This summer it occurred to me that I had only a vague idea of how long a bag of my dog's kibble would last. I measure her meals (a bit less than one cup in the morning and the same in the evening) so knew how much she ate each day but the food bag is measured by weight rather than volume.

Can't plan responsibly for her survival if I don't know how long her food supply will last. So when I opened the last bag I marked a calendar.

She eats Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato. 30lb bags.

I now know that a 30 lb bag will feed her for 9 weeks, at her normal rate of consumption. Longer than I expected.

I'm in the habit of buying a new bag when her old bag gets down to half.

Still don't know how much water she consumes, I just keep topping off her water bowls. That's the next research project: starting the day with a gallon jug of water and tracking daily consumption. Will vary greatly, of course, depending on weather and her activity level.

Does everyone here have a handle on how long their pets could survive on the pet food they have on hand?

You could also consult your vet about your dogs diet. I recently had to take our beagle in because he tore his acl. The vet gave us some expensive diet food as he was overweight ($25 for a 10lb bag). She said if he was not getting full enough off of that that we could also give him a can of green beans to supplement. So given that if you asked I would think that there may be other foods that could stretch out your rationing.

The last think I'd want to do in an emergency is change her diet, or in a sustained situation, cut into the human food.

Green beans are a popular means of reducing a dog's weight.

Gidget's accustomed to a dollop of yogurt on her breakfast and occasional pumpkin and chicken. Not to mention her daily Greenie. So she'd be adjusting in a crisis.

Weaning her off Greenies would be her biggest discomfort.

In a sustained crisis, I could well end up dipping into her kibble. Not to my taste but her kibble is a nutritious, high-quality dog food with human-grade ingredients.

Think I'll be adding more pork 'n beans and tuna to the grocery cart this weekend....

I'm rather more concerned about a one or two week situation. With my current practice of buying a new bag of dog food when her current one hits half, she'll be fine for at least a month and possibly three or more.

Dagny, you might also take note of the expiration of one of your new bags of dog food, to get an approximation of how long it CAN last (probably not desirable under normal conditions, but...).

If the expiration date is decent (possibly shorter than the poorer foods available at most grocery stores and WallyWorld), and if you have a place to store it that vermin couldn't get to, maybe you would want to spring for an extra bag, which you would naturally rotate.

Excellent choice of food, BYW. I hear it makes your brown eyes browner.

Re: water... for ease in figuring, you might just plan on storing the same amount for her as you do for yourself. Her water and your water is likely to be the same, so you would probably open a gallon and share it. If you had overestimated her requirements, it could only be to the good for both of you.

For people who use the pet foods that contain a lot of filler foods (corn, wheat, rice, barley, etc), you dog probably requires more of those foods to maintain weight, as those grains are actually chicken feed, not dog foods, and often aren't digested (large, soft stools are one sign). If you plan on storing the cheap foods, they will actually require more space than a more nutrient-dense food will. I would consider it a waste of space, but YMMV.

Sue

Dagny,
You just need a couple of monsters like this. I don't know how many months a medium size bag of food lasts but my best guess is that we have a minimum of about three months worth on hand at any time.

All good points, Susan, as usual. :-)

Her unopened new bag has an expiration date of July 25, 2010.

Better than I expected considering the food does not contain artificial preservatives. Think I will go ahead and pick up another bag -- after checking the expiration date. That would get her to next spring.

Excellent observations on the quality of various dog foods. I've always noted that the higher-end food that goes in the dog's front end, the less comes out the back end.

Here's perhaps the premier source of information on dog food:

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/


Am going to try the gallon water bottle just to get a feel for her consumption. I'm curious. The food fact surprised me, in a good way.

7Point82,

You don't have to worry about looters.

Cute pup! (a puppy, or full grown?)

;-)

Those ankle-biters can be vicious! A meter-reader said she had a mini-Dachsie bite her Achilles tendon. OUCH!

But having to feed only half a dozen kibbles a day can be good!

Sue

She's a pup in the picture but is now an imposing 4 lbs at about 18 months old. Those bags of Eukanuba just last and last and last. lol

I've always had big dogs and got talked into the ankle biters by my DW and DD. She has turned out to be a great little dog. We have her and a male that's a year older and closer to 5 lbs. (They're long haired Chihuahuas.)

A friend of mine has a Chi-Poo, she is fierce!

At the least, they are noisy security alarms.

That alone is worth a liver treat.