June 28, 2005

Pet Consumer Alert

I don't know how many of you this affects, but it pissed me off ROYAL, so I thought I'd share.

A certain large, national pet chain (one that thinks you're sMart if you shop there) will shortly cease to carry Iams and Eukanuba products for dogs and cats. According to the regional operations manager, who we actually spoke with yesterday in the store, they are switching to Science Diet products exclusively.

While this is fine for their business, and Science Diet is a fine product, the makers of Science Diet DO NOT make a large variety of prescription dog foods. Until last week, the sMart store was the ONLY place I could pick up Eukanuba K/O Kangaroo and Oat allergy formula dog food. Now, they no longer stock it. Arrgh. How the bloody f*ck am I supposed to feed my dog without her getting sick, huh?

Oh well, here's hoping the food will be available SOMEWHERE in LA without having to buy it from a vet....

Anyway, I realize that I may be the only reader of this blog who feeds her dog a prescription food, but nonetheless, some of you may purchase regular Iams/Eukanuba products there, so I wanted to pass along the heads up.

Posted by caltechgirl at June 28, 2005 09:14 AM
Comments

According to Froogle, there are a few places that may carry it. Some of those are *sMart* (shop smart! shop Smart), but there are enough that are not, that you should be able to find something.

edit: your blog won't let me link to google!
"
Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:

Your comment could not be submitted due to questionable content: google. com

Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment."

Even editing the link slightly, removing the http, adding spaces between local. and google. didn't work.... so just try local.google, type in the dog food of your choice, and the city where you'll be living....

Posted by: Bill at June 28, 2005 09:25 AM

The Eukanuba site allows you to search your zip code for places to buy their products (in the Products menu, see 'where to buy'). You might have to call to see if they have that specific formula in the location you want but hopefully that will keep you from running all over looking for it.
Could see if a vet recommends a different allergy formula from a more available company too...

Posted by: Princess Cat at June 28, 2005 01:40 PM

I'll check with my Sis. She buys her dog food from some place on-line. Her dogs also require special foods. I'll get back with you in a day or two.

Posted by: vw bug at June 28, 2005 02:17 PM

Petco. :)

Posted by: Margi at June 28, 2005 03:01 PM

No one here carries the food I feed my cat, so I have it shipped from Epetpals.com. They're reputable, and I've been a customer for years. They're great at trying to get specific products for you. They had a real store here, but it went out of business. So they ship from their Aptos store. Even with the shipping, it's cheaper for me to buy the litter I use from them, than to pay the rip off prices of our local chain store.

Posted by: Ith at June 28, 2005 03:22 PM

If you run out of options, let me know. Iams sponsors my cat club's show every year. I can go through our contacts there if all else fails.

Posted by: Omnibus Driver at June 28, 2005 03:35 PM

I hope this helps you out a bit.

http://www.petrx.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1

Posted by: Cliff at June 28, 2005 10:00 PM

I've fixed the problem with linking to Google. It was in our Blacklist, probably because a spammer included a link to Google just to be annoying.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 29, 2005 05:53 AM

My parents used to feed their dog prescription dog food before it died. They ended up having to get theirs from a vet.

Posted by: Contagion at June 29, 2005 08:54 AM

My son's canine is allergic to corn and soy; corn is a primary ingredient in most dry dogfoods. There are a few brands out there which don't make her itch and all are of course expensive. Fortunately we live on the poor side of town, where groceries sell chicken necks and such so a sack of dry food lasts a long time.

Posted by: triticale at June 30, 2005 07:04 AM

Working in the pet supply business I might be able to offer some advice. Yeah, a lot of dog foods are full of corn. Corn is junk for dogs. They can't process corn. It does nothing for them and just ends up in your back yard. And...becuase it goes right through them they're hungry twice as fast so you go through more food. (Their intent probably) Eukanuba is one of the worst for being full of corn. Recommended foods for dogs with allergies...Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance -Duck and Potato. #1 allergy food we sell. Nutro also makes an allergy food. Science Diet prescription stuff is OK but their "regular" food is also full of corn. Nature's Recipe is another food with no corn and no "chicken by-product" which translates into beaks, feet and left over bits they couldn't use for anything else.
Good luck.

Posted by: Koolaid at July 1, 2005 02:25 PM

Not true. Petsmart will continue carrying Iams, Eukanuba and a host of other brands. Can you imagine one of those big stores filled with nothing but one brand? Not likely.

Posted by: PetVet at July 2, 2005 11:11 AM

My dogs eat normal food. The cats? Not so much. Two of them suffer from urinary tract problems, which usually necessitates prescription food. I did discover that one type of IAMS cat food works just as well. Bummer that PetsTUPID has made this decision.

I have no problem with Science Diet, but I'm not willing to switch from a food that I know works. Fortunately, I have options when it comes to places to purchase pet food.

Posted by: physics geek at July 6, 2005 04:38 PM