So it looks like I'm spending less only because my cats are tiny after all. ;-) That makes sense though. I'm probably spending more like $120/month in food generally, including treats and such. $100 would be way too optimistic.
I believe the calculator on Primal is only for frozen. It does correctly say (based on some charts anyway) that a 12 pound cat should have around 240 calories. But it takes less than 2 ounces of FD turkey to get 240. If I say turkey on the calculator it says 0.33 pounds which is about 5.7 oz. so that is for frozen. If you're taking the calculator weight and and thinking you needed that weight in freeze dried, well, it's probably more like 1/3 of that in amount and thus cost. :-). So $250 ish.Primal has the food calculator on it's site: http://www.primalpetfoods.com/education/calc
Based on their calculations I would need 2.5 bags a week for each cat x 3 cats x $26 x 4 weeks = (gulp) $750 a month.
For a 12 pound cat, they recommend 6 ounces a day. My 3 cats currently get 8-9 ounces of wet food a day and none of them are overweight. In fact my little 7 pounder eats as much as her 12lb brothers and keeps her svelt figure. Does that sound like a lot to other people?
PS You know one of the best things about this site - you can completely screw up and close the page by mistake and it saves what you typed. I don't know how much Anne pays her tech dudes, but they are worth every penny.
It's 100 calories (based on Chick Chick Chicken), a little high probably for most fully grown 6-8lb cats. I actually have two 6-8lb cats. The 8lb one would continue to get heavier if I fed her 0.8oz of S&C each meal. She gets 0.6oz because she should really be more like 7.5lb and she is over 8lb. 0.6oz is about 75 calories, so with 2 meals she gets 150 per day, which is a good baseline amount for 7.5lb ideal weight cat. The smaller 6.3lb cat would never eat 0.8oz of S&C in a meal. She regulates well. I cut her bowl down to 0.5oz because otherwise the big cat eats her leftovers for even more.I have the single serving pouches of S & C and they are .8 oz which it says is for a 6-8lb cat.
OMG - $750 that's expensive. I use the FD and go through (1) 14 oz bag for two cats per week, however, they eat some canned at night. My cats are hearty eaters as well, they are high energy and weigh in at about 11 lbs. Still, my canned food bill went down feeding more commercial raw.
Primal has the food calculator on it's site: http://www.primalpetfoods.com/education/calc
Based on their calculations I would need 2.5 bags a week for each cat x 3 cats x $26 x 4 weeks = (gulp) $750 a month.
For a 12 pound cat, they recommend 6 ounces a day. My 3 cats currently get 8-9 ounces of wet food a day and none of them are overweight. In fact my little 7 pounder eats as much as her 12lb brothers and keeps her svelt figure. Does that sound like a lot to other people?
PS You know one of the best things about this site - you can completely screw up and close the page by mistake and it saves what you typed. I don't know how much Anne pays her tech dudes, but they are worth every penny.
I used to mix freeze-dried and frozen Primal for our cats, in slightly varying blends because it made the food seem different enough for them... but then they decided they preferred just having the freeze-dried food. Of course I don't really understand that but they're happy and freeze-dried is far more convenient anyway. If you want to try Primal's frozen foods, my suggestion would be to try the Primal Pronto because the bags are small. Try it in all sorts of configurations and blends if they won't eat it. With any of Primal's frozen foods, our cats would only eat it if it was mushed up with extra water.Primal is sending me a starter pack and some coupons.
I never have tried the frozen raw - any thoughts on that?
That's a really good point LisaHE, I've noticed the same, if I make it too mushy and less chunky, they aren't as interested. Maybe that's also why some cats prefer chunky or shredded meats in canned foods vs pate. Interesting. So even if you break up the pieces of a thawed nugget in chunks your cats aren't as interested? I thought maybe it also had to do with smell, the FD is smellier than the thawed raw.
Which leads me to suspect the reason they prefer the freeze-dried foods is that it makes more satisfying chunks for them: the picky cat really seems to prefer Primal chunky. (She likes to pick up pieces of the food and shake them a little and, even fully rehydrated, Primal's freeze-dried seems to stay in pieces better than the frozen.) Of course she won't eat from a whole thawed frozen nugget, though, and I now think it has to be the mushier texture. Trying to figure cats out is a losing battle!
The frozen raw has a stronger smell to *your* human sense of smell but to a cats' nose .... well, that's a whole other animal. Have a great day and thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
It's funny what you say about the smell: I agree that the smells of frozen and freeze-dried are different but think the frozen smells more in both brands!
Or I wonder if the freeze-dried food, which smells so nothing-like to me smells like pure meat to the cats? They sniff-sniff-sniff as soon as I start crumbling it!
The frozen raw has a stronger smell to *your* human sense of smell but to a cats' nose .... well, that's a whole other animal. Have a great day and thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
I think so -- one of my cats (Molly above, my icon) barely gives me a chance to hydrate the FD food; I always do, but I have to move from one counter to another to prepare it, she has no manners , jumping up on the counter and wanting it the minute I start to crumble it! The frozen raw - any frozen raw, forget it, zero interest although we had a little success the other day with Rad Cat and a FD boar treat sprinkled on top.
Or I wonder if the freeze-dried food, which smells so nothing-like to me smells like pure meat to the cats? They sniff-sniff-sniff as soon as I start crumbling it!
Yes, it's funny about preparing the freeze-dried stuff: I have to do it at a counter where I can stand so the cats don't jump on either the counter or on my back! And it's funny, too, that they like Rad Cat more but don't get nearly as worked up when I plate it
I think so -- one of my cats (Molly above, my icon) barely gives me a chance to hydrate the FD food; I always do, but I have to move from one counter to another to prepare it, she has no manners , jumping up on the counter and wanting it the minute I start to crumble it! The frozen raw - any frozen raw, forget it, zero interest although we had a little success the other day with Rad Cat and a FD boar treat sprinkled on top.
Hi Maureen, sounds like you shop at Pet Food Express. They've opened up a few locations in SoCal and I like their pricing on canned foods. Also, wanted to mention that I have seen frozen S&C's at quite a few independent stores in SoCal, so it might be up your way by now or hopefully soon (maybe some other retailer?). I was feeding the rabbit for a while, but Abby wouldn't eat it and Tim had problems when he ate it. It's extremely high-fat for rabbit, and S&C achieves that by adding olive oil; I think that is what gave my guy the runs each time he ate it.
Reba- They don't sell frozen S&C's for cats in CA. so I have never tried it.