


Lucky dog!
Fur mama Shannon Arney, 32, loves to whip up sumptuous meals of caviar, salmon and game in her home kitchen on a daily basis, but the fancy feasts aren’t for her to chow down on — the doting dog parent is cooking for her “fussy” Smithfield/border collie cross, Echo.
The Australian mom-of-three feeds her dog an entirely raw diet to make sure the pup receives the “best” nutrition. And she insists it doesn’t add that much to her monthly food budget, either.
“When I bought her home it didn’t make sense that a dog should eat dry food all the time,” Arney explained to South West News Service.
“I wanted to make sure she had the best nutrition I could provide,” she continued.
Arney’s dog follows the biologically appropriate raw food (BARF) guidelines and sticks to a meal plan that leaves her feeding Echo 50 to 60 percent muscle meat, 10 to 15 percent bone, 15 to 20 percent plant matter and five per cent liver.
“I started with pre-made raw meals and then I learned more about it and then started making the meals myself,” Arney explained to SWNS.
The key to keeping costs low? Echo eats a lot of what’s known as waste meat, which is non human-grade produce, like wallaby, mutton and tripe.
Arney buys this kind of meat from a pet butcher, and is able to get creative in the kitchen without breaking the bank.
“I find plating the food enjoyable,” Arney admitted. “I get told they look like Michelin star meals.”
And that they do — Echo’s meals are colorful and plated gorgeously, as Arney appears to pay attention to every little detail, always adding in leftover vegetables.
For example, one meal could include a meat of salmon tail or venison organ mix, along with egg, enoki, radish, dragon fruit, garlic and heartsease flowers.
Despite the “extravagant” meals, she only spends around $33 — $52 per month on the food.
Her dog also won’t eat anything that’s mixed together, so it’s something she has to keep in mind when presenting the plates.
“I often keep the plant matter from our leftovers,” the 32-year-old explained. “So she’ll have the vegetables from our stir fry for example.”
The proud owner even revealed that some of Echo’s favorites include fish, mutton and berries.
One time, she even tried caviar, and was a huge fan.
“My middle child wanted to try it and didn’t like so we didn’t want it to go to waste and gave it to Echo,” Arney said.
Her three kids, five, eight and 10, love Echo, and the owners admit that she is “very spoiled” and “very loved”
The mom-of-three acknowledged that she is “lucky” to be able to get raw meat for a great price, and hopes to inspire other pet owners to be able to look into a raw food diet for their animals.
But despite the fancy food, perhaps what is most important is that she has really noticed the benefits of the diet on Echo’s health.
“Her coat is incredibly soft and shiny,” Arney said. “Her teeth are immaculate pearly whites.”