I get this question quite often as a mother of multiple dogs. It’s usually in the grocery checkout while the cashier is scanning an extra large bag of dry food and asks:

“so, what type of dog do you have?”

and my reply is:

“so, I actually have five…”

and every time I get the same response of big eyes and the echo: “FIVE?!”.

The next question is “how much does it cost to feed FIVE dogs?”….

What do I feed them?

My dogs LOVE people food. They love rotisserie chicken, beef, cooked carrots, etc. I was cooking for them in my crockpot for a while and mixing it into their kibble, but I found something easier.

I mix about a tablespoon of this wet “human food” type dog food that they absolutely love (Purina Beneful Prepared Meals) into their dry kibble. They think they’re getting human food and we can cut down on giving them unhealthy scraps daily.

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How much do they eat?

Since I have five dogs that are all different sizes, they eat different amounts. My biggest dog eats a little more than 2 cups of food per day and my smallest eats a little less than 1 cup per day.

1 lb of dry dog food = 4 cups. So, a 31 pound bag equals 124 cups of food.

Here is the daily breakdown (this is the TOTAL daily consumption for all 5 dogs combined):

• 7.25 cups of dry food per day
• 1 container of wet food per day
• 10 small snacks or treats cut in half

How much does the food cost?

Dry food: $31.82 for a 31 lb bag

Wet food: $1.76 per container

Treats: $2.99 per box

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It costs us $29 per week to feed our 5 dogs.

For a 31 day month:

Dry food cost (2 x 31lb bags)— $63.64

Wet food cost (31 containers)— $54.56

Treats cost (3 19oz boxes)— $8.97

Total: $127.17 per month, $29.36 per week!

$29 a week doesn’t seem like a lot for five dogs! I’m glad I did the math and can share this info now when I’m asked!!

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