# Interesting Comparison



## beckinwolf (Sep 2, 2008)

I've been looking at the January issue of Whole Dog Journal. They rated canned dog food. I found that Petsmart only carries two brands of food from the good canned food list. 

AvoDerm
ByNature 

Petco has quite a few of the good foods. 

AvoDerm
Pinnacle
Organix
Natural Ultramix
Natural Balance
Pet Promise (the only food made by Purina to make it on the list)
Solid Gold
Wellness

We have 3 small locally-owned pet shops that sell almost all of the good quality foods and I tend to try to support them more, but I still thought it would be interesting to post this. I checked their websites and they all match up, so this should be nationwide.


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## bell (Jun 4, 2008)

Sad to say the only pet stores I have are petland and pet supplies plus besides a small family owned one called pets and things.


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

i know! isn't that crazy!?!?! i'm a petsmarter, rather than a petco-er, but we had to run to petco today to pick up some fishy things for my friends and the buttercup and i were blown away by the selection of food... GOOD foods, at that! they have halo, which she'd tried years ago, but havent been able to find since... we picked up some, of course. their prices are stupidly high, so i wont be going to them regularly, but i was shocked at their selection of foods... and how much BETTER they are. and their (what I call) "crap food" aisle was way smaller than petsmart or pet supplies plus (which i can't stand, despite also carrying a much better selection of GOOD foods). 

go figure.


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## 3Maltmom (May 23, 2005)

Seems, within the last 6-months, Petco has been working with premium manufactures.

Most recent is Wellness. 

I purchase from my local feed store, and have protested against locals, who sell puppies (have since closed down).
So it's good to know a larger chain is selling our food. I'm honestly hoping they will put an
end to selling any pet (birds, hamsters, etc.)


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I've always preferred shopping at Petsmart over Petco for toys, but Petsmart doesn't carry even ONE good brand of dog food, and the only good shampoo they carry is Biogroom. Petco definitely wins my heart on the food & shampoos.


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## Baileysmommy (Nov 24, 2008)

I agree 100%. PetSmart has a wonderful selection of toys, and even some treats (I got Bailey his omega salmon and cod treats there, and he loves them. The Petsmart by me is also new, and much cleaner and bigger. Their doggie hotel and daycare are attractive, and clean at least. But, nevertheless, I have to go to Petco for his NB. Its so annoying having to make two stops. I stop at Petsmart for those treats he loves, and drive 25 mi to Petco for his food.


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

I've been buying NB from Petco for almost 5 yrs. I noticed they started selling more of the premium kibble shortly after the melamine catastrophe.


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Jan 18 2009, 02:03 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=708693


> I've always preferred shopping at Petsmart over Petco for toys, but Petsmart doesn't carry even ONE good brand of dog food, and the only good shampoo they carry is Biogroom. Petco definitely wins my heart on the food & shampoos.[/B]


just curious, is this the petsmart by you, or petsmart as a whole that does not carry one "good" brand of food?


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

QUOTE (TheButtercup @ Jan 18 2009, 06:36 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=709200


> QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Jan 18 2009, 02:03 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=708693





> I've always preferred shopping at Petsmart over Petco for toys, but Petsmart doesn't carry even ONE good brand of dog food, and the only good shampoo they carry is Biogroom. Petco definitely wins my heart on the food & shampoos.[/B]


just curious, is this the petsmart by you, or petsmart as a whole that does not carry one "good" brand of food?
[/B][/QUOTE]

It might just be my opinion on food quality, but I haven't seen a single Petsmart anywhere carry a good quality food (even on their website). I would say the only "semi" good food carried by Petsmart is Nutro, but that really isn't that great.


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Jan 18 2009, 10:20 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=709232


> QUOTE (TheButtercup @ Jan 18 2009, 06:36 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=709200





> QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Jan 18 2009, 02:03 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=708693





> I've always preferred shopping at Petsmart over Petco for toys, but Petsmart doesn't carry even ONE good brand of dog food, and the only good shampoo they carry is Biogroom. Petco definitely wins my heart on the food & shampoos.[/B]


just curious, is this the petsmart by you, or petsmart as a whole that does not carry one "good" brand of food?
[/B][/QUOTE]

It might just be my opinion on food quality, but I haven't seen a single Petsmart anywhere carry a good quality food (even on their website). I would say the only "semi" good food carried by Petsmart is Nutro, but that really isn't that great.
[/B][/QUOTE]
oh okay. i've only been to a few petsmarts, here in ohio and in atlanta, but the ones i've been to, and again, i'm probably wrong and mis-informed on what is "good", but the ones i've been to carry wellness, royal canin, and natural balance. i thought those were good foods. i guess some re-referencing is in order for me tonight! 

poor buttercup, eating her "semi" good nutro


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

QUOTE


> It might just be my opinion on food quality, but I haven't seen a single Petsmart anywhere carry a good quality food (even on their website). I would say the only "semi" good food carried by Petsmart is Nutro, but that really isn't that great.[/B]


QUOTE


> oh okay. i've only been to a few petsmarts, here in ohio and in atlanta, but the ones i've been to, and again, i'm probably wrong and mis-informed on what is "good", but the ones i've been to carry wellness, royal canin, and natural balance. i thought those were good foods. i guess some re-referencing is in order for me tonight!
> 
> poor buttercup, eating her "semi" good nutro [/B]


Well lucky you! I haven't seen Wellness in a Petsmart before.  Royal Canin is a lower quality food (what I like to call glorified Science Diet, lol), and Natural Balance is pretty good (I feed London this, but only because the higher quality ones so far have made her stool soft)...although I admit that Natural Balance is on the "lower" end of "high quality food". lol


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

I get my Nature's Variety at a small pet store that I have bugged soooooooooo many times to start carrying 'my' stuff (CC, good brushes, show leads, etc) and the only thing I've gotten them to carry is Bigroom Super white. :smilie_tischkante: I'm not sure if they realize just how much I spend online because nobody sells it locally! 

They probably groan when they see me coming. 

I'm definitely not a fan of Petsmart (mostly because my dogs get sooooooo dirty walking around that store, LOL) and Petco is a bit better. I definitely like the food choices better at petco but I also haven't been to either store in a while, so don't know what they carry now.


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## 5maltsmom (Aug 12, 2007)

Be sure to check the "use by" dates on the food at Petco. I was buying some food a few weeks ago and when i looked at the dates, the smaller bag was up in February 09 and the bigger bag was up sometime next year, so I bought the bigger bag. I know the food still had some life to it, but I wasn't sure my dogs would eat it all by February so I didn't want to take any chances. I also would rather the food not be at the end of it's life cycle when I buy it.


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## domino_angel (Apr 17, 2008)

Ooh, thanks for the tip on the Use by date, will be sure to check that next time!! 

Our petsmart is also completely devoid of high-quality foods. I wish they carried decent food, as I like going there much more than I like Petco. I am not sure why, but both of our Petcos are dark, cluttered, unhappy looking places to be. Their selection of toys and treats is terrible, really I only go there for foods. Now that I think about it, I might just start going to one of the two independent pet shops instead, despite the fact that they are _really_ far away.


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## Hunter's Mom (Dec 8, 2008)

QUOTE (Baileysmommy @ Jan 18 2009, 06:59 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=708747


> I agree 100%. PetSmart has a wonderful selection of toys, and even some treats (I got Bailey his omega salmon and cod treats there, and he loves them. The Petsmart by me is also new, and much cleaner and bigger. Their doggie hotel and daycare are attractive, and clean at least. But, nevertheless, I have to go to Petco for his NB. Its so annoying having to make two stops. I stop at Petsmart for those treats he loves, and drive 25 mi to Petco for his food.[/B]



I have to do the same thing. We have both near us but Petco carries the NB and Petsmart does not but we love one of the Petsmart groomers who we have used in a pinch and we are able to find the lamb toy that Hunter loves there but not at Petco. We also have to go to Wal-mart because Hunter loves the Hartz dental sticks (I know they are not the best but anything for his teeth and breath that he will eat is great - he won't touch most other teeth treats). 

ahh...the amount of travel we do to keep our pups happy.


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## CandicePK (Nov 11, 2004)

We have a chain of Pet Supermarket's here that I get NB from for the girls. PetsMart here does have the Wellness, Royal Canin, etc. The Petco is farther but doable in a pinch. We also have several independent's that sell the good stuff...


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

I think PetSmart depends on the local store. One near me has a good selection of better quality foods. Their web site has some as well, although shipping would be pricy.


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