How Much Does the Raw Diet Cost You?

vincentthecat · Jul 20, 2014

I have long known about raw diets and the effort and ingredients that go into it. It seems like only a dream to me to be able to feed my cat the most ideal food. I currently spend about 21 bucks on a small bag of food and an additional 10 bucks or so on cans every month or so. I feel like a raw diet would cost about as much as I spend on myself and my boyfriend (around 70 bucks per week/week and a half) Plus having to buy the supplements and possibly a meat grinder. For those of you who are raw food veterans, how much does this lifestyle cost you?

Willowy · Jul 20, 2014

It really shouldn't cost more than a halfway decent canned food. Which for one cat ought to be pretty reasonable. Most indoor spayed/neutered adult cats will eat *around* 4 ounces a day (for easy math we'll use that

), so even if you end up paying $4 a pound it's still just $1 a day.

Some of the premixes are quite expensive (one of them costs $5 per pound of meat!) but some are more reasonably priced. If you make your own supplement mix it can be even cheaper.

I don't actually feed raw currently. I have figured the costs and the www.catinfo.org recipe would cost about $1 per cat per day. Using meats from www.hare-today.com with the supplement added would be, I think (it's been a while since I did the figuring) about $1.50 per cat per day, if you feed about half chicken and half more expensive meats, as long as you don't get anything really high-priced.

andrya · Jul 20, 2014

Last time l worked out my costs it was $1.32 per cat per day for $118/month for 3 cats combined. lt was costing me $300/month for the rotation of canned foods they were on, so raw saves me a lot (when l make it

).

peaches08 · Jul 20, 2014

Willowy said:
It really shouldn't cost more than a halfway decent canned food. Which for one cat ought to be pretty reasonable. Most indoor spayed/neutered adult cats will eat *around* 4 ounces a day (for easy math we'll use that

), so even if you end up paying $4 a pound it's still just $1 a day.

Some of the premixes are quite expensive (one of them costs $5 per pound of meat!) but some are more reasonably priced. If you make your own supplement mix it can be even cheaper.

I don't actually feed raw currently. I have figured the costs and the www.catinfo.org recipe would cost about $1 per cat per day. Using meats from www.hare-today.com with the supplement added would be, I think (it's been a while since I did the figuring) about $1.50 per cat per day, if you feed about half chicken and half more expensive meats, as long as you don't get anything really high-priced.

Yep! Using www.catinfo.org recipe and buying chicken thighs on sale for $0.99/lb, the recipe costs me less than a dollar per day to feed all 3 cats. It necessitates having a grinder ($150 Tasin) and a deep freezer to store meats on sale. I'm about to incorporate Hare Today meats myself, but still use chicken for 1/2 or more of their diet to keep costs down.

abby2932 · Jul 20, 2014

I use Hare Today exclusively to buy my meats so my costs are more, mainly due to shipping and the kind of meat I buy (rabbit and cavies, which are much more expensive than chicken, turkey and beef)

With just my Hare Today order (meats plus supplements premix) the cost is just over $1.00 per day to feed my two cats. But once you add in the cost of additional supplements such as fish oil (I use krill [$$$]), sardines, an egg yolk a week per cat, probiotics (optional) it brings my cost up significantly I think.

However, when my cats were on just canned food, my cost to feed them both was approximately $90-100 per month. Now I am at roughly $120-135 per month. The $30 increase is worth it to me to have them on a better food and I can afford it (for now).

But there is a much cheaper way to feed raw, as the previous posters mentioned. That would be to get yourself a grinder and buy meat on sale

frida · Jul 20, 2014

I feed bone in raw. It costs me about $40 a month for one 6.5 lb cat. I buy from a butcher and it is cheaper than the grocery store. And way cheaper to feed raw than the grain free caned food I was feeding previously, but is significantly more work. You have to be careful to balance the amount of meat/bone/organs so that your cat gets the nutrients they need. Also some cats will damage teeth on bones if they aren't used to it. Mostly I switched to raw because my girl was having digestive issues and the raw was better for her tummy.

jclark · Jul 21, 2014

I have 3 cats and it would cost me about $100/month to buy commercial raw.

sophie1 · Jul 21, 2014

I've been reading these monthly cost estimates and wonder where everyone is finding such miraculously low prices! I guess high meat prices comes with the territory (I live in Manhattan), but then again I try to avoid things like Purdue poultry products.

It turns out that the lowest cost option for me is buy a 26 lb case from My Pet Carnivore, and borrow freezer space from nearby family members with houses and full size fridges. The shipping works out to only $1.13/lb, and by picking meats carefully I can keep it to around $100 per case with shipping, and still give my cats a very nice variety. There's an added bonus: much of the meat options are pastured, so while supplements are still needed, the most expensive one (fish oil) is no longer necessary. So the total cost comes to around $4.50/lb of meat plus supplements. I still feed about 1/3 frankenprey - my cats are just about a year old and already have gingivitis! This part of the diet works out to around $4/lb on average, but I tend to stick to the cheaper items here, since there's no need to worry about variety.

If my two cats ate only 4 oz each (meat only, not including added water), I'd be looking at a bit over $2/day. But, alas, one of them is a very rambunctious 10 month old who is vacuuming up 8-10 oz/day and growing in real time. Ouch, my aching wallet.

Still, though, this is way better than feeding commercial raw or premium canned. I'm amazed at the cost of commercial cat foods. Even high end dry foods like Orijen are pretty pricey. I put some Orijen (1/8 cup max per day, and not every day) in a puzzle ball for my 10 month old tornado kitty, mostly to help keep him from destroying the apartment while I'm at work, but that stuff would still cost $1/day if I fed it full time.

jclark · Jul 22, 2014

sophie1 said:
I've been reading these monthly cost estimates and wonder where everyone is finding such miraculously low prices! I guess high meat prices comes with the territory (I live in Manhattan), but then again I try to avoid things like Purdue poultry products.

It turns out that the lowest cost option for me is buy a 26 lb case from My Pet Carnivore, and borrow freezer space from nearby family members with houses and full size fridges. The shipping works out to only $1.13/lb, and by picking meats carefully I can keep it to around $100 per case with shipping, and still give my cats a very nice variety. There's an added bonus: much of the meat options are pastured, so while supplements are still needed, the most expensive one (fish oil) is no longer necessary. So the total cost comes to around $4.50/lb of meat plus supplements. I still feed about 1/3 frankenprey - my cats are just about a year old and already have gingivitis! This part of the diet works out to around $4/lb on average, but I tend to stick to the cheaper items here, since there's no need to worry about variety.

If my two cats ate only 4 oz each (meat only, not including added water), I'd be looking at a bit over $2/day. But, alas, one of them is a very rambunctious 10 month old who is vacuuming up 8-10 oz/day and growing in real time. Ouch, my aching wallet.

Still, though, this is way better than feeding commercial raw or premium canned. I'm amazed at the cost of commercial cat foods. Even high end dry foods like Orijen are pretty pricey. I put some Orijen (1/8 cup max per day, and not every day) in a puzzle ball for my 10 month old tornado kitty, mostly to help keep him from destroying the apartment while I'm at work, but that stuff would still cost $1/day if I fed it full time.

In my particular case my cats were fed both raw and canned. If they were on 100 percent raw it would cost me about $150/month.

I also lucked out in that my brand (Nature's Variety Instinct Raw) was formulated for both cats and dogs. I would save money buying the larger patty size portions. Of course Nature's Variety decided to save money on Taurine so they now only sell the smallest and most expensive per lb packaging for cats. Now my cats get a patty 2x/week and I've had to mix dry food in with their canned.

sophie1 · Jul 22, 2014

jclark: Of course Nature's Variety decided to save money on Taurine so they now only sell the smallest and most expensive per lb packaging for cats. Now my cats get a patty 2x/week and I've had to mix dry food in with their canned.

Wow, I wasn't aware of that...are you sure of that? The website just says the food is "for cats and dogs". They include turkey hearts which must allow them to meet the taurine requirement without having to supplement it directly.

The pre-made patties, medallions or what have you are frankly a ripoff compared to the chubs, which in turn are more expensive than whole animal grinds from Hare Today or My Pet Carnivore. If it's the high pressure processing you're after, I suggest buying the chubs in the available meat types (chicken/turkey, lamb, beef, and venison) and adding your own taurine, if you believe that's needed. You can sprinkle a capsule on their food now and then, or find a kitty vitamin. You'd still have to get medallions for the other flavors, but hopefully this will cut your costs enough that you won't need to go back to dry food for financial reasons. $150/month is scary, I know! It's what I'm dealing with now, but hopefully not for too much longer.

If you can make your peace with non-pasteurized raw meat, though, you could lower your costs quite a bit. There are cheaper commercial raw options also.

ldg · Jul 22, 2014

sophie1 said:
...It turns out that the lowest cost option for me is buy a 26 lb case from My Pet Carnivore, and borrow freezer space from nearby family members with houses and full size fridges. The shipping works out to only $1.13/lb, and by picking meats carefully I can keep it to around $100 per case with shipping, and still give my cats a very nice variety.

If you order a full box from Hare Today (about 50 pounds), it adds about $0.50 to the cost per pound.

sophie1 · Jul 22, 2014

LDG said:
If you order a full box from Hare Today (about 50 pounds), it adds about $0.50 to the cost per pound.

That's a really nice deal. Then they come out about the same:

Hare today ground chicken/bones/organs: $2.89/lb, with shipping on a 50 lb order comes to $3.39 a pound.

MPC: equivalent chicken product is 1.99/lb, with shipping this comes to $3.12 a pound. I understand that if you order more than 60 lbs they offer a discount. If you are ordering 50 lbs from Hare Today, surely it's not a stretch to go to 60 lbs if the price is right?

Not an option for me in my cozy little 500 sq foot mansion, but something to consider in a larger place with room for a chest freezer.

ldg · Jul 22, 2014

:lol3: We're in an RV with about 300sq ft inside. BUT we have a small chest freezer outside.

jclark · Jul 23, 2014

sophie1 said:
Wow, I wasn't aware of that...are you sure of that? The website just says the food is "for cats and dogs". They include turkey hearts which must allow them to meet the taurine requirement without having to supplement it directly.

The pre-made patties, medallions or what have you are frankly a ripoff compared to the chubs, which in turn are more expensive than whole animal grinds from Hare Today or My Pet Carnivore. If it's the high pressure processing you're after, I suggest buying the chubs in the available meat types (chicken/turkey, lamb, beef, and venison) and adding your own taurine, if you believe that's needed. You can sprinkle a capsule on their food now and then, or find a kitty vitamin. You'd still have to get medallions for the other flavors, but hopefully this will cut your costs enough that you won't need to go back to dry food for financial reasons. $150/month is scary, I know! It's what I'm dealing with now, but hopefully not for too much longer.

If you can make your peace with non-pasteurized raw meat, though, you could lower your costs quite a bit. There are cheaper commercial raw options also.

Yep. I confirmed it myself. NV now only sells cat food in the "bites" size (think raw kibble) in Chicken, Duck, and Rabbit.

The patty's were larger than the medallions. The chubs were too large and in my area the price difference per lb wasn't all that great vs the convenience of the patty (1/day for all 3 + canned). My spouse wasn't open to the idea of adding taurine to their food, so we're going to give a taurine free patty 1-2x a week as a treat. She wanted to re-introduce some dry mixed in with their canned. We'll see how it goes. One cat has IBD, and if he responds poorly then she'll have to reconsider.

In my area there are no other commercial raw options. I have neither the space or the inclination to make/store my own raw for 3 cats.

Being that raw requires cats to expend more energy to digest I'm expecting the weekly serving as a treat may do well for weight mgmt.

sophie1 · Jul 23, 2014

JClark said:
sophie1 said:

Wow, I wasn't aware of that...are you sure of that? The website just says the food is "for cats and dogs". They include turkey hearts which must allow them to meet the taurine requirement without having to supplement it directly.

The pre-made patties, medallions or what have you are frankly a ripoff compared to the chubs, which in turn are more expensive than whole animal grinds from Hare Today or My Pet Carnivore. If it's the high pressure processing you're after, I suggest buying the chubs in the available meat types (chicken/turkey, lamb, beef, and venison) and adding your own taurine, if you believe that's needed. You can sprinkle a capsule on their food now and then, or find a kitty vitamin. You'd still have to get medallions for the other flavors, but hopefully this will cut your costs enough that you won't need to go back to dry food for financial reasons. $150/month is scary, I know! It's what I'm dealing with now, but hopefully not for too much longer.

If you can make your peace with non-pasteurized raw meat, though, you could lower your costs quite a bit. There are cheaper commercial raw options also.

Click to expand...

Yep. I confirmed it myself. NV now only sells cat food in the "bites" size (think raw kibble) in Chicken, Duck, and Rabbit.

The patty's were larger than the medallions. The chubs were too large and in my area the price difference per lb wasn't all that great vs the convenience of the patty (1/day for all 3 + canned). My spouse wasn't open to the idea of adding taurine to their food, so we're going to give a taurine free patty 1-2x a week as a treat. She wanted to re-introduce some dry mixed in with their canned. We'll see how it goes. One cat has IBD, and if he responds poorly then she'll have to reconsider.

In my area there are no other commercial raw options. I have neither the space or the inclination to make/store my own raw for 3 cats.

Being that raw requires cats to expend more energy to digest I'm expecting the weekly serving as a treat may do well for weight mgmt.

I found the info. Geez, NV! It looks like they took the extra taurine out of their previous recipes and called that "dog" formula. The cat formula has less calcium (1% vs 1.2%) plus the added taurine. I'm glad I'm no longer using their products. I had a lot of problems with the bites getting freezer burned.

Are you getting the frozen food from an independent pet store or a large chain like Petco? If the former, you could ask if they'd consider stocking Bravo Balance or Primal. They're complete for cats & less costly than either NV or premium canned food. If freezer space rather than cost is the main issue, freeze dried Stella and Chewys may be another option. You can order it online.

I don't believe raw requires more energy to digest, but it could help with weight management if your cats become more active with the upgrade in their diet.

jclark · Jul 24, 2014

sophie1 said:
I found the info. Geez, NV! It looks like they took the extra taurine out of their previous recipes and called that "dog" formula. The cat formula has less calcium (1% vs 1.2%) plus the added taurine. I'm glad I'm no longer using their products. I had a lot of problems with the bites getting freezer burned.

Are you getting the frozen food from an independent pet store or a large chain like Petco? If the former, you could ask if they'd consider stocking Bravo Balance or Primal. They're complete for cats & less costly than either NV or premium canned food. If freezer space rather than cost is the main issue, freeze dried Stella and Chewys may be another option. You can order it online.

I don't believe raw requires more energy to digest, but it could help with weight management if your cats become more active with the upgrade in their diet.

I use a small indy chain and hit either Petco, PetsMart, Pet Supermarket when something is needed in a pinch.

All three stock NV's raw and canned and they stock an "off brand" raw (Don't like the binder they use).

My Indy Chain is going away in a couple of months as their landlord has decided to demolish the strip center.

I liked NV due to the novel proteins. I have to avoid chicken, turkey, but duck is okay. Of course lamb and rabbit were fine as well..

monkeymom · Jul 24, 2014

@sophie1You can try looking into raw feeding co-ops in your area (try looking up "BARF" on Yahoo groups). I found one with a LOT of vendors (treats, commercial raw, various meats, canned food, bedding, supplements, goat milk! etc.), including one where I can buy natural chicken (wings, thigh etc.) for human consumption for less than the grocery store. I buy about 20lbs at a time and use it in meals for my husband and myself, and raw for the cats. There is also a local vendor that sells very freshly ground chicken, beef or turkey necks + organ + bones for around $2/lb. Another local vendor has more exotic meats like quail, game hen, pheasant, duck, and rabbit for about $3-4/lb. All purchased through the co-op.

I usually mix up the more expensive meats with the cheaper ones to keep costs down. Pre-ground meat/bone/organ mix + supplements a la Dr. Pierson + egg yolk + extra boneless meat or organ usually comes out to $30-50/month for two cats, which is about 14-15lbs raw/month. The canned I used before would be about twice that cost per month. Plus the monsters wont touch it now, or commercial raw for that matter.

harrylime · Jul 25, 2014

Abby2932 said:
With just my Hare Today order (meats plus supplements premix) the cost is just over $1.00 per day to feed my two cats. But once you add in the cost of additional supplements such as fish oil (I use krill [$$$]), sardines, an egg yolk a week per cat, probiotics (optional) it brings my cost up significantly I think.

Can I ask how/when you actually incorporate both the egg yolk and probiotics? I use Hate Today + Alnutrin with a squirt of fish oil right before serving, so I'm curious about adding more.

ritz · Jul 26, 2014

I fed prey model raw, have been for almost three years.
I get most of my meat from grocery stores, usually reduced because the food is at its "sell by" date. I live close to three large chain grocery stores, and all have different rates/ways of marking down the price of meat/organs, from $1 off a package of meat that originally costs $4.00 (the cheapest grocery store overall where I live) to 50% off a package that originally cost $5.00 (at the most expensive grocery store). Unless the bone-in meat/poultry is considerably cheaper than boneless meat, I buy the latter. I get particularly excited if the meat is on sale to begin with, even more $aving$.
I buy more exotic meats (goat, rabbit, quail) from an international supermarket. Rabbit is around $3.79 a pound and Quail around $7 a pound. Factor in the bone I can't use (but do save some excess from quail and rabbit) and the price per pound/serving is actually higher, at least $2.00 a day for rabbit.
I can get some different meats at the farmer's market. Will have to do a cost analysis against Hare Today.
I am starting to figure in the cost of my time in breaking down the quail and rabbit as well as waste (goat bone is too hard for Ritz to chew). Plus Ritz loves any kind of protein/organ, like chicken heads. And I'd like to see what she'd do with a whole mice. (She just stared at the chicken foot and looked at me like, "and your point.....????"). So I am considering more seriously ordering again from Hare Today. My brother has a freezer I could probably use to store the excess. It's the initial sticker shock that gets me.

abby2932 · Jul 26, 2014

harrylime I sprinkle 1/2 a capsule of the probiotics over their ground raw twice a day (breakfast and dinner). I actually incorporated the probiotics before the raw food (while they were still on canned) to help reduce the chance of tummy trouble during the transition to raw.

The egg yolk I mix in their Tuesday and Thursday ground dinner. You can actually feed it completely separate if your cat will eat it. Malibu would lick every drop of the egg yolk out of a bowl but Kali won't so I just mix it into their food and they both gobble it up!

How Much Does the Raw Diet Cost You?

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