Dog Community

Question for people that buy dry Dog Food on line

Posted : 1/17/2007 11:45:47 PM

I when to the pet store (small one) and bought Molly her dry food - Innova. He had 2 sacks left they expire the end of Feb. I know this sack will be gone before the experation date. I told him the experation date was coming up soon - he kind of acted like so what. Well I sure hate to go back in to get more Innova and still see that last sack sitting there for me to buy - and by then it will be expired or close to it. I know of another

erson that have bought expired dog food (they didn`t know it was expired when they bought it. - they didn`t look) from him and their dog got sick on the dog food.

So my question is for you people that buy your dry dog food on line is - Do the companys check the experation date on the food that they send so it is good or not? I know that I will have to pay more for the shipping but I want food that isn`t going to expire in a couple days from when I buy it.

This is the only place I can get good dog food around here unless I travel 300 miles way from where I live to buy it that is why I am thinking of ordering on line. Any info would be great. Thanks

ronross

Posted : 1/18/2007 4:07:29 PM

I've been very happy with Petfooddirect.com (as long as I'm willing to wait a week for them to ship). After you order once you will get "coupons" via email. If you wait for one that is 20% off you can in effect get free shipping. Prices are less than my local stores. I'd bet they don't have dry food sitting around very long; I think they keep a tight inventory and that's why orders take a week to fill. They have very good customer service and a "100% guarantee," so I'm sure that if you bought a bag that was expired or close to it they would make it up to you. I'll bet they'd tell you to keep it and send you another bag. One time they sent me a case of the wrong size canned food. When I called them, they told me to donate it to a shelter and sent the right case out at no further expense to me.

Ron

jode88

Posted : 1/18/2007 4:20:00 PM

I've had the same problem in a way. The feed store i used to buy my food at had a couple bags on the shelf that had exp by a day or two. This was in November.
To make a long story short , I've since switched feed stores but had to go back to the old one for emergency food, and they still had those exp bags on the shelf...in January! I had even brought it to their attention back in Nov and after promising new bags and not ever getting em, I finally switched feed stores and glad i did.
I even wrote to Natura back in December but I guess the problem wasnt fixed as the bags were on the shelf in January.
So, I guess i cant help with your question. The only online company ive purchased from in the past is Metro pet and never had an issue with them. They are a local company so theyve never had to ship to me.

mudpuppy

Posted : 1/18/2007 4:34:43 PM

I too buy via petfooddirect and my impression is that they get fresh bags of food direct from the manufacturer and then ship those to me.

beth82

Posted : 1/18/2007 10:08:14 PM

I buy from Petfooddirect and Only Natural Pet Store. I have always gotten very fresh food from both places. I think a smaller, less busy store would be more likely to have food sitting around until it goes bad, whether online or not.

mollymoo

Posted : 1/18/2007 11:24:10 PM

Thanks for all the info. Great web sites. I`ll be ordering on line from now on. There are so many good dog foods on the sites that I can`t get around here it will be fun shopping for dog food of all things. Around here all I can get is Innova, California Natural, and Royal Canin at the pet store. Feed places have Diamond then I go down to Walmart, Kmart, and groceries store brands (and the pet store) but I won`t buy dog food that is going to expire soon.

Again thanks for the info.

labcrab

Posted : 1/19/2007 12:48:50 PM

Wow! I suspect that these stores with expired (or near expired) food have almost NO turnover of the food. I have never gotten a bag of Innova that had an expiration date that was less that a full YEAR away. That's both from my local store and from on-line ordering. In your case, I would suggest on-line ordering for sure!

mollymoo

Posted : 1/19/2007 9:39:15 PM

I agree with you about ordering online. I think that I have no choice on the matter. If I let the dog food run down I would have to go to the pet store and most likely stare at that last bag of expired dog food. Then what? I don`t want to change foods cold turkey so I`d be in a bind. That is what happens when you live in the sticks. Online though I have found out I can get so many different good dog foods that I can`t there. Innova is a good food but Molly needs a variety as she gets bored with her food after awhile. So ordering online might not be so bad after all. I just have to not think about the shipping cost and do it.

Thanks for the replys.