Cat Food Discrimination!

[zoocat]

I’m afraid I had a bit of a temper tantrum in two different local pet stores—one mid-sized chain (Hollywood Feed) and the other a small independent pet store. Hollywood Feed has 1/2 of an aisle of canned cat food and one aisle of dry cat food. It has at least 4 1/2 aisles of canned dog food and 4 or more of dry dog food. Plus almost all the treats and toys etc are for dogs. They used to carry Against the Grain but I went in yesterday and they didn’t have it anymore. I was with someone there for dog food so when checking out I ranted about them all but stopping selling cat food—might as well change the name to Hollywood Dog Feed! I asked when and why they dropped Against the Grain—both cashiers ignored me. When my friend finished paying they said come back to see us (to her). I said well I won’t be coming back!
The small independent I will DEFINITELY go back to for sure because they actually carry Dr Elseys Dry cat Food and several of the Farmina dry foods—and Fussie Cat, Against the Grain and Weruva! BUT the “cat room” is way in the back behind the cashier—like what would be an office—three big rooms up front and easily seen and accessible for dog food. When I first went in I looked around and saw no cat food—I had to ASK if they only sold dog food because it wasn’t obvious! So I sort of had another “milder” temper tantrum.

Do y’all have that feeling that most pet stores kinda ignore cats?

Sorry for the long rant—needed to vent to cat lovers—my friends don’t understand why it bothered me

 

[EmersonandEvie]

We have a franchised pet sore near me. They have approximately 12 rows of food. Nine are dedicated to dogs...everything from quality canned food (Wild Calling, Merrick Backcountry, etc.) to several options of freeze dried raw to dry, treats, toys, etc. One aisle is dedicated to small mammals/fish/reptiles. Two aisles are dedicated to cats. However, they only have majority (what I consider) mediocre brands (think Fancy Feast, Friskies) and no freeze dried raw. It's very frustrating to have to order things online to see if the cats will eat them because this place carries only the dog version of better brands.

The next closest pet store, which is a bit better, is a 30 minute drive up the road. There is also a small independent shop 30 minutes up the road but the only brands of cat food they carry is Dave's (cats won't touch) and Fromm (out of my price range).

I agree...cat food discrimination!

 

[di and bob]

I agree, the only one I shop at taht has quite a bit is Walmart and they still have many more toys, beds, etc. for dogs. Tractor supple isn't bad either, or Orschelns. I notice things like wound medicines, etc. are all geared to dogs. Try to find a sunscreen for your cat's ears!

 

[Lari]

The natural independent store by me is actually mostly dedicated to fish! (I guess that's their speciality), but they do have way more for dogs than cats.

I mostly shop at Petco, tbh. The one by me, the cashiers seem to really like cats and have been helpful. Plus I have the rewards card so I get $5 for every $100 spent.

 

[duckpond]

We dont have a real pet store in our town. we do have a petsense, they have very little cat food that you cannot pick up at walmart. Merrick basically. Most of the store is devoted to Dogs. I find that to be the case in most pet food stores. Thats why i am thankful for online shopping. But it would be quite nice to go in a really good pet store that catered to cats

 

[Azazel]

I agree it’s frustrating that dogs are always favoured over cats. This is true of most vets too. It’s really a strange thing because I read a statistic somewhere saying that cats are actually more popular pets than dogs in North America.

At the same time, I think this also sadly speaks to the “neglect” (for lack of a better term) of cat parents. I think A LOT of people who have cats adopt them because they think they are low maintenance. They want something fuzzy and cute to look at and don’t really want to be bothered to spend too much energy or money on them. So I think most cat parents aren’t willing to spend a lot of money on their cats. There are probably a few cat products (the cheap ones) that sell a lot and the more expensive ones probably don’t have customers. This may be why pet stores don’t bother carrying as much stuff for cats. It’s probably not enough of a profit for them.

On a side note, I’ve always dabbled with the thought of opening a cat only pet supply store. But again I would worry about sales. I just don’t think people are willing to spend a lot on cats. It’s sad.

 

[lalagimp]

Petco Unleashed down the street stopped stocking fresh and raw foods for cats. It's all gone to the dogs. So I go in the other direction, down the street, to Big Bad Woof and they have a ton of stuff for everyone.
Honestly though I do a lot of ordering from Chewy.com and head into town when I'm short on something.

 

[duckpond]

I order online from The Big Bad Woof sometimes. i really wish we had one here!

 

[zoocat]

I agree it’s frustrating that dogs are always favoured over cats. This is true of most vets too. It’s really a strange thing because I read a statistic somewhere saying that cats are actually more popular pets than dogs in North America.

On a side note, I’ve always dabbled with the thought of opening a cat only pet supply store. But again I would worry about sales. I just don’t think people are willing to spend a lot on cats. It’s sad.

Not sure of date of this but “According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 86.4 million cats and 78.2 million dogs in homes around the U.S. More people own dogs than cats, but the number of cats is higher because cats owners tend to have two or more felines sharing their home.”

Although I’m sure “profit” is the driving factor, it sure seems to me and my experience with picky eater cats that there would be plenty of profit in cat food sales to those of us who open 5 cans until they finally accept the offering! I spend about $175 a month on cat food and litter. I was shocked when I saw that the independent store carried Farmina and Dr Elsey’s. They told me it was selling well—it is in a more upscale (high income) part of town.

 

[abyeb]

My local pet supply store (locally owned) does a great job stocking cat food. There are several aisles of cat food and toys, and about the same amount of supplies for dogs. I checked out another pet supply store once while I was in the city. They advertised it as having high-end pet food, so I went in to buy some nice treats for Charlie. Basically the whole store was for dogs. There was one small, bookshelf-sized area for cats. It was very disappointing.

 

[cassiopea]

I wish you hadn't harped on the cashiers themselves - they have absolutely no control over anything while being paid peanuts. Just crude behavior to me. Can totally understand the frustration over the unfair circumstance, but complain to the company themselves; I hate it when people snipe at retail workers. Customers can be such a pain in the arse to them already on a regular basis, regardless of a workers best efforts to explain. I worked in retail/beauty and tourist museum industry for years, and my colleagues in I have been vented and yelled at because of prices, because we got a power outage from a bad storm and unable let customers in, because we close at 10 pm but the person thought it was fine barge in or linger at 9:59 pm and can't understand why they must go (Apparently workers don't have lives), because we didn't offer enough locally made goods, because the electronic door stopped working for ten minutes, because we didn't carry the products they want, because the carts were wet since it rained outside when people were too lazy to bring them back, because they didn't like the music playing overhead, because they decided to rip open all the products in store to test and try but demand they get an unopened one for themselves etc etc all things we had no say in or control, it is all head office or outside factors. So while I did my best to provide good customer service altogether or be an excellent tour guide, if we get treated like that, I would have given up and ignored you too. And by saying "I won't be coming back!" Good! That makes us HAPPY. It is not the threat people think they make it out to be.

People can be miffed at me all they want for that statement but oh well.

In any case, the pet stores here seem pretty even overall regarding the sale of good food and accessories, so pretty fortunate in that regard. I also do agree though, that in general, there is an overall societal bias towards dogs over cats, definitely.

 

[Azazel]

And by saying "I won't be coming back!" Good! That makes us HAPPY. It is not the threat people think they make it out to be.

When I was younger and working in retail I always laughed when people said they weren't coming back as if it was supposed to make me upset. I was a minimum wage worker who got paid the same thing regardless of whether or not you came back. And in fact I was quite happy when rude customers didn't come back.

I always make sure that I don't take things like price changes or stock selection out on retail clerks. In almost 100% of cases they have absolutely no control over it. Now, if it's an independent pet store and the manager is there then yes I would complain to the manager.

I have found that a lot of cat products that I want to buy on a regular basis (e.g., Rad Cat) aren't carried regularly in stores around me. And usually when I bring this up to the store owners they say it's because the products don't sell, but they are always happy to make a special order for me. In fact I have never had a pet store owner not offer to order me something that I was looking for.

 

[lalagimp]

When I was younger and working in retail I always laughed when people said they weren't coming back as if it was supposed to make me upset. I was a minimum wage worker who got paid the same thing regardless of whether or not you came back. And in fact I was quite happy when rude customers didn't come back.

Even when I was making $14 an hour:
"I'm going to switch to Sprint!"
Uh huh. Good luck with that.
I totally understood if they wanted to switch to ATT because the iPhone was exclusive at the time, but Sprint?

 

[Furballsmom]

...fairly dog-centric in Denver - which is kind of hilarious not to say woefully short sighted in my opinion since cat owners have ...gasp... FINICKY CATS!! The quantity of food we go through and then buy again and again has got to be impressive to say the least.
So, along with the sheer quantity of household cats, the company bean-counters are seriously missing it somewhere, I'm thinking.

 

[tinydestroyer]

I suppose I have a pretty good independent pet store. They have more space devoted to dog than cat supplies, but they run a local cat adoption / rescue. The owner claims to have re-homed over 875 kittens since opening the store, and is gearing up for kitten season in this rural area. They have been invaluable to me when I first found my kitty, Lucy, abandoned under the house, and have even given me tips and food samples to help with my TNR efforts.
I have a large dog, and two cats, notice that a lot of "dog stuff" takes up way more space. My dog's toys, treats, bed, crate, etc would easily take up more space on the shelves than the same items for both my cats, and all my pets are spoiled. Maybe the large cat tree would put them at about even, but in many stores the cat trees are boxed up, and unassembled, so they still wouldn't take up as much shelf space. I'm sure my local pet store just has a greater focus on cats than many, and more options, since I don't have trouble finding items I like and need from there. But I think the same number of options for cats would easily take up less shelf space than an equivalent number of products for dogs, especially large breeds. I guess I think of things in those terms because I work in retail, and have a large dog.
I also really like Chewy, and find their prices and customer service amazing. A quick search shows that they carry agaist the grain, too, so it might be worth a shot?

 

[zoocat]

I wish you hadn't harped on the cashiers themselves - they have absolutely no control over anything while being paid peanuts. Just crude behavior to me. Can totally understand the frustration over the unfair circumstance, but complain to the company themselves; I hate it when people snipe at retail workers.

Cassiopeia, you are 100% correct! I agree—I acted like a crude, rude, immature, childish A-Hole. I know it and definitely am not proud of that behavior. I appreciate you pointing it out to me.

 

[1 bruce 1]

We have a few, and one particular store has 2 aisles for cats, 3 for dogs, and a bunch of stuff for fish, birds, and reptiles.
My favorite store is a feed store, independently owned, and they have mostly farm stuff with a few dog things and virtually nothing for cats, but if someone is going in to buy a ton of cattle/horse/goat feed, the family dog AND the family cat is probably not going to see $100+ splurged in treats, toys, etc.
What I personally hate is seeing someone unloading hundreds of dollars worth of T-shirts, matching collar/leash sets, toys galore (fun and certainly OK to buy, but kind of un-necessary IMO!), treats of all kinds and the "best" dog foods in dry and tinned formulas.....then they plop down a bag of "whatever" cat food as if actually feeding the cat is an afterthought and "any food works", but Fido only sees pure organic, free ranged wild caught salmon foods with no grains or fillers and happily pay out the rear for it but the cat gets not even a glance at the ingredients list at what will be fed.
Ugh. Cat snob here.

 

[Furballsmom]

@1bruce1

 

[1 bruce 1]

@1bruce1

Cat snobs unite!
Let us retire to the smoking room with a brandy and politely discuss litter box habits

 

[Furballsmom]

LOL, (not to hijack this thread), but I NEVER thought I'd have the chance to use that first emoticon. Heh