There are so many kinds of commercial cat food out there, from kibbles to canned wet food to freeze-dried raw to frozen raw. At first glance, raw food seems to be very pricey, but is it really the case?
I’ll use the food that my cats eat to do a price comparison, by weight and by calories, for each type of food.
Normally you can find a better price and some discounts in physical stores like PetSmart, Petco, or your local pet food store, but to ensure a fair comparison I use the price listed on Amazon at this date if possible.
Note that the calorie density varies among different flavors of the same type of food (I find them to vary the most for freeze-dried), not to mention among different brands. The calculation here is for my own reference only, and you can do your own math if you want.
There’s also a more general comparison post about different types of cat food. Link.
Comparison Table
Here’s the result
| $ / oz | kcal / oz | $ / 100 kcal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 0.28 | 108.98 | 0.26 |
| Wet | 0.74 | 31.07 | 2.39 |
| Freeze Dried Raw | 2.48 | 149 | 1.66 |
| Frozen Raw | 0.59 | 40.31 | 1.46 |
As the math shows, for quality cat food, wet food is the most expensive, while frozen raw really isn’t very expensive. The price of freeze-dried raw may seem astounding at first glance, with the unit price by weight being 3x of that if wet food, but that’s only because it’s raw food being freeze-dried, making it very calorie-dense.
Check my math below.
Dry
Hill’s Science Diet Adult Indoor Cat Food Chicken Recipe Dry Cat Food is $31.34 for 7 lb on Amazon. The calorie density is 3844 kcal / kg = 108.98 kcal / oz. Meaning the unit price is $0.28 / oz or $0.26 / 100 kcal.
Wet
Tiki Cat After Dark Velvet Mousse Chicken & Beef Recipe in Chicken Broth is $24.99 for 33.6 oz on Amazon. The calorie density is 87 kcal / 2.8 oz = 31.07 / oz. Meaning the unit price is $0.74 / oz or $2.39 / 100 kcal.
Freeze Dried Raw
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Duck Duck Goose is $44.64 for 18 oz on Amazon. The calorie density is 149 kcal / oz. Meaning the unit price is $2.48 / oz or $1.66 / 100 kcal.
Frozen Raw
Primal Frozen Raw Nuggets Chicken & Salmon Formula isn’t available on Amazon, but it’s $28.23 for 3 lb in Pet Food Depot, a local pet food store close to me. The calorie density is 1422 kcal / kg = 40.31 kcal / oz. Meaning the unit price is $0.59 / oz or $1.46 / 100 kcal.