Hello, After a lot of comparing dog foods, I've been considering feeding Butcher's Loaf Recipes to my labs. So far they've been purely on kibble, but we've had many years of flare ups of itching ears and paws. They're on hypoallergenic feed, similar to Wainrights or Autarky, but even on that, still the itching. So I was considering raw, but after a very long time weighing it up, I just don't think I can commit to the cost or time to preparing raw. But one thing I have come to realise is that the higher moisture content or raw/wet food can prevent problems such a kidney disease further down the line. So I thought tinned may be a good compromise. Butcher's Dog food didn't used to have a good reputation I don't think, but looking on the label and checking it on the comparison sites, it seems good. And I tried them on it, they seemed loads less itchy (but early days, only trialled 6 tins) My query is, how much, if you were solely going to feed it, should you feed each dog? They are both around 34kg (fluctuates sometimes) with ideal weights of around 32.5kg. One is 10 years old, the other 4½, both neutered males with small walks in the week, larger walks at the weekend. I fed them each two tins per day (one tune in the morning, one tin at night) but the packaging isn't clear what is a large dog and what is a medium. So I've been feeding them as mediums. The large dog recommendation was 3½ tins each per day (in which case, that'd be 7 tins a day, by which time I might as well be doing raw!) So, my question is, IF I was going to feed Butcher's tins, how many tins should each of my boys have every day? Thanks in advance! ☺️
Hi Holly, This was one that we were looking at too for our 6 month old puppy who started having an upset stomach on her kibble. Labs are large breed dogs so should look to this as a guide. I have just had a look on all about dog food based on a weight of 30kgs and Butchers loaf recipes says to feed 1600g a day so 4 tins a day each at £2.56 per dog. We have switched Luna to Natural Instinct and what a difference in her, she is so much happier and back to herself. To feed your boys would be 580g a day at £1.77 per dog Butchers also has a rating of 89% with Natural Instinct at 95%! Since you would have two dogs the Raw I would recommend you get a separate chest freezer to store it all. There is no prep needed for this just to keep on top of taking it out the freezer to defrost.
The raw complete meals get cheaper with bigger quantities. I am using Nutriment which comes in 500g boxes or 1.4kg chubs. I hate the packaging with the plastic boxes but the chub wrapper can be recycled when rinsed and the metal ends cut off. Toby is on 800g a day which is an awkward amount and you have to be on top of defrosting them. Also if you order a large quantity(80kg I think) you get 33% off which is a huge saving. I’m sure other brands do similar wholesale discounts.
Thank you! Gosh, 4 tins each sounds like so much! Out of curiosity, where do you buy your natural instinct from? If it's not tinned I may need to wait until our new garage goes up after winter so I can buy a box freezer!
Thank you! That's really good! Do you get the nutrient direct from the website or have to buy it from suppliers! Think I will need to wait until our garage goes up so I can get a box freezer, but it's given me food for thought (pardon the pun!) how much do you spend a week or month, roughly?
I buy it direct from the website as there isn't a supplier near me. You can check the website and they will show you where your nearest stockist is. The cost for us is quite high just now as she is a puppy. The amount of food for a 32kg dog on their website is recommended as 640g-960g a day. Since they are less active during the week I would say it is the lower end. The just chicken is £3.06 a kg and there is different flavours. https://www.naturalinstinct.com/
You can calculate the calories in the kibble you are currently using and in whatever you want to switch to using this calculator: https://www.pfma.org.uk/dog-calorie-calculator-nrc-method 4 tins a day sounds like far too much to me. I wouldn't let prep time put you off raw feeding - there are lots of companies that supply complete meals as convenient as tins apart from the freezer space. If you have a local supplier - I have 3 nearby here in rural Wales- you don't even need much freezer space. There are loads of online companies - I like Naturaw and Paleo Ridge personally -that deliver, sometimes for free if you buy a hamper.
I am lucky the distributor is 6 miles from me so I go there. Pet shops and garden centres with pet supplies sell it too. Toby can’t tolerate chicken so far so his meals are a bit more expensive.He is ok with turkey ,salmon and duck. Two chubs @around £5 each (@average over the flavours) last 3 days.He weighs around 30kgs and gets 2x400grams a day. Once I have established which proteins are ok I will shop around other makes and buy when there are offers on or find someone to share 80kg! I bought a small chest freezer from Gumtree but it is slightly too small for that quantity! I was paying £60 for a kibble that agreed with him so not a huge amount more and I feel it is better for him. They also sell dried sprats that I use as rewards. Trouble is all the dogs can smell them in my pocket(nice!)
Thank you all for the comments! I think you have helped me establish that raw is the way to go! I will keep them on kibble for now then change them onto raw in the new year when we have our garage put up in spring. I can't have a chest freezer until then, but it's not a long time in the great scheme of things ☺️
Sounds like a plan! It took me a while to get round to doing it and I don’t think you’ll change your mind once started.
Sounds like a great idea. My take on it is that if anyone suggested the only way you could feed yourself or your kids was to buy processed pellets made by Mars and Nestle (the manufacturers of Pedigree, Chappie, Purina etc) you'd think they were mad (or at least getting paid to say it).
