Setteroo
I thought growing pains, just realized this co been around since at least 2019?!?
Having had a cat die via food from the 2007 pet food recall, I am very aware of what an appropriate cat diet should be. So, I was floored when my VERY picky 16 year old cat (who ate dry before the recall & has been addicted & crazy picky ever since I took it away) actually liked their food. I cannot tell you the money I’ve wasted over the years trying to find a healthy wet food he’d eat & how much it KILLED me to spend my money on horrible Fancy Feast, since that’s ALL he’d eat. My dogs all eat raw, he won’t touch it! So I was BEYOND thrilled when I tried this food on a whim & he actually liked it! So, per my last couple months experience with this company, here are the positives & negatives, in my experience! The positives: I love so much & respect what this company is trying to do, as far as the ingredients in their foods (although I could do without the protein booster from an inappropriate source - good ol peas 😼) I like that they do a trial run to try out their foods. Their customer service is good, everyone VERY nice & accommodating, as much as they can be. I LOVE that my cat loves it, (the two ground birds, anyway) that’s the largest point of positive for me! The negatives: I HATE the subscription only option for getting their foods. The website is a bit of a convoluted mess, way more complicated than it needs to be, although again, I completely respect what you are trying to do, you are trying to make the least predictable thing in the world (CATS!) black & white, when it just isn’t. The trial was too short before they were trying to send me more, when I wasn’t even sure what all proteins & textures my cat liked & didn’t. Then when you need it, depending on when in the week it is, it could be another two before you receive. I’d personally buy WAY more product if they’d let it be a free order system. I was sent a protein/texture I hadn’t ordered & wasn’t even an option to order in their system- & my cat wouldn’t touch it. When I contacted them, in order for it to be replaced I had to send them photos proving I’d received it before they’d replace. (How would I even know to make it up if it’s not on the site as a choice?!) I was told they were stilll finalizing the analysis before offering it, and warehouse accidentally sent it. There has been A LOT of variance in what is supposed to be the same protein/texture- diff lot #s completely different, and some my cat will eat, some he won’t, even though it’s supposed to be the same, which I do not understand at all. In my sample box, my ground cow was a pinkish color, in my regular box, its dark brown & looks like cooked ground beef I make for spaghetti. In my sample box, the pulled bird was REALLY finely shredded & my cat loved it, then when I received my regular order, it was more what I’d think of as pulled, larger chunks & shreds, & he now will barely eat it, just kind of picks at it, and now I have a ton of it. There has also been variance in color mainly, between my two regular orders I’ve received, specific to diff lot #s. The packaging is also pretty poor, I’ve realized after I’ve ruined now 3 packages. It is heat sealed plastic, but it’s not sealed completely around the edges, which makes me wonder on freshness. When I’ve forgotten a couple times to lay out to thaw in time, I instead submerged (unopened) in warm water for 10-15m to speed up the process. However all three packages have been full of water when I checked on them a few min later. Being that they are $9 per 11.5oz pack, I’m not sure about other people, but I cannot afford to just toss them because of crappy packaging & I dont have time to email them over every small issue, and honestly, with the amount this costs, I shouldn’t have to. My advice? Get rid of the wasted money on cutesy packaging/website/brochures in box & spend it on better PRODUCT packaging, more consistent product, lower your prices or more for the money. Allow people to order a la carte- maybe try to finagle a deal with FedEx for a certain # of pounds of product at a set price- let us decide if we want to pay shipping costs. Stop calling your service reps “cat concierges,” this might be appropriate if each customer had one rep they always dealt with, but when, during resolution of ONE issue, over the course of two days, every time I replied to a person, I’d get another on response. I emailed back & forth with I think 5-6 diff people, all of which are SUPER nice, but all have varying ways of dealing with the same issue. I was really ready to scream. In the end, bottom line & MOST important is, I will tolerate A LOT if I can get my cat to eat a healthy food-otherwise, they’d of long since lost me as a customer. I am hoping that being a newer company, over time they will work out these issues. I just hope the food stays consistent enough for my cat to continue to eat it. And, as others have stated, the packaging definitely NOT pull apart, must always use scissors to open
Response from SmallsMar 15, 2022
Hey Jennifer, thank you so much for providing us with this feedback! As a small and growing company, we value all input. We were so surprised to hear you received Pulled Turkey in your order because it hadn't been released yet. The reason we asked for a photograph was so that we could send it to our warehouse manager. My apologies if this made you feel as though we didn't believe you! 💛 When it comes to our recipes, some color variation is expected and normal. Cats' appetites can change suddenly or unexpectedly, sometimes with the weather or their moods, and it could be a sign that they want to change things up, or have a little variety in their textures. We definitely agree that recently our packaging has become tough to open. We're actually in the process of testing out some new packaging and we are very excited about it!