The Great Cat Food Shortage

[gmerkt]

Another "who new," part of the end of the world thing that we've been experiencing lately. Looking it up, due to several causes. Canneries can't get the right kind of aluminum stock for canning, people adopted more than the usual number of pets during the Covid thing increasing demand (like ammo), Covid-related labor shortages (people being paid to stay home), etc, etc.

Shelves for 5.5 oz. cans at Fred Meyer are bare. When available, the normal cost is around 60 cents a can. Today, no Friskies canned cat food, but Fred Meyer had piles of human tuna packed by Chicken of the Sea for 49 cents a can, same size. The chunk light in water variety, particles of fish floating around in the can. Yet, regular cat food is made primarily of packing plant wastes and water so the human grade tuna is a step up. Supposedly doesn't contain quite the ideal balance of "vitamins and minerals" that cats need. You can't tell the animals that; they gobbled the tuna down quickly tonight.

Canned tuna for less than cat food. When I was a kid, the tuna we got, you opened the can and you could see a slice of real fish in there. Not a swirling mess of fish particles. Mrs. Merkt says you can still get it like that but it's Albacore grade, costs more. The tuna of yore that we bought was always packed in oil. It wasn't until I married Mrs. Merkt that I discovered it also came packed in water for the diet / health conscious.

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[L84Cabo]

They put tuna into foil packs these days too. Couldn't they do the same for cat food or is there a shortage of those too? And I realize you're not a cat food canning expert and probably can't answer this. I'm just thinking/talking out loud.

Hopefully Mittens and Mr. Whiskers are enjoying their tuna upgrades for a bit. Meow Wow!

 

[arakboss]

Another "who new," part of the end of the world thing that we've been experiencing lately. Looking it up, due to several causes. Canneries can't get the right kind of aluminum stock for canning, people adopted more than the usual number of pets during the Covid thing increasing demand (like ammo), Covid-related labor shortages (people being paid to stay home), etc, etc.

Shelves for 5.5 oz. cans at Fred Meyer are bare. When available, the normal cost is around 60 cents a can. Today, no Friskies canned cat food, but Fred Meyer had piles of human tuna packed by Chicken of the Sea for 49 cents a can, same size. The chunk light in water variety, particles of fish floating around in the can. Yet, regular cat food is made primarily of packing plant wastes and water so the human grade tuna is a step up. Supposedly doesn't contain quite the ideal balance of "vitamins and minerals" that cats need. You can't tell the animals that; they gobbled the tuna down quickly tonight.

Canned tuna for less than cat food. When I was a kid, the tuna we got, you opened the can and you could see a slice of real fish in there. Not a swirling mess of fish particles. Mrs. Merkt says you can still get it like that but it's Albacore grade, costs more. The tuna of yore that we bought was always packed in oil. It wasn't until I married Mrs. Merkt that I discovered it also came packed in water for the diet / health conscious.

I have found that the great value brand tuna at walmart is pretty good.

 

[gmerkt]

They put tuna into foil packs these days too. Couldn't they do the same for cat food or is there a shortage of those too? And I realize you're not a cat food canning expert and probably can't answer this. I'm just thinking/talking out loud.

Hopefully Mittens and Mr. Whiskers are enjoying their tuna upgrades for a bit. Meow Wow!

Those little foil packs tend to be more costly, for some reason. You'd think the opposite. Those appeared to be a bit scant on the shelves today as well. But the packaging is only one of a number of problems, I guess.

Oh, in this case, it's Jaspurr and Jimbo who scarfed the tuna fairly quickly. Cats in my esperience usually won't eat the whole meal at one sitting unless they've gone without for some time. This evening, they ate about 2/3 of it right off, then circled around later and cleaned up the rest. Often, with regular cat food, there is still some remaining at midnight.

The recon to Fred Meyer today was about special ice cream bars for Mrs. Merkt that went on sale today, 2 for 1. The regular price is $6.59 per box of four which she is loate to pay. She prefers half price. So she waits until they go on sale, which is periodically. When the sale comes, she hits first day and wipes out the shelf. Which usually is a quantity that will see her through to the next sale. The magic number is, "100 calories." She says the ice cream bar every evening is the food she looks forward to most in a day.

So our regular shopping day is Friday. Back we go tomorrow; I'm gonna load up on the 49 cent tuna just in case.

 

[nwwoodsman]

The furry little bubblegum who shows up here when he's hungry turns his nose up at "cat food". The racoon in the back has enjoyed more than one can of Fancy Feast because the other gray blob is a snob. Throw him some fat off a pork chop and he's happy, he'll kill off can of expired meat in no time and won't leave me alone if he sees me walking in with bag of groceries that contain anything but cat food. If he wasn't a mouse killing machine I would've run that bubblegum off long time ago. A cat food shortage is no problem for him. Price of pork chops goes up and he might start losing a little weight.

 

[gmerkt]

If he wasn't a mouse killing machine I would've run that bubblegum off long time ago.

My two cats mostly stay indoors. "Mostly" is a qualifier because the 14 year old one goes out for a sniff of fresh air for 15 or 20 minutes every day or two. When the weather isn't wet or too cold. But as well fed as he is, he's been a great harvester of mice and even moreso, moles. For a long time, I couldn't figure out why his success rate on moles was so high. Because moles have all these tunnels going around, who can tell where they might be? It came to me, cats have very good hearing, they may be able to hear exactly where a mole is in the "system," wait at the tailings where the mole is working then snap, it's a done deal. He doesn't do it for food, he never eats them. He brings them up to the house, live, and plays around with them until they're worn to a frazzle.

I would never leave cat food out around here. I'd just be feeding the raccoons. Same reason I'd never put in a cat door.

The younger cat is about three years old. He hasn't been allowed out yet, he's pretty wild. And a real runner. I'm afraid he'd take off and wouldn't stop to catch a breath until he got to Bellingham. Maybe this Summer I'll let him out with his uncle on hand to show him the ropes.

 

[SonicBlue03]

I was wondering why it seemed like there was a run. Might have to move to boutique single-serve pouches for my fur children for a spell.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I don't think there's really a shortage, they're just more wily these days.

 

[SonicBlue03]

I feed my local raccoons dry cat food in hopes they will take care of the neighbor children problem I have. They already de-frogged the local koi ponds so I can sleep at night.