Shipping using both Flat rate and weight freight?

I currently use a flat rate based on $$ for all pet supplies. I would like to add Pet food to my site but my vendor charges by weight instead of $$. Can I set up freight by weight for just the food items? There isnt enough profit to take the hit using flat rate

sorry I meant Table Rate not Flat rate. :oops:

Are the Pet Food Products all in the same master_categories_id or able to be identified in some manner?

What shipping method would you use for the Pet Food?

What happens if I buy both a bag of Pet Food and a squeaky toy? How is the shipping suppose to work?

If you had weight on your Pet Food and no weight on your other Products, would the squeaky toys just get thrown in with the Pet Food at no additional shipping charge? :unsure:

All the pet products are in one category. I havent loaded the pet food yet because I didnt know how to handle the shipping. All products are using Table rate (>00.00 to $19.99 = $7.50 >$20.00 to $49.99 = $6.50>$50.00 to $79.99 = $5.50>$80.00 to $98.99 = $3.00>$99.00 and OVER =FREE) I would like to use UPS for the Pet food based on weight instead of $. The " squeaky toy" ships from a different supplier, so I would have to charge the table rate for the " squeaky toy" and UPS weight charge for the food. I list the Table rate as a handling charge with no shipping charge. :unsure:

Could I set up just the food products as per unit shipping??

You could use the Per Rate perunitweight shipping module but you still have issues with when both squeaky toys and Pet Food are in the same order ...

If you are able to use Per Rate perunitweight for the Pet Food, then, instead, you could customize the Table Rate to charge something in addition to the Price Calculation for the Order Total when there is weight to account for the Pet Food ...

You just need to remove the charge for anything not Pet Food from the total in the Table Rate shipping module to account for this, then add in the additional charge for all Pet Food in the order ...