Feed your dog real food

We share our home with (living) dogs 3 and 4 and (across The Great Divide/on another plane) dogs 1 and 2. Dogs have tiny bodies compared to humans. They are more vulnerable to disease amd allergies, and especially to immune disorders. I am also legitimately OCD (like diagnosed, not buzzwordy), passionately love data, and have been known to volunteer for systematic reviews for fun. All to say, I do absolutely insane things like track the exact $$ amounts I spend on 10 different dog-spending categories across 10+ years. While my sample size is definitely way too small and my methods not exactly perfect, I do stand by my hypothesis that feeding your dog good food actually saves gigantic costs (I’m talking dollars alone but also things you can’t put dollar signs on). Also: How much money would you give (if you could) to spend one more year with your dog? Would it be equal to or greater than the amount you are saving by buying kibble? If your dog is on a prescription diet, you can still consult with a vet nutritionist to find a diet that works for them. Our dogs have been on Hill’s KD, hydrolyzed protein, kangaroo, Darwin’s, seriously, allll the foods. We do love Darwin’s, but now with real food they are better off than they’ve ever been (even being recently un-diagnosed with kidney disease, which truly feels like a f-in miracle). They are eating chicken thighs, sweet potato, broccoli, and rice, plus prescribed vits/mineral blend and supplements. I’m not kidding, we batch extra for ourselves which makes meal planning some weeks that much easier! It’s overwhelming before you start and at the very first, but about 3 months in, it becomes routine in an air-you-breathe kinda way. Buying in bulk at Costco makes it even more affordable. For ppl who are rich, you can also find local food prep services (I’ve looked out of sheer curiosity and yes I mean for dog food, and we live in not-the-most-Portlandia place of all) or regionally who will ship your exact recipe to you. Our dogs can’t eat any commercial diets because of converging disorders, but there are a lot of real food companies out there that make this much easier. You do save substantial money making at home, though!