Feeding on a very tight budget

[cath0104]

Hi

I am hoping you may be able to offer some tips regarding feeding my two doggies on a budget.  I have 3yr old Max ESS and 1 yr old Molly a Cocker.

Up until the past couple of days they have both been fed Kibble with a tiny bit of Wainwrights wet food mixed in, But our financial situation has changed and i was hoping to do away with the wet food, but neither dog is having it, and i have tried the 'when you are hungry you will eat' trick and they haven't!! Now Max especially is so lethargic, i can't let this carry on.

I have tried doggie gravy, and they don't like it and Raw doesn't agree with them.  They love our own gravy leftover from meals, but i am very aware this isn't especially good for them.

So my question is....Is there anything that i can add to their food to make it more appetising whilst at the same time, costing very little. 
Any thoughts?

[Eve]

Add a bit of scrambled egg or mix in some pilchards in sunflower oil. Morrisons 49p as against 59p for a tin of dog food to mix in.

[Mudmagnets]

Bit of grated cheese (if they can cope with it) use a very small grater and you'd be surprised how far a small piece can go. (tried and tested  )

Or you could try cooking some cheap chicken so it falls off the bones - (I do it in slo-cooker) and you will have the juices (with nothing added) then too

[black taz]

i used to make my own gravy with chicken, potates, carrots, garlic (and anything else healthy that needed using up) boil it, blend it all up and freeze it in portions.  Then just heated it and poured over Kelly's food every day otherwise she wouldnt eat it.  

You could always try your local butcher or butcher on the market to see if they sell offal and do the same (it would be much cheaper)

[vixen]

I give my girls sardines in sunflower oil mixed in with their kibble, once a week.  A tin costs about 42p and there are usually about 4 sardines in the tin.  You could divide them up, half a sardine a dog as they do mix up quite well. My girls really love them as they are very tasty and smelly too.    The oil is good for their coats too. 

[Coco]

A home made gravy of chicken wings and water with a couple of carrots. Just boil it all up stip the chicken off the bone and simmer it down. A pack of chicken wings in tesco is about £1.50 and I think there's be enough to last a week of two if you freeze some portions. Even cheaper woul dbe to ask the butcher for some bones when you buy something (if you use a butcher, ours give them free) and do away with the chicken. Just simmer them in water for an hour or so. Heart would be a iddle grund, chopped finely, if you can stomach it. It's about 90p for two and that'd also last a good week i'd say.

The probem with shop gravy is all the salt.I think.    

[Vicki]

We cook up a pack of lambs hearts (from Morrisons) with water and some pearl barley or white rice. It can be refrigerated or frozen depending on how much you make. A spoonful or two on top of her biscuits goes down a treat.

[Nicky]

I give my girls sardines in sunflower oil mixed in with their kibble, once a week.  A tin costs about 42p and there are usually about 4 sardines in the tin.  You could divide them up, half a sardine a dog as they do mix up quite well. My girls really love them as they are very tasty and smelly too.    The oil is good for their coats too. 

Mine get sardines once a week too, they are both fussy with their food. They always clean the bowl when they've had sardines. Its also keeps their coats silky and shiny.

[cath0104]

Thanks all,  i don't know why i didn't think of making my own gravy    They both love scrambled egg & cheese, but unfortunately they will eat that around the kibble 

Think i will give my own gravy a go, along with a mix and match of sardines, yogurt, tuna etc. at least they will get variety!!!

[bajoleth]

I don't know what kibble you feed but I generally feed my 2 on Gelerts premium which is much cheaper than a lot of the premium brands and is good enough quality for me BUT when my stockist run out which happens fairly regulary I buy Harringtons from Morrisons at the moment its £2.00 a bag (has been for about 4 weeks now) its mch better quality than other brands at that price point see here
http://www.viovet.co.uk/Pet_Foods_Diets-Dogs-Harringtons/c233_234_2636/category.html
Just to give you an idea what its about. My 2 thrive on it when they have it. So def worth a try if you have a Morrisons near you
I always keep the meat juices to pour over their kibble and I buy the value Chicken wings and Mince for them.

[jennyspin]

we changed from Arden Grange to Skinners. We love the Skinners now and wouldn't go back. Making your own gravy is a really good idea too. 

[Bluebell]

we changed from Arden Grange to Skinners. We love the Skinners now and wouldn't go back. Making your own gravy is a really good idea too. 

My lot are on Skinners  atm. They have the salmon and rice one, they really like it and look good on it

[cath0104]

We did feed Skinners, but have changed in the past couple of months to CSJ Champ, which they seem to love and it doesn't look as though there has been any untoward side effects, and at £10.50 for a 15kg bag, I doubt i will find anyting much cheaper

[JulieM]

I don't know about your food, but ours is much much cheaper to buy on line in a larger pack than in stores.

Baby brands like Heinz and Boots now do baby-friendly gravy cubes, because of the tight regulations on baby food these don't have salt/ other nasties so they'd probably be ok for dogs (?) and are much much cheaper than the ready prepared dog gravies.

[minimoo]

why not try changing the wet food to a tiny bit of chappie dog meat mixed in , it must be cheaper than the wainwrights and wont do them any harm if you are on a tight budget it will be as cheap as buying gravy etc and chappie is supposed to be kind on their tummys