a day and one part of the doof consists of these foods here)
• Complete raw food formula 40 euros / 10 kilos (this amount lasts about a month if not a bit more with us)
• Vegetables and eggs about 25 euros per month
• Zinc about 15 euros per month
• Sunflower oil about 8 euros per month

I buy calcium for ferrets and seaweed for all animals in large containers that would make so little per month they are not taken into consideration here. This adds on to the total of 201 euros to 221 euros per month, if my pets would eat all of that food. However, some products last longer than a month, we don’t really by all of this every month and sometimes I leave out the complete food formula. The more realistic expectation of food costs per month is about 150 to 190 euros per month.

It is a lot of money, but then again, compared to the cost of OK quality kibble I would have to buy per month, and remembering kibble is never optimal for any animal, I think feeding raw is the most wallet friendly way of feeding your animal in a proper way.

Conclusion

I am still very much a believer in natural feeding. While there are OK kibbles around, kibble is not an optional food for any kind of a carnivore, and the cost of good kibble is always going to be more or less on the higher end. With the same amount of money you’d be able to buy lots of different meats and no matter you do use more of meat in weight than you’d use kibble, the food itself gives more to the animal than kibble ever would (assuming you use good quality products and have enough variation). This means in general you get more with your money when you feed raw, because cost doesn't seem to correlate with the quality directly when talking about kibble.

Another thing to keep in mind with feeding, or course, is that we as owners are responsible of our animals. I sometimes, if rarely, meet people who say they have “so many dogs I can’t afford to buy them proper meat or some costly kibble” and they will choose the cheaper option to be able to feed all the animals. While this is very much something one has to do, feed ALL the animals, not just a few, having many pets is a choice.  I don’t think anyone should have so many pets they can’t afford to feed them properly, may that be with kibble or raw food. We did see expensive kibble doesn’t mean superior kibble, but if the kibble prize is very low, that means the ingredients used are mediocre at best. The same goes with raw meats, of course; be aware of what goes into the product. If the product is “too cheap to be true”, read the ingredients. Paying mostly for salmon heads and spines or ligaments and bone is like paying for nothing.