Taking Care Of The Mutt

[dudley0]

So I was bagging up some dry goods this afternoon while the wife went shopping. I am just starting with the mylar bags and O2 absorbers so it is in small quantities.

Easy enough to do. Milk, potatoes, rice, beans, oats etc.

While I was doing this the cats walked in. I shooed them away and started thinking that if it came down to it I would release them into the wild to fend for themselves. Not a great plan as they have no front claws and haven't been in the wild ever. But besides a pleasure for the kids, they supply nothing.

Then I thought of the mutt. I have allergies to dogs now, just crept up on me, and take shots on a planned cycle to get over that. He annoys the crap out of me because he wants to play and have fun. I hate that... oh well, maybe not so much.

Because of the allergies I have not worked with him as much as I have with dogs in the past. My kids don't do anything besides play catch on occasion. He is not trained is what I am getting to. He does what I say... sit, stay, lay down. Simple things.

I had all but written him off as a long term survival investment. When I come home he barely lifts his head. But he has on more than one occasion actually acted like he wanted to protect the family. Stranger comes up the steps, loud noise in the yard, neighbor dog roaming the fence.

Now I have to add him to the preps, and not just as a meal. We do not feed him table scraps as a rule. He eats his processed food and drinks water. Treats now and again, but not a dietary staple.

I almost feel obligated to start stocking food for him. Not tons, but something. Does dry dog food go bad? Does it get stale or lose it's nutritional value? I thought about five gallon mylar bags, but is that needed? If I put it in a sealed plastic container is that enough?

I know all the rules about eat what you store and store what you eat. I still like to pack a little away for long term and then rotate my other stuff. If it ever hit the fan he could possibly be a good protector. Maybe a bullet magnet. Definitely a distraction for the kids.

Does anyone on here know what it takes to do a long term storage for dog food? I have some plastic 55 gallon drums that I could fill up, seal and leave, but is that enough?

 

[BigMatt]

I don't see why you couldn't prep like you do for yourself. I would get enough for a year, and then keep buying as you do now. When you bring home a new bag of food, just use the oldest one you have in storage.

This is all dependent on the expiration date of the food you are buying.

If nothing else, it will give you a good understanding of how much your dog really eats in a year.

-Matt

 

[miguel]

Isn't "Solid Gold" brand dog food in vacuum sealed bags? Not sure what the shelf life is, but I seem to remember them being vacuum sealed.

<self edit>

From their website: "Solid Gold dry food bags contain a revolutionary one-way valve system to hermetically seal the bags. Hermetic sealing gives the same effect as vacuum packaging, in that the bag is completely air tight and impervious to external influence. Solid Gold bags are not vacuum packed."

source: http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/faq.php

</self edit>

 

[ljadayton]

Depends on the food you're feeding. They all have expiration dates. After that date the nutritional value of the food goes down. Natural foods without artificial preservatives go out of date faster then the more processed foods. So you'd have to check the expiration date and figure out how much food you really go through in how long a time.

 

[ljadayton]

Isn't "Solid Gold" brand dog food in vacuum sealed bags? Not sure what the shelf life is, but I seem to remember them being vacuum sealed.

They are vacuum sealed. That's why they get a funny look to the bag sometimes. BUT, just like any other vacuum sealed product, that vacuum's gone once you open it. Because Solid Gold is a higher end, natural type food, it doesn't have the artificial preservatives in it that something like say Pedigree or Beneful has. Most of the natural foods use chicken fat as a preservative.

 

[.45 Dave]

No problem--feed him the people you shoot coming after your supplies!! lol

 

[Magyars]

scraps and what he can find for himself.....well its my plan.

 

[caneman]

We have about 4 months supply on hand for the 3 dogs, 15lb., 20lb., 35lb., just by watching sales and buying 40 lb. bags. Those bags are getting too big and heavy for my wife and I to handle (old pharts) so were going to lose the advantage of large bags but will start mylar bagging the 20 pound bads.

If we get another 160 pounds stored the dogs will probably have enough for a year. That's probably as long or longer than my wife and I will make it when we run out of meds.

Everybody is different.

 

[E5RANGER375]

i store my dogs food stock in 5 gallon sealed buckets. air tight and water and rodent resistant.

 

[Hiker1911]

scraps and what he can find for himself.....well its my plan.

If you want to grab some cans of dog food at 'on sale' prices, and supplement the other food scraps. Keeping in mind that some dogs have loose days with a radical diet change, and hopefully their stomach will get normal within a few days.

Or, choose a very good, tight seal container that is very close in size to a vacuum seal bag of dog food. (Or a big bin that holds two medium size bags of food.) If there was any cavity space left in the container, attempt to fill the void with non-perishable food or supplies. List the contents and date sealed.

 

[dudley0]

By airtight do you mean that you toss O2 absorbers or flush with something or do you just stop extra air from getting in?

Thought about canned food but he would be a long while getting used to that. Just changing dry food messed him up... stupid dogs.

 

[dagibson1507]

How big is the dog and whats his approximate age? I would go with smaller bags as its rather easy to contaminate. An added benefit to the dog food would be human consumption in desperate times. One thing you could also consider is a high protein food or cat food. Both have a higher caloric output such would mean less food required by the dog.

 

[dudley0]

You ever feed your dog the cat's food? I don't think it would stay in him long enough to get any nutritional value. Human scraps are a no-go because we will be consuming all that.

 

[Andre46996]

Feed the dog the cats when you run out of cat food, feed the kids the dog when you run out of dog food, you and the wife eat the kids when you run out of people food, eat the wife when you run out of kids, find new wife, have new kids, start all over again.

Kids and wives go great with BBQ sauce stock up now!!

 

[Wwwildthing]

Take a plastic food-grade bucket (5 gal), insert a white trash bag (the kind that come with twist ties), fill the bag and tie it off, seal the lid of the bucket. I stored a 6-month supply of Dog Chow that way for Y2K.

If your worried about contamination, use 1 gal ziplocks and pack the bucket full.

 

[dudley0]

Just didn't know if it needed to be sealed air free or if it mattered. Does it go bad or degrade over time?

 

[prowland]

I have tiny dogs and we buy the big bag and it lasts about 6 months in one of those air tight container. I will take a pic of the one we use. Don't see there being any reason I couldn't get 2 or 3 of those and stock up.

The dogs eat the same at 6 months as the first bowl... So i don't think it has gone stale.

 

[ljadayton]

You ever feed your dog the cat's food? I don't think it would stay in him long enough to get any nutritional value. Human scraps are a no-go because we will be consuming all that.

It goes right through a dog because cat food is a LOT higher in protein then dog food. Compare the protein levels. A high performance dog food may have protein/fat levels of 30/20 (that's actually what Speedway PD picked up today)...still lower then the average cat food

Just didn't know if it needed to be sealed air free or if it mattered. Does it go bad or degrade over time?

depends on the food. The one's with artificial preservatives will last longer but they will all lose nutritional value over time. the key is how long that takes.

I have tiny dogs and we buy the big bag and it lasts about 6 months in one of those air tight container. I will take a pic of the one we use. Don't see there being any reason I couldn't get 2 or 3 of those and stock up.

The dogs eat the same at 6 months as the first bowl... So i don't think it has gone stale.

After 6 months, no dry kibble I know of would go stale. It'd take longer then that...

 

[bigretic]

Funny that this came up. It's one of the first things my wife brought up when we were planning a SHTF strategy. Me, 2 - 50lb + dogs, but they are definately great watch/protect dogs. Have to have them accounted for.

 

[bigworm]

I would keep the cats too in a disaster situation lots of garbage everywhere maybe dead bodies rodents will become bad i am sure the cats will eat good