Fuming over cat food
By rosegardens
@rosegardens (3032)
United States
June 19, 2011 7:36am CST
Hello fellow mylotters. I recently purchased a box of Iams canned food. It seemed a great deal at 24 cans for about $19.00, considering the individual cans are about a US dollar a piece. I just opened the box, and o my gosh I am just soooo mad! These are the small cans, at 3 oz instead of the larger cans that are 6.5 oz!!! They are the size of the Purina Pro Plan cans! The can size is the only reason I did not go with Pro Plan. for a cat or 2 household it would be ideal, but not for 5 cats. I am hoping I will not need a receipt to take it back for exchange; I don't know what happened to it. I will call them in a bit to see if they will allow me to exchange this rip off box for something else. How on Earth can they charge that much money for 1/2 cans of food? That's almost .80 cents a can, when the full can that is almost twice the size is about a dollar.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@allknowing (153544)
• India
19 Jun 11
Was there no marking giving you how much each can contained. Or even was there no indication of the weight of the box. As far as I can see you assumed they were the larger cans and your assumption seems justified as normally a wholesale pack costs less. Since you opened the box there is a doubt if they will accept it. Anyway you can try and see.
2 people like this
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
19 Jun 11
They took it back with no trouble. I exchanged it for some of the bigger cans, and still got some money back. I went to Meijer before I went to the pet store, and Meijer had the same thing on sale for 9.99 so I bought 2. Too bad it was only the fish flavor, it would have been nice to have the chicken and beef to mix it up, but even so I am happy. I paid about .42 cents a can. 2 cans=6 oz, and that would be .82 cents, considering the 5.5 oz can is a dollar, I got a very good deal. 
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
19 Jun 11
It did have the amount on it, but since the larger cans were just below it, I incorrectly thought the box also contained the larger cans. The smaller individual cans were on a different shelf, so one would think the smaller cans would go with the smaller cans, and the larger cans would go with the larger cans. It is quite a sum of money to pay for the amount of food in the containers. Meijer has a great sale on the same thing, and I picked up 2 packages for 9.99 USD each. I practically had a buy one get 1 free deal considering it was almost 19.00 for one box at the pet store!
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
20 Jun 11
I have to check the shelves too. Sometimes people come along and move product from shelf to shelf.
You still got a good deal even though the small cans won't last you as long with multiple cats. I buy the 5 oz. cans too and with one cat, a can lasts a day. If my cat wants more than that, she gets some dry food.
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
21 Jun 11
True, people do move things around and one needs to be careful sometimes. Ah, if only I had one or 2, buying cat food would not be such an ordeal! But I love them, what can I do about it now?
I use 2 of the small cans to feed them their snack at night. If my math is correct, the 24 pack is equal to about 14 of the large cans.
@bmorehouse1 (1028)
• United States
20 Jun 11
You really have to watch everything you buy nowadays! The manufactuers are keeping the package the same size, but are giving you less in some cases. As far as cat food, I most times buy the larger cans, but have sometimes bought the smaller ones when they are on sale. I have only one cat. She is very picky. Most days I throw away what she has not eaten from the day before. So really I should buy the smaller cans since I would not be wasting any. I have tried giving her a half a can and refrigerating the other half for the next day, but it seems she won't eat it that way. I'm glad that you were able to exchange the cat food that you bought. It costs enough to feed pets without buying something you didn't want. Best wishes!
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
21 Jun 11
She doesn't like the leftovers? What a fussbudget. lol. Stinker does that too, but surprisingly with this food he is not quite so fussy and eats it even if it has sat in the fridge since the morning. Thank goodness for that!
You are better off getting the small cans, but those can be as much or nearly as much as the larger ones are. One would think they would be about 1/2 the cost, or maybe a little more than the large ones. Yet they are not, and it is difficult to try to get the better deal when often there really isn't one. These pet food companies have us cornered and they know it. Feeding a dog costs less than feeding a cat. A similar can of dog food costs less than cat food, and the bags are very cheap for a dog compared to a cat.
@prinzcy (32299)
• Malaysia
20 Jun 11
If the supermarket make a mistake, they would probably let you change. If it's from the company itself, you can try, I don't know whether they will let you or not. It is annoying when that happen. I usually buy the dried food and I always think the weight mentioned on the package is probably not the real weight. 1.5 kg is not as heavy as I though, or that's probably my imagination. But what can I do? The cats got to eat.
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
21 Jun 11
Sometimes it does not seem like we are getting what we should, no matter if it is pet food or people food.
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
19 Jun 11
Considering the amount of food in the can, it is absolutely ridiculous. The 5.5 oz cans are .99 cents. Even buying that particular food in bulk at the pet store does not get a good deal. 24 small cans is roughly equivalent to 14 larger cans, so this was a great overcharge.
I did go to Meijers before I went to the pet store to exchange the box, and found they had the same box on sale for 9.99 so I bought 2. Considering just one box was almost double the price, I made out pretty good.
