'We simply cannot afford that': Cat owner challenges 'elitist' pet advice after being told she needs to spend $400 a month on wet food for their felines

Author image for Blake Seidel
Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager
Aug 15, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Our cats will eat anything and everything we offer to them. In fact, we're not entirely sure that they aren't vacuum cleaners in disguise because there seems to be no end to their hunger. They might be the least picky cats on planet Earth. This makes mealtimes purrticularly easy as they will literally eat anything we put in their food bowls. Of course, we feed them a healthy mix of wet and dry food (and the occasional piece of meat as a treat), but we're also very furtunate to be able to not have to worry about where the money for their food comes from. 

If you didn't know, owning a pet is expensive. And we're not just talking about all the food they eat, there are the vet bills, enrichment, litter, and sitters for when you regrettably have to leave them. The budget for a normal month can quickly double if your cats decide to start eating plastic or accidentally swallow something they're not supposed to.

There are lots of people on the internet who will tell you there is only one right way to be a cat pawrent. What most people don't realize is that these "influencers" are paid by certain brands to push their products, so of course they're going to tell you that you have to feed your cats only wet food all the time, and it's 100% affordable (because they're probably getting it for free). 

Our advice? Don't listen to them. You do the best you can for your cats, and we pawmise you it's going to be good enough. As long as they're fed, loved, and have a safe place to sleep, you're doing great. 

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  • 01

    Guilt over feeding my cats dry food and elitism in cat nutrition

    'I am so sick of people online saying that if you can't afford your cat then you shouldn't have one'
    via Nils Jacobi

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Hi everyone. I have three cats and at the time of adopting them we could feed them all wet food no problem. We were doing totally fine financially. I was even considering making them a custom cooked food diet at one point. But then everything came
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 03
    crashing down. I got laid off my job due to new management and had to start working in restaurants again. It' been a couple of years and we still haven't quite gotten back to where we were.
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 04
    The point of this all is that I watch a lot of cat advice videos online because I love my cats and want the best for them, and so I've landed on channels like Jackson Galaxy. I think that for the most part he's an excellent source of knowledge on cats but
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 05
    when it comes to nutrition, he seems a bit extreme to me. We can only afford to feed our cats dry food, point blank period. The language he and others like him use makes me upset because it seems so elitist/classist. The message he
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 06
    gives is if you love your cats you would never feed them dry food and if you do you are abusing them and should be ashamed. He makes statements like saying that wet food is completely affordable and saying it isn't is just an excuse. However, we have three very large cats. The
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 07
    food we used to buy was $0.88 per can and with a 9% sales tax that's $0.95 per can. The back of the can says one serving per 3.5 lbs of body weight. Our cats are 13, 16, and 20 lbs (we are working on getting the third one's weight down but the other
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 08
    Cheezburger Image 10542065920
    via tetsuomorita

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Sometimes they get fancier food, and sometimes not! This is life. When we get a bigger paycheck, of course we will spend more money on them (they are our kids, duh). But some months are tighter, and we can't buy them a new toy. Honestly, we probably don't need to buy them any new toys. They have plenty of fun with the water bottle cap we accidentally dropped on the floor.

  • 09
    two are just large by nature as we've learned). That would amount to 14 cans per day to feed all cats. That amounts to $399-$412.30 every month just to feed our cats. That doesn't include dental treats/toothpaste, litter, pet insurance, vet visits,
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 10
    medications, or anything else that might come up. I know that those numbers sound insane for number of servings, and nobody I've ever talked to has followed that and given their cats like max 3 cans per day, usually 2, but that's what the resources say to feed them. Based on what is written on the nutrition label, that is what it would cost.
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 11
    We simply cannot afford that right now and I am so sick of people online saying that if you can't afford your cat then you shouldn't have one. If I'm doing the math wrong or if you guys have any advice on how to
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95

  • Anything you're doing for them is better than if they lived on the streets. If we only got pets when we were purrfectly financially prepurred for it, we wouldn't have had half the pets we actually did. Helping an animal in need is more important than giving them 100% organic-free range-wholesomely harvested Fancy Feast that costs $8 a can. They'll be fine with normal cat food.

  • 12
    manage this better, please let me know. I know that feeding our cats dry food isn't the best thing but I can't seem to wrap my head around the portion recommendations and prices of wet food. I want to like channels like Jackson Galaxy but this one take of his just rubs me the wrong way every single time.
    via Disastrous-Poetry-95
  • 13
    cloud_wanderer_ The only food my cat has not gotten sick of is the $10 a bag Purina One dry food. So that's the majority of what he gets. He's 14 and healthy Fed is best
    via cloud_wanderer_
  • 14
    Cheezburger Image 10542066176
    via Elles Rijsdijk

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 15
    NeedleG Monkey Just stop paying attention to influencers.
    via NeedleG**Monkey
  • 16
    Natural-Potential-80 Not everyone on this sub follows his every word as gospel. In I disagree with multiple of his opinions but I'll keep that to myself. For what it's worth I think that is an extremely elitist stance. You love your cats but you also had a financial shift. You're doing your best. Where is the cat tax picture? :)
    via @
  • 17
    HauntedOryx My first cat lived 18 very healthy years on little other than meow mix and water. I didn't know any better back then, and it worked out just fine.
    via HauntedOryx
  • 18
    wale-lol I think wet food is better than dry food if you can afford it, given their predisposition to kidney disease. If you can't afford it, you're not a bad person. For a cat, a loving family that feeds it and loves it is more than many cats can hope for, no matter what kind of food it gets.
    via wale-lol
  • 19
    Low-Caterpillar-871 You're doing your best. You take care of the whole cat. Just like the news can get unhealthy to watch if you're becoming super stressed or depr sed, advice influencers can be unhealthy to give tool much attention.
    via Low-Caterpillar-871
  • 20
    You wouldn't let people into your life who just want you to feel bad for doing your best. Why let influencers who are unhealthy for you into your life?
    via Low-Caterpillar-871
  • 21
    Lovely-sleep There's perfectionism in cat ownership but a cat with an owner who can't afford everything is always better than the cats living on the street or in a shelter, don't beat yourself up
    via Lovely-sleep
  • 22
    Plus if I could get my nutritional needs met in pellet form I probably would haha. A lot of cats prefer it
    via Lovely-sleep
  • 23
    abeastandabeauty Agree with previous comment, as long as your cats are also consuming water and your vet hasn't raised any concerns, they will be alright. If they were used to wet food, they may still like an occasional wet treat like a churu or replace 1 meal a week with wet food. I have 2 large cats that barely touch wet food, even if it's the only option.
    via abeastandabeauty
  • 24
    vaultie66 14 cans a day is insane math. Are these Maine ? I split one large can between three normal size DSH cats for dinner and they've been always fine. Main reason people force wet food so much is because a lot of
    via vaultie66
  • 25
    cats just don't have a habit of drinking water and wet food is the way to give them enough liquids to go through the day. Please reconsider cans in smaller portions too as that would already be more affordable.
    via vaultie66
  • 26
    (Edit to clarify: I split one can between three cats and they have dry food out throughout the day, cans aren't everything they eat)
    via vaultie66
  • 27
    Feline_Shenanigans спо The reason Jackson Galaxy sounds extreme on his views regarding wet food/raw diets is because his views ARE extreme. And they don't match the overall consensus of vets and feline health providers globally. I can
    via Feline_Shenanigans
  • 28
    agree with him as far as the need for more independently funded nutritional research but the reality is that there is far more research to be done than the funding to make it happen.
    via Feline_Shenanigans
  • 29
    As for your kitties, the most critical thing is that they are fed. If all you can afford is dry food then get a nutritionally complete food and feed them that. If you can manage a mix of wet and dry to make hydration easier,
    via Feline_Shenanigans
  • 30
    then do that. At the end of the day, we do the best we can with the resources available to us. And any person who would shame a loving cat owner for not being able to spend an extra £400 per month on the fancy cat food should shut their mouths and open their wallets if it bugs them so much.
    via Feline_Shenanigans

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