My Monthly Costs

Ok so I have spent the last six days heavily researching the raw cat diet. One of my biggest issues was the fact I had so much  trouble finding out how much people were spending on their raw diet. PMR or otherwise. The best I could get was "under a dollar per day" which is great and all, but that's not a number really. I looked up the highly advocated Hare Today and got a very deterred and walked away for a day or two. Frankly, anything over $3/lb is outside of my budget unless it's something special like goat or lamb. Since I don't have a cat I made the assumption that it will be 10lbs at 3% body weight. Which comes out to be exactly 9lbs of food per 30 days. All thanks to this calculator http://feline-nutrition.org/attachments/How_Much_To_Feed.html

From there I followed a recipe that comes out to a total of 10lbs which will last only 3 extra days. I followed this ground recipe http://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/#The_Recipe

Which means on average I will be spending between $20-$25 per month on healthy balanced cat food. Which is $0.61-$0.76 on food per day for one 10lb cat. Which is great considering a 30 pack of 3oz cans of fancy feast classic is $15.92. It's the initial investment that kills on the raw diet. But removing super expensive bone eating grinder saves a lot (especially for someone who has a $50 monthly cat budget with all excess going towards vet savings)

I definitely suggest finding a local commercial butcher, I found uncured fresh boneless chicken thighs for 1.33/lb at mine. 

Still have more kinks to work out as I would like to also find "other secreting gland" and the only ones I've sourced are beef sweatbreads and pig uterus. Thymus gland seems safe, but I'm not sure I need to be giving my cat any extra insulin or estrogen. (I know uterus is technically an organ, it could possibly work as a substitute, right?)

For anyone interested in seeing my spreadsheets:
Recipe + Recipe costs 
Price List 
And Before anyone finds that there are cured meats in my price list, yes I am aware and keeping them on the list to remember to ask the butcher about those specifically. The extra fatty meats like Pork Butt I will trim before grinding. I do plan on leaving chunks of meat in for added interest (if my cat likes that sort of thing)

For the knowledgeable folks, if you see something glaringly wrong or just have constructive criticism, or know of a cheaper source for supplements please let me know

Raw food costs have ben discussed here on TCS before so that's a good place to see what others are spending on various types of raw diets:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/200780/how-much-does-raw-food-cost

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249593/raw-feeding-costly

http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch...&order=descending&Search=SEARCH&Search=SEARCH

Here's are threads ouside of TCS:

How much does it cost for your Meowy to feed you raw?

Monthly costs?

How much do you spend?

Cost per week?

How much do you spend on food?

You maybe able to find a local co-op or group that sells raw meat and organs and bones for pet food use at a good price. Here's a list: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/rawgroups.html

I read the links and I must be doing something wrong!  Am spending about $75 per month on one meezer and she is not even that nice to me.  LOL  As I have no children and she is an only cat this is okay.  I do buy her rabbit and duck which are more expensive.  Besides the elderly horse is about 10 times this cost.

Riley1 said:

 
I read the links and I must be doing something wrong!  Am spending about $75 per month on one meezer and she is not even that nice to me.  LOL  As I have no children and she is an only cat this is okay.  I do buy her rabbit and duck which are more expensive.  Besides the elderly horse is about 10 times this cost.

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Meezers are finicky evil things, of course, and some horsies are as big as... well... horsies !



That aside, my off-the-cuff food-only estimate for ten cats - roughly $10k per annum - agrees with your figure within a few dollars, Riley.  My cats do not believe they're spoiled, of course, and I'd guess that added costs of in-home professional care, litter, toys, treats, Cat Feasts [completely unnecessary, except to the cats themselves] (roast duck, goose, pheasant, grouse and cetera), power to run the sodium lights to grow catnip in the Winter, heat, lights, water and services for the Cat Palace, and various sundries, probably add roughly twice that amount annually.  I'd say that these figures are probably near the outside of the cost of  "ownership" range, unless someone's stupid enough to build a four bedroom stone and terracotta home to temporarily house two ferals - and people of this ilk really should seek professional help, assuming they still have enough money left over to pay a psychoanalyst.

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I've been pondering this very thing. I thought about feeding a whole ground diet from Hare Today because supplements are very expensive! But shipping is expensive too, so unless I can find a farm that carries those type of products, I'm likely out of luck.

I have 3 cats and feed all canned. My monthly costs for food currently are at least $120. I really can't afford to go any higher than that and it appears that raw food would drive the number higher. I suppose in theory that one could get the number lower by buying whole chickens and grinding them whole at home, eliminating the need for supplements, but then that means purchasing a meat grinder.

If you're saying you can't afford more than the cheapest possible diet for a potential cat, you probably can't afford to keep a cat.  Food is a big part of the cost, but you'll be paying out also for the vet, cat tree, litter box & litter, scratching posts, cat beds, covers for your sofa, toys, and let's not forget reams of paper towels and carpet cleaner for the yucky messes that cats inevitably make.

That said...any homemade option is going to save you big time over commercial raw or canned.  Keep in mind that cats will need to eat more canned by weight, and much more of those cheap brands.  The catinfo.org recipe is by far the cheapest way to go.  Next step up in the cost scale is meat/bone/organ grinds bought from an online supplier or local coop, mixed with supplements according to the catinfo.org recipe.  From there, each added convenience (e.g. premade supplements) adds to the cost.

If I had one small cat, though, rather than my two big energetic linebackers with healthy appetites, I probably wouldn't care as much about food cost and I'd just go for the most convenient option.

Look at the catinfo.org recipe & see if that works for you.  Also, there is a chart that gives the protein, fat and carb information for canned food.  There are some Fancy Feast flavors that have great profiles.  By picking & choosing not by brand but by nutrition content you can feed them  well and stay within your budget.   I would not feel too badly about not being able to afford raw; so many people just feed their cats cheap kibble.  You have given three kitties a nice home and are obviously concerned about their welfare.

Crazy4Strays said:

 
I've been pondering this very thing. I thought about feeding a whole ground diet from Hare Today because supplements are very expensive! But shipping is expensive too, so unless I can find a farm that carries those type of products, I'm likely out of luck.

I have 3 cats and feed all canned. My monthly costs for food currently are at least $120. I really can't afford to go any higher than that and it appears that raw food would drive the number higher. I suppose in theory that one could get the number lower by buying whole chickens and grinding them whole at home, eliminating the need for supplements, but then that means purchasing a meat grinder.

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You could totally feed raw for less than that. I'm at $56 per month (food cost) for 2 cats. The supplements are crazy cheap and last forever if you supplement yourself. It's the premixes that drive the cost up. I feed boneless ground and supplement myself. It's easy. I just made 6 weeks of food in a couple hours. The most tedious part is clean up. I thought about just letting my cats lick the counters clean. lol.

1CatOverTheLine said:

 
My cats do not believe they're spoiled, of course, and I'd guess that added costs of in-home professional care, litter, toys, treats, Cat Feasts [completely unnecessary, except to the cats themselves] (roast duck, goose, pheasant, grouse and cetera), power to run the sodium lights to grow catnip in the Winter, heat, lights, water and services for the Cat Palace, and various sundries, probably add roughly twice that amount annually.  I'd say that these figures are probably near the outside of the cost of  "ownership" range, unless someone's stupid enough to build a four bedroom stone and terracotta home to temporarily house two ferals - and people of this ilk really should seek professional help, assuming they still have enough money left over to pay a psychoanalyst.

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I about died reading this. You're hilarious and I aspire to be just like you.   

Wow! Would you mind discussing this with me further via PM? Your method sounds like it might possibly work for me!

Sure, I'll PM you.

We use catinfo.org
Hare-Today.com for 14 lbs of whole ground rabbit
Whole foods for 8 lbs of turkey thighs (it will be 7 after I debone them)
And then what, $40 for the supplements?
I don't count the supplements because they're a one time costs that will only need to be refilled randomly throughout the year. 
It's just under $100 for the rabbit 
$20 for the thighs so I usually come out around $115 for the month for:
2 males weighing 12 and 13 lbs

If you don't want to make the food, you can pay just about that same cost to order from Darwin's online shop.
I went to raw because the quality cans I was feeding per month for the boys were way way higher in cost than putting together the raw.
 

Crazy4Strays said:

 
I've been pondering this very thing. I thought about feeding a whole ground diet from Hare Today because supplements are very expensive! But shipping is expensive too, so unless I can find a farm that carries those type of products, I'm likely out of luck.

I have 3 cats and feed all canned. My monthly costs for food currently are at least $120. I really can't afford to go any higher than that and it appears that raw food would drive the number higher. I suppose in theory that one could get the number lower by buying whole chickens and grinding them whole at home, eliminating the need for supplements, but then that means purchasing a meat grinder.

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I love Hare-Today , if you decide to order from them be aware you still need to add supplements to their mixes.You also need to supplement any thing you grind at home. I used to feed canned food 100% and raw feeding is less expensive , it can just take some times to work it out. I grind chicken thighs at home, I buy Rabbit and organs,turkey gizzards, venison sometimes duck, turkey etc from Hare-Today. Because my son works at a Pet Food store that gives me a 50% discount I sometimes buy Freeze-dried and Rad Cat(not often)