I know this is an old thread, but I have a couple of questions.

1. Nancy Jocoy: You said you could get outdated meat in NC grocery stores. How? I live in Asheville so if I could go that route, then I might just try it. Bi-Lo and Ingles are the main ones here.

2. I realize that the stuff must be kept frozen, but do you let it thaw before giving it to the dog or do you give it to the dog frozen??

1) You can walk into about any store and find meat that expires that day (or the day before!) yikes! Show it to the meat manager and explain you want to buy it for your dog and ask will he discount it...I would offer 25-30 cents a lb for chicken that way. DHEC in South Carolina won't let the stores sell it but I have never had this problem in NC (I live on the state line) but it depends on the store -- I have dealt mainly with folks at BiLo and Winn Dixie and when I lived in Asheville it was pretty much Ingles country and I do not know if they have any different policies.

2) When ALDI's moved into town I just went with them for reliably cheap frozen chicken. It is always about 49 cents a lb.

3) Shop the sale papers - just before Thanksgiving some folks had turkey at 18 cents a pound and leg quarters OFTEN go on sale in 10lb bags

4) Do you still have the railroad salvage store on Haywood Road or am I dating myself?

Concerning thawing - I set out the evening meal to thaw in the morning before work and set out morning meal in evening. I thaw the dogs meat at room temperature.

Oh, BTW, don't tell the meat manager you feed it raw -- just tell him that you make your own dog food and don't go in looking like you are planning to buy it for yourself <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> .

I don't *think* the salvage store is still on Haywood Road, but I honestly have no idea.

Is poultry the only meat to worry about or is it just the most economical? Can you do the same with pork and beef? What about raw bones? Where can you get those?

You should try for a variety of meat. I used poultry as the base because it was most economical and one of my dogs will not touch pork. I also have some friends who hunt and have fed venison etc.

Venison has been mentioned. I can take hundreds of pounds of this and ususlly gave it away. Is it suitable to use as a core meat in a natural diet?

Venison is perfectly acceptable. However, keep in mind that it has very little if any fat content, so it's better suited as something thrown in the mix rather than as the staple muscle meat source. Especially for young/growing dogs or with highly active dogs who need the energy from fat.

PS- be sure you know whether or not the meat came from an area with chronic wasting disease, but it's a good idea to stay away from any spinal or brain tissue regardless.

as far as cost, shopping around is the key. I was feeding raw for almost a year before someone in my club turned me on to the Pilgrim's Pride chicken processing plant in town.

40lbs of chicken necks for $9. great deal, but obviously, a chest or spare freezer is a must.

I feed hamburger as the core muscle meat, and the best price i consistently find is @ $1.39/lb. i buy 10-15 lbs when ever i can get it for that.

I know of a bulldog breeder (Jami Long) who seems to get excellent results with it. I don't know him personally.

How do you get so much? I'm in southern California, and do not know of any readily accessible venison; would love to learn about it.

Staying away from the spinal column is excellent advise. I do that with my own food. You should also avoid the tongue and brain.

As far as cost, when we did the math it came out to be a draw between "high quality" dog food and "human quality" raw food. You can go cheaper by get food close to expiration, but if the wheel of luck spins against you any food savings will be lost in vet bills. With that rationale in mind we only purchased "air chilled chicken", because it has much less contamination than chicken that was dumped in ice water vats. In the same vain, we never buy hamburger, we buy whole meats and grind them ourselves. What we did was buy a standalone freezer and then purchased things in bulk when the prices were good. One thing that always worked well was ordering chicken necks and backs by the case from the meat counter at the grocery store.

All in all when you look at the big picture the cost trade is in favor of RAW food, the only real draw back is that it is not convenient