Dry Dog food storage? Long term

[Tim-g19]

I have to say Ive seen so many good or great idea's here from you other Hoosiers. I really respect your opinions and idea's

So heres the deal. Have a 2yr old Yankee Terrier, He has ALOT of food allergies though, Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Barley. theres 29 total things he is Highly allergic too. Luckily Venison and Rice are not so I have that to fall back on. BTW, try to go and find a dog food w/o Chicken , wheat , or corn in it. It was so fun standing reading ingredients for hours only finding 2 that are stocked by south side pet stores, and not have to be special made or mail ordered.

Anyhow we have some now and I was wondering if anyone had any idea's of how to vacuum seal or store say 100lbs or more of it, Not all together.

Ive never Freeze dried or vacuum sealed anything, Would you need to do much to dry food? to prep for storage?
And how about opinions on machines to do either?

Thanks in advance for help on this

Yankee Terrier is on all his paperwork and Vet and Microchip stuff, but its just another less known name for a Pit Bull.

 

[AFA1CY]

Is the food dry? If so use a large plastic trash can with a tight fitting lid.

Also have you tried the Iams lamb and rice. I have a Greyhound and it is about the only thing she can tolerate.

 

[flagtag]

I feel for you and your dog. I had a German Shepard/Malimute mix with the same problem. I got his lamb and rice in a can from the vet. More expensive than regular dog food at the time.

Good luck!

 

[Annie Oakley]

I use a big chest freezer for storing quantities of various critter food. Horse, dog, cat and parrots----just throw the bags in and have never had a problem.

 

[BrownDog]

Emergency Supplies for Pets

I came across this which may be of interest Emergency Supplies

 

[JimFloyd]

Dog and Cat food

FYI... Mayday industries also makes long-term storage dog and cat food...

Regards,

Jim

 

[ar15_dude]

You're right, prepping includes food for the critters. I have about eight barn cats, so I keep a large steel trash can full (holds about 100 lbs, but only lasts 2 weeks!). Similar arrangement for dogs. If things got tough and we ran out of their chow, the pets have to eat scraps, when scraps run out, we eat them.

 

[kludge]

Vacuum sealers are great. I have a "Food Saver" brand. FoodSaver bags = good. WalMart brand bags = bad. For long term it's worth the money, for something you know you're going to eat next week or this month it's not.

You can probably get 2-3 lbs in a bag easily and will probably double or triple the shelf life.

One more thing you can do is get oxygen absorber packets and put them inside before sealing for even more protection.

BTW metal can't rust without oxygen.

 

[Mr.Hoppes]

Check this video out. What he does if for different grains but can do just about anything. It is a good starter video for people to see exactly how it is done. He has other good videos as well. iincluding some on BEEs and other long term storage videos.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW7_cTn6YpE]YouTube - Long term food storage part 1[/ame]

 

[Zoub]

Is the food dry? If so use a large plastic trash can with a tight fitting lid.

Also have you tried the Iams lamb and rice. I have a Greyhound and it is about the only thing she can tolerate.

To add to this, the trash cans with the twist locking lids. Then one of the dog food containers that has a plastic door and is shaped like a cube. Different sizes and they can be stacked. Mine holds 80 or 100 pounds. I got mine at petsmart or petco

Stackable Pet Food Storage Bins by Bergan - Bowls & Feeders - Dog - PetSmart

I drop food in the trash can but work out of the cube.

My dog eats anything except lettuce and zucchini.

 

[Warwagon]

I feed my GSP "Wellness" Brand dog food. The bags are 40lbs and run around $45. My boy has the same problem as you do with Chicken, this stuff is clean. I used Nutro Lamb and rice for years, but after their stuff was recalled for the China scare; I switched to Wellness.

The bags are foil lined and have a shelf life of 1 year. I go through a bag every 4-6 weeks. I hunt him so we're very active and he burns the calories. I keep 6-7 bags and rotate them.

 

[abnk]

Food-grade buckets should work fine so long as you rotate them at least yearly.

As far as food, check out Taste of the Wild products. One of their formulae is buffalo and venison.

ETA: I just noticed this is in Survival and Preparedness. Don't worry about dog food. If things get that bad, eat the dog.

 

[4sarge]

My cats & dogs eat the food faster than I can store any large quantities but I have found mold to be the biggest concern with dry feed. I buy horse & chicken feed (corn based) buy the ton and occasionally it will develop mold. I know in the horse food that this mold can be toxic to the horses. The metal (even rubber) cans will sometimes sweat and develop condensation with drastic temp change. If it is in a heated environment (or freezer per Annie) or kept at a fairly constant temp then you should be fine. You can add food grade DE to extend the life and keep out insects. I have on hand about 3 cases of canned dog food for short term emergencies

 

[joker7037]

My dogs also eat far too much to keep any large quantities on hand for very long, but we still like to keep it as fresh as possible so we use these. They are air tight and stackable.
Gamma Plastics Vittles Vault - Bowls & Feeders - Dog - PetSmart

 

[Jack Ryan]

I have to say Ive seen so many good or great idea's here from you other Hoosiers. I really respect your opinions and idea's

So heres the deal. Have a 2yr old Yankee Terrier, He has ALOT of food allergies though, Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Barley. theres 29 total things he is Highly allergic too. Luckily Venison and Rice are not so I have that to fall back on. BTW, try to go and find a dog food w/o Chicken , wheat , or corn in it. It was so fun standing reading ingredients for hours only finding 2 that are stocked by south side pet stores, and not have to be special made or mail ordered.

Anyhow we have some now and I was wondering if anyone had any idea's of how to vacuum seal or store say 100lbs or more of it, Not all together.

Ive never Freeze dried or vacuum sealed anything, Would you need to do much to dry food? to prep for storage?
And how about opinions on machines to do either?

Thanks in advance for help on this

Yankee Terrier is on all his paperwork and Vet and Microchip stuff, but its just another less known name for a Pit Bull.

I just searched through every dog food package at Rural King for some with out chicken or wheat.

What did you find? My vet sells a couple of high priced fancy dog foods she is pitching. If I can't find something I'm going to have to start buying dang dog food that cost more per bag than the dumb dog cost me when he was new.

My dogs feet swell up and after half a dozen trips to two different vets, two differnt antibiotics and predinsone, the latest conclusion is it is an allergy. Probably something in his food. The vet said the most common is chicken, wheat, and or some other grain and suggested staying off wheat and chicken might help.

So far I've got from this thread:

Iams lamb and rice
lamb and rice in a can from the vet
"Wellness" Brand dog food, Nutro Lamb and rice
Taste of the Wild products, their formulae is buffalo and venison

any other dog food suggestions? I'm not skinning enough deer and keeping it frozen all year to feed this dog.

 

[DodgebyDave]

My dogs will/do eat cat turds so I don't care if their food is fresh or not.

They lick themselves. They don't care if it's fresh or not.

Well, the dachshund does but he is a punting dog and on the menu if TSHTF

 

[bynder]

my dogs all eat "Eagle Pack" made in northern IN and all holistic