| Are you wanting to feed your dog or cat a premium | | | | — and you still ended up feeding the same 2 |
| pet food but your budget just doesn't have the | | | | or 3 cups of food a day. Naturally, you look at the |
| room for the higher cost? You might be surprised - | | | | $30.00 for a 20 pound bag of pet food and gasp at |
| premium pet foods don't 'cost' nearly as much as | | | | the cost — you are thinking just the way they |
| they appear to. | | | | want you to think
in terms of the cost of the |
| Every pet owner wants to provide their pet with the | | | | bag, not the cost of the serving. |
| best food they can possibly afford. In your search | | | | The determining factor for your choice of pet food |
| for quality nutrition, often times we look at the cost | | | | should not be cost or advertising. You must look at |
| of premium pet foods and gasp at the prices. What | | | | and understand those first five ingredients. Of course |
| you are about to learn is that quality pet foods are | | | | there is much more involved than the first five |
| not nearly as 'pricey' as they appear. Quality | | | | ingredients, but in my research
if the first five |
| ingredient cost much more, but they also mean you | | | | ingredients of a pet food are good, so are the rest |
| feed less - on average 1/3 less. | | | | of the ingredients. If a pet food manufacturer cares |
| So let's break it down to cost per meal
Let's say | | | | enough to make the first five ingredients quality |
| your pet currently eats 1 cup of food per day. A 20 | | | | — which is the majority of the food
they |
| pound bag of food will provide you with about 50 | | | | care enough to make all of the ingredients quality. |
| servings. If the food costs you $15.00 for a 20 pound | | | | Don't be mislead into any comfort zone of a pet |
| bag — that equals about .30 per meal. | | | | food manufacturers advertising
do your |
| Now with a good quality pet food — feeding | | | | homework and read and understand at least the first |
| about 1/3 less — a 20 pound bag will provide | | | | five ingredients of your pet's food. With better, more |
| you about 80 servings. If the better food costs | | | | nutritious pet foods — they do NOT need as |
| $30.00 for a 20 pound bag — that breaks | | | | much as with the cheaper foods. Don't let the old |
| down to a little less than .38 cents a meal. | | | | habit of feeding more sway you when you switch to |
| So even though the price tag of the food reads to | | | | a more nutritious pet food — again, with more |
| be twice as expensive — it's actually far from | | | | quality ingredients they just don't need as much food |
| the truth. Using the above example, at .30 cents per | | | | as with inferior ingredients. If you switch your pet to |
| meal, two meals a day, in one month you are | | | | a quality pet food and continue to feed the same |
| spending around $18.00 per month to feed a pet with | | | | amount as the lesser quality food you were feeding |
| the inferior food. With the apparent twice as | | | | — your pet will gain weight. |
| expensive higher quality pet food, at .38 cents per | | | | The daily amount of food our pets require depends |
| meal, two meals a day, in one month you are | | | | on many things such as activity level, age, breeding |
| spending around $22.80 per month. Less than $5.00 | | | | animals, or neutered animals. As an example, my 100 |
| per month difference that can save you thousands | | | | pound German Shepherd only eats two cups of food |
| of dollars in vet bills and add years to their life. You | | | | per day; 1 cup AM, 1 cup PM. My Papillion Kirby (8 |
| must look at the cost per meal to completely give | | | | pounds of love) eats about 1/3 cup a day. Both dogs |
| the price of the food consideration. | | | | are active. However, my little guy is young and is |
| Here is what has happened to us
for years and | | | | fairly high energy level. My big guy is 12 years old and |
| years we've watched the television commercials of | | | | much more sedate. Considering his little size, the small |
| pet food. They emphasize the words for your | | | | dog eats far more for his size than the big dog. His |
| pet's health' or choice'. We've trusted them and | | | | energy and activity level requires it. |
| we've followed their directions to feed our pet 2 or 3 | | | | My cat on the other hand free feeds — he |
| cups of food per day. What we didn't know was | | | | has access to a full bowl of food at all times and |
| that those recommended 2 or 3 cups of food was | | | | eats when he wants. He has never been an over |
| necessary because the pet food contained cheap | | | | eater and this works well for him. I could never do |
| inferior nutrition sources like by-products, meat and | | | | the same with my dogs. |
| bone meal, and grains. | | | | So serving size for your pet is something you will |
| So, it has become our habit to feed more — | | | | need to experiment with. If your dog or cat has no |
| which they do need more with inferior ingredients. | | | | figure' — shows no waist when looking at |
| Then someone like myself comes along and tells you | | | | them from above — chances are they need |
| how horrible ingredients like by-products and meat | | | | to lose a few pounds. Cut back the serving size. If |
| and bone meal are — and you learn that grains | | | | the ribs are visible, you probably should increase the |
| such as corn, wheat, and soy are inferior — | | | | serving size slightly. Please note too that a cup of |
| and since this recent pet food recall, you learn that | | | | food a day at 2 years old will more than likely be too |
| chemicals can actually be added to variations of | | | | much food when they are a little older. Keep a |
| these grains (glutens)
so then you look over your | | | | constant monitoring eye on them - a healthy weight |
| options at the pet store or online. And you think in | | | | is a healthier pet. |
| terms of how much per bag' of food. After all, | | | | Please don't just look at the advertising of the pet |
| you've probably tried several different types of pet | | | | food or shop by price alone - examine the ingredients |
| food in the past — maybe even one or two | | | | in the food (at least the first five ingredients) and |
| that cost a little more than the cheap brands | | | | make your decisions based on cost of serving. |