Oh hell no! No bathroom papers or books for me!
I’ve got two cheap cats. Man, I thought I was saving money by getting cheap ones, but it’s costing me in food and litter.
We had a cat that needed to be fed an expensive, high fiber, prescription diet. It seemed that for every pound of food that went in, five pounds of shit came out.
My cat shits like a trooper and it is a stray. He dropped 40 lbs of toxic mud the other day- birds were falling dead from the sky.
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Sure. Happy to. Title changed from “Does expensive cat mean less cat poop?” to “Does expensive cat [food] mean less cat poop?”.
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What if you butt-sail your expensive cat?
Darn.
If my dog is any guide, the expensive food also remains so tasty that it’s worth re-eating. Which reduces net waste.
I’ve found feeder mice to be really expensive per ounce. Where are you getting your raw animals?
Seconded!
If the only thing you’re feeding your cats is Meow Mix dry food, they probably will be “expensive cat[s]” in the long run.
Aside from the issue of poop volume, if you are only going to feed dry food, it really is important that it be high quality. Cheap dry food such as Meow Mix is acceptable as a “free feed” for people who also regularly feed wet food, which is generally of much higher nutritional value.
I only (free) feed my cat dry food (because, oddly, he doesn’t really like wet food) but not only do I get the more expensive stuff, I also rotate and sometimes mix between different dry foods with high protein and fat content.
And here’s the thing with “expensive” foods - yes, they cost more per pound than the cheap stuff, but your cats will learn to eat less of it because it’s much more nourishing. So, it’s not really as expensive as it seems based purely on cost by weight.
In my experience, yes. When I fed my cat Evo dry food (now he’s on some exotic urinary health food, but that’s a whole 'nother story), I ran out once and fed him some cheap Purina stuff for a couple weeks (it’s hard to find Evo around me). I had to feed him literally twice as much, which he wolfed down happily - I think the equivalent would be feeding a 7-year-old child pizza and ice cream. No lie, the volume of his poop probably increased by a factor of 4!
Actually, “pizza and ice cream” is a pretty good analogy for Meow Mix. You won’t keel over from malnutrition right away (calcium in ice cream & cheese, some vitamins & protein from pizza toppings depending on what they are, antioxidants in the tomato sauce, etc.) but I’m fairly certain most people would agree that a diet of nothing but those two things would be, at minimum, sub-optimal.
It’s generally agreed that if you cut costs in food up front, you’ll pay for it down the line in vet bills. Also, pay for it up front with … more poop to scoop!
One more vote for “feed the best you can reasonably afford.” When you upgrade, you can use the remaining Meow Mix for treats. 
Re the thread title change:
DANG!
I would pay any amount of money for a cat that didn’t poop at all!
Oh hell. Ya know, when I bought this litter box, I had no idea the damn replacement trays cost 20 bucks a pop! I was pissed. But I found an after market bottom tray on Amazon. It’s made of plastic and reusable.
Update: I bought a bag of Iams today. Sat the bag down on the kitchen counter and the cats were pawing at it before I even opened the damn bag! They never did that with Meow Mix.
Anyway, we’ll see how it goes.
In my experience, it isn’t the price necessarily as much as the form.
I have 4 cats and I feed canned food most of the time. The litterboxes are scooped 2x a day (mostly because they are in my computer room and I’m right there), and when I feed canned they aren’t too bad or smelly. However, when we go away for the weekend I have to feed them dry. There is a huge increase in both odor and amount of poop when my cats eat dry food. Feeding canned means I can’t free feed and I need to feed them all separately, but we have a routine and it goes well. Plus, I can tell immediately if any cat isn’t eating.
Canned is more expensive, but less odor+less poop+potentially less health problems make it worth it for me.
In our expensive experince, the better grades of cat food- the more meat and less grain the better- not only reduce poop, but reduce smell too. And increase health.
Fingers crossed for you. Don’t forget to gradually change the food by mixing increasing ratios over a week or 10 days or so.
That’s just beautiful. applause
Kudos to you for taking steps to improve your cats’ diet!
Until very recently, different varieties of Iams dry foods (regular, Premium Protection, Healthy Naturals - the latter being my preference, and his) were what made up the bulk of my cat’s diet. I would often try to feed him more expensive stuff with even higher animal protein and fat levels, but he was pretty much hooked on Iams and didn’t seem to be interested in much else. I was satisfied that Iams was healthy enough compared to most of the other stuff that’s full of mostly grains like corn.
Then I discovered a BJ’s Wholesale Club brand (“Berkely & Jensen Holistic” Natural Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe) priced similarly to Iams, with roughly the same protein content, but significantly higher fat content. The first four ingredients are “Chicken, Chicken Meal, Herring Meal, & Chicken Fat” and it has no by-products, no artificial preservatives/flavors/colors/dyes, no corn/wheat/soy, and no hormones or steroids used in the chicken.
He loved it! In the ~month I’ve been feeding it to him, his coat has gotten shinier and softer, and it seems like he sheds a lot less. That last bit with the shedding, if true, would be worth twice the price to me!
So, if anybody reading this is looking for a change in cat foods, and has a BJ’s membership, I recommend trying out that food. I’m hoping it sells well, because I’d hate it if they were to discontinue it.