Preservatives are essential ingredients in some forms of pet foods but they are surrounded by a great deal of misinformation.
The type of your cat food – wet, dry, fresh, or raw – not to mention the brand, can make a dramatic differences in what you will pay to feed your cat. We compare daily and yearly costs for different food types for a theor
I was recently teaching a group of veterinary students and we got into a discussion about the costs of various types of pet foods. Pet food costs are particularly relevant right now, when the costs of many consumer goods have increased rapidly in the last year, leaving many of us paying more for our food as well as that for our pets. US pet food and treat sales were around $42B in 2020 and estimated to top $44B when all the 2021 data is finalized. We previously posted on estimating costs of pet foods and it seems like a great time to revisit the topic, this time focusing on the typical costs of feeding various types of pet foods. There are four main types or forms of commercial pet food: dry foods, wet foods (cans, pouches, tubs), fresh food (cooked and purchased fresh or frozen), and raw (frozen or freeze-dried). The costs for each type of food can vary dramatically! How much can one expect to spend on the different types of pet food? To get a better sense of current pet food expenses, I collected some data on the cost to feed certain types of pet foods to a hypothetical pet – a 55lb dog needing a very average 1100 kcal (1 kcal = 1 “human” Calorie) from food each day to maintain weight. I selected at least 3 diets from each category: Dry and canned mass market diets (these are foods available from retailers like Walmart, Target, and grocery stores) Dry and canned “premium” diets (these are foods available at large pet chains and pet boutiques) “Fresh food” diets (these are generally purchased on a subscription basis online directly from the manufacturer) Raw diets (I chose freeze-dried raw because they are shelf stable and sold at similar stores…