I love my dogs. I mean, look at that face. That's Yogi. He's one of my three rescue dogs and, as you can see, he's an incredibly happy boy. His human isn't necessarily as happy though because I have noticed an insane jump in the price of his dog food. Look. I realize that all food prices have risen since the Covid-19 pandemic and I understand that basic economic principles as to why. However, I'm not buying the necessity of this meteoric rise in the price of pet food.

TruthAboutPetFood.com conducted an elaborate price comparison of a variety of popular dog food brands. In fact, they went a step further and compared the price increase in dog food to the price increase of another popular food item- cereal.
While cereal prices have certainly increased (up 38% from 2020 to 2022), they don't come close to the price hike we're seeing in pet food. According to the website's findings, some brands of pet food saw a 103% price hike during that same window of time.

Whoa! What? 103%??!!

Okay, I don't own a pet food company and certainly can't speak to production and supply chain issues, but come on! That's insanity. And, I can assure you that the findings of the TruthAboutPetFood.com study aren't exaggerated because I have experienced it personally.

Here's Exhibit A:

Chad Benefield
Chad Benefield
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I snapped this photo at Walmart last week, but it could easily have been taken at Kroger or any pet supply store. See the 7 LB pound bag of MiniChunks on the right? That bag currently costs about $18. A year ago, I could buy that exact same food at Price Less Foods here in Owensboro for less than $10 a bag. The price has nearly doubled.

Again, I am no expert in production and supply. However, that kind of price hike seems a little too steep to be warranted. According to a May 2022 article by Vox.com, "Pet food companies charge a lot because . . . they can." That story quoted Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York Universit. Nestle says pet food companies have hiked the prices simply because they know "they can get away with it."

Chad Benefield
Chad Benefield
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I am not the only pet owner who's feeling the crunch and speaking out about it. In a story from ThePamperedPup.com, dog owner Dina chimed in with this- "The cost of dog food is skyrocketing. It cost as much to feed my dog as me. The pet food industry is making a killing, my bag of dog food went up 14 dollars in 3 weeks!"

I am certainly sharing Dina's pain. But, at the end of the day, these little guys make the investment- no matter how ridiculously inflated- worth it. The pet food companies are right. I am going to pay what they ask. I mean, who could say no to this?

Chad Benefield
Chad Benefield
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