Thanks for the informative and thoughtful post!
Just wanted to pop in to say - not everyone touts expensive brands. I personally "tout" a homemade diet (cooked or raw) for all the reasons you outlined: quality and ingredient control. Unless you're feeding primarily kibble, it usually costs less than feeding Fancy Feast.Everyone touts the expensive brands as the only way to go and shame people for using what they deem the "junk foods or low quality" brands, however, its become too PC for me, that I feel many aren't thinking of what the higher brand foods now contain which are equally detrimental in the short and long run.