As promised, I’m continuing my hard-hitting series on why my grocery bill is always so much freaking higher than I expect it to be. Last time, we examined how much money my eyes cost me….now we’ll turn to a different culprit.

a certain little guy known around these parts as "strivingcynic cat"

Yep…good ol’ strivingcynic cat. Good ol’ finicky “I like what I like so don’t try to feed me anything else” sc cat.

Now, I’ve had cats most of my life…so I know that there’s money involved and I don’t begrudge him (I can’t resist that face). And to be fair, he’s pretty cheap to keep entertained.

the sunlight entertains

cameras are worth investigating too

But, as I said, the food situation is something else:

the many varieties of strivingcynic cat eats

sc cat has five staple foods in his diet. First, his hard food…a mix of Fancy Feast with Ocean Fish and Salmon hard food, and Purina One [not pictured], salmon flavor. What else? Well, he loves his Whiskas (wet food)….choice cuts, seafood if you please (sc cat has a bit of a delicate tummy…the store was out of seafood so I bought poultry the other week…umm..it didn’t sit well). Then the canister treats. There are “Pounce-y” treats and “Trader Joe treats” (he is insane for the latter…if you shake the canister, he will come running).

I love seeing how excited his whiskas and treats make him….I don’t so much love how much it all costs (sigh, especially at Stop and Shop). The whiskas is usually $5.50 a box (it’s on sale for $4.50 currently…I’ve been buying up boxes…it was sort of on sale at Target for $4.00 a box for several weeks…apparently the seafood flavor is most popular since they were out of it…I asked about getting a rain check and was told it wasn’t really “on sale”…it was a “price reduction” [apparently the latter category means no rain check]). Food is cheaper at PetSmart…but I always end up buying some other pet thing (and donating money to the local shelters PetSmart charities…not that I mind but in pure financial terms, it’s a wash). Kitty litter also adds on to the bill. Without a doubt, at least 5-10 dollars of every grocery bill can be attributed to him and his needs!

But, he is the best grocery bill wrecker around. And without all the food, he would never have gone from this:

the day I met strivingcynic cat

to this:

strivingcynic cat being sweet

Verdict: Cat food and kitty litter are grocery bill wreckers, but sc cat is worth every penny!

Does anyone else have a finicky nonhuman companion who likes to run up their grocery bills? What does your pet like to eat and does he or she have any funny food habits?