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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Stocking up Dog Food for SHTF

Dry dog food stores well and there's no reason not to buy in bulk when on sale. About a year worth of shelf life is pretty reasonable with most kibble. With good packaging you don’t need any special way of storing it, just keeping it in a cool dry place away from bugs and check the integrity of the bag every once in a while. Better yet, put the bag in a metal or plastic container. If rats and other pests don’t get to it, the food should easily last 12 months.

About dog food. Not all dog food is alike. Cheap kibble like Pedigree will keep your dog alive but its not nearly as good as some other choices. The key (and expensive) ingredient in dog food is meat. Chicken, turkey, lamb, any animal will do but the meat protein content is the most important ingredient. Read the label and make sure your dog food has at least 20% of meat in it.  Especially during the first tow years of life when the dog is growing, make sure you feed it quality food if you can afford it. If it ever comes down to rationing your dog food you could mix quality dog food with rice half and half. It wouldn’t be as good but you can stretch good kibble a bit like that if needed.
You can feed your dog the same food you store but it makes more sense to just stock up on kibble when on sale. Besides, during a real emergency it wouldn’t make sense to spend precious food on the dog. A few extra bags avoids that kind of hard decision. At least for a few months!
FerFAL

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What brand would you recommend Ferfal?

FerFAL said...

Hi, here I buy either Lathams (Tesco) or iams, but there's many good brands out there. I look for at least 25% meat, that's an ok dog food without being too expensive but of course more meat would be better. I try to avoid soy in dog food becuase its pretty alergic and I've had some of my dogs end up with rash an other alergic reations to it.

Jose Garcia said...

I stopped feeding dry kible after I had to put down a GSD last year due to bloat. Dog food is mostly flour based even the high grade stuff, which often times is more expensive than getting left overs at the butcher shop or buying chicken necks. Drop a piece of dry food in water and watrch it bloat to twice it size. That is what happens inside the stomach of a dog, and if the stomach twists when bloated, it's pretty much the end of your dog. Dogs with deep chests and narrow shoulder blades are at greater risk of bloat, i.e. german shepherds, great danes.
I feed my dog table scraps, raw eggs, and sometimes a rice porridge with leftover meat or chicken that has gotten old in the freezer. Since I got my dog off dry kible, she has lost 20 pounds (80-60 lbs.) in 1 year. She is more active and healthy. With two picky eaters in a family of 4 there is never a shortage of table scraps. Dogs, especially if they are inactive, don't need much food. A slim dog has less health problems with joints and hips.
From a prepping point, I can see the need for stashing away dog food, but I would recommend that instead you double up on rice since both humans and and dogs can eat it and it's cheaper. The protein absent in rcie, you can complment with left overs or a raw egg. For my part, I'm never feeding dry kible to any dog again. I had to hold my GSD while the vet put her down becuase the only other choice was to wait for her heart and lungs to collapse as the pressure of the stomach mounted on those organs.

Jose Garcia said...

I stopped feeding dry kibble after I had to put down a GSD last year due to bloat. Dog food is mostly flour based even the high grade stuff, which often times is more expensive than getting left overs at the butcher shop or buying chicken necks. Drop a piece of dry food in water and watch it bloat to twice it size. That is what happens inside the stomach of a dog, and if the stomach twists when bloated, it's pretty much the end of your dog. Dogs with deep chests and narrow shoulder blades are at greater risk of bloat, i.e. German shepherds, great Danes.
I feed my dog table scraps, raw eggs, and sometimes a rice porridge with leftover meat or chicken that has gotten old in the freezer. Since I got my dog off dry kibble, she has lost 20 pounds (80-60 lbs.) in 1 year. She is more active and healthy. With two picky eaters in a family of 4 there is never a shortage of table scraps. Dogs, especially if they are inactive, don't need much food. A slim dog has less health problems with joints and hips.
From a prepping point, I can see the need for stashing away dog food, but I would recommend that instead you double up on rice since both humans and dogs can eat it and it's cheaper. The protein absent in rice, you can complement with left overs or a raw egg. For my part, I'm never feeding dry kibble to any dog again. I had to hold my GSD while the vet put her down because the only other choice was to wait for her heart and lungs to collapse as the pressure of the stomach mounted on those organs.

Petzy said...

It is good to Buy Dog Food
that is of good brand.