The magic white box (or, the most expensive part of raw feeding)

This is Kip's favourite new thing:

It's the magic white box that food comes from.  Apparently, if you sit in front of it long enough, it will dispense yummy food  (this works for humans as well as dogs).   And the space allocation is much more fair to those in the house that actually pay for the food*!

 

But...but...but...why is Kip's space empty???

What?  Doesn't everyone thaw 3 turkeys at a time in their bathtub**? 

Getting serious for a moment, I think having a freezer (even if it is small chest one) is really helpful for raw feeders.  Turkey was on sale for $0.99/lb - a great deal (well, better at least a better deal than the last time I bought some).  And I have found other meats on sale for that price, and limited the amount I bought due to freezer space (well, actually I didn't limit as much as I should have...).  Having a large freezer allows me to preserve food for myself, and stock up on cheap meat for Kip.  Yes, it's an investment, and yes, it takes up space I really don't have (which is why I spent more for an upright instead of a chest freezer).   In a perfect world, I'd have a freezer just for meat, which would allow me to take advantage of even cheaper (like free) meat sources (from hunters, butchers, etc.).  But, unless I build a back porch (which won't happen for a few years, if ever), there simply isn't room for two freezers, and I do need a lot of freezer space for myself as well - and not just for ice cream!! 

The freezer cost almost $700, and of course, there is the yearly cost for electricity.  But even if it was dedicated to just dog food, if it means I can buy a lot of meat when it's on sale, then the freezer will quickly pay for itself.

Other new raw feeding equipment:

I went to a meeting of the garden club my parents are members of, and oddly enough, one member works for a flooring company and had brought in old sample pieces of vinyl flooring as a fund raiser for the club.  So, for a $2 donation, I got a nice piece of vinyl that I'll use for Kip to eat off of, instead of the grungy towel he's currently using.  Cheap, easy to clean, and easy to store away when it's not in use.  And when the flooring guy overheard me chatting about getting a second dog one day, he gave me a second piece!  Which just goes to show you can find the most useful stuff in the oddest of locations!

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* Hey, the ice cream was on sale.  So were the carrots.  And those are individual-sized homemade chicken pot pies on top of the ice cream, waiting for me to wrap them up after freezing.

** Yes, the tub will be cleaned after the thaw!