How expensive is it really?

elliriyanna

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SO I would love to get Emma on a raw diet but three things worry me, Cost, Balancing her nutrients, and her readiness to take it. 

How expensive is it to really get them on an all raw diet? 

How do you make sure they are getting all they need? Emma has always been on a high quality kibble. I did have her swicthed to canned for a few weeks but her coat got course and dull so I got worried the quality she needed just wasnt there. 

My cat is picky, I have noticed she will eat canned but only the shreds with gravy like fancy feast or meow mix, So right now she gets a scoop of dry in the morning and she begs for her wet at night. I even bought her a bowl just for wet because she kept craming it all in the corners lol. 
 

ankitty

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How do you make sure they are getting all they need? Emma has always been on a high quality kibble. I did have her swicthed to canned for a few weeks but her coat got course and dull so I got worried the quality she needed just wasnt there. 

My cat is picky, I have noticed she will eat canned but only the shreds with gravy like fancy feast or meow mix, So right now she gets a scoop of dry in the morning and she begs for her wet at night. I even bought her a bowl just for wet because she kept craming it all in the corners lol. 
Which fancy feast and meow mix products are you feeding? I switched all canned a couple months ago and our cats coat got really shiny and soft. I did some research and decided to avoid many controversial ingredient...fish as main ingredient, potato, tapioca, grains, vitamin k, carrageenan, guar gum, cellulose...and ended up feeding them mostly Nature's Variety Instinct and Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau. I'm looking into Nature's Logic too. For two cats, I'm looking at 3 to 6 dollars a day. I'm transitioning to raw and I think it'll be bit cheaper than that, but I think I'll try cooking some myself to save some money. 
 
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elliriyanna

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Honestly I do not stick to just one thing I try to give her variety. I buy the meow mix cups ... and she loves any fancy feast. 
 

furmonster mom

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I tend to look at price per pound.

Recently I went to a pet boutique to price out the "premium" wet foods.  Most of them priced out to $4-$6 a pound.

My most expensive meat is lamb, at about $5.50/lb.  But when averaged out with the chicken ($1.29), pork ($2.75), and beef ($4.50), it still comes out to less than those wet foods.

'Course hubby always reminds me of the time I spend putting it all together... then I remind him we aren't spending $3,000 on vet bills each year any more.  So, in my book, we come out ahead.
 
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elliriyanna

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Boyfriend had a cat who was 17 who only ever ate cruddy kibble so he thinks what I feed her is already too good so he doesnt want me feeding her anything more expensive. Usually I would just do what I want anyway but he is my ride lol. 

I guess what I am trying to say is I want to find a better diet that is around what I spend right now on her current diet which she does great on. Other than being chubby. 
 

ankitty

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Honestly I do not stick to just one thing I try to give her variety. I buy the meow mix cups ... and she loves any fancy feast. 
I think Fancy Feast Classic (no fish) canned are ok, but some of them have controversial ingredients like Menadione Sodium Bisulfate. Also, you'd want to stick to low carb. 

I thought my cats were thriving with Iams dry food and cheaper canned food when they were younger. But now they are in middle age, they started having some health problems and I regret that I didn't know better. Good for you for trying to give your baby better food. :)

For the cost, this might help.

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#Cost
 
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elliriyanna

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She is on Innova Salmon grain free ( she is on the salmon because at the time the dog was eating Innova salmon too and the same formula for the dog and cat was easy to remember) 

I did all the research before I got her and have been trying to switch her but man is she picky. 
 

stephanie42

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since i switched to all high quality canned (merrick, wellness core, nature's variety instinct) my cost per ounce is between .25¢ -.34¢.  when i started feeding freeze dried commercial raw, my cost per once went way up at first glance - $1.45 per ounce - but in actuality it's a lot less because i add water.  once it's rehydrated, it costs me about .35¢ an ounce to fee it.  when i started feeding them home cooked food (chicken), depending on how cheap i can get chicken thighs, it costs about .25¢-.30¢ an ounce to feed.

so for me, high quality canned is about equal in cost to stella & chewys, and home cooked is a bit cheaper (after you get over the initial investment for supplements, which cost me under $40 if i remember correctly).  canned is easy - just open and plop, maybe add a bit of warm water or smush it up if your cats are picky like mine.  stella & chewys is fairly easy - measure out the dried bits, crush them up a bit, add warm water, wait, stir.  the way i prepared my home cooked was basically the same prep as stella & chewys - take premeasured bag out of the freezer, thaw in the fridge, plop, add some warm water, serve.  to prepare about 10 days worth of food it would take me under 2 hours, including cooking and cleaning.

the best part about moving to commercial freeze dried raw or home cooked is how there is NOTHING in the litterboxes.  we have three cats and we'd have like one poop a day on average.  plus my cats seemed so healthy, with shiny coats and clear eyes.  if you want to stick with kibble, nature's variety instinct kibble is excellent - my cats devoured it and seemed very happy and healthy on it.  can cats live on eating lesser quality food?  sure, like a human can live on eating mcdonalds or freezer meals like TV dinners.  that's kind of how i look at it.
 

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I determine cost by cost per calorie. Some foods contain more calories per ounce than others and I can therefore feed less. I was feeding almost exclusively Nature's Variety Instinct canned to two cats, which is a very expensive food, and it was adding up (like $50 a week or more). Now that my male cat is eating mostly raw, our costs have dropped. I also found that I can feed him a bit less when feeding raw because he absorbs nutrients better. Initially, when I was transitioning ounce for ounce, he gained weight. I've significantly cut back the ounces and calories my male cat eats and he's holding steady with his weight.

The cost savings in vet bills has been very real for us. Tim, our male, was a very sick cat. Our old vet said he'd need to be on a prescription constipation medicine for life. The medicine is very expensive and requires regular vet visits and lab work (surprise!). He also developed urinary crystals, asthma, and various other inflammatory problems on a lesser-quality canned food, all of which required medications and vet visits. Today, Tim is very healthy and completely medication-free. We have no intention of visiting our new vet until he is due for his annual exam.
 

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How expensive is it to really get them on an all raw diet? 
Depends. Are you thinking of homemade raw food or buying a commerical raw pet food? For some people it's easiest to start with commerical raw pet food first. Nature's Variety Instinct is a good one to start with. So is Stella and Chewy's. Both are available as frozen raw and as freeze dried raw. The Stella and Chewy's frozen raw food may be hard to find in some pet stores.

 When I was feeing the old NV Instinct raw food, it cost about $0.65 per meal for each cat. I now feed raw meat grinds with a premix I haven't calculated out the price per meal yet but I think it's roughly about the same.
 How do you make sure they are getting all they need? Emma has always been on a high quality kibble. I did have her swicthed to canned for a few weeks but her coat got course and dull so I got worried the quality she needed just wasnt there. 
If you go with commerical raw pet food such as Nature's Variety, the food is already nutritonally complete. No additional supplementation is needed though some people do give treats of chunks of raw meat or gizzards or neck bones.

If you make the food from scratch, be sure to use only a proper nutritionaly balanced recipie. I recommend the recipie at http://catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood and the one at http://www.catnutrition.org/ You can find tons of raw recipies for cats online but many are not balanced diets.

If you do frankenprey, you need to feed 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organs. I'm not familiar with how to measure the right amounts of meat and bone and organs for a meal.

I use a pre-mix with the raw meat grinds I buy at the pet store. The pre-mix has all of the vitamins and minerals a cat needs.
 
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