CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: Birtles on October 25, 2006, 10:09:13 AM
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ph34r dont shoot me for talking money
Monty (15wks old) is going through 15kg of food within a month and its nearly £40 a bag. I do want to feed him good food with no additives etc but I just think that its so expensive. I have heard Burns is good and they dont need as much of it as JWB and its cheaper per bag, anyone looked into all this? Don't want to bulk up his food with other rubbish stuff just want something as good as JWB but less expensive.
All these calculations that are shown about how much its costs to feed a dog, think about £5 a week was the general impression given.......... what planet?
Dont get me wrong anyone and dont shoot me for talking about the cost....we love Monty and yes he is worth every penny but just wondering if anyone has managed to cut some costs down. with all the insurance etc its about £60 a month and with all the toy/treats :005: that im guilty of buying him ..... its an arm and a leg and don't mention vets fees :005:
I think all these sites that say the cost of owning a dog should be alot more realistic....
Having a moan day :huh:
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puppy food is expensive compared to adult dog food. have you thought of barf at all? theres loads of threads on here about it if you do a search.
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Does that not work out at half a kilo of food a day!!! A pound of found is alot of food for a 15 week old. Saffie has 200 grams a day so a 15kg bag lasts 75 days so over two months.
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i don't think jwb is that expensive.ellie is still on the puppy but she also is fed barf.paddy won't eat raw meat so he just has the jwb adult.maybe because ellie only eats half jwb and half raw it doesn't seem so expensive.
sounds like he is being over fed :005:
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We fed Burns puppy food and a 2kg bag lasted us over a week...
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Hmmm have been looking at BARF think i'll have to read p more.
Montys on about 300grams a day of JWB........ apparently Burns you only need 200grams a day.... different foods need different amounts.... it is alot of JWB but its what is recommended.
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At the end of the day I sometimes think you have to feed what you can afford.
I fed mine on Burns initially which they loved. As they got older I found they needed/wanted more food than th erequired amounts for Burns, and the trouble with Burns is if you do increase the amounts given then it can give them the squits. I was also needing to look at my finances and so changed to csj champ which they love and is £8 for 15kg (even at giving twice the amount of Burns per day its still worth it and my two feel like they're eating something more substantial and aren't hungry all the time)
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Saffie is on Arden Grange but will not eat the RDA so is on 200 grams.
A 15kg bag of JWB should last you 50 days then. Dont PAH have those bags on special, 3 for the price of 2 often?
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I've read that the new Wainwrights food is very similar to JWB but is cheaper. When I was last in P@H, they were giving samples away so might be worth looking into that.
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Hmmm have been looking at BARF think i'll have to read p more.
Montys on about 300grams a day of JWB........ apparently Burns you only need 200grams a day.... different foods need different amounts.... it is alot of JWB but its what is recommended.
It's not just different foods that need different amounts - all puppies are different and some will need more and some less than others to maintain optimum weight and growth. The guidelines given on food bags are just that, guidelines not to be taken as exact amounts for every puppy given that food. You may think you would need to feed less Burns but when we trialled this food for our dogs, I found they lost too much weight so I was actually feeding them more than when they were on their normal food. If you are after a good quality complete that isn't as expensive as JWB, then Autarky may be worth considering.
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thanks everyone for the replies
JWB certainly isnt lasting 50 days so possibly getting slightly overfed but as Jane S stated all puppies are different, we dont weight exact amount put just 3 cups a day and hes eating it all. We are nearly at the end of our 2nd 15kg bag of puppy JWB....... hes nearly 16 weeks so yes he is eating roughly a bag a month plus all the JWB minibites etc as treats. Wonder if we put a bit less out he'd be bothered, maybe try that, it could be that hes eating it all because its there but maybe doesnt need that full amount, he does have the fuller figure :005:. Obviously dont want to change foods and upset his diet but do feel its alot a month to pay. Think when we did all sums before getting a puppy we allowed £20-25 a month for food but with his treats etc its working out double that, and with essential insurance its just working out alot more than thought. Maybe look into other foods to reduce bill slightly, i ahve heard that once they go onto adult food its cheaper though.
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At the end of the day I sometimes think you have to feed what you can afford.
very true !!
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I used to feed JWB and now feed Burns (she didn't like JWB)
Jem is a small dog and is about 10.5-11kg. We feed more than 200g a day. I don't measure it specifically but its probably more like 300g. She eats what she wants and sometimes she'll leave a bit and other times she'll cry for more.I buy the smaller bags so I can change the flavour to keep her interested. I go through about 3-4 a month. Its about £6-7 a bag although if you buy the bigger ones its cheaper so its about £24- 28 a month.
I must admit I'm really impressed with Burns. Her coat is gorgeous and she has loads of energy. I really like thats its organic and there is no cr*p in it. Good luck :D
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Saffie should be on more but she never eats it. Some days she doesnt even manage 200grams. She is 36 weeks and is small for her age I think. She weighed 10kg on 22 September but she does look abit like a barrel a the moment but is due a growth spurt. She only has a few months left of growing so might alwasy be little cocker.
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I used to feed JWB and now feed Burns (she didn't like JWB)
Jem is a small dog and is about 10.5-11kg. We feed more than 200g a day. I don't measure it specifically but its probably more like 300g. She eats what she wants and sometimes she'll leave a bit and other times she'll cry for more.I buy the smaller bags so I can change the flavour to keep her interested. I go through about 3-4 a month. Its about £6-7 a bag although if you buy the bigger ones its cheaper so its about £24- 28 a month.
I must admit I'm really impressed with Burns. Her coat is gorgeous and she has loads of energy. I really like thats its organic and there is no cr*p in it. Good luck :D
I don't know how the food quantities differ from puppy food to adult food, & I'm talking adult food here so whether this is cheaper I really don't know. But I agree totally wth isla. Max is also a tiny one, only weighing 10.25kg at 17 months although he is a little on the skinny side & I'm trying to fatten him up by a kg or 2. He is fed on Burns, the recommended amount for a 10kg dog would be 100g, but this just doesn't look enough so we gradually built it up & now he has 160g-180g per day. We tried 200g in the passed but with Burns you know if they're being fed too much as their motions will be too loose! ;)
Good luck in your search.
oops edited to add I've just read an earlier posting puppy food is expensive compared to adult dog food. have you thought of barf at all?
So it should be cheaper as he gets older. :D
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Max was on JWB as a pup, at six months I had to change him as he just go so he wouldn't eat it. His recommended amount was just too much and there was no way he would eat anything like it.
I switched him on to Burns and he's been on it ever since. He's done well on it and maintained a good weight. Sapphi is on the lighter Burns food as she can get a bit porky. She does maintain a good weight on it but is absolutely starving all the time.
Barney is on Royal Canin. He's thrived on it, but I'm afraid it certainly isn't any cheaper than JWB. Fortunately I have a friend who can get a discount on it.
Having said all that, they are all being switched onto BARF this weekend.
I certainly found my food bills reduced when I switched to Burns. I was going to suggest a new food that I've seen called Joe and Jacks, which is 100% natural, but it will work out about the same as JWB.
What I have been interested to read on this thread is that too much Burns can give them a runny bum. Max regularly has a runny bum so maybe that is the reason.
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You might want to look into other foods like CSJ and Autarky or Arden Grange... all have an additive free range. They are both cheaper than JWB or Burns as they are working dog foods and therefore VAT free.
Two of our dogs are on CSJ CP18 (at £28 per 15kg) and it lasts about five or six weeks... and one of these dogs is a lurcher of 20kg and the other a pyrenees of 60kg!!!
Autarky is even cheaper at around £15 for a 15kg bag.
Vera
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I was in a local store today, looking at food and comparing prices to what I normally pay, when I spotted some JWB indulgence treats, read the blurb and thought I'd get some for Indy.
Went through the checkout with all the other goodies for her, new collar, lead, harness, squeeky toy, etc. never thought to see how much they were until we were home and she was having one.
Got the receipt out of the bin - OMG £4.99 for a little tub of treats! :o
They will be saved for special occasions!
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I've fed JWB to Spike & Domino since they were puppies; I bought a bag today which was 18kg for the price of 15kg & that was £32.90(however I have paid up to £36.00 for a bag before!)
I find a bag lasts me about a month for the two of them which I thought was quite reasonable; however I do add NatureDiet to it as well & I pay £9.99 for a pack of 18 cartons & use approx. 2 packs per month. This works out roughly £1.75 a day for both dogs.
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Monty (15wks old) is going through 15kg of food within a month and its nearly £40 a bag. I do want to feed him good food with no additives etc but I just think that its so expensive. I have heard Burns is good and they dont need as much of it as JWB and its cheaper per bag, anyone looked into all this? Don't want to bulk up his food with other rubbish stuff just want something as good as JWB but less expensive.
I worked out a while ago that it was far cheaper to feed Burns than JWB if you compared manufacturers feeding guidelines - I think there is a post about it somewhere ;) ph34r
Although the feeding guidelines are just that, if you haven't used a particular food before, it is worth weighing out an average portion size at least once to see how big it actually is - which then gives you a starting point :) Significant overfeeding can cause diarrhoea, so if your dog gets a dodgy tum after changing to a new food, it could easily be blamed on the food itself, when in fact it is the portion sizes that are too big ;)
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Jazz is on Burns, and I use a 15kg bag which lasts 2 - 3 months. I do also give her raw veg. I find it very cheap. About 27p per day.
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Thanks guys. Think we have decided to look into a slightly cheaper brand, I wouldnt mind if the JWB lasted 2 months but 4 weeks isnt good!!
We think we have been overfeeding because he has always left a little and is never excited about dinner times, so since I started this post we reduced the amount to see how he reacts and have been giving him 3/4 of a cup instead of a whole cup and hes eaten it all within seconds and is very excited at meal times so i think we are now giving him the right amount (no expert though), so think the food will last a little longer now........ We will trial the new amount and also how long its lasting and go from there.
thanks
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Thanks guys. Think we have decided to look into a slightly cheaper brand, I wouldnt mind if the JWB lasted 2 months but 4 weeks isnt good!!
We think we have been overfeeding because he has always left a little and is never excited about dinner times, so since I started this post we reduced the amount to see how he reacts and have been giving him 3/4 of a cup instead of a whole cup and hes eaten it all within seconds and is very excited at meal times so i think we are now giving him the right amount (no expert though), so think the food will last a little longer now........ We will trial the new amount and also how long its lasting and go from there.
thanks
Do weigh it at least once though. To me that still sounds quite a lot for a small pup. Buddy is a big cocker and is now on BARF, but when on Burns I was only giving him about 3/4 cup per meal (X2 per day). And that was slightly over the weight guidelines given.
Do include the treats in the daily food allowance too, as you really don't want to end up with a fat dog.
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Thanks guys. Think we have decided to look into a slightly cheaper brand, I wouldnt mind if the JWB lasted 2 months but 4 weeks isnt good!!
We think we have been overfeeding because he has always left a little and is never excited about dinner times, so since I started this post we reduced the amount to see how he reacts and have been giving him 3/4 of a cup instead of a whole cup and hes eaten it all within seconds and is very excited at meal times so i think we are now giving him the right amount (no expert though), so think the food will last a little longer now........ We will trial the new amount and also how long its lasting and go from there.
thanks
Do weigh it at least once though. To me that still sounds quite a lot for a small pup. Buddy is a big cocker and is now on BARF, but when on Burns I was only giving him about 3/4 cup per meal (X2 per day). And that was slightly over the weight guidelines given.
Do include the treats in the daily food allowance too, as you really don't want to end up with a fat dog.
But Burns recommended daily amount is less than JWB RDA. think Burns say 200gms and JWB is 300gms. Monty is very chunky, can't figure out if he is just stocky/chunky or if overfed, his coat also makes him look twice the size :005:
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Have you thought of making your own treats as that would work out cheaper too? Mine love the liver cake and tuna bread. (Be warned - it smells. ;) ) But a £1 block of liver lasts a long time.
Also, hot dog sausages are cheap and they love them too. :D
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Sorry to hijack but where can you get CSJ food from? Alfie's currently on BARF but I like to keep a backup dry food for when he's at the dogsitter etc. and this one sounds pretty good.
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http://www.csjk9.com (http://www.csjk9.com)
:D