# Ordering Cat Food Online?



## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Does anyone order their cat food online? Where? And if you do, does it save money? Is the shipping outrageously expensive? 

We actually have a great petstore where the premium foods we get are much less expensive than at Petco, but I want to price compare to be sure we can't do better.  We buy Wellness and Merrick BG wet, BG dry, and Weruva. I'm especially looking for Weruva prices...we pay $1.60 a can for it and I'm hoping it's cheaper online somewhere?  Lily just LOVES it, and I want to feed her more of it, but it's just too expensive to feed every day. 

Thanks!


----------



## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I don't order cat food online. Mostly it's the cost... people say that online places are cheap or economical... HA! Besides shipping costs (sometimes free, IF you spend a lot of money), the food itself is about twice what I pay at the local grocery store.
9 Lives costs are before shipping and taxes:
Winco (local store) = $0.36/can
PetFoodDirect = $0.65/can
PetFlow = $0.61/can
Petco = $0.43/can (online "club" price)
Petsmart = ? (they don't seem to have it) - I used to get Authority, but even that "generic" stuff has gone up to $0.74!

And yes, I realize 9 Lives probably isn't the best stuff. But it's what I can afford, and kitties only get 2.5 oz of it a day anyway (half a can each), just for a little treat - and slightly more moisture for Paizly's UTI issues.
I do try to get the flavors with the best ingredients first...meat/meat-stuff in at least the first 5.
I go to Winco every couple weeks for my own groceries anyway, so it's not an "out of the way" thing. Convenient, cheap, and basically hassle free!


----------



## Abbie (Jan 13, 2011)

I live in the UK, but I order all my cat's food online. Mainly because there isn't much choice in respect of grain free, high meat content in shops here. I buy Origen (imported from Canada), Animonda Carny (from Germany) and Applaws from Zooplus mainly, but occasionally other sites.

As it's the only way I can get two of the brands, I don't mind paying a bit more. Shipping is £2.95, or free if you spend over £19 or £29. It seems good quality food is more expensive over here anyway, but I'd definitely recommend buying it online- you can search for the cheapest price, order in bulk and get it delivered to you home so no lugging heavy cans/bags around!


----------



## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

yellowdaisies said:


> Does anyone order their cat food online? Where? And if you do, does it save money? Is the shipping outrageously expensive?
> 
> . I'm especially looking for Weruva prices...we pay $1.60 a can for it and I'm hoping it's cheaper online somewhere?
> 
> Thanks!


Amazon.com sells Weruva, when on sale, which is more than half the time (and they are out of various varieties sometimes), for $32.62 for a case of 24 5.5 ounce cans, with free shipping and no tax. The best price I have found.


----------



## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I used to order my food online. I'd order from Petfooddirect. At the time they used to have 22% off coupons, but I think the best they do these days is 15%. 



If you want to minimize shipping charges, be prepared to buy in bulk. The shipping charges don't go up linearly...if you pay X for one case, you don't pay 2X for two or 3X for three. I found that 6 cases was a sweet spot for shipping.
Plan to order at least 2-4 weeks ahead of when you need it. You'll want to order when you can get the best coupon, if you wait till you absolutely have to order, the coupon available may not be great. Also, I found the turn around time to vary greatly. Sometimes they'd ship my order in 2 days and it would arrive a couple days after that. Sometimes it didn't ship for a week and take another week to get to me.
I'd have severely dented cans about 50% of the time. Another time they sent Merrick dog food instead of cat. Someone recently posted that they received recalled Wellness cans a couple weeks after the recall was announced. They always gave me credit without having to ship anything back.
So, the convenience of having it ship right to your door, may be offset by the time you spend chasing the right coupon and dealing with getting credit for damage/errors. Your cost savings may be eaten up by the volume you need to keep on hand to ensure you never run out unless you're willing to run to the local store if you do run out. But then you've completely lost the convenience factor of the process to begin with. 

It wasn't all that bad to deal with and I didn't like my local independent stores, so it was a good option for me. But just be aware that it does have it's warts.


----------



## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

*I have been ordering from petfooddirect.com*

since last year. I get minimum 2-3 cases at a time. This lasts about 1 month for us. It's what I can keep without having to compromise too much space. I find the 15% off, which is their usual coupon to be more than sufficient to make the shipping free and discount about $4 on the entire order. I find the food is slightly marked up, but with the discount it's a better deal than my local shop since they don't sell cases to customers. I also would have an issue carrying 3 cases home alone on public transportation.

I have never had an issue with dented cans, etc. In fact, the other day, I had forgotten to cancel the autoship I had set up a few months ago and an order went out. I called the next day and they handled my issue very promptly. I am very happy ordering online.


----------



## livismom (Mar 29, 2011)

I've ordered food from Petco. I've only had our kittens a few weeks. Out of the 6 cases, only one had pretty bad dented cans. A few of the seals had actually been broken. But its easier than going into the store because they hardly have a good variety and I would have to lug to and from the car. And I'm too lazy. Lol


----------



## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

I thought about ordering from PetFoodDirect.. 24 cans of BG after coupons AND a sale only saved me $1.50 compared to Petco... not worth the hassle to me. =/

Edit: well what do you know... doodlebug was right.
If I order 6 cases (24pack) of BG, (with 20% coupon LPSD20A and the sale they are having) I pay $165.98 instead of $232.26, hmm.....


----------



## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I order from petfooddirect.com. I order 1 or 2 months worth at a time (depending on the sale and how much money I have available). I also use that opportunity to stock up on anything else he needs like toys, catnip, vitamins or whatever to combine all the shipping into one. Plus that provides a bigger box for him to play in when the stuff arrives.

I checked my local mom and pop stores and what they were charging was MORE per can than petfooddirect plus shipping so.... to heck with that. 

I also live on a third floor walkup and I just don't know about carrying up cases of cat food  I did that a few times by batting my eyes at the maintenance guys and they did the hefting but.... I can't do that every month and since it's no less expensive I just have it delivered.

Edit: I should also mention that EACH time before I order I google the EVO 95% beef to see where it's cheapest. So far it's usually been petfooddirect.com. It's worth checking prices though, just in case.


----------



## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Thanks for the very useful info, everyone! I think I'll stick with buying at my local store...we just don't have anywhere to STORE that much canned food!  Also, I read on another thread that shipping is more expensive to the west coast from petfooddirect. But I will still keep it in the back of my mind just in case...


----------

