What does it take to feed 300 dogs...every day!!

There are many costs associated with the rescue and shelter operation – one cost that we often asked about is the cost of feeding so many dogs.   With a shelter that averages 300 dogs at any given time this cost is significant…

We feed all our dogs a raw food diet.  We do this for 3 reasons, in priority order:

1.       The health of the dogs.

2.      The cost.

3.      The waste product!!

So, way back when we started in 2017 we were offered meat products that were no longer viable to sell (normally reached their sell by date) from Costco.  We gladly accepted this offer and set about researching what the best options were to make use of this meat.   The research quickly found a plethora of information extoling the benefits of raw food versus processed kibble.   The raw food also had to prepared correctly with not just meat but also ingredients to ensure a full balanced diet with protein, calcium, vitamins, etc.   So, we sourced vegetables, rice, lentils, fruit.  Initially we were making the food for 40 dogs (this was pre shelter when the dogs were in our house) and this took nearly 2 hours a day using a small grinder…when we moved to the shelter, we continued to make the food at our house even though we were now feeding 70 dogs…

Eventually, we moved production to the shelter.   So everyday (365 days a year) we now make an average of 120 kgs of raw food.    This has moved way beyond the donations from Costco, whilst still a key part of supply it is unpredictable and often only a few kgs.  So now we have a supply chain that purchases chicken at warehouse prices, vegetables from the wholesaler, and donation from several butchers that whilst not regular do often provide some relief.

The budget that we have for feeding the dogs is approximately 10 pesos a day per dog or 3000 MXN a day.    But everyday we have to source the raw ingredients, grind and make the food and feed the dogs.   Currently we have 2 industrial grinders, 2 chest freezers and one fridge that are used.  We have one member of staff who job is to make the food every evening ready for the following day…a task that takes and average of 3 hours….

So why do we do it – raw food is proven to be better for the dogs and by providing a heathly diet so also aim to minimise the vet costs and although this is very hard to quantify, what we do know is that a majority of our vet costs are associated with new intakes, surgeries, and on going routine care…The cost is as low as we can get it…and the waste product of dogs on a raw food diet is normally dry and easily cleaned – not so with kibble and when you have to clean up after 300 dogs that makes a HUGH different to the workload….

If you would like to help continue with our raw food program please consider being an Operational Sponsor, full details and application at https://www.thesulasociety.com/operational-sponsorship

Chicken

Rice, Lentils, Fish and eggs

Sample ingredients, liver, vegatables, fruit, fish...