hi,
just wanted to know what brand of food you feed your dogs and how much it costs
i feed my dog arden grange which costs me aprox two pounds a week,
how much does it cost to feed a giant breed per week,
i find it interesting to compare the prices and the myths

thanks x

I feed 15 large breed dogs raw with some kibble, total is roughly around £450 - £500 per month, but thats alot of mouths, their shopping bill is higher than mine lol.

Just worked that out and thats about £34 a month per dog which is only just over £1 per dog per day, so all in all pretty good really :)

I've just been brave and done a houseold annual budget/expenditure for the year (it was scary), and worked out that my 3 Rotties cost me £2,000 per year. That's including insurance, hydrotherapy, boosters etc, but the food was only £25 per month since changing from Arden Grange to CSJ, it was £105 per month on AG.

i have never heard of csj so i will have a little read up in a mo.i use arden grange as it is the only that does not upset my dogs tum,i like all the myths, that big giant dogs eat you out of house and home !!!!

wow, that is more than i spend on my family as well,like you say though, it is not much per dog,actually it is very good,its just that you have alot of them,
i found it hard to pick a dog food as there are so many of them,and you here things on that this one is no good,or has additives etc in, it would be nice for them to make things a bit clearer
x

i feed my dog on purina pro-plan sensitive stomach dried food, it costs approx £48 from PAH it lasts about 5 wks he is a RR

We are back on AG with tripe right now.. Which costs me £58p/m for 2 large dogs. I tried making it cheaper with raw, though from buying through a company it worked out more expensive and there is no guarentee that my butcher always has bones or raw in, many local people go there now so stocks are limited.

arden grange seems too cheap, but after speaking to my local pet store owner,he highly recommended it, it is interesting to see others on it, suejaw, you say you have two large dogs, that is very good amount,i would have thought it would be a lot more!! i am also interested in food costs,food amounts and brands as i am getting a new pup next week and it is a giant breed,so interested to put the myths at rest, (mainly the mother in law who recons that he will cost over 200 pound a month to feed !!i find the answers interesting and it is giving me a good idea of it all. i am so excited about my new pup, i found him through champdogs and the breeder is very highly recommended,a wonderful caring lady who loves her dogs so much and also does all the health tests,it is quite scary after the bad luck i have had with my dogs, but i have great faith in this lady and all her dogs,so i now feel ready to invite another one into the pack
x

What breed are you getting Joanne? Some people would class my breed as giant, but i call them large..
I've joined the breeder scheme with AG, so saves a bit of money. I'm lucky enough to live very close to their HQ so i can pick up the bags and save on postage

a newfoundland, whats the breeder scheme with ag, do i have to be a breeder to join, or is it just for certain breeds,and how do i join
x

> how much does it cost to feed a giant breed per week

I feed Buster (English Mastiff) Beta Complete and Butchers choice at the moment (usualy feed complete & TRIPE, but needed the freezer space back for Christmas, so I put him on tinned food which is suiting him fine, so in no rush to change back now!).
Buster has 1 small tin off food per day (half at each meal) and the complete lasts 42 days.

Complete is approx £28 per 15kg sack = 67p per day + tins are approx 50 p each.

= 1 Giant breed fed for £1.17 per day. :) Or £8.19 per week.

I must say that he ate much, much more food as a growing puppy, a 15kg sack would not even last for 3 weeks when he was growing, so they do cost more when growing.

> mainly the mother in law who recons that he will cost over 200 pound a month to feed

Wow, £200 would feed Buster for nearly 6 months!

thats my mother in law for you, its like talking to a brick wall lol, i love her dearly really

suejaw,
i have just looked on one site selling arden grange breeders food and its aprox £25 for 15 kg, they say it is cheaper as it is in a brown ag,not their usual shiny one, if so, that is amazing value!! thanks for that, i will get on to it,
i am tempted to buy a couple of big bags for my pug, but will it stay fresh,baring in mind a small bag lasts a good month what do you think?

> thats my mother in law for you, its like talking to a brick wall lol, i love her dearly really

Bless. The problem is people assume that a giant breed just eats & eats, when in actual fact they require less food per kilo of body weight than a smaller dog.
So 150lb of newfoundland will cost less to feed than 150lb of JRT :)

Jo,

I can't see why it wouldn't stay fresh tbh, though only the breeder club man could answer that at AG, call him, Jim is his name and a lovely guy.

i will do suejaw, that is amazing value, i expect i could get some nice big airtight containers for george and put the puppys food in a different one,it would save alot, i am really glad i asked now!!!
i am counting the days till i get him,getting the house prepared,toys sorted,big poo bags for the future, i am determined that i get the training right, i dont work,my partner does so he will have 100% attention,i am keeping it in mind that what ever is acceptable for him to do as a pup,i have to allow when he is big,i am going to socialise well,obedience and ring craft,i am interested in pet therapy as well,we have beaches all around us plus gorgeous reservoirs,he will have a good life,
i love him already

> = 1 Giant breed fed for £1.17 per day. :-) Or £8.19 per week.
>

Almost exact same price as me, just times it by 15 lol.
So large breeds arent as expensive to feed as people think, and they definately eat more food while younger.

I feed raw and Orijen, with the occasional pack of Naturediet thrown in for good measure. Up until the beginning of the new year I was feeding 3 Golden Retrievers, 2 Dobermanns and a Sussex Spaniel.

During a typical month I'd go through 1 sack of Orijen, which I get at trade price (roughly £36), £40 raw meat/tripe/fish and probably an 18 box of ND (just over £10).

Total £86ish a month.

My youngest always had a sensitive tum, even on AG. I think it was a result of him having a rather bad start in life, we "rescued" him with a very large Worm burden and parasites. His "waste" is very much improved since we changed his food, as has that of my 2 girls, much firmer and less of it. I buy 2 15kg sacks at a time and keep them in a black dustbin (purchased from B&Q), it can accomodate both sacks, and has handles that come up and lock the lid in place, as my beastie has been known to help himself - so something that locked was essential. I refused to pay the price of a "proper" dog food bin from PAH.

I'm sure your breeder will give good advice as to the food for your pup, as larger breed puppies need to be carefully fed (and exercised) to start with to ensure correct development.

>mainly the mother in law who recons that he will cost over 200 pound a month to feed

I have fed raw for several years now but when I fed kibble (and if I recall correctly) I got through a £15kg bag every 3 weeks or so.
That was to feed 2 dogs - a Newfoundland and a large crossbreed (nearly the same size as the Newfie!) so it won't cost anywhere near £200 for one!  More like a quarter of that, if even that!

> Almost exact same price as me, just times it by 15 lol.

LOL
I do envy you having the space for all those dogs, I only have room for one big one :(  Must be dog-lovers heaven for you :)

the breeeder is lovely,and has everything written down plus food to go away with,etc etc,i will watch mine with helping himself hehe,cant believe how lucky i am

i am in heaven,luckily i have a very big grass garden and it is flat plus a moderate sized home,it is because he will be with me all the time and off to the beach regularly and the woods,i know i can give him a wonderful happy life,i wish he was here now!!!

Mine are on JWB and raw, wont go near the cheaper biscuits after Masons episode in July. Dont think this 15kg bags going to last a week, cost £38 from PAH. I bought 2kgs sprats, and some heart and liver, chicken wings from morrisons. I like to add extra as it keeps coats shiny, and teeth clean, plus variety is the spice of life. The dogs enjoy it and i enjoy seeing them enjoy it. New favourite JWB wasnt keen on it before, fish variety gives them gas, but the lamb is very good and im impressed with the poo as with RC there was an awful lot of it. Plus large breed kibble is a good size, think i shall stick to this from now on.

Good luck with your newfie, all tht hair puts me off.

> i am in heaven,luckily i have a very big grass garden and it is flat plus a moderate sized home

I don't have a problem fitting Buster in the garden, or in the house generally, it's the hallway that is the biggest issue. My hallway is only 41 inches wide and as Buster is 48inches long [url=](not including his face, just from the top of his head to the base of his tail)[/url], so him turning while in the hallway is a little akward especially if there are people in it (he's very clumsy and if turning in close proximity to a person, he's likely to knock them out of the way - unintentionally). The porch is a little wider (46") so he tends to walk down to the porch and turn around in there. That is the main reason I couldn't have another dog his size, they would end up stuck in the hallway, LOL
His length also cause slight hold-ups in the kitchen, as you can imagine, if he's stood watching me prepare his dinner (eg.), his butt is so far away from his head he blocks the kitchen off!

> he will be with me all the time and off to the beach regularly and the woods,i know i can give him a wonderful happy life,i wish he was here now!!!

I feel your excitement form here, LOL :) It does sound as if he will have a great life :)

Ive just worked mine out :-) My GSD is fed on AG and I buy it from berriewood -£26 for 15kg, she sometime's has a little natures menu or tripe added so works out to £5.50 a week :-) I thought it was going to be much higher, shes actually quite cheap.
And my Chihuahua is fed on nature diet (the ONLY food his tummy can tolerate) I also buy that from berriewood for £10 works out £1.75 a week :-D
Both of them £377 a year, im well impressed with that, thought it was going to be much more.

Thats very good and people say they cant afford thier dog any longer and give it up. No excuse!

> Thats very good and people say they cant afford thier dog any longer and give it up. No excuse!

I agree, I feed my dogs good decent food and it isnt much, Its been just me working this past few months, I dont have a very well paid job but still afforded it, but even if it came to it I would eat worse quality food so that my dogs ate well, would never give up any of my pets, they are my family :-)

mastifflover i am having some great images in my head of your hallway and dog!! luckily i dont have a hallway and it kinds of goes from one room to another,plus a baby gate to stop upstairs trips, i have six foot fences all down every side of the garden and a gate with 3 locks,no one is coming in or getting out !!
mu excitement is ridiculous,i cant help it though,its like everything i have wanted all rolled into one,all these years of thinking and discussing this breed with my partner has finally come and i cant quite believe it, keep thinking i will wake up and be dreaming i look forward till i get him, 10 days to go xx

Just worked out that is costs me about £40 per month to feed 4 large  GSD. so that is £2.50 per week each.   i mainly feed raw and get most  of my  tripe from  a  local abatoir.  I bet it would cost me a  lot more than that to go back to the Hills I used to feed.

> mu excitement is ridiculous,i cant help it though,its like everything i have wanted all rolled into one,all these years of thinking and discussing this breed with my partner has finally come and i cant quite believe it, keep thinking i will wake up and be dreaming i look forward till i get him, 10 days to go xx

When we decided we definately were going to get another dog (we allready had one dog at the time) we whittled the choice down to Mastiff or Newfie :) It was a hard decision, but we went with the Mastiff as they are less energetic (I'm a couch potato at heart, LOL).
I was soooooo excited waiting to get the pup, listening (reading) about your excitement takes me back to getting Buster :)

You wont calm down once you have your pup and you'll find it hard to talk about anything else!!!! If you're anything like me, you'll be taking 100's of photos as it's almost as if you can see them growing, they grow so fast!

You must add a link to a photobucket acount (or similar) to your user name, so we all can coo over your big, cuddley, teddybear-like pup when you get him :)

mastifflover
i know what you mean, i simply cant shut up about him, every spare second is trawling through books and internet soaking up the breed, i am driving everyone i know completely nuts, my stomach is full of butterflies,gosh its nuts, i have even had a chat with george and every time i say the newfoundlands  name, he is runing to the door barking, so even he knows somethings up,if i could stop a stranger in the street and yap about it i would!!!
as for photos,i think i may poss have the biggest album on here once i get him
by the way, he is to be called stanley

I can get AG Lamb wholesale price through a friend who I help out at training classes, or what she pays for it at £22 a bag.  I get through 1kg a day for 5 dogs so a bag last two weeks so £11 a week.  If I pay the Breeder club price it is about £25 so £12.50 a week.

I feed mine burns venison and rice which I buy for £37.65 (15kg) and it lasts my two approx 6 weeks so that costs £3.14 per dog per week but then I add frozen meat, one block used to last them both for two meals each so was costing an extra £2 per dog per week but im trying to put weight on one of them so we are now getting through 2 blocks so its costing an extra £4 per week !!  So total per Irish Setter works out to about £7.14 a week ........ bit more than most but its the meat that costs the money, the complete doesnt work out that much.

I am sponsored by a firm making 'working food for gundogs' They sponsor a lot of gamefairs too. I buy a pallet of 65 bags and my 13 get through approx 2.5 bags a week plus rmb and various off cuts. The food with the sponsorship works out to be just under £6 a bag and before anyone berates it it is not floor scrapings or the main ingredient cereal etc.They do very well on it, hold their weight during the shooting season and have brilliant stamina also. I am pleased with the results so far and the cost efficency of it.

> don't have a problem fitting Buster in the garden, or in the house generally, it's the hallway that is the biggest issue.

> so him turning while in the hallway is a little akward especially if there are people in it

> That is the main reason I couldn't have another dog his size, they would end up stuck in the hallway

> His length also cause slight hold-ups in the kitchen, as you can imagine, if he's stood watching me prepare his dinner (eg.), his butt is so far away from his head he blocks the kitchen off!
>

:-)  :-)  :-)
mastifflover
Thank you so much for your imaginitive descriptions.  I have seen it all in my mind, and I'm still laughing!

> mastifflover
> Thank you so much for your imaginitive descriptions.  I have seen it all in my mind, and I'm still laughing!

LOL, one either needs a very spacious house or lots of patience to have a huge dog :) 

I was just talking about this with my OH, I really would love another Mastiff but think the size issue would make it completely unworkable and we were talking how we managed when our oldie, Rocky (lab cross) was alive. It brought back the funny and fond memory of Buster standing diagonally accross the hallway, blocking it off, Rocky wedged underneath him and the cat (wanting to see what the dogs were waiting for) sat underneath Rocky, it was like a pet totem pole :)

So if we do get another dog, it would have to fit underneath Buster to get around the fact he blocks up the house, LOL

My lot get Healthy Paws dry food for breakfast and dinner is raw - chicken wings, rabbit, pheasant, lamb ribs, tripe - or sardines or NatureDiet, they get a variety across the week.

Healthy Paws isn't cheap, it's about £45 for 15kg (I get a discount as my friend owns a shop which stocks it) but it's by far the best dry food I've found for them, I used to use Arden Grange but they all look the best they ever have on HP. I've never worked out how much it costs to feed them per week or per month, ignorance is bliss for me in this instance!