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Comment by Joyce Neth on February 4, 2010 at 5:30pm

Did you know that February is National Cat Health Month? 9Lives (DelMonte) released results of a survey conducted among cat owners. http://bit.ly/9vOffh According to the results, cat owners have a lot to learn about proper feline nutrition. "Among the findings: 75 percent believe that the more nutritious the cat food, the more expensive it is; only 30 percent know that milk is unhealthy, a surprising statistic considering most cats are lactose intolerant; and 70 percent think it’s beneficial to keep their cats on a dry food-only diet, while others (23%) think a purely vegetarian diet is a wholesome choice. Both can be harmful."

Comment by Cleo Parker on January 26, 2010 at 7:54am

I talked to a raw food vendor, Taylor Ponds, at a dog show over the weekend. Kind of an interesting story about how they got into the business. An observation on vacation led to one business and a inquiring dog owner turned it in a different direction! http://cleoparker.com/dogmarketing/2010/01/25/taylor-pond-farms-raw-dog-food/

Comment by Jeff Miller on January 5, 2010 at 3:17pm

Came across a very interesting article on "e-readers":

http://tinyurl.com/ygnw2tj

I've read about this technology for 5 years now and it's cool to see an actual product debuting this week. IMO, it's a game changer as the technology will only get better, less expensive and more portable.

I envision Petfood Industry will be delivering content via such a devise in the future.

Thoughts? I'm very curious what this forum thinks...

Comment by Cleo Parker on January 4, 2010 at 12:50pm

Yes, I'm not sure how widespread distribution it has, I do see them at dog shows in my region (I live in Michigan) with the frozen product and I know there's a distributor in Westland (west side of Detroit) but I also know people who drive over an hour to pick the food up there.

Comment by Joyce Neth on January 4, 2010 at 12:41pm

Cleo, I had forgotten about the connection to Tyson. I'm sure you're right about the plan to use the same animal proteins in their portfolio. Does Bil-Jac still market a frozen product? Seems they were making that more than 10 years ago.

Comment by Cleo Parker on January 4, 2010 at 11:02am

Since FreshPet is owned by Tyson, I am assuming that the plan for the brand is to utilize meats already in their portfolio, which looking at the main website are just chicken, beef and pork. (I hesitate to say "by products" of their human food line, but I suspect that's what they were thinking) I do agree if they want to go full out into the premium end of the pet food market they need to expand into proteins that are not as popular as human foods.

Comment by Joyce Neth on January 4, 2010 at 10:52am

I took a close look in the Fresh Pet case at my local supermarket last week. I was disappointed to see that the offerings were all beef or chicken based. I was surprised there wasn't at least salmon or whitefish offered. Seems Fresh Pet is going for that upper-premium market not the super premium. They may take a little market share from super premium because of the convenience of getting food at the grocery store. However, with what I saw in the case, they won't capture folks like me who need a special ingredient (lamb).

Comment by Jeff Miller on January 1, 2010 at 12:48pm

Isn't is interesting how the "market" works? Yes, cooked refrigerated food is increasingly showing up in the marketplace and, yes, I think it will only increase.

That said, personally, I think this category will only cannibalize the packaged food sector and not be a long-term, high grossing category. Cooked, refrigerated food has it's niche place in the market - I just don't think it will ever gain momentum/acceptance to make it a home run.

It will be interesting to track this category over time...

Comment by Cleo Parker on December 31, 2009 at 4:24pm

I've seen a lot of activity in raw petfoods lately, but Tyson's Fresh Select is the only one I've noticed is a cooked, refrigerated meal. This to me seems like a humanized spin on the "real food" trend, positioned as better for pets due to less processing, yet allaying concerns about the safety of raw food. Any thoughts on the prospects for this category of pet food? I would think that the refrigeration aspect might be an issue for retailers, but I am seeing chest freezers in some independent pet stores, so they've apparently decided adding frozen raw is worth the investment. I've got a few more thoughts on my blog: http://cleoparker.com/dogmarketing/2009/12/19/tyson-fresh-pet-food-and-pet-treats/

Comment by Jeff Miller on December 16, 2009 at 10:52am

Personally I think this is a goofy product line...but, knowing the US consumer and their deep affection for dogs, it will sell. And, yes, I predict Mars/Nestle/etc. will take advantage of the production and distribution channels of their petfood brands (and, in Nestle's case the existing bottled water brands) to have "dog water".

Sorry, I won't buy it...I like pouring the tap water from my recycled Gatorade bottle into my hand while my Chocolate Lab, Sadie, sloppily slurps it with delight. She could care less if it's "dog water" in some neato container...if she needs "joint" supplement I provide it to her in tablet fashion with a little peanut butter.

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