What is cheaper in the long run, feeding quality wet food like "wellness" or making your own raw food for cats?

It depends on which meats you choose to feed your cats and where you buy them since the prices can vary so widely.



The 12.5 oz cans of Wellness cost me about $2.40 each. If I fed my cats only Wellness the three of them together, and they are small cats, would eat about 1 1/4 cans per day for $3.00 per day? $21.00 per week.



I buy meats in various places but the bulk of it comes from a discount meat market. I got a several pounds of chicken leg quarters for only 69c/lb a while back. I also buy chicken liver there and I believe I got it in large containers for $1.49/lb. And I bought a big package of hearts also for around $1.59/lb



Bear in mind that these are VERY low meat prices.



If I add approx. 1.5 oz. liver to 1 lb meat, bones, and most of the skin and fat (and add a few hearts) it would come to roughly 95c for about 19 oz of food. Each cat would eat about 3.5 oz daily (yes, less than canned food) if that was all they ate. That would be about 50c per day for the three of them or about $3.50 weekly. Unless I am having an arithmetic breakdown!



That's a six-fold cost difference. But also the extreme since you are that is very inexpensive chicken and you wouldn't want to feed a cat only chicken anyway



And I did not add the fish oil - I add a couple caps to the raw food two or three times a week.



So you can definitely feed cats more economically on a raw food diet if you can buy meats and organs at low prices.



Meats having bones that cats can eat such as chicken and rabbit are easy. If you are planning to feed meats like beef or venison it gets more complicated because you need to supplement calcium (important!). I spent a lot of time fussing over this, calculating, figuring.



For meats like that I am now using a product that takes all the guesswork out of it but which is not cheap:

http://www.felinefuture.com/



My advice to you is to begin slowly and continue to do your research. You can save money if you shop well.What is cheaper in the long run, feeding quality wet food like "wellness" or making your own raw food for cats?
Raw 'might' be and that is a big 'might' be cheaper BUT the problem is feeding raw you have to do a lot of research to make sure you are feeding your cat a 'balanced' diet. I've spoken with several veterinarians and all agree that a top quality canned or dry food beats a raw diet any day for the simple reason most people have no idea as to what exactly are a cats daily nutritional requirement are. Do you know? I'm betting not, so I would advise a great food such as "By Nature Organics" wet and "Orijen Cat and Kitten" dry.What is cheaper in the long run, feeding quality wet food like "wellness" or making your own raw food for cats?
I've heard from several people that feeding raw is cheaper. That is, if you can find some good deals and if you take the time to research how to feed it correctly.What is cheaper in the long run, feeding quality wet food like "wellness" or making your own raw food for cats?
Yes, I've heard raw is cheaper as well. I know many people end up buying a grinder so that's probably the initial set back. I've seen them recommend making sure your cat will eat the raw food before making that purchase :)