How much dog food(dry) do you carry on long(3-4mo) trips ??

This is a dog food question & a CCC question

Altho our guys aren't very big eat 1/2# dry food/day = 60# 4mo trip. We are at about max CCC(850#) on 10day excursions. (5# dry food)Let alone bisquits/treats. If we had the CCC would gladly make room for a bag or 2.(NOTE !! !! 1.Please see attach before questioning weight allowed 2. only travel with 15/20 gal water. 3. keep a #/# oz/oz inventory - not much to throw out.)

We feed 'Nutro'Lamb&Rice - or Costco 'NutraNuggets'(lamb&rice). Comes im 40# bags. Want to be able to feed same 'type' of food consistently and be able to buy 'on the road' 20# or less at a time. (Most of smaller bags we see in the grocery store are based on CORN - we do not want to feed corn - too much poop.)

Any reasonable response greatly appreciate(leaving them home is NOT reasonable) THANKS,  Kate

I'm not a dog owner but  I leave/travel for long periods at a time.  Have you looked on Costco web site to see location of  their stores?  I have found them to be in many places I would never have expected.  If you knew where you could resupply it might make the question mute.

Betty

Betty, Thanks but the 40# bag is TOO much to carry and don't think Costco would let me buy a 1/2 a bag. Kate

maddog348 said:

Thanks but the 40# bag is TOO much to carry and don't think Costco would let me buy a 1/2 a bag.

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Kate,
Sorry I did not read carefully enough to "get" the  problem. 
BB

It looks like your specs gives you 6000 lbs towing capacity? GCWR(22000 LBS)-GVWR(16000 LBS) = 6000LBS. I doubt your RAV4 weighs much over 4000 LBS. So you could put the extra weight(dog food) in the RAV4 and it would not count against your GVWR . We use our towed vehicle this same way.

On another more important note: Nutro is NOT a good brand of food to be feeding you dog. It has been under FDA investigation for the last 3 years. Some of their dog foods are currently under recall by the FDA. Read about it on this link. Please change your dog food now? It made our dogs sick and has been determined as the primary suspect in a number of dog deaths recently.

I think it all depends on what your puppies are worth to you. Our girl Hannah weighs 80 lbs and we feed her from 10 or 20 lb bags from Petsmart or Petco, also Walmart.  Iams Lamb and rice.
Like you, we are not in the dog food hauling business LOL.
However we are in the Hannah hauling business.

hleap,
Thanks for the 'heads -up' re Nutro. Actually have not fed for years as use Costo NutraNuggets lamb&rice as seemed similar in ingredients ans a lot less $$$.  Will certainly rethink my choice in dog food -- as long as lamb&rice -- do not wish to feed CORN. And can't affordthe REALLY expensive stuff.

'Toad" is 2003 Rav4 GVWR 3,500 actual 3,140(gassed up in daily driver mode)local truck scale. most of that 350+# already allocated to 'outdoor'&'foul weather'gear.

ThanksAgain for theQuick response,  Kate

For my pooches, I have used the most widely available dog food on our travels.  Originally that was Purina, now it seems to be Iams.  He gets fed that home and away.  Because it is the most widely available, I can by it in 8# sacks assured that I can renew stocks at the next stop.  Happy the Dawg seems happy with the arrangement, but then he is Happy with most any arrangement as long as it involves regular meals.

Carl, 
Got out of the habit of feeding Purina(or other CORN based products) when we had GSD's and Lab's - WAY too much poo - small back yard.  Had to 'sweep-up' several times a day.

29er,
Our 3 stacked on top each other = 1 Hannah.  After reading hleap's post may switch to Iam's lamb&rice for 'on the road'. If didn't have dogs might even have room for shoes & beer -- Aahh but what can you do when they are so happy watching you get ready for a trip. Yep we are dog haulers too.  Red20#-Jack20#-Mouse40#.

ALL,
Thanks for all the help kicking around a few ideas to reach a simple solution to a problem made larger/over complicated by my own befuddled brain.  Kate

At home we buy the 40# bag. In the RV, I just don't have the room to put a 40# bag when it's full., regardless of weight We have a popcorn tin that holds about 10 days worth of food. If we're only going for awhile, we just take that full. If we're going for longer, we take the full tin and then buy a 20# bag when we're just about out....it fills the tin can a couple of times. And, not to get into a dog food argument, but let's not slam all Purina products. Gordon eats Purina One, he likes it, it works just fine for him and our vet says it's just fine. (Corn is an ingredient but not the first one.) Besides, I like corn and my dog does, too.

Wendy
Cortez CO

Wendy,
Not really a Purina slam just an observation of deposit. A lot of changes in formula may have occured in past 20 years.  Have not tried PurinaOne(personally have not tried any) but do realize corn well down on the list. I like corn and all the dogs like corn. We just don't eat it too often.  Kate

Actually, none of our Labs have had "small" poo...after all, they're large dogs. But Gordon does better on Purina One than he did on Iams or Nutro. And I figure I'm the one who has to pick it up so what the heck. When he was diagnosed with epilepsy, I went to PetSmart (or PetCo, can't remember which one) and spent an hour in the dry food section reading all the ingredients and grandiose claims. Finally ended up with the Purina One, partly because I can find it no matter where we are traveling. Some of the other, expensive brands aren't always easy to find.

Guess I better go out in the yard and pick up poo 
Wendy

And then there is "Charlie"..... ;D    Whose mom is paranoid because she lost another standard poodle at the young age of 2ish; just around the time of all the tainted dog food problems a couple of years ago.  So, Charlie's mom did tons of research and decided on which brands of dog food to feed the new puppy.  He could most certainly live on just about anything....but remember he has a paranoid mom., so he gets no grains and mostly lamb & rice or chicken & rice; which results in very little "poo".

Kate, I'm like you and don't want to get into a "whose dog food is better".  But we feed Charlie "Candide"  which I can't find at regular pet stores.  They do however have a website, and I can look up cities where we'll be and see if it is available.  I'm sure you could find Costco's locations on their website and "plan ahead", maybe even a phone call if need be.

This morning we began a 3-4 month trip from central California to Eastern Canada.  We bought a closed-tight container that hold 20# of dog food nicely.  The container is compact, ants can't get into it and it is waterproof in case I forget and let it sit out side in the rain.  We have a smaller container under the kitchen sink which I fill probably every couple of days.  Charlie weights 70 or so pounds.  I hate to mention this but we have a lot of CCC, so we carry 4-5 20lb bags.  But when I get low, I'll start looking around for his dog food.

Marsha~ (Charlie's paranoid mom)

You've got to find something that can be refreshed (the food supply that is) and purchased while you are traveling ... I'm not even sure if dog food would last 3-4 months?  My sister is a dog nut and said she's had dry food get moldy in the bottom of a big bag when they don't use it up fast enough.  But currently they have a couple small terriers that don't eat much.

On a different note, that image posted from Winnebago that shows all your various weights has some of the best explanations of the many "RV weight acronyms" that I've ever read.  I saved it just for future reference on those terms once I get all my axles weighed.  So... thanks for that! 

"Toad" is 2003 Rav4 GVWR 3,500 actual 3,140(gassed up in daily driver mode)local truck scale.

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Are you sure the GVWR is only 3500?  That's awful low, even for a small SUV. My daughter has a RAV4 and it is listed as 1810 kg, which is 3982 lbs.  With only a 3500 lb gvwr, you can't even carry 4 passengers!

Gary, WOW !! !! --ThankYou.

  Just went out to read the door sticker.  Dated 12/02 3941LB.  Don't know where that 3500# figure on my records came from --- but proves you should ALWAYS check for yourself.

Thanks again,  Kate

I get my nutro at tractor supply

sg29651 said:

I get my nutro at tractor supply

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We fed our last Lab Nutro and never had a problem finding it. Almost every town has a farm store.

BTW Marsha, there's a very, very small Pet Food store I just found in Cortez that sells Candide....may give it a try on Gordon. Wonder if it would help his little health problem? Probably not but I'd sure like to keep any other problems from developing.

Wendy

WOW weird....... Thread has been asleep for over a month.  Guess these guys leave 'em run a little longer than some of the other sites.

Kate, nothing here gets deleted because of age.  We have messages going back to our beginnings here in early 2005.  Unfortunately, we don't have the messages from our previous venue going back to the 1990s.