OK, I have to say, I have a lot on my mind these days. No one thing is really enough for a whole blog but, still, lots to chat about.
First, for those of you who are curious, Zspa should be open around November 15th. Yeah, a month and a half late but, who's counting. John has a meeting tomorrow to start advertising. Very exciting. I can't wait to see the place. Granted I plan to keep my visits to a minimum as I am bath adverse but it's nice to know that if the need arises I won't have to stand in line. Geez, I hope I won't have to stand in line.
Second, did anyone keep up with the whole "salmonella in eggs" thing that struck over the summer? It's hard to fathom that over half a BILLION eggs were recalled and thousands of people got very, very sick. Now I bring this up because of some little conversations I've heard in the store. Zane + Zara's carries a lot of Merrick products. I mean A LOT! We tend to gravitate to the, oh I don't know, stranger things they offer: pig snouts, hoofs, tendons, etc. I think John and Russell choose some of the stuff for shear shock value but, who argues with success? Every now and then we'll have someone turn their noses up at the Merrick displays and grumble that they would never buy a Merrick product because they've had a recall. OK, it's true, this summer Merrick did recall one of their treats. The odd thing is that they did it before anyone got sick. Contrast that with the summer egg debacle which saw half a billion eggs recalled AFTER people started dropping like flies. Before is good, after is bad. Now, what I find most amusing is that no one I know has stopped buying eggs for their family. People still bake, scramble and souffle. Yet, when faced with a proactive recall of pet snacks, where no one was actually harmed, people will boycott the offending company. You will happily sacrifice your children to the egg Gods but, protect your dogs to the extreme. I have to say, I'm impressed. This is why Soylent Green was made of people and not dogs. Crackers made of people was believable. Crackers made of dogs would never have found a market. I love humans!
Now let's touch on morality. I think this is referred to as a "blind item." Why do humans insist on lying? You never hear of a dog or cat lying. It is just not in our nature. Say what you will about temperament but, with a dog or cat, what you see is what you get. Humans, though, you are a complex bunch. Your actions are often disguised by your words. You'll do something for whatever reason and then deny doing it or, when asked, offer a different reason for why you did it. Why is this? Take Natura Pet Foods for example. We all know they were sold to Proctor and Gamble. We also know that many stores decided to take Natura products off their shelves because of said sale. What I don't get is the people who find it necessary to fabricate a reason for doing so. "They've changed the formulas." "They've decided to send production to China." "They've started to use ground up cat carcasses." Why the fear of saying, "Because I wanted too." Why the lies? It's like the guy from NPR that said when he sees someone in Muslim garments on an airplane he gets a little nervous. I doubt he is the only person in the US who has those thoughts...he just expressed them. And I have to give him credit, he owned them. I'm a firm believer that it is only through an honest exchange of ideas where meaningful progress can be made. John has always said that he'd rather deal with someone who was honest in their dislike of gays than one who smiled to his face and then stabbed him in the back. What's the phrase? Love the sinner, hate the sin. What a vile bunch of puke. How about this idea: take today and make an effort to undo a lie you've told...or a rumor you've passed on as fact. Reach out and correct a wrong. Teach yourself a lesson so that you might think twice before repeating the behavior. It might do you some good and you might end up being a slightly better human. All dogs go to heaven, you humans have work to do.
What else is on my mind these days? Can you believe the holiday season is so close? The end of October is just around the corner. Let's take a moment and give some thought to those of us who are less fortunate. I know money is tight but, how about we make a collective agreement to help someone in need during this holiday season. There are so many good things that can be done with such little effort. Zane + Zara's wants to help and we reached out to some of our good friends for assistance. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and this blog for some really cool ideas on how to help those most in need. I'd venture a guess in a week or so the love will be spreading. Take care, Zane.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Lotus and K9 Naturals
OK, we're all up to speed on Wellness. I know many of you are unhappy but change is the only consistent thing in this world...OK, taxes too.
John and Russell are very excited about two new products set to grace our shelves. The first is called Lotus and we have a young lady in our neighborhood to thank for the heads-up on this wonderful product. www.lotuspetfoods.com This sweet young lady comes in to Zane + Zara's regularly. She is a fan of sharing a cookie or two with her dog and running errands for her mom. The last time she came in she asked if we carried Lotus canned food. I was taken aback as I'd never heard of Lotus Pet Foods. Well, the research started.
This stuff looked really good. Great ingredients list and US owned and produced. The next step was a meet and greet at the Backer Show. (A pet care trade show held in Chicago each year.) We met the owner of Lotus Pet Foods and came away very impressed. They are quite an established brand on the west coast and are now making the move east. All natural ingredients and baked, not extruded so they have a better nutritional profile. Their canned food not only smells fantastic but looks the part. We put in our ISO (Initial Stocking Order) right then and there. Lotus will be the perfect replacement for Wellness as they are guided by tenants that guide our store: only the best stuff for your best friend.
Now Lotus, all of their fantastic ingredients aside, is a typical dog and cat food: Canned and kibble with a grain-free alternative. The other product is not so typical...in many ways. It is called K9 Natural and is from New Zealand.
As many of you know, John is a flight attendant for United Airlines. He was on a trip back from Amsterdam nursing a torn right shoulder. (A story for later on. Not one of John's shinning moments. Yutz!) One of the flight attendants came to John telling of a guy in Business Class that made dog food. Well, he was the owner of K9 Natural. He and John had much to talk about as his food was being introduced into the US market and one of the major distributors is one that we use: Zeus. John came away impressed.
K9 Naturals is a freeze-dried product containing only the very highest grade ingredients. Their motivation is to give your dog a diet that most closely resembles that of a wild canine without the carcass to lug around the house. I was a little skeptical because most raw or freeze-dried diets become very expensive when dealing with larger, say 30lb and up dogs. Yet, the stuff really sounds impressive.
Speaking of expense, let's do a little comparison work here. Everyone likes to do comparisons using a small dog. I don't think that's fair, especially in Roscoe Village, home of the large family dog. We have three dogs in our house and the small one, Zara, is 40 lbs. I think we'll do our comparison using Zara.
Our top of the line kibble is probably Orijen Regional Red. It is grain-free and high protein with a spectacular reputation. The cost for a 29.7 lb bag is $75.99. Their feeding guide shows that a dog like Zara, who is 40 lbs, fit and active would be about 2.25 cups a day. When you do all the math, ugh, you get about 26 days worth of food in the bag. That works out to be approximately $2.92 a day.
If you want to step up your game and give your dog the benefits of a more natural diet, you can go the raw route. For this example we'll use our favorite: Stella & Chewys, large patties, beef. The cost of a 12 patty, 6lb sack is 28.99. If you use their on-line feeding guide, Zara would eat 1.5 of the large patties per day. Do the math and you come out with about $3.62 per day. This additional expense is one of the reasons that a raw diet is much more popular for smaller dogs. While feeding raw is a fantastic idea the larger dogs usually price themselves out of the market. It's a pity. Large breeds could use the benefits of a raw diet. It may be my opinion but, I think you'd see less of the ailments that haunt larger breeds, like hip dysplasia, if they had the benefits of a raw diet.
Now let's look at the product we are thinking about bringing in: K9 Natural. As with most things we won't be putting this our our shelves until it receives an in-home test. I will say that if you listen to the owner of the company and take a look at what is out on the web, this stuff looks to be the bomb. As with all things though, a cost must be attached and YOWZA does this stuff look expensive. Honestly really, really expensive; I think they are slaughtering gold plated animals. The product is freeze-dried so it is shelf stable (re. doesn't go bad.) and made with the very finest, human grade, New Zealand meats and produce. All you do is scoop it out, add a little warm water to rehydrate and put it down for your dog to enjoy. Now let's talk price: an 8.8 lb box is priced around $199.00. (I'll give you a moment to catch your breath.) That 8.8 lb box rehydrates into 35.2 lb. The feeding instructions for K9 Natural are a little different: for a 40 lb dog you would feed 1-3% of body weight. (I burned up the calculator for this one!) I used 2% as an average and for Zara that would mean feeding 12.8 oz per day. The 8.8 lb box converts into 563.2 oz of rehydrated food. Do the math and you get about 44 days worth of food in that 8.8 lb box. (Have you reached for the oxygen bottle yet?) K9 Natural will run you a very dear $4.52 per day to feed a 40 lb dog. That, my friends, is on the pricey side.
So, do we devote shelf space to K9 Natural? Honestly, I don't know if our market will bite on such an expensive product. It may be the finest product on the market but these are difficult times for many people, even those who still maintain healthy disposable income. Everyone should drop me a comment. Is your best friend worth the K9 Natural price? Is this just a product for smaller dogs where the price per serving is a little easier on the wallet? Does John need to start flying to New Zealand and smuggling in K9? You tell me. In the meantime John has promised us a box on K9 Natural to try. Between the three of us, that $199.00, 8.8 lb box should last....minutes, hours....maybe a week. All I can say is it better be the best thing since sliced bread and I'd better poop perfume after dinner. I'm just saying....
John and Russell are very excited about two new products set to grace our shelves. The first is called Lotus and we have a young lady in our neighborhood to thank for the heads-up on this wonderful product. www.lotuspetfoods.com This sweet young lady comes in to Zane + Zara's regularly. She is a fan of sharing a cookie or two with her dog and running errands for her mom. The last time she came in she asked if we carried Lotus canned food. I was taken aback as I'd never heard of Lotus Pet Foods. Well, the research started.
This stuff looked really good. Great ingredients list and US owned and produced. The next step was a meet and greet at the Backer Show. (A pet care trade show held in Chicago each year.) We met the owner of Lotus Pet Foods and came away very impressed. They are quite an established brand on the west coast and are now making the move east. All natural ingredients and baked, not extruded so they have a better nutritional profile. Their canned food not only smells fantastic but looks the part. We put in our ISO (Initial Stocking Order) right then and there. Lotus will be the perfect replacement for Wellness as they are guided by tenants that guide our store: only the best stuff for your best friend.
Now Lotus, all of their fantastic ingredients aside, is a typical dog and cat food: Canned and kibble with a grain-free alternative. The other product is not so typical...in many ways. It is called K9 Natural and is from New Zealand.
As many of you know, John is a flight attendant for United Airlines. He was on a trip back from Amsterdam nursing a torn right shoulder. (A story for later on. Not one of John's shinning moments. Yutz!) One of the flight attendants came to John telling of a guy in Business Class that made dog food. Well, he was the owner of K9 Natural. He and John had much to talk about as his food was being introduced into the US market and one of the major distributors is one that we use: Zeus. John came away impressed.
K9 Naturals is a freeze-dried product containing only the very highest grade ingredients. Their motivation is to give your dog a diet that most closely resembles that of a wild canine without the carcass to lug around the house. I was a little skeptical because most raw or freeze-dried diets become very expensive when dealing with larger, say 30lb and up dogs. Yet, the stuff really sounds impressive.
Speaking of expense, let's do a little comparison work here. Everyone likes to do comparisons using a small dog. I don't think that's fair, especially in Roscoe Village, home of the large family dog. We have three dogs in our house and the small one, Zara, is 40 lbs. I think we'll do our comparison using Zara.
Our top of the line kibble is probably Orijen Regional Red. It is grain-free and high protein with a spectacular reputation. The cost for a 29.7 lb bag is $75.99. Their feeding guide shows that a dog like Zara, who is 40 lbs, fit and active would be about 2.25 cups a day. When you do all the math, ugh, you get about 26 days worth of food in the bag. That works out to be approximately $2.92 a day.
If you want to step up your game and give your dog the benefits of a more natural diet, you can go the raw route. For this example we'll use our favorite: Stella & Chewys, large patties, beef. The cost of a 12 patty, 6lb sack is 28.99. If you use their on-line feeding guide, Zara would eat 1.5 of the large patties per day. Do the math and you come out with about $3.62 per day. This additional expense is one of the reasons that a raw diet is much more popular for smaller dogs. While feeding raw is a fantastic idea the larger dogs usually price themselves out of the market. It's a pity. Large breeds could use the benefits of a raw diet. It may be my opinion but, I think you'd see less of the ailments that haunt larger breeds, like hip dysplasia, if they had the benefits of a raw diet.
Now let's look at the product we are thinking about bringing in: K9 Natural. As with most things we won't be putting this our our shelves until it receives an in-home test. I will say that if you listen to the owner of the company and take a look at what is out on the web, this stuff looks to be the bomb. As with all things though, a cost must be attached and YOWZA does this stuff look expensive. Honestly really, really expensive; I think they are slaughtering gold plated animals. The product is freeze-dried so it is shelf stable (re. doesn't go bad.) and made with the very finest, human grade, New Zealand meats and produce. All you do is scoop it out, add a little warm water to rehydrate and put it down for your dog to enjoy. Now let's talk price: an 8.8 lb box is priced around $199.00. (I'll give you a moment to catch your breath.) That 8.8 lb box rehydrates into 35.2 lb. The feeding instructions for K9 Natural are a little different: for a 40 lb dog you would feed 1-3% of body weight. (I burned up the calculator for this one!) I used 2% as an average and for Zara that would mean feeding 12.8 oz per day. The 8.8 lb box converts into 563.2 oz of rehydrated food. Do the math and you get about 44 days worth of food in that 8.8 lb box. (Have you reached for the oxygen bottle yet?) K9 Natural will run you a very dear $4.52 per day to feed a 40 lb dog. That, my friends, is on the pricey side.
So, do we devote shelf space to K9 Natural? Honestly, I don't know if our market will bite on such an expensive product. It may be the finest product on the market but these are difficult times for many people, even those who still maintain healthy disposable income. Everyone should drop me a comment. Is your best friend worth the K9 Natural price? Is this just a product for smaller dogs where the price per serving is a little easier on the wallet? Does John need to start flying to New Zealand and smuggling in K9? You tell me. In the meantime John has promised us a box on K9 Natural to try. Between the three of us, that $199.00, 8.8 lb box should last....minutes, hours....maybe a week. All I can say is it better be the best thing since sliced bread and I'd better poop perfume after dinner. I'm just saying....
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Wellness...off our shelves they go!
Not long ago Wellness moved it's product into the large chain stores. Personally, we were OK with that. We're more than happy to compete with their prices and we don't think they can match our services. (Insert plug for Zspa here!) Well, then the advertising started. The big retailers are now using Wellness to gain, shall we say, "street cred" with customers who are very involved in what they feed their pets. The idea is, if we sell Wellness everyone will begin to think that everything we sell is high quality. It is called having a "halo" product. Everything begins to look good as a result of having one popular product. We, at Zane + Zara's, are not amused.
As of this date: October 09, 2010, we will no longer reserve space on our shelves for Wellness. This means two things: first, if you are looking for a good price on Wellness we have it. All Wellness products, be they dog or cat, are now on sale for 10% off. This is a sale to clear off our shelves of product. Each Saturday the sale will increase by 5% until everything is gone. Come and get it!!! Second: if you are a current customer and, are loath to switch your dog or cat to a new food, we are more than happy to special order the Wellness product of your choice. All we ask is that you contact us on Monday for a product delivery on Thursday. We never want to be known as a store that forces product changes on our customers. Wellness is a good food and if you want it, we'll get it for you. We just refuse to devote shelf space to a product that is giving assistance to our competition.
Wait! I hear a question. "Just what is going to get the space that Wellness used to occupy? Now that's a good question and boy do we have a good answer. It's called Lotus and it has a great little story. My next blog will cover all things Lotus. We think you'll love this new dog and cat food. We've smelled it and tasted it. It is Zane, Zara and Zelda approved.
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