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Hello Kraft Community, we are very excited to share some great news with you. As loyal Kraft Community members we have heard your desire to do more fun things in the community and we are happy to announce in January 2010 we will be making some changes so you can connect and share food ideas in more ways than ever!
We want to let you know we will not be transferring the existing discussions to the new enhanced message boards so if there are discussions that you would like to save please make sure to either print them or copy and paste into a document that you can save to your personal files.
We will remind you again before the transition occurs but wanted to let you in on the exciting news!!
If you have any questions on how to do this please contact Customer Care at Contact Us
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Posts:
7
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
May 5, 2009 1:11 AM
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I wanted to thank everyone for their tips and ideas. When I posted, both my husband and I were out of work and my grocery budget had shrunk to 35.00 a week to feed 3 people, 2 large rottweilers, 1 cat and 1 ferret. Needless to say it was a stretch and I had to get creative.
I just took both dogs to the vet, and they are doing wonderful. When I explained the additions I had made to their diet he told me their diet is fine, I've supplemented the dry dog food with fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, eggs, leftover low sodium broth, brown rice cooked in water with no fat and occasionally I add in raw meat, soup bones, and drippings and every now and then if the fat content is low, a teaspoon of olive oil.
I didn't purchase anything out of the ordinary, and I started using lots of the things I gave them in place of treats. Their favorites are slices of frozen sweet potatoes ( I just freeze any extra and the ends skin and all) celery, my goodness my male will almost knock me down for a piece of that, outer leaves of cabbage and lettuce, any kind of greens canned, frozen or raw, carrot ends, and their most favorite of all is a boiled egg in the shell, well except maybe the celery.
It's worked and it does save me money. Luckily they are both non grazers, so even if the dog food is down they usually only chose to eat once a day. That gives me the chance to add to their food what I have left from our own salads and stuff. They also enjoy yougurt, so I buy a large nonfat plain container and add a couple tablespoons to their food or freeze what we aren't going to finish in muffin tins for them.
Treat wise, I swear by the left over veggies and yougurt. And of course the occasional piece of peanut butter coated celery. As for the cat, well she just eats her normal dry food, she doesn't care for much else. The ferret, she's 8 years old and loves a piece of melon, a few raisins, or some granola every now and then.
I get the people who say just buy the dog food, but when your budget is so small squeezing every cup of something out of what you use and what you have left over helps.
Thanks again!
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Moderator_Deanne
Posts:
1,704
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 16, 2009 8:25 PM
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I have a Newfy, she'd inhale canned food before I could get it all out of the can.
When I make a roast I give them some of the juice drippings over their food, or if I make a big stew we don't quite finish, that sort of thing. Egg whites are good for their coats. (The yolks are fine too but have more calories if your dog is heavy.)
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Posts:
512
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 16, 2009 10:58 AM
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My vet informed me that dry is way better than canned because it takes longer to metabolize. I had a diabetic cat that depended on his canned food so much that I started adding a little water to his dry food to soften it up. If I happened to have a can of tuna or canned chicken around I would add the juice to the food. Anything to get him to eat more dry food. Also with cats, the higher the fat content of the food the better. Unfortunately after nearly 14 long & wonderful years of life, of which the last 6 years were fighting diabetes, Blue has passed away.
As for table scraps, I all for giving them a treat but would not feed them nothing but people food. Also, never let a dog eat cat food. It is too rich for them and could make them quite ill. My aunt almost lost her dog due to letting it eat the cat food.
Good luck to all and your pets. Love them lots while they are still here!
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Moderator_Sky
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1,521
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 14, 2009 9:01 AM
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I realize people can get very emotional over the health and well-being of animals and small children, but we still are all human and all deserve some respect here. Please remember to be cordial to everyone no matter how their post might make you feel.
As for the dog and what they eat comments, if folks want to get really picky, did you know the BEST diet for a dog is raw meat with a smaller percentage of bone, skin, and organ meats?
This is what a dog's body best utilizes. This is what a dog's body knows instinctively and can break down the easiest. So if I wanted to follow some of the thinking here, I could say that feeding a dog dry food, even a high quality, expensive food, is abuse.
But really, it's not. My grandparents both had animals growing up. Both of them had dogs whose entire diets were table scraps and nothing more. And their dogs lived to be very old and very happy... as did my grandparents.
As long as your animal is fed, is healthy, and most of all, is loved, then that is what is important. Not if you feed it raw meat, white rice leftovers vs brown made just for him, an occassional (non-chocolate) piece of candy vs a doggie treat. You get the picture.
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Posts:
346
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 10, 2009 10:45 AM
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That reply to Babs was way harsh - but after seeing when the post was made I realized it was well into stipple time.
One of my dogs loved to chew gum that some clod disposed of on the ground. Even with vigilance she would invariably find a wad to chew.
Rice cooked in water only? Something wrong with stock or broth?
I seem to remember someone cooking with alcohol during high holy days for a husband whose religion forbids the spirits. That's shameful.
Abuse is beating an animal, starving an animal, leaving it in a back yard/chained with no human interaction save for feeding and a water bowl fill, that's abusive. Letting a dog have a caramel, gum, ranch dressing or leftover rice - not abuse.
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Moderator_Jane
Posts:
1,656
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 9, 2009 7:59 AM
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We have a 14 year-old labrador, which is quite old for that breed and she's mostly eaten dried dog food during her life. In the last couple of years we've had to add some canned food and smaller and better quality dried food. We've always had chickens so she also gets a a tablespoon of oil, a weekly boiled egg, and salmon skin or drops of fish oil to help her skin and coat.
Our rescue shihtzu, on the other hand, is susceptible to pancreatitus, so her diet is closely monitored and she gets no beef products at all, which is really hard to control. It's a good thing she only weighs 10 lbs or her food would break the bank. The vet has suggested that when she first starts showing signs of tummy upset to feed her brown rice and boiled chicken, with or without garlic powder.
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Posts:
274
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 8, 2009 9:26 PM
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So, if I want to add chewing gum to my dog's food to make it tastier and more filling, I should use the regular kind with sugar and not the sugarless kind. That's good to know. My dog likes to chew gun and caramels. We like to laugh at the faces he makes. So cute.
I add leftover rice from Chinese takeout and sometimes salad greens. My dog loves ranch dressing...is that okay? I can't imagine it would be bad for dogs. I only use a little.
Scraps of lean meat should be fine. I had a dog that lived until 18 years old and he ate all kinds of people food. Especially meat.
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Moderator_Deanne
Posts:
1,704
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 8, 2009 8:46 PM
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I'm also curious. I know they can't have chicken or turkey bones, but never heard they shouldn't have scraps of the meat.
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Posts:
9
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 8, 2009 6:36 PM
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"TO help combat fleas and ticks,I add powdered garlic to our dogs dried food. I also give her meat scraps {not chicken, but do cook up chicken skin for her when I remove it for us.}. Just my own lil tid bit. Our dog,Kloey, is a Mutt,but she has a healthy sheen and hardly any ticks and fleas!"
Am curious as to why you don't feed your dog cooked chicken scraps? I give my Lhasa nothing but cooked chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces for her treats. Had to do away with the "packaged treats" due to severe dermatitis problems.
MsSharonK
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Posts:
2
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Apr 8, 2009 5:24 PM
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TO help combat fleas and ticks,I add powdered garlic to our dogs dried food. I also give her meat scraps {not chicken, but do cook up chicken skin for her when I remove it for us.}. Just my own lil tid bit. Our dog,Kloey, is a Mutt,but she has a healthy sheen and hardly any ticks and fleas!
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Posts:
2
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Oct 29, 2008 12:45 AM
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I work in an Animal Emergency Treatment Hospital .One of the biggest ailements we treat is Pancreatitus
( inflamation of the pancreas and very painful ) usually brought on by pet owners feeding thier pets people food, especially fatty foods. We also see alot of gastric upset
( with vomiting and diarrhea) because pet owners decide to suddenly change theier pets diet .
Any diet changes should be gradual . While it is not known exactly why yet grapes and raisins are very very toxic for dogs, sending them into renal failure very quickly, and usually with un reversible consequences.. As many of us know chocolate is also bad , but it also depends on the type of chocolate and quanity ingested, and size of dog.
There is another substance that is also very toxic to dogs, it is the artifical sweetner XYLITOL found in some of the chewing gums and candies.
While I realize times are hard for everyone financially I would recomend cutting the budget somewhere else instead of your pet food. Do you really need that Starbucks every morning? Maybe you could cut out that soda a couple of days a week? Or why not teach the kids a valuable lesson and have them contribute to the pets food costs. It will teach them about caring for thier pet and contributing to the family unit.
Your pets nutrition is very important and not something to play around with. Keep your pets on a healthy consistent diet, stick with one brand of food.
Playing around with your pets diet usually results in a not so good outcome, one you end up paying big bucks for to correct. The same goes for cats, keep them on a healthy diet, one brand . I have 14 cats and they have thrived on Purina Cat chow for years, the only thing they have ever gone to the vet for were annual exams and vaccines. They range in age from 3 years up to 19 years old.
Dry pet foods go further than canned and are better as they help to keep the teeth cleaner, We do not recomend cats or dogs be fed only canned foods, we recomend dry, however if you have picky eater you can add a couple of spoonfuls of canned food to their dry.
If you are adding rice and frozen vegetables do you think you are really stretching the dog food? Why not take the money you use to buy rice and vegetables to buy regular dog food?
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Posts:
1
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Oct 28, 2008 4:38 PM
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Another thing to keep in mind is that there are many foods that we eat that are poisonous to dogs. Chocolate is the most well known food that is toxic to dogs, but there are many others. My dog loves seedless grapes, and I was shocked to learn that they are a no-no. Do your research before feeding any "people" food. You would hate to have your good intentions harm your beloved pet.
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Moderator_Sky
Posts:
1,521
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Oct 20, 2008 4:41 PM
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Just keep in mind that while these things work for dogs, they won't work as well for cats. Cats are true carnivores and need meat, fish, and poultry. You CAN add in small amounts of things such as veggies when pureeing their food, but they require five times more protein than dogs, so try to keep the dish as protein-heavy as possible.
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Moderator_Jane
Posts:
1,656
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Oct 20, 2008 4:54 AM
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> Anyone have some good ideas for stretching your pet
> food budget?
>
> I have 2 dogs, and I've started to add rice cooked in
> water with no added oil, low sodium canned vegetables
> and frozen veggies to their food to make it go
> further.
>
> I've also started to give them frozen veggies as a
> treat instead of buying dog bones.
>
> I know there must be many more things I'm not
> thinking of to make the dollar go further, let me
> know!
>
> Thanks!
We give our dogs the occasional hard boiled egg for the omega 3 nutrients.
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Moderator_Sky
Posts:
1,521
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Re: Stretching Your Pet Food
Posted:
Oct 19, 2008 10:22 PM
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Thanks for the great links! If I hadn't been feeding my dog Iams for the last six years, I might actually try some of these. Maybe my next dog will get the home-cooked experience. lol
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