A family member is now on the the dole £64 per week to feed 2 people, 1 dog, 1 cat plus other bills to run her home
and pay bills that she could cope with when she had her job.

Currently the lab is fed on Gusto and I personally think he has allergies & he has what could be
interdigital cysts on all of his paws. :( She doesn't have spare money for vets either :( I have told her about
the PDSA if she gets housing benefit as they can help.

The Gusto approx costs £6 for 10kgs which lasts a month or more.
The lab was also fed on Tesco's own complete dog food. He did also get the odd cyst on this I believe.

Can anyone else suggest different foods to try for a dog that probably has allergies that a person on a low budget may afford?
Idea's gratefully received as everytime I've thought of a food it's come out as too expensive :(

Honestly... a raw diet.

Source meat from: discount shelves at supermarkets (and often discounted joints can be cut up, leaving a big meaty bone for the dog and some nice meat for the people so economy all round there);

local meat market - get friendly with them and get to know the stall holders and they will knock money off for 'bulk' purchases (not huge quantities just more than the norm for purely human use).

Local butchers will often GIVE away bones for free and many of these do have a decent amount of meat on them.

Veggies: again discounted stuff in supermarkets, local markets and ask veg stall holders if you they could fill a box with bruised veg/fruit/green leafy bits.
Again here youll find theres bits that can be picked out for human use in things like stews and soups, and less tasty bits can be blended and frozen for the dog. (and for the cat wrt the meat part!).

Supplement this with offal if thats on offer wherever she shops, with the odd raw egg or live yoghurt, or tin of pilchards.

It IS more work than feeding a complete diet out of a bag, but as long as shes willing to trundle round the markets and supermarkets there are bargains to be had for both dogs and people.

The benefits also of cutting out ALL the grain from the dogs diet is HIGHLY likely to be that the allergic symptoms go away.

Grain based foods are one of the top causes of allergic reactions and sadly the cheaper the food the more grain it contains.

By doing a raw diet, shes NOT paying for the packaging, the processing, the advertising or the convenience of dipping a cup into a bag and tipping that into a bowl, more work for her (not much tbh i raw feed FIVE dogs and we live on a very basic wage here!)... but a better diet.

It may not work out as cheap as gusto mind you.. (it might actually if shes good at getting freebies out of people), but there is a very high change it will cut down on this dogs health problems and thus on vetbills, very cheap dog food is often not the cost effective option at all!

As a very very rough guideline, bearing in mind i buy all my dogs food as I am too busy/idle (depending on teh situation) to source things for free .... my five dogs which are.... saluki x, deerhound, staffy x, bedlington terrier x and tibetan terrier... cost me under £100 a month to feed.

Sounds a lot, but worked out very basically per dog thats £20 per dog per month, or £5 per dog per week.

I also have dogs who are allergic to grains/cereals... no interdigital cysts here (we did have them when on complete food) or any other symptoms!

Cannot promise that a raw diet will prevent the problem, there is always the chance the dog could be allergic to something else, but it is very very definately worth trying, it may well solve the problem!

I agree with theemx, a raw diet would be a good option, especially for a dog with possible allergies. I feed 5 large dogs and 1 medium dog on a predominantly raw diet, supplemented with an expensive premium, grain-free dry food (Orijen) for around £100 a month. If she just did the raw I'm sure she could feed for a good deal less.

I am thinking of changing any good books you can recommend or a web site with hints and tips...Thanks in advance.

I am thinking of changing any good books you can recommend or a web site with hints and tips...Thanks in advance.

I'm with the raw as well if they can find a butcher that has bits left over -many do not these days as they receive meat already boned etc. We eventually found one and we pay £2 for enough meat to feed all our 12 dogs for 2 weeks.

Bilbobaggins
A good book is by Kymythy Schultze: Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet.

Also the Yahoo Group BritBarf is a mine of information.

It might be worth looking at CSJ foods, they have a budget line which many people swear by. Vera

Pedlee

Many thanks...I  have to convince other members of household it is a good idea.

the dogs dinner ann ridyard. I will pm you with awebsite as last time was moderated out for giving it oops!

I have a friend whose dog has allergies. he recently lost his job and went to Lidls and has bought their food at £5.50 for a 10Kg bag (or thereabouts ;-) The dog has never looked so good. So much so that my dogs are on it for a trial period. They are all doing well on it, even though they are going through a major moult just now, the quality of the coat coming back in is good.

i get a 12kg(?) bag of WAGG for £10,
and add the meat i can afford at teh time and teh dog that i show i give her yumega just to add some goodness in that would be in eth more expenssive food. and i am always giving them left over sunday roast, which i have read for a dog it is one of eth best things you can give, if you could give a roast every day there coat would be amazing!!

Coat might be amazing on a roast every day but would also have a bit of a spare tyre I would think with the fat content. I feed Wag at one meal and good quality raw at the other to save on the finances.

CSJ Dog foods are excellent and there's one to suit just about every dog and pocket :)

yes fat would be an issuse.

Good old Chappie is highly digestible and very cheap.  Vets recommend it for dogs recuperating from upset tummies so it must be gentle on their tums.

find a halal asian butcher and because they dont eat pork alotof their meals consist of lamb and chicken, i get free carcuss chicken and lamb bones. Im talking a bag of 8 carcuss everytime i go in which is every couple of days now. i have to ask for the lamb bones but honestly its great im well chuffed.

Remember that meat from halal butchers is from animals slaughtered without being pre-stunned, a practice which is illegal in non-religious abattoirs.

I switched from  James Wellbeloved a few months ago because of price and have been using Skinners Duck and Rice and find this excellent value for money as is good for allergies too.

I feed mine on wagg with raw meat as well, I pay 9.97 for 12kg, I wouldn't feed it to my dogs without the meat though.

I'd also recommend, as another poster has (with link - very helpful), the CSJ range.  Their feed is natural, food for every budget - my youngster thrives on the Natural Champ - around £8 for a 15kg bag.  They also do wheat/gluten free.

Whilst its not the worst food available, I would love to know just how 'natural' ingredients such as beet pulp and BREAD are ... to a dog?

Theres a lot of things that occur naturally... crude oil, methane gas, gold - 'natural' doesnt in itself mean that its a suitable ingredient to feed to a dog!

CSJ has a lot of preservatives that I wouldn't be happy for my dogs to eat. I had a long discussion with Cerys about her reasoning for using such preservatives :( I like Skinners but it wouldnt come in cheaper than what your friend currently feeds.

Hope your friend comes through these difficult times soon xx

Re CSJ

Whilst the cheapest range contains bread, the others don't - and as far as I can tell by reading the ingredients list, the preservatives used are natural - mixed tocopherols, Vit C and rosemary extracts - so no worse than many other more expensive kibble, has been this way for the last year ;) 

That's really interesting Dill and really pleasing :) When CSJ first came out (I must be going back 5 or 6 years), they used preservatives and didn't seem likely to change their mind about it. I was so surprised as they were also developing a few herbal remedies and it seemed slightly in conflict to then use preservatives. So glad they have had a turnaround :)

There's always plusses and minuses when talking about cost of feeding. Cheap foods generally mean higher feeding rates, so that £10 bag of food seems SO much cheaper than the £20 one, but if you feed twice as much then all you're doing is picking up poo as the dog can't digest it as well.
IMHO you should go for a compromise, which is better for a dog's long term health. Forget the el cheapo wheat based animal derivative food, but exploit the loophole that goes with Active foods (VAT free). Several companies produce 'Active' foods that are nothing but adult maintenance foods really, and yet qualify for the VAT free status.

Ingredients
Chicken, Rice, Herbs (4%), Garlic (4%),
Carrots, Green Beans, Whole Linseed, Maize,
Beet, Fish Oil, Yucca, Mineral and Vitamins,
Vitamin A, C & E, Prebiotic FOS
Omega 3

Protein 22.00%, Oil 12.00%, Fibre 3.00%

While some cheap foods need to be fed at higher rates, CSJ foods don't - in fact mine now get half the amount they were getting of Burns and no longer look like walking toast racks :-D

The reason CSJ foods are cheaper is because they NEVER ADVERTISE, all the bags have really basic printing - the name of the food, manufacturer and ingredients - no pictures etc.  and they are all produced for ACTIVE WORKING dogs ;) so VAT free.

There is also a type of food for just about all dogs, including wheat-free ;)

I pick up slightly less volume of poo now than I did when feeding Burns.  I had to feed far more Burns than CSJ ;)
But the price of the 15k bag of CSJ is nearly 4x the price of my dog's food.

I really think it depends on which cheap food you're talking about ;)

 

My 2 Labradors always have 300g of food, whether it's expensive or cheap!

At the moment they are enjoying Skinners Field & Trial Muesli, and 300g is a LOT less than what it advises on the bag but they're doing just fine on that amount.

Its a shame all the CSJ products contain chicken fat (I have a dog who is intollerant) I wouldnt have minded trying that on mine seeing as its half the price of burns !!

>>I pick up slightly less volume of poo now than I did when feeding Burns

I've found the same thing. Following a recommendation on here I've recently purchased a bag of the basic food, I've made sure to weigh the portions to ensure I'm feeding the right amount as a starting guide, and none of my appear to be suffering for the change. In fact as Dill says the waste is considerably less than when I feed them AG and of a much firmer consistency. Feeding according to the guidelines means that a bag will last my 3 2 weeks, so around £25 a month (including postage), whereas the AG was costing £105.

And when i add in the savings from purchasing their Glucosamine in bulk (following another CD'ers recommendation), i've saved another bundle.

>But the price of the 15k bag of CSJ is nearly 4x the price of my dog's food.

Sorry!   That should read

But the price of the 15k bag of BURNS is nearly 4x the price of my dog's food ;)

I feed CSJ NOT Burns ;)

fingers going faster than brain there :-D