Dreams: Saving Money on Canned Dog Food

My seventy-eight year old dad loves spoiling his schipperke (pronounced "Skipper-key"), Cinder. I cringe whenever I see him open a can of expensive dog food. It's not because he cuts the dog food up into small bite size pieces then feeds her each little portion from a plastic knife because that's the only way she'll eat it. I cringe because he spends a fortune on brand name canned dog food.

But I bite my tongue. I don't tell him to save his money and not buy the stuff; that he could actually provide her meat from his own kitchen table. No, I don't advocate giving dogs leftovers from the table. What I do advocate is reserving meat that you have cooked for your canine.

And that is just what my husband does. He does all the cooking around here (shopping, too). Whatever meat he prepares, he always reserves a certain amount for Tsaile (pronounced "Say-lee"), our Rhodesian Ridgeback. Whether it's chicken, ribs, roast, pork chops or steak, we always have a small plastic bag of meat set off to the side in the refrigerator. Every morning and every night, we put a bit of meat on top of Tsaile's dry dog food.

I know for a fact that she would eat her dry dog food without that bit of meat on top of it because we have run out of the reserve and had no choice but to give her only her dog food with a bit of warm water mixed into it. I also know she would eat her dry food with cooked rice, carrots or potatoes.

We don't scrape leftovers into her food bowl but we will keep a small amount from our plates occasionally to add to her food.

She isn't over-weight because we're very conscious of what we feed her. And, we're not spending a fortune on canned food or doggie treats. Yet, I can tell you she is very spoiled.

Conclusion: If you're looking for something to cut from the budget, consider substituting something for the expensive treats or food you serve your pet.

P.S. My ferret, Ponc, gets off-brand raisins instead of the five dollar packages of ferret treats.