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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 know very well that better quality dog and cat foods can cost two or even three times more than that of the cheaper brands. Pet owners who feel that cannot afford it, unfortunately will more than likely pay in the long run. When their pet becomes sick with kidney or liver disease or when their pet continues to be treated for skin irritations and/or ear infections - those vet bills to 'fix' the health problem due to years of inferior nutrition cost far more than the 'few cents' a meal to provide the pet better quality nutrition. Before you scoff at the 'few cents a meal' theory - let me explain. 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. Breaking it down to cost per mealIf your pet currently eats one cup of food per dayA 20 pound of food will provide you with about 50 meals. If the pet food costs you $15.00 for a 20 pound bag, that costs you about $.30 per meal. With a high quality pet food, feeding about 1/3 less per meal, a 20 pound bag will provide you about 80 meals. If the higher quality pet food costs $30.00 for a 20 pound bag (double the cost of a inferior quality pet food) - that costs you less that $.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. The exact serving size varies from pet to pet. If your dog or cat has no 'figure' or shows no waist, chances are they need to lose a few pounds. Just cut back the serving size a little. Or, if you can visibly see ribs, then you probably need to slightly increase the serving size. Also, a cup of food a day for a two year old pet will probably be too much food when they are a little older. It is best to continue to monitor your pets weight. Please don't just look at the sticker price of your dog or cat's food. Look at the first five ingredients and consider the cost per meal.
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