Cost

[Dr. Jeff]

Here's another older forum reply. The community member was concerned about the expense of feeding her multiple rescue dogs fresh food. My reply applies today as well:

Feeding raw is usually less expensive than feeding a commercial (and processed) food. This doesn’t even include the potential medication and vet bill savings.

I usually advise starting with chicken quarters, backs, or other poultry parts that can be inexpensively incorporated into the diet (often for under a dollar a pound).

Many markets sell less desirable cuts of beef, pork, offal, etc. for very affordable prices.

In addition, many pet stores and online sources will give rescue groups a discount (especially if they buy in bulk or are a 501c3).

Unfortunately, affordable organic foods can be more difficult to find. The best bet usually is to befriend a local farmer or butcher that might even give away the less desirable cuts.

There are also multiple affordable online sources (and others that deliver bulk orders to designated pickup spots).

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Christina]

Other ideas:

Is there a local pastured egg producer who raise their own chicks? When they have males, they are killed at day 1. Their carcasses can be very inexpensive.

Hunted game - deer, elk, pheasant, fish, moose, etc. Many hunters are willing (if good friends) to bring all the innards to you, or to their butcher. Find who butchers for the hunters in your area. An internet search yielded several in my area.

Tongue, heart, liver, kidney, tripe (stomach), chicken feet - all are good. Using these "waste products" helps the environment as well, for you are not feeding something that people would be eating, rather it would be made into a poor quality fertilizer.