Dry food brands help?

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ldg

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OK. I've been sick, so haven't worked on the spreadsheet until today for like a week. :anon: I've FINALLY finished the dry food section, and the supermarket brands of the wet food section.

I decided it was easier just to color code the type, and then sort them from lowest cost to highest cost to feed per cat per day.

The bluish color is supermarket channel. The brown is NOT grain free pet store/specialty store stuff. The green is grain free pet store/specialty store stuff. Red (just one for dry - the rest are meant for rehydration) is raw.

It was easiest to take screen shots. These do not include the footnotes. A LOT of the companies did not provide the weight per cup. Some did. I estimated based on k/cal per cup, but that wasn't a particularly good indicator. The lower the cost per ounce, the less difference it makes in total feeding cost. It can change it by up to $0.03 - $0.12 per cat per day (if a cup is really dense, and weighs 4.8 ounces, instead of 3.8 ounces). But they usually were between 4oz and 4.2 ounces per cup. Some definitely weighed outside of those parameters. If anyone feeds any of these foods, I'd love it if you could measure how much a cup of the food weighs. Don't forget to NOT include the weight of the measuring cup. :lol3:

This summary provides NO information about the quality of ingredients. But I did calculate carbs.

The footnotes that didn't fit in the screen shots:

1) For one 10 pound cat. When 10 pounds is the low-end of a weight range, the low-end recommended daily amount is used.
When 10 pounds is the high-end of a weight range, the high-end recommended daily amount is used.
When 10 pounds is inside of a weight range, the relative amount to where the weight falls in the range is used. Numbers may reflect rounding.
If a range of amounts for a 10 pound cat is recommended, the median of the range is used.
1a) ZiwiPeak raw RDA is 1.7oz per 10 pound cat.
2) Based on RDA, usually provided in cups or portion thereof, not weight. Some companies provide weight per cup; when the weight of a cup is not provided, it is estimated.
3) Priced at http://www.petfooddirect.com Assumes free shipping; excludes price discounts for autoshipping options.
3a) Priced at http://www.k9cuisine.com
3b) Priced at http://www.petsmart.com
4) Ash is assumed to be 7% in dry foods when not provided.

And with that...









And the wet food, so far:



Footnotes that go with the wet food:

5) For one 10 pound cat; low end of range used when a range is provided.
6) Priced at http://www.petfooddirect.com Assumes free shipping; excludes price discounts for autoshipping options.
7) Ash content assumed to be 2.5% in canned foods when not provided.
 
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feralvr

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LAURIE!!!!!!! :wow: I am just catching up with this thread and can't begin to thank you for all of the time, work and effort you have put into this spreadsheet!!!! Thank you very much for doing this :thanks: :rock: . This is extremely helpful and informative and will be a great resource. When you are completely finished with this, I think it should be a sticky, don't you??!!!! :D :D :D :clap: It is really great to see side by side the comparable prices of feeding the different brands. Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:
 
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ldg

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I finished the entire thing. :D

I compared 48 brands of kibble, 40 brands of wet food, and 15 brands of commercial raw. :nod: The article is being published on CatCentric ... maybe as soon as today? Soon, anyway. :D

The kibble category included 10 “supermarket” distribution brands, 19 grain free brands, 18 pet/specialty distribution brands, and the one raw kibble. The canned category included eight supermarket distribution brands, 17 grain free brands, and 15 pet/specialty store distribution brands.

The commercial raw I analyzed two ways - with shipping & handling, and without. If you buy a minimum amount online, shipping is usually free for kibble or canned, but usually not for raw foods - though at least Bravo and NV are usually available in local stores (or can easily be ordered if the pet store has a freezer).

I was SERIOUSLY surprised at the results - and I'm really glad I decided to include the carb content of the foods in the analysis. "Grain Free" is a total misnomer - there are plenty of non-grain free foods that are lower carb, and a number of grain free foods that are loaded with carbs. Most of the raw food was about 0.5% carb. :lol3:

But more surprising than that? Even WITH shipping, a number of raw foods cost less to feed than some of the kibble! And the cheapest non-kibble options were raw! Yep - if you can find Bravo locally, (no shipping), it costs less to feed than the cheapest canned. What makes the difference is the amount you have to feed. In the end, that's what really blew my mind. The recommended daily amounts. :nod: You can TOTALLY see the difference in the nutritional content of the food by the amount required to eat. I realize most cats need less than recommended - but just the guidelines by the manufacturers speak volumes to the quality of the nutrition in the food.

For instance - 9 Lives canned - RDA is 13.8 ounces! :thud: Most of the canned foods had an RDA of 7 - 10 ounces. Yet when you feed raw, you need to feed a little over 3 ounces - maybe 4 ounces - to a 10 pound cat. No wonder raw fed kitties poop so much less! :lol3: So yeah - that 9 Lives looks cheap on the shelf at $0.75 a can compared to that $30 bag of NV frozen raw. But that 9 Lives canned will cost you about $1.87 a day to feed based on pricing and petfooddirect.com and the manufacturer RDA - where Bravo frozen raw chicken will cost $0.68 a day and Nature's Variety frozen raw chicken will cost about $1.07 a day if you can pick them up locally. (Even shipped, Bravo Balanced frozen raw chicken only costs about $0.96 a day. Obviously shipping will vary depending on location, but... ).

It was a FASCINATING project. :nod:
 
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