Pet foods are either Human Grade or Feed Grade. Human grade pet foods are required to use only human edible ingredients and be manufactured in a licensed human food facility. Feed grade pet foods are allowed to use human edible ingredients or condemned/inedible ingredients. Pet owners are NEVER informed of the quality of ingredients used with feed grade ingredient pet foods.
But…some feed grade ingredient pet foods give the illusion their products are human grade, a look-alike human grade pet food.
Sheba Cat Food – manufactured by Mars Petcare – makes a line of cat food named “Perfect Portions”. The cat food is packaged in “twin-pack” plastic trays, each individual tray holding 1.32 ounces of cat food.
This cat food alludes to being human food like, “Chicken in Alfredo Sauce” – but it is a feed grade cat food.
So…how many ‘Perfect Portions’ would a pet owner need to give their 10 pound cat a day?
According to Sheba Cat Food, a 10 pound cat would be eating from 8 “servings” or trays of cat food a day. A pet owner would need to open 8 individual ‘perfect portions’ trays a day, and in turn – wash and recycle 8 individual plastic trays a day.
The price for a case of 24 “twin pack” trays (48 individual trays) of this cat food on Chewy.com is:
$28.97 for autoship, $30.49 for a one time order.
Using the autoship (less expensive) price, each individual tray costs $0.60. For a pet owner to feed one 10 pound cat this feed grade Sheba cat food, it would cost:
$4.80 a day.
(8 trays)
Mars Petcare also manufactures a dog food that gives the appearance of human grade, but is actually a feed grade ingredient pet food. This line of pet food is named “Warm Bowls“. This dog food is sold in plastic bowls, 2.7 ounces of dog food in each bowl.
The Cesar website tells pet owners “Nothing says I love you like a warm meal,” giving pet owners instructions on how to microwave the dog food in its plastic bowl container.
Cost to feed.
The Cesar website states a 10 pound dog should be fed “4 3/4 bowls” of food per day. A pet owner would need to open 5 individual bowls a day, and in turn – wash and recycle 5 individual plastic bowls a day.
Chewy.com sells a 10-pack of Cesar Warm Bowls for:
$28.40 for autoship, $29.90 for a one time order.
Using the autoship (less expensive) price, each individual bowl costs $2.84. For a pet owner to feed one 10 pound dog this feed grade Cesar dog food is:
$13.49 per day.
(4 3/4 bowls)
Several issues…
These pet foods are VERY expensive for feed grade ingredient quality. There are many human grade ingredient pet foods that cost less per day than these feed grade examples.
Why is Mars Petcare and many other manufacturers encouraging the use of so much plastic? In one year a cat owner would be opening almost 3,000 plastic containers, a dog owner opening more than 1,800 plastic containers. Will all that plastic be recycled?
Don’t be misled by pet foods that use marketing to allude to human grade ingredients or allude to convenience of ‘perfect portions’ in plastic – that could cost you MORE than a true human grade ingredient pet food. Ask the manufacturer for a guarantee in writing that all ingredients are human edible (including supplements).
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Consumer Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
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Bethany
July 24, 2026 at 1:54 pm
Not to mention all the plastic chemicals leaching into the food. Plastic should never be microwaved, even if deemed “microwavable”.
Sandy M
July 24, 2026 at 3:24 pm
This is an interesting study. It’s shocking to see how much it costs a loving pet parent who is trying to do the best they can for their fur baby. The profit being raked in is criminal because they mislead their customers with human grade food images on the containers. Not only that, the recycling of these food trays probably isn’t really happening because across the USA, these types of materials lack recycling markets and go into landfills anyway. The well meaning pet parent that spends time and energy washing is actually wasting their time and energy. People need to stop buying it so they stop making it. Thanks Susan for getting the word out. I will share with those around me when the opportunity comes up and continue to reach out to my local representatives and ask for action.
T Allen
July 24, 2026 at 3:47 pm
Think that’s bad? Weruva Low Phos 5.5oz canned fish formula (made in Thailand, for cats with CKD, are $3.49 each. And a 14# cat would need 4 cans a day. Or $14 a day/ $419/mth. I eat for less than $14/day. Oh, and the pate is like 75% water and it’s not human grade. It’s insane. 🙁