Pet Site HQ

I took a little field trip yesterday - to Walmart and paid a visit to the pet food aisle. It was one of the most discouraging field trips I’ve ever taken. I’m not going to mention any product names but wow do I have some interesting pet food sales tricks to share with you.

Here’s an interesting sales trick - the exact wording has been changed to protect the identity of this particular pet food - blazoned across one dog food was Crunchy Beefy Nuggets. Did you spot the sales trick? Crunchy Beefy Nuggets is a trademarked name (little TM after the Nuggets) - it is the pet food name, it has nothing to do with the pet food or ingredients. It’s just a name.

The most common sales technique I found was pet foods that are ‘flavored’. The actual name of the pet food was ‘Steak and Vegetable Flavor’ or ‘Chicken and Fish Flavor’ - one even got very specific with the name mentioning Albacore Tuna and Yellow Fin Tuna FLAVOR. The trick there is the pet food is just FLAVORED with steak and vegetables or Albacore Tuna - that’s not really what’s in the pet food!!! Again - it’s just the flavor. Most people do not get that - they see Albacore Tuna and Yellow Fin Tuna or they see Steak and Vegetable — they don’t see Flavor. Most pet owners just assume that since the front of the pet food bag - in big bold letters says Albacore Tuna on it - it’s got Albacore Tuna inside the bag. If the food actually had Steak and Albacore Tuna in it - it wouldn’t say ‘Flavor’ on the front - it would say ‘with Steak and Albacore Tuna’ and it would cost more than $.50 cents a can or $5.00 a bag (Albacore Tuna does cost more than Albacore Tuna Flavor).

One of the Walmart pet foods stated ‘No Fillers’ on the front of the bag. However in the ingredient list I found Ground Corn, Chicken by-products, Corn Gluten Meal to be the first three ingredients of the pet food. That reads like fillers to me!

Another pet food bragged ‘New Shapes and Colors’. Dyes are controversial and provide no nutritional value to the pet.

One pet food bragged that it contained Protein and Phosphorus for Strong Muscles. Phosphorus? Wikipedia provides us with the following “The most important commercial use of phosphorus-based chemicals is the production of fertilizers. Phosphorus compounds are also widely used in explosives, nerve agents, friction matches, fireworks, pesticides, toothpaste, and detergents. Among other uses these are used to improve the characteristics of processed meat and cheese.” I’m not sure I’d brag about that.

I found many pet foods with pictures of steak and chicken and fish on the front of the bags or cans, but I didn’t find many pet foods with steak or chicken or fish inside the bag or can. Unfortunately I did find many pet foods with BHA and BHT (chemical preservatives linked to cancer), Animal Fat (FDA determined to be the pet food ingredient most likely to contain euthanized animals including the euthanizing drug), and Dyes (only benefits the pet owner - has no nutritional benefit to the pet).

I left Walmart feeling very discouraged and actually blown away at how many by-products, meat and bone meals, and chemically preservatives in the pet foods there. During my 20 minute visit probably five or six pet owners picked up a bag of pet food to purchase. I kept my mouth shut - which is difficult knowing what they were about to feed their pets. To give Walmart a little credit, there were a couple of pet foods that were good - not great, but good. I know that every pet owner cannot afford to spend $25 or more for pet food, but in my opinion no one should spend a dime on pet foods that contain by-products, meat and bone meals, and BHA/BHT (or other chemical preservatives). Please read the labels of your pet’s food and treats.

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