Rotten Pork Chowder

I was curious how a human grade meat diet compares with various canned cat foods.

Here are the costs, per pound:
Fancy Feast $3.00 (based on approximately $14.00/case of 24-3oz cans)
Premium $3.50 (based on approx. $1.20 per 5.5 oz can, Natural Balance, etc.)
Super Premium $4.50 (approx. $1.70 per 5.5 oz can, Tiki Cat, etc.)
Whole ground chicken $2.70 (whole roaster chicken, no antibiotics, veg fed, ground on site with bones and organ meats, Whole Foods)

Then consider the difference in quality of ingredients, even with relatively good canned foods like Fancy Feast, or specialty ones like Science Diet (all ingredients up to vitamin supplements):

. . .

By comparison, a whole prey animal that a cat would normally eat (simulated by the whole ground chicken) contains: chicken meat, chicken bones, chicken organs, chicken fat. A cat might ingest a few feathers as well, but normally doesn’t eat the beak or feet, which are included in chicken by-products (as well as diseased parts and anything else deemed not fit for human consumption at the packing plant). In these lists the calcium phosphate/sulfate is a supplement, and fish oil provides additional essential fatty acids. It is usually recommended that these are added to homemade diets, which would bring the cost per pound up by maybe ten cents.

Great book: Natural Nutrition for Cats: The Path to Purr-fect Health