Raw Food Diet For Boxers – Definitive Cost Analysis – Are They A Good Value?

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Raw Food Diet For Boxers – Definitive Cost Analysis – Are They A Good Value?

Raw Food Diet for Boxers (and other breeds as well) have become more popular in the last decade.  According to NIH.gov, approximately 15-25% of dog owners feed their dogs a raw food diet.

But are they cost-effective versus commercially produced dog food and dog food subscription services that offer prepared meals?

Our cost analysis showed that raw diets are more expensive than commercially produced foods and subscription services.

This is due to several factors including

• The wide array of food items composing the daily raw diet can increase costs.
• The number of food suppliers used to procure the food items used in the raw diet for boxers and shipping fees can add costs.
• Commodity-based products (such as beef, pork, and poultry) can fluctuate greatly increasing costs.
• Seasonal products such as fruits and vegetables have lower prices in season, but fluctuate based on demand when out of season.
• Commercial Food costs can be controlled by the volume and scale of the foods being produced.
• Boxer dog owners can control the cost of subscription service meals based on ordering practices (quantity, membership rates, and sales).

The table below lists the daily cost for Raw Food for Boxers, Commercial Dog Food, and Subscription Service Prepared Meals based on our cost using data from multiple food suppliers.

Raw Food Diets for Boxers – Are They A Good Value?

Data in this table assumes:

• Male Boxer Dogs’ average weight is 73lb
• Female Boxer Dogs’ average weight is 54lb
• A minimum of 3 suppliers of each diet type were used to calculate the data
• Raw Diet Composition used to calculate the daily cost
• 70% Muscle Meat
• 10% Meaty Bone
• 10% Organ Meat
• 10% Vegetables and Fruit
• Males eat 3% of their body weight = 2.19 lb/day
• Females eat 3% of their body weight = 1.65 lbs/day

To help reduce the potential for food allergies review our article

Commercial Food Dry Kibble was an average of Mid to top Tier Dry Dog foods

• Assumed Males at 5 cups/day
• Assumed Females ate 3.75 cups/day
• Average bag size – 35lbs (which equates to 140 cups of dry kibble)

Review our article

Raw Food Diet for Boxers used K9s for coffee.com as the “standard” or control for calculating costs

What are the Monthy and Yearly Costs to Feed a Boxer Dog?

The table below shows the monthly, and yearly costs for the Raw Food Diet for Boxers commercially fed dog food and subscription dog food meal services.

The table below shows the monthly, and yearly costs for the Raw Food Diet for Boxers commercially fed dog food and subscription dog food meal services.

Raw Diet For Boxers Summary

The Boxer dog diet yearly costs, averaging the male and female costs together from least expensive to most expensive basis are listed in ascending order below.

• Commercial Dog Food Diet – $2,802
• Subscription – $3,482
• Raw Food For Boxers – $5,634

We are not trying to prove preference for or superiority of one diet over another in this article.  We are providing cost data based on current pricing information in October 2022.

There are several factors affecting the cost of feeding your Boxer among all 3 diets.  We will evaluate those now and discuss options for reducing costs.

To get additional information on raw and healthy treats to support the diets above, read our post.

For Subscription Dog Food visit the retailers below for pricing and selection

NomNom Fresh Dog Food

Take 50% off Your First Order of Nom Nom

Ollie Pet Food

How Costs Were Determined

• We used the pricing information pulled from online pricing information across multiple raw food suppliers, big box retailers, food stores, and farmers’ markets.  We used this data to calculate the average cost for each food item per pound.
•  We then calculated the average amount of each food item based on a Male Boxer’s (average 73lbs) daily food requirements for each item.  We also did the same for the female boxer dog (57lb average) to determine costs based on feeding requirements
• To support the answer to Raw Food Diets for Boxers Do they Save money, we calculated the daily, monthly, and yearly costs for the Raw food diet for boxers, commercial dog food diet, and fresh, prepared meals from a subscription service are listed in the tables above as support.

Now, let’s look at factors that affect the costs of these diets and how owners can reduce the impact of these factors on their Boxer Dog’s food budget.

Factors Affecting The Cost of Boxer Dog Diets

Raw Food Diet For Boxers – Variety of Foods

The wide array of food items composing the daily raw diet can increase costs.

• One of the benefits of a raw food diet is the variety of foods you can feed your Boxer Dog.  This can also be a liability in terms of cost.
• To reduce the cost impact of the raw diet, while still providing a nutritionally balanced diet use the following tactics

• Register for subscriptions or auto-shipments to get better pricing.
• Buy seasonal products in the season when the prices are lowest.

Raw Foods For Boxers – Suppliers

The number of food suppliers used to procure the food items used in the raw diet for boxers and shipping fees can add costs.

• To reduce costs select a few companies that provide high-quality products and offer good value.
• Register for their membership program to get a better pricing structure
• Participate in their subscription and auto-shipment programs to receive better pricing.

• Sign up for their newsletter so you know when sales on items you purchase will go on sale.
• Buy local from farmers’ markets for items that you use regularly and can find online.

Visit the following Raw Food Suppliers to check prices and services

Raw Paws Pet Food – See Fee Intro Pack Offer Below

Intro FREE Ship Pack

Chewy.com

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Raw Diet For Boxers – Commodities

Commodity-based products (such as beef, pork, and poultry) can fluctuate greatly increasing costs.

• In doing our cost analysis, we referenced the USDA Commodity Costs & Returns and USDA Market News to get the most current commodity pricing.
• Use the analysis to help drive purchasing decisions on commodity-based pricing on products that can be affected by:

• Weather issues
• Geo-political factors
• Supply chain issues
• Supply and demand for products.

Raw Food Diet For Boxers – Seasonal Products

Seasonal products such as fruits and vegetables have lower prices in season but fluctuate based on demand when out of season.

• Use farmers’ Markets, Roadside stands, and Co-ops to get the best quality fruits and vegetables at the lowest prices.
• Join farm co-ops that provide weekly fruits and vegetables that are in season. The amount of food received will be based on the share – Full or Half you select.
• Whole Foods or Natural Food stores also offer high-quality fruits and vegetables at affordable prices if there are no farmers’ markets in your area.

Read our related articles

Raw Food Diet For Boxers – Commercial Products

One advantage most manufacturers of commercial dog food have is they can leverage their scale to get the best pricing on raw materials and packaging.

They can use this to help keep the cost of their products at a consumer-preferred price point.

To gain even greater savings use the following tactics:

• Use manufacturer and store coupons for additional savings.  Use sales and couponing for additional savings.
• Use Big Box Memberships Stores (i.e., Sam’s Club and Costco) to buy food in larger quantity bags that have a lower cost per ounce.
• Order online through a service that provides auto-shipments to help keep costs down. 

We use and recommend Chewy.com for our autoshipments.

Save 35% on your first Chewy Autoship Order!

Raw Food Diet For Boxers Summary

The type of diet you feed your Boxer Dog is a matter of choice.  All Boxer owners want the best health for their pets and the diet they feed them is based on this desire.

Each type of diet; Raw Food Diet For Boxers, Commercial Diet, and Subscription prepared meal food service has different costs associated with them.

Our cost Analysis showed in terms of cost, that commercial dog food diets were the least expensive and the raw food diets were the most expensive.

There are means to help control and reduce costs across all 3 diets.

We hope the information provide on costs is beneficial.  Our goal was not to indicate which diet is better but to show the cost impact across all the diets.

We hope you can use this data and supporting information to keep the costs of your Boxer’s Diet within your budget.

References:

How To Raw Feed A Boxer – A Beginners Guide – Boxerdogdiaries.com

How To Figure Out How Much Raw Dog Food To Feed – K9sovercoffee.com

Discoverboxerdogs.com are Mary and Chris Kustanbauter.  We reside in Red Lion, PA with our two Boxers, Duke and Katie, who are both rescue dogs.  We have been working with Adopt A Boxer Rescue for the past 17 years and have adopted 5 Boxers from this fine organization. To learn more visit our Home, Boxer Dog Family, and Blogs Pages  Visit us on social media on Facebook – DiscoverBoxer Dogs, Instagram, and Pinterest.