# Price shock on first time RAW diet!



## Gilly1331

Wow so we finally started our two on the barf diet this morning. I have been reading, researching etc for weeks now and we finally switched BUT HOLY COW price is out of this world! I spent about $150-$175 on chicken that was all 50% off so all the packages were approx $2-4 each. I weighed all the chicken and split them into approx 1lb bags and wrote the weight on the bag so I can properly grab the right amounts for each of my dogs meals. *Once I finished packaging I only ended up with about 1.5 weeks worth of food!!!!!* 

For those of you who DIY Barf diets how on earth do you afford enough for your dogs without spending you entire months worth of paychecks ok it. I called all the butchers within a 30 mile radious all were not willing to sell scraps, I looked on the omas pride website and am waiting on prices from a butcher/wholesaler as well. I thought spending $30-$40 for a bag of dog food every week was adding up but there is no way I'll be able to spend this amount on raw meats for my two if its going to cost this much for a week at a time. 

I checked all the local places for scraps and bones all no go and wanted to charge reg prices for human portions of meats. I posted on craigslist for people cleaning out their freezers but no luck there either. Here in CT I don't know of any meat barns or whatever some of you have posted about either. 

SO IDK what do you all do to buy your barf foods for your dogs? I might have to try the prepackaged barf instead. I have heard good things about Bravo and Chewys. Do any of you used the pet store pre-made barf? 

I need help!


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## Castlemaid

Its still cheaper than vet bills . . . .


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## PupperLove

That's outrageous! What happens when you can't find meat at 50% off...YIKES!!! Plus they need more than just chicken... I would be switching back to kibble, like... yesterday...lol.


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## NancyJ

When I fed BARF I either went to Aldis or the poultry processing plants direct and bought 50lb boxes........


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## BowWowMeow

Whoa--did you buy organic or gold plated chicken? 

I don't do DIY raw but I feed Bravo grinds. The chicken is $17 for 10 pounds and that lasts Rafi about a week. I think Oma's Pride has similar prices and good variety. Rafi also gets raw eggs and canned tripe. 

I think most people who do DIY buy the whole chickens and split them up. That would certainly be much cheaper.


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## GSD_Xander

While I don't do raw yet I know there are some people that order huge boxes of bulk meat from suppliers for really cheap. So, you would need a pretty big chest freezer for all of it but in the end I think it would still save money. I don't know where to get them though...I'm sure one of the raw food feeders can give you more info on where they get their food from.


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## Jax08

Look online for wholesale meat places that supply grocery stores, bars, restaurants. In fact, ask the bars and restaurants where they order from. I never spend over a $1/lb for RAW. With supplements, I'm spending about the same as a higher end bag of kibble, probably less.

And how many dogs do you have?


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## Gilly1331

Yea I just talked to my fiance and he was like yea we cant afford raw if its gonna cost that much. I have two dogs right now 75lbs and 96lbs. Im gonna have to figure out something. I sent a list of things to a friend who orders from a meat wholesaler. I might have to do kibble with only some raw bc all raw right now just isnt doable financially.

We wanted to switch to all raw bc we havent had any luck on kibble with our dogs. We tried iams, wellness, blue buffalo, pedigree, beneful. Both have a clear and healthy vet check but always have loose or yellow stools, my GSD is itchy in the fall and starting now again. My GSD/mastiff mix is super high evergy while my gsd is only 13 months and is just now starting to have good energy (he was a rescue at 5 months old barely able to even walk and really under weight) like I said both are 100% healthy at the vet and we have been playing trial and error with kibble.

Maybe if I do a mix of kibble and some raw like substitue necks etc in. My guys usually got raw livers once a week, raw ground beef during training, eggs, sardines and fruits/veggies throughout the week but we thought raw would be best but not at the cost of going bankrupt.


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## vat

Here is how I started. I feed one meal kibble (Acana) and one raw. I first started with premix like Bravo and still use Bravo from time to time. I could order that by the case from a local pet store and they gave me a case discount. My local butcher has discounted pricing for bulk on some items. Chicken thighs are $.79 lb must by 10 lb bags, ground chuck is $2.39 lb again must buy 10 lb bags. Liver I had to order and do not remember the price. I found Aldi to be the best for ground turkey at $1.39 lb.

You need to ask your butcher about bulk discounts. I found that shopping at the grocery store was way out of the question, to expensive.


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## Lauri & The Gang

For your two dogs, at those weights, you would be feeding roughly the following amounts per month:

RMB: 66 lbs
MM: 60 lbs
OM: 7 lbs

That's based on 2.5% for the GSD and 3% for the GSD mix.

If you paid $1 per pound then the cost for the month would be $120.

I can easily find chicken leg quarters at my local grocery store for $.99/lb - and that's NOT when they are on sale.

The most expensive thing, IF you are buying direct from the grocery stores, will be the Muscle Meat. Even the cheap ground beef now goes around $2/lb.

I buy beef and pork hearts in bulk from the local purveyor and pay around $.60-.70 per pound.

I pay around the following for bulk (prices fluctuate a bit):

Leg Quarters - $.49 - .69 / lb
Chicken necks - $.39 - .59 / lb
Chicken Backs - $.49 - .69 / lb
Turkey Necks - $.49 - .79 / lb

If I buy chicken necks then I spend the extra on getting something extra value - like some lamb breast or necks.

In the end I try to keep my average cost around $1 / lb.


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## Gilly1331

Maybe its the pricing around here. There is no way I could find prices like that todays chicken sale was the first Ive ever seen. Most packages for 2-3lbs average $8-15 for chicken and even worse for meats. 

Im still waiting on the wholesaler prices but Im gonna have to do kibble and mix in some raw for now otherwise all of us will be living under a tree and not in the house. 

Can anyone suggest a better kibble but also not one that will break the bank at the same time?


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## krystyne73

Well you said a bag of dog food per week? Which I thought was weird. We use 3 30lb bags of taste of the wild at $47 per bag. I have 4 dogs.
I am happy with this kibble and might go Raw if it stops working so well Hahah But you should use half of the bags I use.


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## Mac's Mom

Gilly1331 said:


> ...we thought raw would be best but not at the cost of going bankrupt.


I know exactly how you feel. I don't have a place to store bulk meat. So I shop at the grocery store weekly for all of Mac's raw. Its crazy expensive. My husband wanted to go back to kibble but we compromised and feed half raw half kibble.


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## Gilly1331

Yea I did say about 1 bag per week of food. One dog eats 5-6cups of kibble a day and the other eat 6-7 cups a day so the bags dont last long and that keeps them on the thinner side. Both are high energy and play pretty much 5-8 hours during the day. 

My finance and I decided kibble in AM/ and raw PM. Decided to try Royal Canin GSD to see if its a good match for the two dogs.


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## Elaine

Feeding raw can be spendy - it costs me about $4 per day per dog - but after having dogs with health problems in the past, I am willing to do this in an effort to not have vet bills. So far it's working.


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## vomlittlehaus

If you are in CT, you should be able to get Oma's Pride pretty cheap. The bigger the package (2 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb) the cheaper per pound. My dog is 70lbs and I think I spend $100/month on the Oma's. And it is all mixed and ready to feed, no guess work. Try that for a bit and see how it goes.


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## mspiker03

I would also try googling meat distributers in your area (or using an online yellow pages) and call them and see how much it costs. I would call all wholesalers in your area and start doing price comparisons (I go to two different places, each offers a few things I like that are different from the other, and what they have the same I find who has it cheaper). There is no way we could afford buying raw for the dogs, even at 50% off grocery prices. You will probably have to invest in a freezer just for your dogs (since most of the boxes are 25-50lbs each), but you should be able to find one fairly cheap off craigslist.


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## Miss Molly May

you can try your local classified adds for someone who travels to pick up balk raw food. We had great luck with this! It cost us between 70 cents to 1$ a pound delivered!


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## Rott-n-GSDs

I post an ad on my local Craigslist and get A LOT of meat for free. The winter is sort of a "dry spell" for getting meat off CL (people generally aren't cleaning out their freezers then), but during the rest of the year I can often go months without buying red meat. I keep the chicken in their diet because it's fairly cheap (under $1 per pound) and a good source of bone.

It does get spendy during the winter, however. My dogs are eating around 6 pounds per day between all of them, and I'm paying an average of $1.50 per pound for meat (under $1 per pound for chicken, around $2 per pound for red meat). If I get zero meat free, I'm paying around $360 per month for food.


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## lanaw13

We are also feeding half raw, half kibble... We get chicken leg quarters from Walmart for about $.70/lb, pork and canned fish from the local discount market (Fiesta). We try not to pay over $1/lb for meat, but for 3 dogs it is still $$!!. We feed TOTW for kibble, they LOVE it!!!


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## elisabeth_00117

I find buying in bulk from local farmers, wholesalers (talk to the manager about buying large amounts on a regular basis  ) and grocery stores (again, talk to managment) it helps cut the cost down.


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## Coastie01

Castlemaid said:


> Its still cheaper than vet bills . . . .


Ok lets examine this statement. If she is spending $150 every 1.5 week that means in a year she has to buy 34 times. 34 times 150 is 5100 so if your dog only lives 10 years that is $51,000. Now if she is spending $30 a week on kibble which seems pretty high that is $15,600 over 10 years. The difference between BARF and Kibble in this case is $35,400. If you are spending 35K on vet bills from food related issues you need to find a new vet.


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## 4TheDawgies

Gilly1331 said:


> I spent about $150-$175 on chicken that was all 50% off so all the packages were approx $2-4 each.


if you go to walmart, there are 10lb red bags with chicken leg quarters they sell for $4-$5 approximately. Thats about $0.50 a lb. This can be a bone source for you.

The more meat you can buy in a package the better the deal. Talk to the butchers and/or management at the stores about buying in bulk and deals.

I know it sounds odd but also consider going to grocery stores in poor parts of town and/or foreign food markets. They often have things cheaper, and often have different meats not normally sold in other stores that run cheaper. 

there is a grocery store in a poor area of my city that is EASILY 30-50 cents cheaper in all of their meat products than the other grocery stores in this area. 



Gilly1331 said:


> I weighed all the chicken and split them into approx 1lb bags and wrote the weight on the bag so I can properly grab the right amounts for each of my dogs meals. Once I finished packaging I only ended up with about 1.5 weeks worth of food!!!!!


How many dogs do you have? 



Gilly1331 said:


> For those of you who DIY Barf diets how on earth do you afford enough for your dogs without spending you entire months worth of paychecks ok it.


I go through a raw food coop. check in your area if you have one. I found mine via craigslist. They work with a recycling company called quest that gets the food from walmart. 

If not I have a deal under the table with a big butcher in the area who sells me their scrap meats for $0.15 a lb



Gilly1331 said:


> I called all the butchers within a 30 mile radious all were not willing to sell scraps, I looked on the omas pride website and am waiting on prices from a butcher/wholesaler as well. I thought spending $30-$40 for a bag of dog food every week was adding up but there is no way I'll be able to spend this amount on raw meats for my two if its going to cost this much for a week at a time.


go into a butcher place near by and speak to the management personally. Tell them you are willing to pay money for the meat they normally have to throw away. MAKE SURE to tell them it is meat for DOGS. The butcher I spoke too was hesitant to sell it to me until I mentioned it was for dogs. When I mentioned it was for dogs he relaxed his face and said, oh.... then yea we can work something out. Going in person makes you more personable. If you bring in a little price sheet of how much meat you will be buying regularly and how much money they can make selling that food to you instead of throwing it away, it will AT LEAST get the wheels turning in their heads. 



Gilly1331 said:


> I checked all the local places for scraps and bones all no go and wanted to charge reg prices for human portions of meats. I posted on craigslist for people cleaning out their freezers but no luck there either. Here in CT I don't know of any meat barns or whatever some of you have posted about either.


normally the meats are only cut once or twice a week. Discuss with them that you would like to come in on those days and purchase the scraps they have to throw away. Offer a cheap enough price for you to be fair, but enough to make it worth it for them. Again speaking with management is probably a must here as well since it will have to go through them. I would honestly just go straight to management at every place if i can. Be very personable it will help them to want to help you out. Possibly bring literature for them to review about the diet you want to feed. 



Gilly1331 said:


> SO IDK what do you all do to buy your barf foods for your dogs? I might have to try the prepackaged barf instead. I have heard good things about Bravo and Chewys. Do any of you used the pet store pre-made barf?
> 
> I need help!


I believe pre packaged barf is more expensive than the $30-$40 range you mentioned above. That is why I decided against it. The only time I will try prepackaged raw or dehydrated raw is when I am going on a trip and cannot haul a ton of meat.


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## DeeMcB

You don't have to spend a lot on raw if you have a little time to put in to it. 

- I get muscle meat & organs from scraps that the butcher sells me for .50/pd. It took me a while (like 8 months) to find this guy and cultivate the relationship and it takes me about an hour a week to clean the stuff up and bag it in to meal size portions. 

- I also post on CraigsList and Freecycle and get donations from friends & family cleaning out their freezers. 

- I get whole chickens for .59/pd and cut them up in to quarters for bone content. 

- I cruise ethnic markets and out of date meat at the grocery on a regular basis. RARELY do I pay more than $1/pd. 

All in all, I feed an 11 mo GSD and a 4 yo GSD for about $40/mo. I know not everyone has the time to do what I do, but you can at least offset your costs by putting a little work in.


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## Whiskey Six

I just bought 80#s (8 bags) of whole chicken leg quarters for 59 cents a pound.
$47.20.
30#s (the 10# tubes) ground beef at 99 cents a pound. 
$29.70
Two 10# boxes of frozen Pollack fillets for $16.00 each.
$32.00
Four 1.25# tubs of chicken livers for $1.69 each.
$6.76.

135 pounds for $115.66. About 87 cents a pound. Enough to feed my two boys for over a month. All was bought at the local Dillons/Kroger. Look for specials and stock up when you find one.


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## Gilly1331

The price difference here in Connecticut is crazy. We never see nice prices like the ones everyone is sharing. Even the walmart by me isn't much cheaper. I contacted Omas pride and my friends whole sale person. We are going to try buying bulk from either of those two sources once we get bulk prices. Crossing my fingers something works out soon.


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## Jax08

If you are willing to make the drive, depending on where you are in CT, you might look at some of the NY RAW yahoo groups. There is a Western NY and a Central NY group. If you have the room and you make a trip every few months to stock up, that will dramatically decrease your costs. Also, look to see if there are any Sustainables programs near you. If there isn't, start one! Lauri (Lauri & the Gang) can probably give you information on the program.


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## jeng0304

I know several have said this already, but try to find some type of meat processor. Even if you have to drive a little.

I have to drive about 45 minutes to get mine, but I get it cheap and it is much cheaper to feed my large GSD raw than any good kibble.


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## jaysgrl71

Gilly1331 said:


> Yea I did say about 1 bag per week of food. One dog eats 5-6cups of kibble a day and the other eat 6-7 cups a day so the bags dont last long and that keeps them on the thinner side. Both are high energy and play pretty much 5-8 hours during the day.
> 
> My finance and I decided kibble in AM/ and raw PM. Decided to try Royal Canin GSD to see if its a good match for the two dogs.



I use the Royal Canin GSPuppy for Ali who is 7 months. I get the 33lb bag and it lasts him about 3 weeks. I have him on a 2cup/3x's day feeding schedule. It seems to be working great for him, I've had several compliments on his shiny coat and he has endless energy.


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## MicheleMarie

I think it's pointless to feed your dog Raw unless you are getting *meat that is grown without hormones and antibiotics at the LEAST*. I go through a company that grinds the meat organs and bones together and freezes it. Costs about $60 a month for one dog-But I also add in organic fruit and veggies (whatever is on sale) to every meal too so it really ends up being $75ish a month for one dog.

The crazy thing is a lot of the dry kibble out there that also has purified water and the meat without the drugs in it cost about $65-$80 a bag that lasts 6ish weeks. So That's the only way I justify feeding raw-it's only $15 more than kibble and they are getting fed quality meat instead of that k-fo farm crap that might as well be McDonalds.


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## Rott-n-GSDs

MicheleMarie said:


> I think it's pointless to feed your dog Raw unless you are getting *meat that is grown without hormones and antibiotics at the LEAST*.


I've heard this argument before and, frankly, I think it's ridiculous.

The "meat" that goes into a lot of kibbles is MUCH lower quality than what you'd by at a grocery store or even Wal-mart. Do you think the "meat" in kibble is grown without hormones? What about all of the additives in some kibbles (ethoxyquin, etc.)?

I find it annoying that people recommend not feeding raw simply because you cannot afford to give your dogs "organic" meat. Heck, I don't even buy that for the humans of the household.


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## MicheleMarie

Rott-n-GSDs said:


> I've heard this argument before and, frankly, I think it's ridiculous.
> 
> The "meat" that goes into a lot of kibbles is MUCH lower quality than what you'd by at a grocery store or even Wal-mart. Do you think the "meat" in kibble is grown without hormones? What about all of the additives in some kibbles (ethoxyquin, etc.)?
> 
> I find it annoying that people recommend not feeding raw simply because you cannot afford to give your dogs "organic" meat. Heck, I don't even buy that for the humans of the household.


90% of the diseases illnesses and cancers from babies to the old are directly related to what we eat. I'm not here to start an argument but that's a fact. My dogs don't eat organic meat just fruit or veggies of what's on sale. And the dry kibble I get has the meat in it that's not raised with hormones or antibiotics...that doesn't make it organic by a long shot but it is better than most meat at wall mart. Fortunately people are starting to catch on to the fact that that IS bad for you so you can probably find meat like that at Walmart now


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## Lauri & The Gang

MicheleMarie said:


> I think it's pointless to feed your dog Raw unless you are getting *meat that is grown without hormones and antibiotics at the LEAST*.


100% of the chickens raised in the US and sold commercially *ARE *hormone and antibiotic free - it's the law.

So, any raw chicken you find at the grocery store - *EVEN Walmart* - are safe to feed.


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## onyx'girl

Jax08 said:


> If you are willing to make the drive, depending on where you are in CT, you might look at some of the NY RAW yahoo groups. There is a Western NY and a Central NY group. If you have the room and you make a trip every few months to stock up, that will dramatically decrease your costs. *Also, look to see if there are any Sustainables programs near you. If there isn't, start one! Lauri (Lauri & the Gang) can probably give you information on the program*.


Quest Recycling Sustainable selections is no longer accepting new groups( you can see if there is a group near you, and maybe there is an opening, however). There are many on the waiting list for the new cycle to begin and it is at a standstill. And even then only exotic animal/rescue organizations will be accepted. Sad, because of the fact that so much of the past sale date meat ends up in landfills, if FEED AMERICA isn't involved in picking up. 

I am lucky to still be a member, and count my blessings every day that I have this great source of raw for my dogs.


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## GSDElsa

Totally OT--but can we address the amount of food your dogs are getting? That is a horribly large amount, and I think before you continue to switch their food around you should try and see what is going on....both have bad poops and are eating that much food. Really not normal...

You also seem to be switching all over the place on kibbles you have tried. WHY have you tried the ones you have? 

I almost think some kind of elimination diet is in order...so for the time being it seems like staying JUST on RAW, or putting them on some kind of bland diet with a novel protein woudl be a good idea.

You said their health checked out, but what does that mean? What exactly have they been tested for?

Also, what kind of meat are you paying those prices for? (I mean what parts of the chicken. I know it's CT, but those prices really do seem high even for the NYC area).


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## krystyne73

Lauri & The Gang said:


> 100% of the chickens raised in the US and sold commercially *ARE *hormone and antibiotic free - it's the law.
> 
> So, any raw chicken you find at the grocery store - *EVEN Walmart* - are safe to feed.


Not to really debate our "opinions", but where did you get your information? I have always been lead to believe our chickens were tainted.
Don't get me wrong, I eat them LOL, although I buy mainly organic labeled meats and fruits now, I wouldn't freak out if I ate a chicken that was not labeled organic. But I googled it again to make sure and I found many sites saying just the opposite of your statement.
example Healthy Chicken: What You Need to Know Before You Prepare Another Meal with Chicken!

Also on the documentary Food Inc, they portray commercial chicken farms as silent killers and had me convinced I should only buying chicken eggs from my local farmers now (which I do). I also have not intentionally eaten corn all year because I have read it is full of toxins and those toxic corn/grains are fed to the chickens, so I don't know.LOL:crazy:
I try not to be a "believer" in anything with out verifiable facts but it's hard to know what's the truth anymore.


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## Jax08

That information is on the FDA site

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/06p0394/06p-0394-cp00001-42-Tab-39-FSIS-vol1.pdf


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## MicheleMarie

krystyne73 said:


> Not to really debate our "opinions", but where did you get your information? I have always been lead to believe our chickens were tainted.
> Don't get me wrong, I eat them LOL, although I buy mainly organic labeled meats and fruits now, I wouldn't freak out if I ate a chicken that was not labeled organic. But I googled it again to make sure and I found many sites saying just the opposite of your statement.
> example Healthy Chicken: What You Need to Know Before You Prepare Another Meal with Chicken!
> 
> Also on the documentary Food Inc, they portray commercial chicken farms as silent killers and had me convinced I should only buying chicken eggs from my local farmers now (which I do). I also have not intentionally eaten corn all year because I have read it is full of toxins and those toxic corn/grains are fed to the chickens, so I don't know.LOL:crazy:
> I try not to be a "believer" in anything with out verifiable facts but it's hard to know what's the truth anymore.


**smiles** listening to the FDA and the USDA about whats healthy for us is like asking a bum on the street for medical advice. (**cough** usda just put monsanto in charge of regulating themselves O.O)
It's hard in this day and age and especially with the economy to convince some people. I live in an awesome eco friendly place. I am a nutritionist and you won't believe the transformation people go through when they switch over to an organic diet. I see this with my own eyes and reflect that onto my dogs as much as possible as well. Aside from the animals being treated horrifically they also treat their employees like that too  I haven't even walked into a walmart in 7 years. However I do like to respect the fact that some people are good with whats what and that's why life is awesome-you can make your own choices for the most part!


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## Dainerra

I don't think that anyone is arguing that organic isn't better. Just that RAW is always better than kibble, even if you are unable to afford organic for your pets. These days, a lot of people are struggling to feed themselves. There is no reason to bypass RAW obecause you can't do organic.
After all, kibble isn't made with organic meat, so why would it be better than "Wal-mart" meat?


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## MicheleMarie

Dainerra said:


> I don't think that anyone is arguing that organic isn't better. Just that RAW is always better than kibble, even if you are unable to afford organic for your pets. These days, a lot of people are struggling to feed themselves. There is no reason to bypass RAW obecause you can't do organic.
> After all, kibble isn't made with organic meat, so why would it be better than "Wal-mart" meat?


very true and i agree with you  but there's a difference between meat grown with antibiotics and hormones and meat grown without out-each of which are NOT organic. all poultry is grown without antibiotics...but not pork and beef. You can usually find laura's lean on sale at the least. and there are lots of kibble brand as well that use meat that is grown without hormones.
I do agree though, it's hard to teach people the difference in an economy that seems to be screwing all of us over  just watch for what's on sale!


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