Your Stories Q&A: Many struggle to find dry cat food

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The owner of a local cat café says he’s having a hard time finding large quantities of the dry food he buys his cats.

Josh Davis owns Lune Café in Syracuse. He said he’s extremely picky about the dry food he buys his cats. He said he usually gets the highest quality Purina and IAMS foods, but they haven’t been easy to find.

“Maybe I’ll hit up Walmart or Price Chopper, or something along those lines but what will end up happening is I’ll go to pick up some of those vegetables that I need to get and they won’t have the cat food and then I’ll go to another store and they won’t have the cat food,” said Davis.

Davis said he’s been buying the brand he usually gets in the smaller bags because that’s all he can find.

NewsChannel 9 did reach out to the Pet Food Institute to get an industry-wide perspective on the dry cat food issues. They sent us the following statement:

“Since the start of COVID, every node in the supply chain has been disrupted, resulting in a shortage of pet foods, including cat food. Besides supply chain issues, pet food makers also suffered from a shortage of necessary ingredients for making pet foods, such as meat and fish. Another contributing factor is the competition over necessary fats and oils for producing pet food caused by renewable diesel mandates and incentives. Finally, just like in other industries, labor shortages have impacted the pet food industry. Pet food makers are working their way out of a major backlog. If cat owners do see a shortage in their store, we recommend calling the manufacturer for their recommendations of alternative cat foods.”

Dana Brooks, President and CEO of Pet Food Institute

Davis said he hopes to easily find his cat food again in larger quantities in the future.