Canned food... rediculously over priced?

[3furbabies]

How much do you on average spend on one can of 85g of high quality grain free cat food where you live? Today I went cat food shopping and bought several cans of good cat food at $1.75 per can! Some of these were on sale for $1.40 but that is still outrageous in my opinion.

Right now I am feeding my two kittens Wellness Core dry, I also usually give them a half (sometimes full) 85g can to share in the morning and another half can in the evening. I can't feed more dry than that because of the price and now I am seriously conseridering feeding dry only and with wet as an occasional treat. I know that wet is better but since they drink a lot on their own and wellness core is the best dry food you can buy(although this also is very expensive and may have to go lower quality at some point).

I know of several people who have not fed their cats wet food ever and also fed them meow mix or something as cheap for their whole lives without any health problems. They also lived to be 20.

So my question is, should I start feeding them even less wet of the good stuff, or stick with whatever I find for cheap wet?

[MowMow]

I pay an average 1.45 for a 5.5-6 oz can of quality cat food. I go through just about 3 cans a day (- 1 or 2 ounces) for the two cats.

I spend about 135 a month on cat food. I only spend 200.00 a month on groceries for ME (including cleaning/laundry supplies) so.... yeah... outrageously prices.

[GhostTown]

I really think you are better off going with a lesser expensive wet food, and supplementing with dry.

They really need the moisture content. Their bodies do not absorb enough water through drinking alone. My wife and I have learned this much through force. We struggled with multiple types of urinary problems before switching over to wet.

We now feed the ridiculously priced stuff. Weruva, EVO, Wellness, Natures this'n'that (forget names of the other two, but Nature is in the name of both, the Mrs. does the ordering on-line). $150+ a month for three cats. It's crazy, but my conscience is clear.

[yingying]

I pay around 2$ for 5.5 oz canned. I try to get 13oz canned if available, which will be 3$, so a lot cheaper. I also give them some raw food. I spend around 80$ per month on cat food for my two cats.

True that there are some cats living on crappy food and die at old age, just like there are ppl smoking and drinking till 90 years old. But there are also many, many cats develop urinary & kidney problems when feeding only dry. You need to consider how much you will spend on vet bills if that ever happen.

Is it possble for you to do some raw feeding? It's actually a lot cheaper than premium canned, and healthier. I estimated that if I feed raw only, my expense on cat food can drop to around 60$ per month. If I do canned only, it will be about 100$.

[yingying]

Many ppl who feed dry only think their cat get enough water, because "they drink a lot". But it's not always the case. In nature cat eat prey which consists about 80% of water, whereas in dry food the water amount is less than 10%. Do the math and you will see that for every cup of dry food, a cat need to drink around 3/4 cup of water to make it up. Now you can experiment: Measure the water they *should* intake and put it in their bowl. Put a little extra because water will evaporate. By the end of the day, is the bow all empty? If so, then your cat drank enough water, otherwise he/she is dehydrated.

[Vivid Dawn]

I'm on a tight budget, so I use Xanthe's petsitting money($50) to buy Authority (Petsmart brand) and Nutro Max. Once that's run out, I spend my money on 9-Lives...but only certain flavors, cuz some has fish in it.

Mornings each cat gets half a can of the higher quality stuff, and at night they get half a can of 9-Lives.
While it's not the best diet, they're doing much better than if I was feeding grocery store kibble!

[ladycat]

Wow! I could never afford those prices. I get Trader Joe's 5.5 oz. cans for 69 cents a can. I also get PetGuard on sale by the case for less than $20 for 12 14 oz cans (from my local health food store - they order it for me when it's onsale from the distributor) which averages out to close to the Trader Joe's price (a little less even). Occasionally I supplement with Wellness/EVO etc when they are on sale too.

Try seeing if you're local HFS or co-op can order by the case for you. It's the cheapest way I've found to get high quality food.

[doodlebug]

OK...being in Canada definitely explains the pricing difference.

A probiotic is something that isn't necessary, but can definitely help their digestive system. I'm actually impressed that your vet recommends using one even if I'm not fond of the brand.

The brand that I recommended will probably be about $15-16 and you use a quarter teaspoon per day. The bottle will last months, so it's not a real bank breaker.

[Beth_Laubenthal]

Feeding a raw diet is far less expensive than feeding a high quality canned food. For three cats, it costs me between 69 cents a day up to $3 a day ($3 is rare). Yes, 69 cents for all 3 cats, so about 23 cents a day for each cat.

[MowMow]

Originally Posted by Beth_Laubenthal

Feeding a raw diet is far less expensive than feeding a high quality canned food. For three cats, it costs me between 69 cents a day up to $3 a day ($3 is rare). Yes, 69 cents for all 3 cats, so about 23 cents a day for each cat.

In general I would agree...unless your cat can't eat chicken or Turkey. Now you're feeding more expensive meats and have to hunt to find them (and/or pay HUGE shipping fees). If I could just hack up a cornish game hen and add some other organs ... life would be eazy peazy.