Wellness Natural, HSUS team up on Giving Tuesday

On Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.
This year, The Humane Society of the United States’ #GivingTuesday campaign aims to raise US$100,000. The money will help fund its Pets for Life program’s essential animal care services in December. Those services include spay/neuter surgeries, veterinary care, and supplies that are unavailable and oftentimes unaffordable in under-served areas of the country. With every US$1 donated, Wellness Natural Pet Food will provide one bowl of food to help feed pets in the program.
Donors will help make pets happy and healthy by giving them the care that they need, especially during the busy and cold holiday season.

Wellness offers low-calorie petfood

Petfood manufacturer Wellness now offers low-calorie food for both overweight cats and dogs.
Wellness Healthy Weight is a lower-calorie recipe formulated to help cats lose the weight and includes guaranteed levels of glucosamine and chondroitin to support overburdened hips and joints.
Wellness SuperMix5 Healthy Weight is formulated with a low-calorie blend of ingredients to help less active dogs maintain a healthy body weight and lose extra pounds. The petfood contains increased fiber, 16% less fat and 11% less calories than Super5Mix Complete Health, along with guaranteed levels of glucosamine and chondroitin.

How to leverage wellness and nutrition in the petfood aisle

From the rapid growth of the fresh and natural format, exemplified by Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Wild Oats, to the mainstreaming of organic and natural products in conventional supermarkets, it's clear that natural has hit the big time. So it goes in the petfood aisle, as well. Consumers are increasingly seeking a healthy way of living, and are projecting these aspirations onto their pets, since their furry companions are certainly a big part of their world.
According to BusinessWire, natural petfood is a response to a convergence of trends: the pet owner's desire for a healthy, balanced life coupled with a tendency to humanize their pets. This trait is typical of pet care—trends in human products often translate into similar demands in the pet aisle. That goes for gourmet flavors, functional foods and natural and organic foods.
It's no secret that natural and organic products represent a large growth opportunity at present, but traditional food outlets are, in general, missing out on their fair share, according to BusinessWire. Food, drug and mass outlets (excluding Wal-Mart) account for three times the market share of natural foods retailers (excluding Trader Joe's), but only pull in 40% of natural products sales, according to a recent ACNielson report. This, along with other key factors, leads to the conclusion that natural petfood, treats and care are segments traditional food retailers should be focusing on.
As the wellness trend converges with pet pampering mania, category experts are expecting natural/organic petfood to grow at more than 3 times the rate of total petfood, according to Packaged Facts. It is also anticipated that it will be the large national brands that will drive that advance. That makes perfect sense because of the brand support major brands are able to underwrite. With natural petfood going mainstream, consumers shouldn't have to leave their favorite store to find the products they desire for their pet's health and longevity.

Wellness donates 120 tons of food

With the economic crisis now affecting Main Street USA as well as Wall Street, many US animal shelters are facing challenges in providing enough food and proper nutrition to record numbers of pets being left in their care, according to an article on The Earth Times.
Wellness, an all-natural petfood brand from WellPet, wanted to provide these dogs with a gift of food. Wellness, under the sponsorship of its charitable arm, the WellPet Foundation, donated 120 tons of dog food to animal shelters and rescue organizations across the US.
"We appreciate their helping us to keep the animals we look after happy, healthy and well-fed during these difficult times," said David Wolf of the National Greyhound Adoption Program.

Smokers would kick habit for pet

Pets may be a new motivator for people to kick the habit, as a study now shows that more than a quarter of all pet owners who smoke would try to quit if they knew smoking harmed their cat, bird or dog, according to an article on LiveScience.com.
In all, 3,293 adults responded to the online survey sponsored by Pet Supplies "Plus," a national pet product retail chain, as well as the Michigan Humane Society and a grant from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.
About 20% were smokers and more than one in four lived with at least one smoker. Some 28% said that knowing that smoking was bad for their pets' health would spur them to give it up. And almost one in 10 (8.7%) said this would prompt them to ask their partners to quit, while around one in seven (14%) said they would tell their partner to smoke outdoors. These figures were even higher among non-smokers, more than 16% of whom said they would ask their partner to quit, while 24% said they would tell their partner to smoke outdoors.