stella & chewy's on backorder everywhere

lisahe

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I went to a couple local (Portland, Maine, area) stores today and found Stella & Chewy's foods, albeit in very limited amounts: one bag in one store, two in the other. Both said they've been getting some S&C food but not a lot. Apparently frozen morsels haven't been a problem, just the freeze-dried. And one store hasn't had any problem with the little packets, but that's not very helpful to people who feed a lot of the stuff.

I hope you're able to get what you need soon, @stephgas!
 

maureen brad

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Today I bought a bag of Ziwipeak Venison FD. I know it is not something I would get regularly because it contains fish but I thought I might as well give it a try.Desmond and Milo like it but I didn't give any to Remy because it isn't  HPP. The store I go to thinks they will have the  S&C's in tomorrow. I hope so, I just need a few bags of Duck, Duck, Goose.
 

LTS3

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I found two bags of Stella and Chewy's nuggets (the salmon one) at a pet store today and bought both
I think I may give both bags to a co-worker who mentioned that she has not found Stella and Chewy's in the pet stores she goes to. It's pretty much the only thing her cat will eat besides canned. My cats can go without freeze dried food.
 

maureen brad

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 I got lucky today. My store had a delivery of Stella and Chewy's. They didn't get much but I was able to get 3 bags of the Duck, Duck, Goose and since it is buy one get one free I took the Chick, chick, chicken.I will just have the chicken on had for emergencies. I don't feed more than 1 or two meals a week of the FD so this will last me awhile.
 

LTS3

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 My local store manager said that they were focusing on Dog food as the cat food does not sell anywhere near as well.
That may be true. The NV raw medallions for cats are a "special order" item at two of the pet stores I went to today 
One did have Raw Bites but only two bags which I didn't need since I already have two 3 lb bags in the freezer. All three stores had plenty of the NV raw medallions and patties and Raw Bites for dogs in stock. I put an order in for 5 bags each of both NV formulas (chicken and rabbit) at one store. Next time I'll order from the other store since it's closer.

Maybe raw dog food just sells better than raw cat food? I know that many dog owners promote raw food through magazines, newspaper articles, social media, dog play groups, etc etc but I've never really seen the same for cats.
 

maureen brad

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The manager at the pet store told me that the raw dog food far outsells the cat food.I think it is for all the reasons you listed. having cats is not as 'social' an affair as having a dog. No Cat parks etc.. It is slowly changing. I believe because of the true nature of a cat raw feeding is very important

- Gosh my Desi is so happy to have the S&C's I had to put some dry into a puzzle ball for him to play with. He still misses his kibble.
 

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Hi,new here.  Ben a long time lurker and just joined today.  Always good info here!

Maureen, would you mind telling me the mfg. date on your FD S&C bags?  And, also, if you are having any problems with refusal or vomiting.  I bought the Chick, Chick and the Duck Goose with MFG. date of Dec. 27th.  The Chick Chick got refusals and those that ate vomited.  A couple will eat the Duck Goose but I can tell they aren't as happy with it as before.  I know the taste can vary from batch to batch but they shouldn't get sick on it when they were eating it before the supply shortage.

Any multi million dollar company that has been in business for 10 years shouldn't all of a sudden not be able to keep up with demands.  Just saying.

Anyone else having refusals?

Thanks for your help, Lilabeth
 

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Lilabeth, I had some issues with S&C a few months back. The consistency of the food was as if it were stale (the pieces were drier.) I didn't realize it at the time b/c I'd been using the product for a short period.

I stopped feeding for a bit and bought a different flavor the next go-round with no issue. The few times I have gotten a "stale" bag, I exchange it.

I unfortunately threw away the bags that were causing my cats' to vomit after reporting it to the company. I too would be curious at the the Best buy date. I'll check what I currently have (all is the turkey formula.)
 

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Yes, that is exactly how I am finding this latest batch.  VERY dry and extremely hard to break up.  It has me worried that they dried all the nutrition out of food, but doesn't explain the refusals and vomiting.  When I called, they report that they never receive any complaints.
 

lisahe

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I also noticed that what I bought on Friday is drier and firmer than usual... though I bought chicken after having used duck duck goose for a long time so don't really remember what the chicken was like. The cats ate it happily -- it was mixed in with a bowl of Primal -- and nobody threw up. The manufacturing date is (I think) 4Oc2014, with best by October 11, 2015.

I notice similar fluctuations in Primal and even canned food... oddly, the cats seem more sensitive to changes in canned foods than freeze-dried raw which they eat more of.
 

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One of the reasons I wanted to do the freeze dried was I was getting so much fluctuations in the canned food that I was throwing out a lot of food and no one was eating.  My thinking was the freeze dried was "suppose" to use top of the line products so how much change in batch to batch could there be?  When we buy chicken for our consumption the taste usually does not vary that much.  I was thinking this should be true for the freeze dried.  I have five cats on Hare Today raw and they are doing well.  Just can't convert a couple of the older ones, but I guess I will just have to try harder! :-)
 

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Saw this thread and thought I would share my experiences trying to get S&C the last couple times.  Most recent was a couple weeks ago I guess, and before that was November.  In November I placed an order for about 3 months worth of food for our two cats, although at the time it was still half cans and half S&C freeze dried chicken.  Now we're really focused on the one cat who is getting too much food and is eating part of the other cats meal.  So she has (until last couple days) been less likely to overeat the S&C so I figured with some discount I could feed them this at both meals.  So the last order in late January I ordered about 15 of the 12oz bags when it finally came in stock.

Both these last orders I had to keep checking for stock before it finally came back, and I was very surprised that when it came in a couple weeks ago they let me order so many bags.  My prior order from the same store was restricted to 6 or 7 bags if I remember right.  My go-to online stores have been Chewy.com, Wag.com and Pet360.com.  The last is where I have put through by far the most orders recently.  I keep finding good coupons (15-20% off whole order one way or another) and have not often had to pay the full price.  But all stores showed out of stock on this for a while.  My two closest physical stores who carry S&C have stopped carrying the cat food so I can't grab an emergency bag at any price that I know of.  There are a couple more stores I've been meaning to check but I'm not hopeful.  It's far more likely to find the dog food.

You should know that Pet360.com is also the parent of OnlyNaturalPet, as well as PetFoodDirect and PetMD.  I don't know if they have integrated the fulfillment of OnlyNaturalPet or not, but the boxes that come from Pet360 have PFD and PetMD logos on the box as well as Pet360.  It's all the same company, but sometimes the shipping policies and prices are different, so you should cross check them for best deal.  And of course coupon codes are potentially different.  Almost always Pet360 is the cheapest on the things I buy (also buy some Tiki Cat chicken in the 6oz cans for an occasional treat and was buying Cats in the Kitchen Fowl Ball 6oz cans), but every once in a while one of the other shops has a better sale deal or something.

The latest order of all those bags is all from the same lot number, 351-14B, with use by date of 12/27/15.  I would call the consistency/texture of the newest bag better than some of the bags from the prior order. I just got into the newest batch a few days ago, and I can remember the prior one seeming harder to break up.  Someone above called it "stale", and I don't know if it really was, but the consistency was different AND the cats seem to eat the new batch more readily I'd say.  Again this is the Chick Chick Chicken variety in the 12oz bags.
 

2bcat

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Also the chunks in this bag of S&C look a bit more elongated than the last bag, where they were more round.  Just noticed because I did a feeding just now.   I'm not sure what causes the differences in texture/consistency.  Several months ago we had Primal turkey freeze dried in the rotation, and I noticed variation at times in their consistency too.  I figured there was just a bit of variation from batch to batch or something.  The Primal turkey was more calorie dense per ounce and given that plus it was 14 ounce bag, was cheaper, but the cats really turn out to like the chicken better, and I don't want to have them eating any fish.
 

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You can check the food safety results of Stella and Chewy's here: http://www.stellaandchewys.com/results_page.php It probably won't address any palatability issue or vomiting, though.

Of the two bags I recently bought, one is mostly crushed up powdered
Probably will keep this bag for myself instead of offering it to my co-worker. The other one is the normal shaped nuggets. Both bags have best by dates of March 2015.
 

lisahe

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One of the reasons I wanted to do the freeze dried was I was getting so much fluctuations in the canned food that I was throwing out a lot of food and no one was eating.  My thinking was the freeze dried was "suppose" to use top of the line products so how much change in batch to batch could there be? 
Our cats don't seem to mind the fluctuations in the freeze-dried foods as much as the fluctuations int he canned foods. They are unpredictable creatures, though!
 

LTS3

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The manager at the pet store told me that the raw dog food far outsells the cat food.I think it is for all the reasons you listed. having cats is not as 'social' an affair as having a dog. No Cat parks etc.. It is slowly changing. I believe because of the true nature of a cat raw feeding is very important
Maybe cat owners who do feed raw can change that. FelineNutrition.org has info flyers that could be posted at the pet store, vet office, anywhere with a community/public bulletin board.
 

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The people who say their stores sell more dog food or are focusing more on dog food, it seems to be true in most small stores I shop in, and also not only to do with raw food.   Even in a nicely specialized healthy pet food shop I have nearby, the cat food seems like a bit of an afterthought.  It's sad and annoying really, but I think to a degree it can often reflect the interests of the owners as much as if not more than what customers would actually buy.  Last time I was in the healthy store trying to pick out a few sample cans to use in rotation, I noticed the can stock was a bit older.  A fresh can typically has a best before date nearly 3 years out.  Many of the cans I picked up had dates in 2016 or even late 2015.  Still, I figure this store was trying pretty well in terms of cat food and probably would do better if people only knew.  I mean, quite possibly the majority of customers buying cat food are still buying bags of kibble.

Now that I have a good stock of some things I should get in touch with them and see if they are willing to work with me on ordering or whatever.  I'm sure that me coming in and buying a few cans then ordering online isn't much help to the store, but neither are they much help to me if they aren't going to stock what I need.  I guess in the case of S&C, though, it was probably out of their hands.  They may have decided not to stock it for cats (I'm not sure if they still do for dogs), but that decision may well have been based on the spotty availability as much as anything else.
 
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stephanie42

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got a call from my local independent pet shop today - they have received my stella & chewy's special order (which was placed before thanksgiving).  i hope this means i'll not have trouble keeping it in stock now!
 

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So my co-worker is happy to have the two bags of Stella and Chewy's I found over the weekend. She's insisting on paying me for the bags. What would be a reasonable price? Each bag cost $22.99 but I'm not comfortable with asking her to pay the full price
 

lilabeth

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If she asked you to find some S&C for her then I wouldn't hesitate to ask 22.99 for the bags.   If her cats haven't eaten this before then maybe just offer her one bag to try no charge and if they don't like it, she can give you the rest of the bag back.  Just depends how you happened to get these bags for her.  Tell us more.
 
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