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Author: Robin L. Flanigan, AARP, March 29, 2021

Barbara Hengstenberg has difficulty finding special cat food for her pets.

Every time Debra Bishop found Purina Friskies Shreds canned cat food on the store shelf, he bought canned cat food for her two rescue cats, their 3-year-old siblings Max and Willow, and it felt like they had won the lottery.

Due to the widespread shortage of pet food, it is now difficult to find chicken and turkey-flavored foods. Canned cat food-from famous brands such as Fancy Feast, Friskies and 9 Lives-is the most elusive. Several factors contributed to the impact, including manufacturing delays related to the pandemic, severe weather, and increased pet ownership and pampering.

This situation is reminiscent of the surge in toilet paper sales last year and the recent shortage of grapes and nuts. Some fans paid as much as $110 a box through the online black market.

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Bishop said that when she was looking for something on the shelf that her cat would not refuse, she often found herself whispering.

"I am obviously not the only one who wants to know what their kittens will eat," said Bishop, 51, who lives in Penfield, New York. aisle. "

Chris Anthony, Country Harvest Home Market Manager, Palmerton, Pennsylvania, said his supplier sent an email in February stating that pet food producers Nestlé Purina and JM Smucker Co. have encountered COVID-19-related issues. Supply issues. Supply-including aluminum packaging-is scarce, and the company can no longer meet demand. This situation is expected to continue until at least May.

"One delivery we will get some Fancy Feast and various flavors, and the next delivery we have nothing," Anthony said. "Our customers are very frustrated. They are tired of the whole thing."

The UK is also dealing with a nationwide shortage, and a supplier is now rationing merchandise to ensure that as many pets as possible can be fed.

Freshpet, a natural pet food manufacturer, reported that production was shut down due to severe winter storms. Other companies have encountered problems with labor, machinery, and packaging.

Anthony said: "There are many things to do to make a product. If any part of the process is interrupted, it will cause problems. Increased demand will not help."

PetSmart attributes its shortage of wet food in stores and online to people adding pets to their families throughout the pandemic.

"We are committed to doing our best to help pet parents feed and care for their pets, and actively work with our manufacturing and transportation partners to ensure increased supply to better meet current demand," PetSmart senior manager Erin Gray Speaking of corporate communications.

For Frosty, a rescue cat belonging to Barbara Hengstenberg and her husband Bill has been around for seven years, and eating the same diet is important for his serious gastrointestinal problems.

Hengstenberg, 59, said that when she couldn't find the 9 Lives Meaty Paté Super Supper, which Frosty liked, she was nervous. Fortunately, he spent a few days with a better-than-expected alternative brand. Henstenberg, from Bell Creek, North Carolina, now hoards food in the usual way in the rare cases she finds. (He eats in his own room, which is specially built for him. It has a tiled alcove for trash cans, wooden cabinets and counters, and cat-themed artwork.)

"We have no children, so our pets have always been very, very special to us," she said.

Not everyone has noticed this scarcity.

An employee of the Nashville Pet Products Company in Nashville, Tennessee said: "I have seen it on the Internet, but we have cat food here."

But for people like David Saltz, 49, of Auburn, Massachusetts, finding Fancy Feast's Classic Tender Beef Paté is a daunting task. He has two cats, and the larger tiger is "very picky". When he started his search, he searched Google and all possible physical stores within 50 miles—from pet stores to hypermarkets and dollar stores—but none was found.

"I tried almost every other kind of soft canned cat food in the store-including some overpriced canned, niche, micro-brew, small batch, all natural, wildlife approved, non-GMO, grass-fed (do I have Speaking of ridiculously high prices?) Canned food," Salz said. "Almost everything was rejected. She only occasionally eats a special flavor. I will buy more of them, but she doesn't eat anything. It."

Saltz even posted a request on Reddit. When someone in the thread noticed that Chewy.com's food was in stock, he immediately ordered a box. When he returned to the site to order more the next day, it was sold out again.

Finally, a few weeks ago, Saltz found the most popular Fancy Feast on Amazon. He ordered two boxes and registered for automatic delivery every two weeks. He also set up an alert on Chewy.com.

"The tiger is happy again," he said.

Robin L. Flanigan (Robin L. Flanigan) is a contributing writer who reports on mental health, education, and human interest stories for several national publications. As a former reporter for several daily newspapers, her work has also appeared in "People", "USA Today" and "Education Weekly". She is the author of children's book M is for Mindful.

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