Cheap Dog Food

I was using 8 in 1 for rat food until my colony grew so big that it has become uneconomical to feed them this way due to the high cost. I just returned from the only two feed stores in my county and they both said no go on the rodent block. They actually looked at me like I was a nutt because everyone here wants to kill rats not feed them. Anyway, I picked up a bag of doggie bag food which comes to like .40 per pound and does not fall through my rack like most dog food. Is this really bad to feed my feeders or what because ordering food online is kind of pricey as well seeing that shipping costs more than the product!

This is a topic that has been beaten to a pulp...

In my opinion, you nailed it right on the head with your topic title.... "cheap dog food"

Dog food is for dogs. And, some dog food is not even good enough for dogs..
Rodent food is for rodents. I've literally used everything on the market is some shape way or form in the past 20+ years. My numbers are better, my rats are healthier and I use less for since there have been rodent blocks on the market for consumer use.
I'll leave it at that.

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Originally Posted by jasbus

In my opinion, you nailed it right on the head with your topic title.... "cheap dog food"

Dog food is for dogs. And, some dog food is not even good enough for dogs..

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X2............most "cheap" dog food is not healthy for the animal they are meant to feed:soapbx::soapbx::soapbx:

I was able to find high quaility lab block online for $.38 a pound.

You can read about it in this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-rodent-block

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

I was able to find high quaility lab block online for $.38 a pound.

You can read about it in this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-rodent-block

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Thanks. That is a really good deal. I will have to figure out where to store 200 pounds of rat food though.

Cheap dog food would be better for an omnivore than expensive dog food because of the elevated protein content of premium brands. I never could fathom why people would be okay with feeding their carnivorous dog or cat corn (the #1 ingredient in most cheap dog/cat foods) but it seems reasonable for omnivores. However, I do agree that it is not optimal and rodent diets are better. Seems like my rats go through about a pound of lab block per day so I need to find a solution this month. TY.

Try buying them oats, barley, horse sweet feed, and bird seed mix/ millet seed as well as the dog food. Those things can all be found in your feed stores, and will be way healthier when mixed together than feeding just the dog food. The corn in the dog food is not tested as much as the corn in the rodent lab block, and can contain pesticides which can cause sterility and cancers in your rodents. I would avoid it as much as possible, and buy holistic dog food instead.

$100 worth of food lasts me for probably 6-9 months or more, mixing things like that. But it's more expensive, admitedly, than lab block or hog grower.

Hog grower is another option, although again you have the corn, but it's really a personal choice. You should be able to find a hog grower feed at your feed stores as well.

What area (state) are you in?

Go to your local feed store-a big farm feed store, not some chain store with animal feed, or a little feed store. Most feed stores can special order rodent food for your. Kent food is mostly midwest, Iowa to Kentucky and the surrounding area as far as I've noticed. Mazuri is available everywhere if I'm right.

I tried something different this week. I put half rodent block and half Doggy Bag on the screens for the racks. Maybe it's because it's something new and different but the dog food is almost gone and the lab block is still there.

I'm going to try giving some dog food once a week while keeping the lab block available. I'm also giving rolled oats once a week. We'll see if it makes a difference one way or the other.

The reason the doggie bag is going faster is because they love it. Like kids love McD's... Just because they love it, doesn't mean it's good for them.
I did a rack by rack comparison for a couple of months last year. I posted it on here somewhere....

Anyway, long story short. Less babies and more cannibalism on Doggie Bag. And, even though DB was cheaper($12.99 at the time), it cost me more on the DB, because they ate more of it. $13/40# DB versus $18/50# rodent block comes out almost the same per pound..
My mice, I don't even want to go there... they wasted away, and ate almost all the babies on DB. Not too mention, all the rodents always looked greasy.
Now, since the prices have increased, I can get rodent block cheaper . DB in my area is now $16 for 40#.

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Originally Posted by jasbus

The reason the doggie bag is going faster is because they love it. Like kids love McD's... Just because they love it, doesn't mean it's good for them.
I did a rack by rack comparison for a couple of months last year. I posted it on here somewhere....

Anyway, long story short. Less babies and more cannibalism on Doggie Bag. And, even though DB was cheaper($12.99 at the time), it cost me more on the DB, because they ate more of it. $13/40# DB versus $18/50# rodent block comes out almost the same per pound..
My mice, I don't even want to go there... they wasted away, and ate almost all the babies on DB. Not too mention, all the rodents always looked greasy.
Now, since the prices have increased, I can get rodent block cheaper . DB in my area is now $16 for 40#.

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I agree with you but I'm not feeding DB exclusively. I'm only giving a little each week with rodent block and rolled oats. I will not give mice or ASF's dog food. I tried it and they don't do well on it.

Once the DB is gone I won't purchase any more but I can't just throw the stuff out. I normally donate extra dog food to the animal shelter but I wouldn't feed DB to a dog. I like dogs. :P

I am going to go with hog grower. I know the feed store has that! I asked both stores if they could order the rodent diet and both not only said no but looked at me like I was insane (most people around here desperately wish to kill all rodents).

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

I was able to find high quaility lab block online for $.38 a pound.

You can read about it in this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-rodent-block

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Ooh... Looks like I may be switching! And right now the site says free shipping under 50#, and free shipping if you spend $59 or more. PLUS, a pop-up wants you to submit your email for an additional 15% OFF!!! Wow! You can't get much better than this deal.

I feed a dog food that I can only find at a store called Big R but for the life of me, I can not remember what it's called! I'm at work right now but I'll post it later on.

A word of caution though. Whatever you do, do not feed Ol Roy brand or Special Kitty brand food (Walmart brand food) to anything. Here is my reason why..

I was short on money one month last year and bought Ol Roy for my dogs and rats. I kept feeding it for awhile. Within 2 months about 6 of my rats had developed lumps. I was shocked because none of my colony had ever had an issue with tumors.

I immediately switched back to my original food and was talking to my sister about it. She freaked out because for years she had fed her cats, 4 of them, a mother and her 3 kittens, Special Kitty, and every one ended up with tumors when they were older. She only has one of those cats left and it doesn't have long to live.

It's been at least a year since switching my rats back to their original food and none have ever developed any lumps again.

Coincidence?

I figure since Norway rats only live a few years at most and cats live around 12 give or take, rats will show signs of a bad food like that in a much shorter time. Hence why labs use rodents in testing.

So just to be on the safe side, I wouldn't use those brands for anything.

When I was first getting ready to start breeding rats, I read on this forum somewhere about #40 Red in dog and cat food and to stay away from it. Find something that did not contain #40 Red. So when I was searching, I checked out both brands you mentioned... and if I do recall, and from what you have said happened to your rats, both contain #40 red.

I buy exrusion small animal blocks from local store i order it specially, and mix in some medium breed nutrience dog food. They get 4-1 ratio of small animal block to dog food. I keep 2 females per cage each cage gets about 10-16 bloacks aday with about 8 peices of dog food a day. The bag of blocks is about $65-70 its lastes for 12 rats about 5 months and the nutrience dog food has no corn its the pro biotic one with cranberrys and blueberrys 40lb bag cost 39.99.