Hi Sharon,
Thanks for the input – the information on flax seed is new to me. I don’t grind them myself and I hadn’t read previously that there would be no benefit if they weren’t freshly milled. I use them for a source of Omega 3, but may have to rethink if pre milled has no benefit. I do feed the girls sardines once a week, so they get plenty of fish oil anyway.
As for the chicken mince, I am lucky in that I have a poultry company nearby and am also friends with our local butcher. So they will just grind up chicken carcasses and add a bit of offal for me. I normally get about 50lbs at a time and they will freeze it in bulk then band saw it into 1lb chunks that I store in the freezer.
In terms of cost, this is pretty cheap for me – it costs less than £4 a day to feed both dogs raw and they are pretty big dogs. Mind you, deerhounds are very lean and don’t really eat a huge amount anyway. ( I am in the UK, so that may be expensive for you, but it’s cheaper than a good quality kibble here)
Personally, I don’t use any kibble at all. Just the raw food, plus some table scraps and even with the scraps I pretty much give them just the protein and fats with very little carbohydrates.
