How to compare pet food prices
I recently heard from a pet owner asking my opinion of some pet food brands they were considering. Both of the pet foods he asked about were what I considered to be very inferior. When I informed him of my opinion, his response was they could not afford a better food.
I understand that higher quality dog and cat foods can be two or even three times as expensive than the cheaper brands. However pet owners who think they cannot afford the quality pet foods more than likely will pay in the long term. Pets often get sick with kidney or liver disease or skin and ear problems due to inferior nutrition - those 'few cents' more a meal to feed them quality nutrition are nothing compared to the heartache and vet bills. Nowlet me explain the 'few cents' more a meal issue
Most pet owners suffer sticker shock when looking at purchasing a higher quality pet food. The price tag causes them to gasp considering how fast Fido or Fluffy eats that food. What most don't understand is that with higher quality pet foods, you don't feed nearly as much as you do with the inexpensive, lesser quality pet foods. Cheap foods have cheap ingredients thus the pet needs to eat more in an attempt to consume the nutrition their body is telling them they need. On average, pets eating higher quality pet foods consume about 1/3 less than that of an inferior food.
Looking at a pet food cost per mealIf your pet currently eats 1 cup of food per day, a 20 pound of pet food will provide you with about 50 meals. If the dog food or cat food costs you $15.00 for a 20 pound bag, that costs you about $.30 per meal. Now, if you feed a high quality pet food - feeding about 1/3 less, a 20 pound bag will provide you with about 80 meals for your pet. If the better food costs twice as much as the inferior food - $30.00 for a 20 pound bag, that breaks down to less than $.38 cents per meal.
Even when the price tag of a pet food looks to be twice as expensive, it's actually far from the truth. With the example above, at $.30 cents per meal, two meals a day - in one month you will spend about $18.00 to feed your pet with an inferior food. With the apparent twice as expensive high quality pet food, at $.38 cents per meal, two meals a day - in one month you are spending about $22.80 to feed your pet. That's less than $5.00 per month difference between a high quality pet food and a inferior cheap pet food. It is necessary to consider the cost per meal of the food before you think it's too expensive.
With better, more nutritious pet foods - they do NOT need as much as with the cheaper foods. Don't let the old habit of feeding more sway you when you switch to a more nutritious pet food - again, with more quality ingredients they just don't need as much food as with inferior ingredients. In most cases, if you switch your pet to a quality pet food and continue to feed the same amount as the lesser quality food you were feeding - your pet will gain weight.
Serving size for your pet is something you will need to experiment with. If your dog or cat has no 'figure' - shows no waist when looking at them from above - chances are they need to lose a few pounds. Cut back the serving size. If you can visibly see ribs - they probably need to gain a couple of pounds and you need to slightly increase the serving size. Please note too that a cup of food a day at 2 years old will more than likely be too much food when they are a little older. Keep a constant monitoring eye on them - a healthy weight is a healthier pet.
Please don't just consider the cost of a dog food or cat food - look at the first five ingredients of the pet food and consider the cost per meal.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
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by: SusanThixton
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