[Chatito]

I know there was a post on here before, but I couldn't relocate it. Also, I dont know if it was on this forum or another, but I believe someone had posted a sample raw diet. Now, I just called my local poultry packing company and their chicken backs are .10/lb, gizzards are .69/lb and leg quarters are .43/lb. Are these good prices compared where you all live? At first they did not understand what I was talking about when I asked for chicken backs, so I am going tomorrow to see if it really is what they quoted me. To be honest with you, I dont know how a chicken back suppose to look like, as far as the meat content it is suppose to have etc. Anyone have pics so I can compare? I dont want pure bones.....thanx

 

[Newcastle]

.10/lb is a phenomenal price for chicken backs; the lowest I can get is .26/lb and that's with driving an hour to pick them up.  Chicken backs are generally about 50% meat, 50% bone; this page has some photos - in step 5 the back is the bony portion north of the knife; in the bottom photo letter "E" is the other side of the back.
http://gourmetsleuth.com/cutupchicken.htm

 

[Chatito]

Thanx a bunch Newcastle. Now all I need to do is convince my wife to feed raw!  :?

 

[BurningRiver]

I agree - .10/lb is phenominal. I pay .21/lb for backs.

.43 for leg quarters is a great deal as well - I pay .52/lb.

 

[Matt-n-Ghost]

I had read a post by someone saying that it costs about $25 per month for the raw diet for one dog. Do you guys agree with this figure?

 

[BurningRiver]

It depends on your suppliers and on how cheap you can get meat. Cost is also relative because they eat many of the things that we don't. For example, if I put a package of hamburger out to thaw and something comes up and we can't get to it the dogs get it. If I find broken eggs hiding in the egg carton that I missed at the store, the dogs get it. If we have left over browned beef from taco night, the dogs get it. All of our fruits and veggies that go "off" go to the dogs.

If I feed only chicken, I can probably feed a dog for one month for around $25 - $30, but it's very hard for me to give an exact price for the reasons I listed above.

 

[Chatito]

Well, as far as me, and me being new to raw. I have made some approx. calculations. For just my chato, and being on chicken backs as his main course for the 1st month, and some femur/knuckle bones here and there, it's approx. $20. Like I said, just for chicken backs. Next month I will introduce him to another protein source, like hamburger meat. Little by little i will be giving him additional protein sources, and also start integrating veggies slop. So obviously the price will go up, maybe up to $30-35/mo. It's almost close to when I had him on kibble. Then again, he never really did well on kibble. Constant diarrhea. As soon as I switched him cold turkey, his stools were like stones!  :lol: I've started him on canned pumpkin as well, 1tbsp / day.

 

[BurningRiver]

Sounds good! You'll want to introduce some leg quarters as well for variety. Chicken backs tend to have too much bone for my girls (makes then consitpated and my one girl has issues on them if she is left on them for too long), and the leg quarters seem to balance things out in that they contain more muscle meat.

Glad to hear that he's doing well!