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Petco has launched an educational campaign on pet nutrition for both consumers and its staff. The national campaign is designed to narrow the gap between pet owners’ desire to feed their pets healthy food and their ability to understand and meet their pets’ nutritional needs, according to the San Diego-based company.

“The human food industry has done a great job educating consumers on how to read labels to select healthy ingredients and steer clear of the unhealthy ones,” Rick Rockhill, Petco’s vice president of merchandise innovation, said in a statement. “We want to arm consumers with the same kind of knowledge to make the best choices for their pets.”

The campaign includes:

• In-depth training and certification for at least two staff nutrition experts at every Petco store;
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• Pet nutrition workshops for consumers scheduled for Nov. 14 in all of Petco’s more than 950 stores;
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• Providing consumers with educational materials and pet nutrition guidance, including a “Food Finder” tool online.

“We’re confident that by providing pet parents with the tools and by staffing our stores with trained nutrition experts, we can increase the number of pets enjoying the health benefits of great nutrition, and living healthier, happier lives with their human companions,” Rockhill said.

In conjunction with the launch of the new campaign, Petco has released survey results that indicate pet owners need more information on how to choose healthy pet food.

According to the survey commissioned by Petco, nearly 80 percent of the 527 pet owners polled said they are confident their pet’s food is healthy and nutritious. However, 43 percent of the respondents said they understand how to evaluate the nutritional value of their pet’s food by looking at the ingredients; 41 percent reported knowing which ingredients are the most nutritious and which were the ones to avoid; and 39 percent said they know the nutritional difference between basic, premium, natural and organic pet food. <HOME>