We all know there are plenty of pet food options out there. WhichDogFood currently features 96 dog food brands available in the UK and still has many more to go. Incredibly though, almost 90% of all pet food sales in the UK are from just four companies. Through relentless marketing and wide spread buy-outs, 'The Big Four' corporations have come to dominate and define pet food in the UK and across the world.
Unless you've been living (and shopping) in a cave, you will certainly have heard of each of pet food's big four corporations but what you might not know is that, between them, they own almost all of the UK's best known dog food brands.
But how have these four companies come to control the pet food market so completely? It must be because their products are so good, right? Unfortunately not...
But it doesn't end there. The Big Four aren't content with just main-stream dominance. By buying out the most successful independent brands and effectively inventing veterinary diets, the corporations have even taken a large bite of the pet shop and veterinary market. 9 out of 10 vets now recommend foods from one of the big four. The corporations have long understood the importance of veterinary recommendations and have spent millions on securing their positions as the vets' diet of choice with 'sponsored' nutritional modules at veterinary college and massive monitory incentives for veterinary practices.
Of course, when your pet's health doesn't come first, there is bound to be a backlash. Many retailers are now scaling back on their big four brands and one shop, Scampers Natural Pet Care in Soham is leading likeminded pet-shops in a full-scale boycott of big four brands! Scampers have spent much of the last year replacing all of the big four brands with a wide range top-notch independent pet food brands from around the UK and beyond.
The fact is that the big four are just companies and like all companies, they are answerable to their customers. Every time a pet owner moves from a low grade food to a good quality diet, it increases the pressure on the manufacturers of low quality foods to change their ways and to finally put our pets first.