Why does food have to be so expensive!

[lindsayfawn]

So Ang and I have been looking every where at what would be the best price for geting lab blocks. We're almost out of the blocks we had gottem from the rat train and I had picked up the only 3 bags of that hamster extrusion blocks from zellers. Both stores are out for a few weeks till they get heir next order. We were going to order from our vet the Oxbow food but at 13.50 for a 3 lbs bag is a lot.

So I've been looking at the online sites again. It's frustrating that there is no place in Canada that sells lab blocks at a half decent price or in the 40 lbs bags.

This is what we have found.

Zellers only sells the 1.45lbs bags of extrusion blocks for $.5.49 so if say we got 40 pounds of it we'd be paying around 214 dollars. They don't get in that much though at a time so it's not really an option.

If we order say 42 pounds of oxbow(14 of the 3lbs bags) from the vet at 13.50 for a 3 pound bag it would be $567.

Dr.Foster and Smith website sells the 40lbs bags for 59.99 and shipping is $76 to NB so grand total $136

Petfooddirect.com sells Native Earth which is supposed to be Harlan Teklad. Their 40lbs bags are on sale right now for $21.67 and reglar price $25.49 with shipping $92.50 to NB. Grand total 114.17

So even though we pay through the nose for shipping it's still cheaper in the long run to go with petfooddirect.com to get the Native Earth food. I think a 40 lbs bag would last us probably 2 months maybe with 20 ratties?

Do you guys think this is our best deal? Suggestions?

 

[jorats]

That is insane!
But you can get a 40lbs bag of Oxbow from your vet, if they sell the small bags, they can get the big bags and they should be around $100 for 40lbs.

 

[SQ]

I wonder if global would be willing to order in the 40 pound bags of oxbow?

 

[lindsayfawn]

hmm I'll try asking them. I don't think I actually asked if they would order those in.

 

[ryelle]

the amount you spend on food is shocking! and $92 for shipping!!! woah!!

Im glad i only have two ratties and i only pay £7.99 every month or two for food. overall with litter, i spend about £30 on my boys.

i cant believe how crazy the prices are over there for you guys

 

[Christie]

What do you feed though Ryelle?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

I really dont understand why Harlan wouldnt make their food more accessible to the public...with the prices oxbow charges HT would go like hot cakes....its too bad they wouldnt do something like Native Earth in Canada

 

[ryelle]

I feed food that you probably wouldn't get over there

I didn't even know what Oxbow was until a few weeks ago, and i still dont know what 'Harlan' is or looks like lol

Everything sounds expensive when you guys say it. Someone said they spent over $50 on a check-up, and then $40 on top for meds, where the most ive ever paid for a vets trip and meds is £25.

Its actually cheaper for us to buy some things from the US with the exchange rates. Not sure about how canada works in it all though

 

[theratlady]

1 british pound is approx $2 canadian

 

[MumsyRat]

If you are willing to settle for Mazuri or Lab Diet "we" could send it to you from Ontario.
You can choose between:
Mazuri 6F https://www.mazuri.com/PDF/5M30.pdf
Lab Diet 5002 http://www.labdiet.com/pdf/5002.pdf
Lab Diet 5014 http://www.labdiet.com/5014.htm

None of them are fantastic, I would recommend the Mazuri 6F as adequate. With shipping from Ontario a 50 lb. bag would cost you about $60.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Global pet foods just called and said they can order in the 40lbs bags of oxbow but it takes a month or longer because their supplier doesn't keep it in the warehouse and they don't know the price till it gets there....so that's kinda iffy....but nice to know we can do that if we get really stuck

 

[NezumiNeko]

http://www.craftyrat.com/ Got a great deal on Harlan Teklad here, but I'm not sure how much it would cost in Canada.