It is not always easy to feed your dog healthy food at a reasonable price. This article gives you some ideas of easy, natural recipes on the cheap.
Although the raw food diet might be the best for your dog, it is not always possible for various reasons. So one has to come up with a different diet, an affordable one and definitely a healthy one.
I never buy dog or cat tin food because, first of all, it contains horse meat and secondly, they are of bad quality and have preservatives. Then last but not least, my dog and cat do not eat them. I had a friend giving me some tins of a very well known brand when her cat passed away and I had to give them away myself as my cat and dog did not even want to have a taste of it!
When it comes to feeding my animals (all of them, including the horses!), my motto is that if I cannot eat or drink it myself, then I don’t see why I would feed it to my animals. With this very bright philosophy in mind, I started roaming the aisles of the super-market in quest of some cheap, healthy, appropriate and palatable food for my cat and dog.
I came up with the following shopping list:
- rice – $2 for 1 kg
- potatoes – $2 for 1kg
- pasta – $0.60
- various vegetables
- carrots – $1 for 1kg
- lettuce – $2
- zucchinis – $2 for 1 kg
- peas – $2
- off cut meat – $3 for 1kg
- fresh chicken carcasses with plenty of meat on them – $2 for 3 at the butcher
- raw fish heads – $3 for 1 kg, maybe less
- home brand (no frills) fish tins because they have no preservatives and no additives and they are cheap! Fish is an excellent meal for dogs.
- mackerel – $1.40
- tuna in oil – $1.50
- pink salmon – $2.5
Of course, all the above is fit for human consumption!
That might seems a lot but we are talking in kilos!
So lets prepare a meal for my Australian Kelpie Roy, a medium size (20-22kg) very active dog.
- Cook 1 cup of rice and keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay edible for at least 4 days. 1 tablespoon or 2 for 1 meal = $0.10 (approx)
- half a carrot, grated = $0.10
- 1/4 of a lettuce leaf, chopped finely = $0.05
- 200g of raw off cut meat chopped into small morsels = $0.60
- 1 table spoon of cooked peas = $0.10
- 1 table spoon of vegetable oil (olive, sunflower, coconut etc.) for skin conditioning = $0.05
TOTAL = $1
Watching my dog gulping the lot in 20 seconds! PRICELESS!!
You can replace the meat with a 1/4 of chicken carcasses, chopped into small morsels, or half a tin of fish.
If you feel like it and your dog likes raw fish, you can get into the fish heads and remove all the flesh for his meal. Mind the bones! Or you can cook them in water and salt so the flesh is easier to remove. You can even use the water to cook the rice too! Waste nothing!
You can replace the rice with a cooked potato or a tablespoon of cooked pasta. Keep in mind that pasta is made out of wheat and some dogs are allergic to wheat.
So it is possible to feed a healthy diet to a dog for $1/day. Ok, it is not about opening a tin and have the pooch fed in 10 seconds. However, as part of our families we owe our animal friends the care they deserve. Once the rice is cooked, it only takes less than 10 minutes to prepare this meal. It is worth it as your dog does not get fed junk, therefore he will live a longer and healthier life with you.