September 27, 2012
Clinic Treats Corpulent Canines and Fat Felines
You’ve probably heard about pets and owners that resemble each other. It probably comes as no surprise that one area of resemblance comes in body type: portly people often own plump pets.
Fifty-five percent of adult cats and 53 percent of dogs are overweight or obese, according to a survey of veterinarians by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP). That’s more than 88 million cats and dogs.
"Owners are unaware their pet is overweight," APOP founder Dr. Ernie Ward said in a statement. "Twenty-two percent of dog owners and 15 percent of cat owners characterized their pet as normal weight when it was actually overweight or obese."
Educating pet owners is key to addressing the issue. According to the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals located on the campus of Tufts University in Massachusetts, obesity in cats and dogs is associated with a number of serious health problems including "diabetes, pancreatitis, hyperlipidemia (high fat levels in the blood), joint disease, skin disease and even a shorter lifespan."
The Tufts clinic specializes in creating tailored weight loss programs under the supervision of a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
It’s become common for pet specialty outlets to go beyond food and toys to offer services such as boarding, grooming, training and vet services. Adding weight loss programs seems like a natural extension in this space and perhaps in other channels such as drug that have been actively marketing prescription drug services for pets as well as their owners in recent years.
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Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Do you see a business opportunity for retailers in offering services to help consumers address the health issues of their pets? Is a multi-channel approach as important in pet retailing as it is in serving human consumers?
Poll
Oftentimes people are more concerned with the well-being of their pets than their own health. What would be wonderful is a program whereby people and their pets could have a healthier lifestyle together. The results could be phenomenal.
It does not take much education or expertise to know that you have a fat cat. The business opportunity for fat pets is not that large — or at least as not as large as a really fat cat.
If retailers are looking for high margins and a simple product to sell (smaller cans of cat food or dog food) then jump on it before the cat or dog gets skinny.
Got the skinny? …No fat pets in our house!
This is a huge opportunity (no pun intended). People do not see pets as their children, they see pets as their grandchildren — precious little things to spoil mercilessly. Spending on pet care and services is rapidly growing and there is great opportunity in helping obese pets. In this day and age, every approach for every type of retailing must be multichannel, there is no loner any distinction in terms of a certain product or consumer being more “Web-friendly” (or mobile-friendly, etc.).
It’s a smart approach. Pets are part of the family and most humans will be able to address the health needs of their pet if they can relate to it.
A recent *pet industry* conference I attended had a presentation on both overweight pets and senior pets as being the next big thing.
There are certainly products on the market — both food products and exercise products — aimed at this market segment. At Animal Fair we find the low fat foods are strong sellers, but the exercise inducements not so much.
The pet category is always a huge opportunity. This section, especially in the supermarket, has greatly evolved over time. It has gone way beyond the selection of a choice between a 5 lb. bag or a 25 lb. bag of Purina Dog Chow. Pet sections now include refrigeration cases for “Fresh” offerings. This is well beyond the imagination of the ’70s, ’80s or even the ’90s.
It certainly would seem that offering vaccinations, screenings, licensing, etc., would be a great offering, even on an event basis. With the ever changing society norms, even having pets in a food store could be overcome. After all, in our state, consumers are willing to accept mixing garbage with food at all supermarkets. Pets could hardly be worse than that.
Consumers have been willing to accept the idea of attracting sick humans to a supermarket-based clinic and mixing that with their food shopping experience. The stretch to doing so with a pet is not all that much farther.
It certainly at a minimum, is a great event-based opportunity, if not a full self-contained expansion of the offer on a normal basis.
The opportunity for retailers in the pet supply business to build their business’ using food and supplements designed to keep pets healthy and fit is happening as we speak. The percentage of pet owners that have a healthy interest in their pets is growing in real terms. This is a large part of the reason that pet specialty stores have seen some measure of stability in these turbulent economic times.
I have had many dogs over the years and over the past several years the pet supply retailers are constantly at work to discover and make available healthier pet foods. Large department stores and food market retailers have not signed on to this. I suspect that this effort might push the prices they are compelled to sell at beyond what their customers are expecting. As a group we often misplace the imperatives of pricing facing the large super stores which are supported largely by the cost conscious members of society. There might be an opportunity for the new and expanding organic food retailers to get involved in a bigger way. This would certainly be a good method of testing their credibility with regards to their own customer base.
Yes I think there’s a great opportunity here. As we can see by the growth of super premium foods and treats, people who have the money are willing to spend on their pets and are very concerned for their animal’s welfare. But I think this initiative would need to go well beyond selling lo-cal (aka “less active”) and “healthier” food and treats which has been going on for years. The pet is overweight because they’re feeding too much of that healthy food or too many of those premium treats.
Fact is, most people with overweight pets don’t realize or won’t believe their pet is overweight. It’s a lack of basic knowledge about appropriate body weight as well as how to keep a pet healthy and happy. How many people do you know don’t exercise their pet regularly because they think that opening the door to the backyard and going for a walk down the block twice a day is enough. And of course it’s hard to resist all of those great treats you see at the store since one of the main ways we express love to our pets and receive love back is through the feeding process. On top of that, losing weight is as difficult for pets as it is for people.
So, a formal program people can follow or better yet take their dog to for weight loss I think would be well received — once the pet owner is convinced their pet needs it (a key point here). It could be activity-based which would provide a bonding experience outside of the feeding ritual, have a social support component if it involves a group or class which would also lead to a certain amount of pressure to show results. I can see pet shops and doggie daycare facilities offering this the same way they do puppy, obedience and agility training.
Would need to get influencers like vets on board to recommend it or people still won’t think their pet needs it!
It would appear that there is a market for health services and products for pets, and it may very well be an important opportunity. I would point out that PetSmart offers to its customers, “services” in addition to pet products. These services include veterinary care, grooming, boarding, training, and day camp, and they grew at PetSmart by 9% last year to $675 million. A 7% growth rate has been achieved this year. The PetSmart chain also operates 799 in-store veterinary hospitals (via an alliance with a provider), with five more coming on stream this year. PetSmart, interestingly, looks to services to drive traffic, prompt repeat business, forge relationships with customers, build transaction size, and enhance margins. If a pet products chain sees this kind of opportunity in services, including those for pet health, it is likely that there is a market there to be tapped.
Specifically relative to pet obesity, many dog and cat food brands feature a “light” version to all of their pet food products.
Yes! Many consumers are passionate about their pets and recognizing this and maximizing it will create more loyal customers.
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Oftentimes people are more concerned with the well-being of their pets than their own health. What would be wonderful is a program whereby people and their pets could have a healthier lifestyle together. The results could be phenomenal.
It does not take much education or expertise to know that you have a fat cat. The business opportunity for fat pets is not that large — or at least as not as large as a really fat cat.
If retailers are looking for high margins and a simple product to sell (smaller cans of cat food or dog food) then jump on it before the cat or dog gets skinny.
Got the skinny? …No fat pets in our house!
This is a huge opportunity (no pun intended). People do not see pets as their children, they see pets as their grandchildren — precious little things to spoil mercilessly. Spending on pet care and services is rapidly growing and there is great opportunity in helping obese pets. In this day and age, every approach for every type of retailing must be multichannel, there is no loner any distinction in terms of a certain product or consumer being more “Web-friendly” (or mobile-friendly, etc.).
It’s a smart approach. Pets are part of the family and most humans will be able to address the health needs of their pet if they can relate to it.
A recent *pet industry* conference I attended had a presentation on both overweight pets and senior pets as being the next big thing.
There are certainly products on the market — both food products and exercise products — aimed at this market segment. At Animal Fair we find the low fat foods are strong sellers, but the exercise inducements not so much.
The pet category is always a huge opportunity. This section, especially in the supermarket, has greatly evolved over time. It has gone way beyond the selection of a choice between a 5 lb. bag or a 25 lb. bag of Purina Dog Chow. Pet sections now include refrigeration cases for “Fresh” offerings. This is well beyond the imagination of the ’70s, ’80s or even the ’90s.
It certainly would seem that offering vaccinations, screenings, licensing, etc., would be a great offering, even on an event basis. With the ever changing society norms, even having pets in a food store could be overcome. After all, in our state, consumers are willing to accept mixing garbage with food at all supermarkets. Pets could hardly be worse than that.
Consumers have been willing to accept the idea of attracting sick humans to a supermarket-based clinic and mixing that with their food shopping experience. The stretch to doing so with a pet is not all that much farther.
It certainly at a minimum, is a great event-based opportunity, if not a full self-contained expansion of the offer on a normal basis.
The opportunity for retailers in the pet supply business to build their business’ using food and supplements designed to keep pets healthy and fit is happening as we speak. The percentage of pet owners that have a healthy interest in their pets is growing in real terms. This is a large part of the reason that pet specialty stores have seen some measure of stability in these turbulent economic times.
I have had many dogs over the years and over the past several years the pet supply retailers are constantly at work to discover and make available healthier pet foods. Large department stores and food market retailers have not signed on to this. I suspect that this effort might push the prices they are compelled to sell at beyond what their customers are expecting. As a group we often misplace the imperatives of pricing facing the large super stores which are supported largely by the cost conscious members of society. There might be an opportunity for the new and expanding organic food retailers to get involved in a bigger way. This would certainly be a good method of testing their credibility with regards to their own customer base.
Yes I think there’s a great opportunity here. As we can see by the growth of super premium foods and treats, people who have the money are willing to spend on their pets and are very concerned for their animal’s welfare. But I think this initiative would need to go well beyond selling lo-cal (aka “less active”) and “healthier” food and treats which has been going on for years. The pet is overweight because they’re feeding too much of that healthy food or too many of those premium treats.
Fact is, most people with overweight pets don’t realize or won’t believe their pet is overweight. It’s a lack of basic knowledge about appropriate body weight as well as how to keep a pet healthy and happy. How many people do you know don’t exercise their pet regularly because they think that opening the door to the backyard and going for a walk down the block twice a day is enough. And of course it’s hard to resist all of those great treats you see at the store since one of the main ways we express love to our pets and receive love back is through the feeding process. On top of that, losing weight is as difficult for pets as it is for people.
So, a formal program people can follow or better yet take their dog to for weight loss I think would be well received — once the pet owner is convinced their pet needs it (a key point here). It could be activity-based which would provide a bonding experience outside of the feeding ritual, have a social support component if it involves a group or class which would also lead to a certain amount of pressure to show results. I can see pet shops and doggie daycare facilities offering this the same way they do puppy, obedience and agility training.
Would need to get influencers like vets on board to recommend it or people still won’t think their pet needs it!
It would appear that there is a market for health services and products for pets, and it may very well be an important opportunity. I would point out that PetSmart offers to its customers, “services” in addition to pet products. These services include veterinary care, grooming, boarding, training, and day camp, and they grew at PetSmart by 9% last year to $675 million. A 7% growth rate has been achieved this year. The PetSmart chain also operates 799 in-store veterinary hospitals (via an alliance with a provider), with five more coming on stream this year. PetSmart, interestingly, looks to services to drive traffic, prompt repeat business, forge relationships with customers, build transaction size, and enhance margins. If a pet products chain sees this kind of opportunity in services, including those for pet health, it is likely that there is a market there to be tapped.
Specifically relative to pet obesity, many dog and cat food brands feature a “light” version to all of their pet food products.
Yes! Many consumers are passionate about their pets and recognizing this and maximizing it will create more loyal customers.