Dry food brands help?

momofmany

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Orijen is grain free. I started transitioning mine to that about a month ago.

If you really want to get crazy with your list, do you want to differentiate between grain free and carb free, or at least some control on carbs? I'm finding that most of the ones that are grain free (e.g. corn, wheat, rice) have an alternative carb in them like potato.

Can you share your spreadsheet when you are done?

You rock, Laurie!!
 

hobo08

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Hmmm...  I don't know if you want to add specialty brands that are actually the major pet chain's brand.  Like Authority is Petsmart's.  I *think* Petco's is Halo but might be wrong on that one.  I don't shop there very often.  Then there are the other brands that celebrities tout.  I think Rachel Ray has food out but not sure if it's cat food or not.  Ellen DeGeneres also has one out but not sure if it is for cats either.   And just for clarification, Nutro is not Nutro Naturals.  There is a Nutra Naturals out there that has nothing to do with Nutro.   Nutro has Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice as it's two lines of cat food. 

You are doing an excellent job on this LDG
I think Petco's is Soulistic and I thought Ellen's food was Halo. LOL I could be wrong too though.
 

carolina

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I think Petco's is Soulistic and I thought Ellen's food was Halo. LOL I could be wrong too though.
Ellen's food is Halo.....

Laurie, IMHO Newman's Own is a Supermarket Brand..... At least I always see it in there - not at Target and such, but definitely at supermarkets.....
On the other coin, I don't see Chicken Soup as a supermarket brand...... at least at my neck of the woods I find it at Pet Stores......
 
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ldg

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Hmmm...  I don't know if you want to add specialty brands that are actually the major pet chain's brand.  Like Authority is Petsmart's.  I *think* Petco's is Halo but might be wrong on that one.  I don't shop there very often.  Then there are the other brands that celebrities tout.  I think Rachel Ray has food out but not sure if it's cat food or not.  Ellen DeGeneres also has one out but not sure if it is for cats either.  And just for clarification, Nutro is not Nutro Naturals.  There is a Nutra Naturals out there that has nothing to do with Nutro.   Nutro has Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice as it's two lines of cat food. 

You are doing an excellent job on this LDG :clap:
Sorry, yes, it should have been Nutro Natural choice. :)
 
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ldg

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Ellen's food is Halo.....
Laurie, IMHO Newman's Own is a Supermarket Brand..... At least I always see it in there - not at Target and such, but definitely at supermarkets.....
On the other coin, I don't see Chicken Soup as a supermarket brand...... at least at my neck of the woods I find it at Pet Stores......
Yeah, I see both (Newman's Own and Chicken Soup) in both supermarkets and pet stores here. But as so many people don't seem to have either in their supermarkets, I'll just make them both pet store distrib.
 
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ldg

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I think Petco's is Soulistic and I thought Ellen's food was Halo. LOL I could be wrong too though.
I didn't have Soulistic, but given it's popularity, I probably should add it.

Is Halo different than Halo's Spot's Stew? I'll check. :lol3:
 
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ldg

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Orijen is grain free. I started transitioning mine to that about a month ago.
If you really want to get crazy with your list, do you want to differentiate between grain free and carb free, or at least some control on carbs? I'm finding that most of the ones that are grain free (e.g. corn, wheat, rice) have an alternative carb in them like potato.
Can you share your spreadsheet when you are done?
You rock, Laurie!!
Yes, the information is going to be published. :nod: The spreadsheet will be published as an appendix to the article. But anyone that wants the actual spreadsheet, when it's done, I'll be happy to email it. It's a rather labor intensive project, so it'll be a while before it's done. :lol3:

I did decide to go back and add a line for the carbs on a dry matter basis. Most I have to estimate ash, but as it's typically between 6.5% and 8% in dry, and 2.5% in wet food, I can just estimate it and the numbers won't be far off. To an extent, I feel that's misleading, because some of the really crappy foods have a low carb content, but the ingredients are almost not food, you know? So carb content doesn't speak to ingredient quality at all. But it certainly does point out that the term "grain free" can be almost meaningless. :nod:

FYI, what set me off on this project was reading a number of articles about trends in pet food, the feeding of raw being identified as one of the "most important" (beginning last year, even though commercial raw has existed for dogs for about 10 years). And funny enough, it's not really a market share issue with the super premium foods, it's more of a change in "wellness" thinking by pet parents. But what really got to me was that every time raw is mentioned, how expensive it is to feed it gets mentioned. Yet one of the reasons I switched to raw is that it costs me less to feed it than the canned brands I was using.

I'm not even close to being done with the spreadsheet, but I got curious, so did start on the raw before finishing the canned or dry. :lol3:

And I think everyone will be shocked to find that it costs $1.52 per day to feed Nature's Variety frozen raw chicken per cat per day, compared to $1.87 for 9 Lives canned, $2.53 per cat per day for Iams ProActive Health canned, $2.59 for Fancy Feast classic canned, $3.83 Purina ProPlan canned, $4.47 daily for Purina One canned, and $4.83 daily for Meow Mix wet food. I haven't priced out the premium canned foods yet, but they typically require less food in the RDA (being higher quality nutrition), so we'll see. But the amount of food I had to feed (which was less than daily RDA), pricing worked out to be more for the high quality canned than the commercially prepared frozen raw (well, some of them LOL).

If you look at them on a cost per pound, yes, all of the above (other than Purina ProPlan wet, Purine One wet, and Meow Mix wet) cost less than Nature's Variety chicken patties. But apparently what everyone fails to account for is the amount required to feed! :dk: But it really got to me, and the information needs to be out there. IMO. I mean - commercially prepared raw is easy to feed (though getting your cats to realize it's food may not be such an easy task at first LOL), and you can save money feeding your cats a healthier diet. :dk:

Off my soapbox now. :lol3:
 

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How are you figuring the costs? What weight of cat? Like 9 Lives canned at $1.87 a day? I can buy it for about that much for a 4-pack. . .do the feeding instructions really say a cat should eat 4 cans a day? I doubt any cat would (or could!). On all canned food (and it's just Friskies) my cats eat about 6-7 ounces a day each. This is less than the feeding recommendations, but even if we go by those (3/4 ounce-one ounce per pound per day) and say a 10-pound cat, that's 7.5-10 ounces a day, say 55 cents for a 5.5 ounce can, that would be 75 cents to one dollar per day.

I'm sure I can wait to see the spreadsheet, I was just wondering how you figured it!
 
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ldg

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Oh, sorry. I'm doing the comparison assuming a 10 pound cat, and using the RDA as per the food. It's the only way that isn't subjective. Most RDAs are provided in a range - I footnoted that I use the low-end of the range when there is one for the weight provided. I know most of our cats don't need the RDA in the feeding guidelines (mine would be bowling balls) - but like I said, it's the only way to do it that isn't subjective. Prices are sourced from PetFoodDirect.com with no shipping charge assumption. Of course, purchasing foods on sale will save money. :nod: But again, rather than use local prices or sale prices, the only non-subjective way to do this is to use a "national" source for pricing. Not sure what to do about raw - and haven't dealt with it yet. But so much of it isn't available locally or without shipping. I'll probably provide numbers with and without shipping for raw. Haven't decided yet. :dk:

For the Friskies, I used the "Meaty Bits" canned, it costs $18.99 for a case of 24 5.5oz cans; that's $0.79 per can; $2.30 per pound (of food). The RDA is 7.5 ounce for a 10 pound cat. That's 1.4 cans per cat per day: $1.08 to feed per cat per day.
 
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Willowy

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I've noticed that PFD seems overpriced on the lower-end foods. But you're right; how else would you do it? :dk: And maybe in Manhattan they do charge that much. . .

Maybe for the raw you can figure out how much shipping would be a for a reasonably large order, then average it out per pound--that's how small businesses usually set their prices (plus a profit margin). Probably be a fair assessment of what it would cost at a retail store.
 

carolina

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Yeah, I see both (Newman's Own and Chicken Soup) in both supermarkets and pet stores here. But as so many people don't seem to have either in their supermarkets, I'll just make them both pet store distrib.
:lol3: Maybe Texas is just different...... In here I see Chicken soup in Pet Stores, not in super Markets, and don't remember seeing Newman's Own in Pet Stores :think:..... Don't remember seeing Chicken Soup in super Markets either.... guess you guys are lucky! Hope that's a good thing........ Things tend to get a little weird when production get tooooooooo big/going into mass market :slant: :cross: that's not the case for Chicken Soup!
 
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ldg

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I've noticed that PFD seems overpriced on the lower-end foods. But you're right; how else would you do it? :dk: And maybe in Manhattan they do charge that much. . .
Maybe for the raw you can figure out how much shipping would be a for a reasonably large order, then average it out per pound--that's how small businesses usually set their prices (plus a profit margin). Probably be a fair assessment of what it would cost at a retail store.
:lol3: I've never priced out low-end foods. But we were just at Tractor Supply, and that's how much they charge for Friskies here. ( $0.79 per 5.5 oz can). :dk:

For the raw, Nature's Variety I will price without shipping as it is the most widely available. I know my pet store charges the same or less than PFD (without shipping), and it's a local non-chain store pet supply shop. Bravo is also usually available somewhere.

The others, I'll probably price both with shipping and without shipping. I may have to use OnlyNaturalPet for pricing though, only because they have a wider variety of raw foods available for sale. Whatever I do, it'll all be footnoted and completely transparent. :nod:
 

Willowy

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:lol3: I've never priced out low-end foods. But we were just at Tractor Supply, and that's how much they charge for Friskies here. ( $0.79 per 5.5 oz can). :dk:
Ouchies! :eek: 50 cents a can at the TSC here. Darn Northeast cost of living!

Nature's Variety is $14.99 for a 3-pound bag of medallions at one store, and $15.49 at the other store (which I won't shop at because they sell puppies but I went in just to look at the prices). 6-pound thing of patties is $23.99. Both prices are for chicken. . .lamb and beef cost more and they don't have rabbit.
 
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ldg

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Ouchies! :eek: 50 cents a can at the TSC here. Darn Northeast cost of living!
Nature's Variety is $14.99 for a 3-pound bag of medallions at one store, and $15.49 at the other store (which I won't shop at because they sell puppies but I went in just to look at the prices). 6-pound thing of patties is $23.99. Both prices are for chicken. . .lamb and beef cost more and they don't have rabbit.
Yeah, the NV is the same here, but beef costs the same as chicken. Lamb is a little more. Bison, I don't know. Rabbit is ... $38 for the 6 pounds of patties. At OnlyNaturalPet (the cost used in the spreadsheet), the 6 pound bag of chicken is $30.49.
 
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ldg

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Yep, the Wilderness is grain free. I have Wellness in both categories of dry, so Blue Buffalo Wilderness should definitely be in grain free too. :nod: Thanks for that!
 

just mike

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Ellen's food is Halo.....
Laurie, IMHO Newman's Own is a Supermarket Brand..... At least I always see it in there - not at Target and such, but definitely at supermarkets.....
On the other coin, I don't see Chicken Soup as a supermarket brand...... at least at my neck of the woods I find it at Pet Stores......
Hmmm... I don't recall seeing Chicken Soup as a supermarket brand either. I've only seen it at pet stores here too.  Wonder if it is stocked differently in different regions.
 
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ldg

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It must be. But it's only the dry that's in supermarkets here (both Newman's and Chicken Soup). Newman's may have cans in the supermarket, but Chicken Soup does not.
 

resqchick

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Hmmm... I don't recall seeing Chicken Soup as a supermarket brand either. I've only seen it at pet stores here too.  Wonder if it is stocked differently in different regions.

I would check the ingredients, some companies for human food change formulas when they sell to regular supermarkets as opposed to specialty markets. I have never seen chicken soup food in the supermarkets out here.  
 

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Thanks for the input, it's definitely helpful.
Here's what I've got so far (for dry, though wet will be in the same categories):
Chain Store/Supermarket/Feed Store Distribution:
Friskies
4Health
Cat Chow
9 Lives
Chicken Soup (may have to move that to Pet Store/Specialty Store)
Purina One
Meow Mix
Whiskas
Iams
Purina ProPlan
Fancy Feast
Pet Store/Specialty Distribution
Authority
Avoderm
Blue Buffalo
Castor & Pollux Organix
Eagle Pack
Eukanuba
Evanger's
Felidae
Halo's Spot's Stew
Innova
Nature's Logic
Newman's Own Organics
Nutro Naturals
Orijen
Performatrin
PRO PAC
Royal Canin
Science Diet
Wellness
Grain Free:
Acana
California Natural
Earthborn Holistic
EVO
Felidae Pure Elements
Grandma Lucy's Artisan (though this may be an FD raw - have to see)
Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance
Innova Prime
Merrick Before Grain
Natural Balance
Nature's Variety Instinct
Now!
Pinnacle Peak
Solid Gold
Taste of the Wild
Wellness Core
Wysong Epigen 90
ZiwiPeak Real Meat (This may also belong in the FD raw)
"Raw Kibble"
Honest Kitchen Prowl
Wysong something?
Haven't completed search
I haven't completed the canned food list yet, but I suspect it's basically the same.
If anyone sees anything significant missing, I'd appreciate the mention! Thank you again!
I love this list. So helpful ...so thanks for sharing it.
 
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