NOTE (added 1/18/07): If you are searching for Tender Vittles, try calling the Purina 800 number (1-800-778-7462) to locate a retailer in your area. Get several, because stores listed in Purina's system may not actually carry the product. Also, try Amazon.com - I was able to order a case from an online grocery store there.
I drove my aunt to her son's house on my way to work yesterday morning, and along the way I ranted about the Tender Vittles quest that had begun the night before. So while I was searching online and my mom was searching stores throughout the Wilkes-Barre area, my aunt found herself in the pet food section of a Price Chopper in the Scranton area looking at some boxes of Tender Vittles, trying to remember if that was what I had been talking about. Isis at Purina had identified Price Chopper as on of the two local sources of Tender Vittles, but I was never able to communicate this to anyone else - my mom's phone was picking up signals only sporadically - so it was just by luck that my aunt found herself there. She bought four 12-ounce boxes.
It was too late to cancel my online order when I got home last night, so I also have twenty boxes coming to me from a grocery store in New York.
I am wondering why so many retailers are referring to Tender Vittles as "discontinued". I think that Tender Vittles must be a low-profit-margin product, especially given its relatively large shelf footprint - each 12-ounce box costs less than $2, but takes up shelf space that could be occupied by four pouches or packets of something else selling for $1 or more per unit. So from the retailer's point of view, it is more desirable to fill the shelves with more expensive items, especially if desperate consumers will buy them as a potential alternative to Tender Vittles - like I did Monday night.
I drove my aunt to her son's house on my way to work yesterday morning, and along the way I ranted about the Tender Vittles quest that had begun the night before. So while I was searching online and my mom was searching stores throughout the Wilkes-Barre area, my aunt found herself in the pet food section of a Price Chopper in the Scranton area looking at some boxes of Tender Vittles, trying to remember if that was what I had been talking about. Isis at Purina had identified Price Chopper as on of the two local sources of Tender Vittles, but I was never able to communicate this to anyone else - my mom's phone was picking up signals only sporadically - so it was just by luck that my aunt found herself there. She bought four 12-ounce boxes.
It was too late to cancel my online order when I got home last night, so I also have twenty boxes coming to me from a grocery store in New York.
I am wondering why so many retailers are referring to Tender Vittles as "discontinued". I think that Tender Vittles must be a low-profit-margin product, especially given its relatively large shelf footprint - each 12-ounce box costs less than $2, but takes up shelf space that could be occupied by four pouches or packets of something else selling for $1 or more per unit. So from the retailer's point of view, it is more desirable to fill the shelves with more expensive items, especially if desperate consumers will buy them as a potential alternative to Tender Vittles - like I did Monday night.
It is a tribute to Ashes all the time and care going into finding his "Vittles". :)
ReplyDeleteI found this page while doing a desperate consumer search for "Tender Vittles"!!!!
ReplyDeleteI live in Upstate New York (the Bermuda triangle of culture located between Albany, Utica, and Binghamton, and have noticed that NO local grocery store carries this item.
I will be searching online for a reasonable price and shipping to get my ten-year-old black cat the food she craves, yet tends to bring up an hour later. On my clean towels.
The things we do for our pets. Masters, I meant masters.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Mander in Upstate
Mander, many people searching for this information are hitting this post, but not this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/2006/02/tender-vittles-found-maybe.html ,
in which I list the Purina 800 number (1-800-778-7462). I also fail to mention that I bought them online at Amazon. I hope you can find your Tender Vittles!
Wish I had found this sooner! My 15 year old Tuxedo Eris recently passed away, and part of the reason was not being able to eat dry food for lack of teeth! Canned/pouched food just went right through her with little to no digestion.
ReplyDeleteAs an alternative I bought Moist & Tender dog food. She could eat and digest that, but dog food does not have all of the nutrients cats need. Maybe if you can't find T.V. and your cat just wants it rather than needs it, this would work for you if you supplement his/her diet with dry or canned.
I wonder if the Tender Vittles would have worked... I wonder if I'd still have her now? What a hole in my heart and in my life.
I'm north of Dallas, by the way, and even searched the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I wonder if the retailers not carrying T.V. realize (or care)that it is not only a WANTED product, but a NEEDED one!
MamaKat
Unfortunately, in the two years since I wrote this post, Tender Vittles has vanished from the market entirely. I was actually just lamenting this with a random stranger in the pet food aisle of my grocery store earlier today.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what it would take to get it back on the market?
Whoops, sorry, THREE years. Plus a week or so.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for Tender Vittles in every location that carries petfood here with no positive result...and now I know why :o(
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago Tender Vittles were in stores across the province, but now that I can't obtain them for my recently rescued cat I feel cheated by Purina, as does my sick little Ebony.
I guess I will go to Purina's website and vent my frustrations about losing such a wonderful product on behalf of cats and their families everywhere.
why??
ReplyDeletewhat happened??
No idea. Business decision, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI would advise all Tender Vittle fans to call and comment their need for the Tender Vittle product. They have discontinued the product a long time ago. The more feedback they get, the more reason they have to re-evaluate the market for it.
ReplyDeleteWhen you call, they will ask for your last name and your zip code, give them this info so you can tell them you are in search for Tender Vittles and that you would like them to re-evaluate the marketing for this discontinued product.
1-800-778-7462
That is the Nestle-Purina consumer number. They will also ask you if you would like some free coupons. This will give you people who like things of such true motivation :-)