Has anyone else noticed the lack of variety in lifestage products such as those marketed for the mature dog? Very often there will be a range of flavours for the adult dog but once it gets to 7 years plus, there might be only one.
I was looking at the Forthglade website and it illustrates this issue exactly - link. There are only two items in the senior range - both chicken. In the adult range there are twelve types. Puppy only has two flavours. Forthglade is not on it’s own - other companies adopt the same principles. In fact I can’t think of a company who has a variety of products for different ages.
Don’t puppies and seniors deserve a range of flavours? If so, why aren’t they being made?
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Yes absolutely… I think it is fair to say that these days there seems to be somewhat vague descriptions, by manufacturers of dog food, as to the age a dog is no longer a puppy. And so the age at which an owner is duly advised to no longer feed puppy food. That said, if pet food manufacturers are hoping to entice future customers to use their food it seems somewhat of an oversight that the first lifestage foods offered, namely the puppy foods, are plainly obviously without a great range of flavours.
It seems the same is true of foods aimed at the older dog… the definition of which varies, as in some breeds 7 is considered geriatric!
I wonder if this may be due to marketting, in effect aiming for the greatest sales of food for dogs, using their self limiting age range of between older-than-puppy and less-than-7-years, which appears to some extent, to be rather remiss on the part of a manufacturer of life stage foods…
Of course this issue, of a limited range, need not exist if we spurn lifestage dog foods and it would be interesting to hear if this is the driving marketting influence, and which manufacturers may already be aware of.
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I haven’t really looked at life stage products yet although my dog will be 8 possibly older, this year. i haven’t considered a change to food for an older dog. I suppose it will be food for thought if she develops any health issues associated with ageing.
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