Cost of Meals - have you worked it out?

[tammyp]

Hi all,

I'm just interested in how much it costs your for 1 meal for 1 cat?  Interested in all answers - please state what type of food, where you live.  

I'd never really worked it out before, knowing how much more bang for your buck you get with raw, but I did the calculations today after making up 51 meals!  

I feed Frankenprey and I feed 3 raw meals a day of 40-60g (boney ones are heavier, meat ones are 40g).  This batch is 3 types of meals: chicken and lamb kidney, rabbit, pork and chicken liver, 1 rabbit cut into meal portions - plus about 5 chicken hearts scattered around to make up weight.  I split my liver and kidney over 7 meals so they get just a small bit each meal.  

Price breakdown was 59c/meal (free range raw, Australia)

Considering we also feed one can a day (yes, he is a svelte athlete who eats a lot!), and that meal is about $1 (on special), I thought the raw cost was quite impressive.

How about you guys?

 

[amby]

In general, it costs me about 0,90 a day to feed my kitten Natural Balance kibble and 2 meals of wet food.

 

[harleydiva]

Based on my last order, I am spending $.94 per day, per cat.  This is based on ground mixes, combined with Alnutrin.  It is probably a bit on the high side, as my last order included 12 pounds of ground rabbit, which is significantly more expensive than the chicken or turkey.  The Alnutrin is $.24 of the daily total.  These numbers also include shipping/delivery costs, as well as a months worth of chicken hearts and gizzzards.  The only thing not factored in is salmon oil....I have been using the same bottle for 3 months for 3 cats and 3 dogs, and don't remember what I paid for it.  

When I was feeding canned food, my cost per cat was more than double that amount.  I was feeding only the premium grain free stuff which was definitely more expensive. It was also extremely difficult to find anything that did not include objectionable ingredients.  If you eliminate carrageenan, you are extremely limited in choices...,,

 

[mschauer]

It's been a few months since I've calculated it but last time I did it came to 0.89 USD per cat per day. That's ground raw with turkey, chicken,beef, pork and lamb.

 

[ldg]

The last time I figured mine was a few months ago, and I've changed the menu a bit, so the cost has gone up (as I get ground goat and llama shipped). But on a per meal basis, it's $0.46 per meal, or $1.39 per cat per day (supplemented). That includes all of the supplements and ingredients EXCEPT my homemade vitamin mix, which is the only thing I've altered in the menu. My guess is it adds $0.01 or $0.02 per day. Oh - my cost includes the shipping of stuff I order online.

I feed chicken (breast and thigh), turkey (breast and thigh), rabbit, pork, beef, venison, lamb, duck, chicken & turkey hearts, gizzard, liver, kidney, freeze dried liver, and ingredients include egg yolks and sardines. Supplements include taurine, eggshell powder, MCHA (freeze dried bone), vitamin E, krill oil for 4 cats, and salmon oil for 4 cats.

 

[peaches08]

Ground chicken thighs recipe from www.catinfo.org with supplements cost me about $0.33 per day per cat.

 

[hersheys mom]

The last time I figured mine was a few months ago, and I've changed the menu a bit, so the cost has gone up (as I get ground goat and llama shipped). But on a per meal basis, it's $0.46 per meal, or $1.39 per cat per day (supplemented). That includes all of the supplements and ingredients EXCEPT my homemade vitamin mix, which is the only thing I've altered in the menu. My guess is it adds $0.01 or $0.02 per day. Oh - my cost includes the shipping of stuff I order online.

I feed chicken (breast and thigh), turkey (breast and thigh), rabbit, pork, beef, venison, lamb, duck, chicken & turkey hearts, gizzard, liver, kidney, freeze dried liver, and ingredients include egg yolks and sardines. Supplements include taurine, eggshell powder, MCHA (freeze dried bone), vitamin E, krill oil for 4 cats, and salmon oil for 4 cats.

Hi Laurie,

I know you feed Frankenprey, and I feed ground raw, so we are talking apples and oranges when it comes to cost (at least I think so, not sure). Hershey Rose gets ground raw with Taurine, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin E, Bone Meal, Iodized salt, Omega 3 oil, eggs, chicken (white and dark meat), pork, gizzards, hearts and liver. The most expensive thing is the Omega 3 oil, but it lasts a very long time. She inhales the stuff. I feed her 4.5 oz a day, and her coat looks so shinny and her health issues have disappeared since I started the raw. She prefers it on the cool side though. I shop when there is a good sale and stock up. Yesterday I got whole chickens at .89/lb. Okay, it took me an entire day to make the food as I had to cut the meat off the bones (the new grinder I just got does not do bones, even though all the reviews on Amazon from people who own one swear it does all the chicken bones). Another store had a sale on pork, so I went there also. My local Vons stocks gizzards and liver at very reasonable prices. So once I bought the essentials, I just need to get the meat and eggs. But now my freezer is 80% her food and 20% mine. I have considered getting a small freezer, but since Minja is still refusing to eat raw I think I'll wait. I bought 2 chickens ($8), liver & gizzards ($5), pork ($4) and eggs ($2.50). The rest I have on hand. I believe that made a month's supply. It comes to .65 a day, but that is without the essentials calculated in. Hershey Rose gets 4.5 oz of food a day. So the cost of feeding her wholesome, nutritious food is about the same as a can of Friskies. I wish I could get Minja on this diet, she looks like a Budda when she sits down, and she only eats 4.5 oz a day. Shows you the difference between the good stuff and the junk food.

Lei Ann

 

[tammyp]

Keep it coming folks!  It's interesting to compare approaches and costs across countries - am assuming the responses are all American?

I wonder if anyone feeds free-range meats like me?

 

[otto]

I just recently made all the computations to find out exactly how much it is costing me now to feed my cats, with their canned, commercial raw and homemade raw.

Total cost per cat per day for food and supplements is $1.14 per cat.

This figure includes

All food, canned, the commercial raw products,(and any shipping and/or taxes) and the meat bought from the grocery store

All supplements: calcium, vitamin E, vitamin B, taurine, krill oil, egg yolk lecithin, probiotic.(and any shipping and/or taxes)

Gas expense to get the Rad Cat frozen raw (I have to travel 200 miles round trip)

the added expense of freezer bags for the raw meals,

the expense of extra paper towel use for preparing raw food

This figure is based on all purchases dating back to May 2012 through February 2013.

However, the figure will drop as time goes on because the supplements will not need to be re-purchased for another six months at the soonest. So that will shave off a few cents as the weeks pass. In addition I may have found a closer source for the Rad Cat, which will cut down drastically on the gas expense.

When they were on a canned only diet, they cost on average $1.20 per day per cat for food only. I was not supplementing with krill or egg yolk lecithin at that time.

 

[ldg]

Keep it coming folks!  It's interesting to compare approaches and costs across countries - am assuming the responses are all American?

I wonder if anyone feeds free-range meats like me?

If I were to purchase actual free range (pastured, organically fed) chicken instead of just the supermarket version of "cage free" "vegetarian fed" chicken, my cost would go from $1.99 a pound on sale to $12.00 a pound.

The evils of factory farming make meat affordable. Not that it SHOULD be. But I wouldn't be able to feed my cats raw meat - or eat any myself - if the cost of buying local were what I was limited to.

 

[barry hayward]

I live in Newfoundland,Canada and if I see beef ( not chicken ) on for $1.99 a pound I definitely buy it!! If I have to pay for tin's it comes to about $2.10 a pound and beef has got to be a hell of a lot better for my 2 girls than the stuff that comes in a can!!!
 

 

[tammyp]

Yeah, the evils of our food production system.  But I'm with you - raw trumps canned (and we won't even mention biscuits!)  

The chicken I buy free range is I think $13/kg.  This would compare to around $6 for factory farmed.  Wow, I just did the kilo-pound convertion; $5.9/pound for free range over here!!  But (perhaps thankfully), we can't get such cheap factory farmed prices.

 

[korina]

And  Tammy thats expensive, my two local farms (and I live in Baltimore City, these farms are 45 mins away) and they top at 4.50lb for chicken.

Also the supposed "organic range free" at big stores is same price.

This is my farm http://www.fergusonfamilyfarm.com/productsprices.htm

I can get factory chicken for .79 cent a pound.

It seems USA and AUS have a pretty even exchange rate, (when did that happen?)

Was curious, does that farm sell the meat fresh frozen, both of my farms do and the big stores only sell "fresh/thawed".

As to the cost Ill let you know when these guys are grown up.

They are weighing 8.5 and 9.5 pounds, and are still eating about half a pound each a day, plus raw meat treats like necks, chunked chicken and pork.

So right now, if I feed a lb of rabbit, thats 4.50 +.50 for alnutrin (add in lysine, fish oil, and 1/16 tsp taurine (bengals need a bit more).

Oh and toss an egg yolk in there too (.37)

The kitties consume that in a day.

 

[barry hayward]

My two only get 80 grams of food each per day, which is only 1/3 of pound of wet food per day and I don't give in to thier crying or sucking up so my cost is about .35 cents per day(Canadian) and I use about $7.00 worth of hard food per month. So .70 x 30=21 +7=28 /30=0.93 cents per day for 2 cat's, only .47 cents per cat per day! And the best thing is that living in NFLD I usually get free moose when I want it!!
 

 

[tammyp]

Hi Korina,  I shop at a local city market - the meat comes in fresh from the kill and I shop on the kill days (so nothing frozen - otherwise I wouldn't be able to make up my meals and re-freeze).

I am really interested in the prices across countries.  For years Australia was 'cheap' for meat as we farmed so much, and USA's food subsidies hadn't really hit.  Then about 10years ago, I returned to Australia from living abroad and got a real shock!  Even the latest 'world's most expensive cities' for cost of living now rate Melbourne at no.3, Sydney at no.2 ----this is higher than Tokyo and New York!!

Anyway, feeding good food is a choice, and I'm really glad we have the option and ability at present to exercise that choice.  Plus ethically, I like 'happy chickens' and 'happy animals', and don't like to support big business that screws over so many people and animals.  

Good to meet another person owned by high energy cats too!  They eat heaps and never get fat (well, so long as the owner feeds proper food and encourages that activity), and they sure are a handful!  My cat is a Korat.