The Price Shelters Pay for Hill’s Pet Food – Truth about Pet Food

November 7, 2022 Kar-Bay-Inc

The city of Rock Springs, Wyoming posted a brief public notice regarding the city’s potential partnership with Hill’s Pet Food. “In an effort to save money on purchasing pet food for the Rock Springs Animal Control Shelter, the City is looking at partnering with a pet food company.”

The city of Rock Springs also made available the agreement that Hill’s Pet Food provided in order for the shelter to receive that discounted pet food. The agreement requires the animal shelter to purchase Hill’s Pet Food “exclusively” for the cats and dogs in their care. The agreement also requires the Shelter employees and volunteers “to educate Pet adopters about Hill’s’ brands and products (including through the use of adopter script in Appendix D, and other instruction materials provided by Hill’s from time to time).”

The adopter script provided by Hill’s pet food included the following suggested conversations with adopters…

“At ‘shelter name’, we’re proud to be part of the Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love program and we feed our pets Hill’s brand pet foods.”

“We suggest that you continue feeding ‘Pet’s name’ Hill’s Science Diet:
– Continuity and consistency of food helps avoid the stress of switching
– While feeding Science Diet, you are offering ‘Pet’s name’ a pet food that is or has:
#1 veterinarian recommended
Precise nutrition supports healthy skin, coat & stool”
…and on and on.

The proposed contract between Rock Springs Animal Control Shelter and Hill’s also requires any shelter social media posts to “tag Hill’s in the content, #HillsFoodShelterLove and #HillsTransformingLives at the end of the communication.” Hill’s provided the following examples of social media posts for the shelter…

So…what kind of a discount would the shelter receive from Hill’s for all this promotion of Hill’s pet foods?

This discount pricing chart was also included in the agreement:

The Hill’s Pet Food agreement provides the shelter with a 35% discount for wet pet foods, but ONLY a 23% discount for dry dog and puppy food (undoubtedly the most used/purchased type of pet food in shelters).

Is the Hill’s Pet Food discount worth an animal shelter becoming a marketing tool?

Wishing you and your pet the best –

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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