After two years the comparison listing was starting to show signs of age both in its look and in terms of its information, especially when it comes to prices for the leading premium and prescription pet foods.  In the last year and a half prices have risen dramatically for pet foods (ranging from 20% to as much as 70%!), largely due to an increased use of U.S.-only ingredients in the wake of the 2007 Pet Food Recall as well as increased production and shipping expenses.

Pet food manufacturers have also frequently resorted to decreasing the size (total weight) of their bags, and in many cases (especially with the veterinary diet dog foods) have significantly increased prices while also decreasing the dog food bag size.  We’ve addressed both issues in the updated page, with a new focus on the pricing and changes in bag sizes.

By popular request we’ve also added ‘Buy Now’ buttons.  These new buttons link to the sites with the lowest prices that we’ve found for the dog foods and cat foods listed on the page.  If you’re considering purchasing one of the veterinary prescription diets please note that many require a prescription in order to purchase.

While some veterinarians are reluctant to issue a prescription for you to have filled elsewhere (it impacts their bottom line after all), veterinarians are required by law to provide a written prescription upon request, making it possible for you to save money by purchasing for less online (or elsewhere).

Check out our updated comparison page and let us know what you think of the new look and new information:

Comparison of Premium and Prescription Pet Food Diets for Urinary / Kidney Health Problems

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The auto-ship system has been in beta testing for several months and is now ready for all A+ FRR auto-ship customers.  If you currently have an automatic shipment (or shipments) with us simply log in to your A+ Flint River Ranch account (’My Account’ icon at top right-hand of our site) and you’ll see your current auto-ship details displayed at the top of your account page in the ‘My Automatic Shipment’ section.

If you need to make any changes to your auto-ship, simply click on the ‘Modify this automatic shipment’ text link or click the ‘change’ icon next to this link.  You’ll be able to update all of your current auto-ship information, as well as add additional comments and optionally place your auto-ship on hold (or cancel it entirely).

We’ve designed the online auto-ship system to make it simple and easy to stay current on your Flint River Ranch pet food shipments and to make receiving what you need when you need it as efficient and smooth as possible.

We’re excited to be the only Flint River Ranch distributor to currently offer online auto-ship viewing and management features — even the official Flint River Ranch site doesn’t offer a way to view or update your automatic shipments online.

Along with our new Flint River Ranch customer discounts, seasonal coupon codes and Flint River sales, unrivaled customer service, and top-rated website, our new online auto-ship system is just one more way we’re working to be the best pet food company for you and your pets.

Start an auto-ship today and save up to 20%!

]]> http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/frrblog/flint-river-ranch-automatic-shipment-online-services-system.html/feed 0 http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/frrblog/flint-river-ranch-dog-foods-reduced-pricing-starting-today.html http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/frrblog/flint-river-ranch-dog-foods-reduced-pricing-starting-today.html#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:00:48 +0000 aplus http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/frrblog/?p=62 With economic news of doom and gloom running rampant these days it’s refreshing to be able to provide some good news when it comes to pet food pricing.

We’re excited to announce pricing reductions for two of our Flint River Ranch dog foods.  FRR Headquarters has received a slight adjustment in some of the ingredient costs used to formulate the Flint River Ranch Original Oven-Baked Kibble and Flint River Ranch Nugget Dog Food formulas, and has also extended supply contracts and negotiated a lower price on some key ingredients.

We’re passing these savings on to our customers.   The reduced prices currently only apply to our two most popular dog foods, the 20 and 40 pound sizes of both the FRR Adult & Puppy Dog Food formula and the FRR Nugget Dog Food formula.  Here are the new prices:

New 20 LB Adult & Puppy Dog Food Price: $ 32.89 (from $33.89)
New 40 LB Adult & Puppy Dog Food Price: $ 60.89 (from $62.64)

New 20 LB Nugget Dog Food Price: $ 33.89 (from $34.39)
New 40 LB Nugget Dog Food Price: $ 61.89 (from $62.49)

While not as deep as we would have liked in terms of slashing prices, we’re happy to be able to offer reduced pricing in an economic market where pet food prices are continuing to rise across the board.  We’re striving to do the best we can for you and your pets, and we’re serious when we say that we’re proud to be a part of your pet’s nutritional health!

We hope to be able to provide additional price reductions later on in the year, and we’ll also continue to offer the lowest possible pricing on our pet foods while also offering as many discounts as possible.

Speaking of discounts, make sure to take advantage of our Early Spring Savings Special this month, with new Flint River Ranch customers receiving an automatic 10% discount and current A+ FRR customers receiving $5 off orders over $75 and $10 off orders over $150 – no coupon codes needed!

Order Now!

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For a limited time both new and current A+ FRR customers will save on Flint River pet food purchases, with new customers receiving an automatic 10% discount and current customers receiving $5 off orders over $75 and $10 off orders over $150 – no coupon codes needed!

We want to thank you for your continued patronage of A+ Flint River Ranch, and we want to let you know there’s more good news on the way.  Check back frequently in March for more great deals and new developments at A+ Flint River Ranch.

Thank you again, and please tell your friends and family about the Flint River Ranch Spring Sale — hurry, the automatic Flint River discount savings will end soon!

Order Now!

The good news is that you can take advantage of current Flint River Ranch pricing through October 14th so make sure to get any needed pet food and treat orders in before the 15th. The even betters news is that current A+ Flint River Ranch customers will receive an automatic 5% discount when placing orders over $200 from now until October 15th, and customers new to Flint River Ranch will continue to receive up to 20% off your first order!

» Updated Flint River Ranch Pricing «

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As far as why the prices for Flint River Ranch pet foods — and most all high-quality pet foods for that matter — have been and are continuing to increase, we’ll let Jay P. Margedant, President of Flint River Ranch, explain the recent developments in the pet food industry and Flint River specifically:

There is never a good time to tell your customers that you are about to change pricing, especially in the middle of all turmoil that is hitting this country and now the world. Flint River Ranch has endeavored to “ride-out” our continued increased costs over the last 6-9 months; however, this is no longer an option. We unfortunately need to make the announcement that on October 15th, 2008 Flint River Ranch will have to instigate a product price adjustment.

I’ve alerted your distributors earlier in the month and a number of emails have crossed my desk from them. Some understanding and supportive of the necessity of this adjustment; others somewhat negative in content, but all of them indicating the same concerns that we all feel about the price of food, energy, housing and our financial community challenges. Some of us have lost a major part of our investments and retirement funds; it is going to take some time to recover.

Flint River Ranch has been sensitive to all of the issues of this year and for the past several months we have done all we could to adjust our business processes, conserve our costs and withhold the previous increases that we have had to stabilize the price that you pay for your pets FRR products. Most everyone purchasing from Flint River Ranch fully understand that without a market adjustment, there would be no way to continue losing capital and we would be forced to close Flint River Ranch.

There are a number of challenges about this adjustment I wish to share. The factors surrounding the amount of the adjustment is not solely based on recent price increases on ingredients, but an accumulation of many price increases over the year and more recently the past 6 months that we have incurred.

Those who have followed Flint River Ranch over the years realize that we endeavor to remain conservative and keep our costs as low as possible. We have stocked 16 warehouses across the USA in order to maintain the smallest possible shipping regions. October 12th will be our 15th anniversary and during this time freight costs alone have more than tripled. It is not only our shipping costs, but every supplier’s costs in the movement of products have increased as well. Investments in automated and operational systems have helped reduce overhead and we have invested in long-term contracts to help lower ingredient costs.

However, the entire pet food industry, along with human product producers is faced with the same challenges. Who would believe that in our lifetime we would see a loaf of bread rise to over $3.50? Jim Flint can recall when Wonder Bread™ was 5 cents a 1 lb loaf. Some experts feel the ingredient market will remain high; others are looking for some downward adjustment in the future. We ride with the market and if we receive a downward trend, Flint River Ranch will also match this trend with reduced pricing.

There are many other factors to consider. About 10 days ago, 90% of the gas stations in Atlanta did not have gas. The other 10% were able to supply gas for only 3-4 hours a day. It was a real challenge to fill our cars. All of us are continually faced with on-going challenges. All will pass in time; as they say that markets bounce and adjust. We may never see the lower prices of a few years ago, but there will be favorable adjustments as it always happens. Hopefully, the US Dollar will get stronger and the United States will stop being the shopping center of the world.

While Flint River Ranch was not involved in the recent pet food crisis; it has forced many manufacturers to upgrade their ingredients to the US market thereby forcing a price increase and shortages on ingredients. Also regulatory agencies have also forced many brands to actually put in their bag what is written on the label.

Flint River Ranch continues our pledge for quality products with the finest ingredients. We also pledge to constantly monitor the industry and reduce price if we are able to do so. We truly appreciate your continued interest and support. We will constantly endeavor to do our part to the best of our ability. Thank you for your attention to this matter and your continued support of Flint River Ranch!

» Updated Flint River Ranch Pricing «

We want to thank you for your continued patronage of A+ Flint River Ranch, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come.  Thank you again, and please tell your friends and family about the Flint River Ranch Summer Sale — hurry, the FRR discount expires July 25th!

Web Server Outage Update

We also want to apologize to our customers for a server outage that rendered our Web site inaccessible over this past weekend (July 12th weekend) and earlier this week.  Our previous Web hosting service migrated our site to a new server platform earlier this month and unfortunately that server has created many more problems than it was intended to fix.  The server crashed on Friday and our host company has as of yet been unable to get the server back up and running.

The good news is that after much frustration and angst with our old hosting service, we’re now back up and running with a new and much improved Web hosting service, and we’re really excited about the improvements in performance, security, and reliability that we’ve already seen and that we expect to continue to see over the long haul.

We’ve also taken measures to prevent future outages from taking our site down for an extended period of time.  We now have a backup site ready to go at a moment’s notice and we’re also working to assemble a dedicated support team to ensure that any outages that do occur in the future are resolved as quickly as possible.

Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience associated with not being able to place online orders over the weekend and early this week.  We hope you’ll be able to take advantage of the summer sale on Flint River Ranch that we’re running for the next week, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns about our site, about our company, or about Flint River Ranch pet foods in general, we’d love to hear from you.

Contact us anytime at aplus at aplusfrr dot com or call us toll free at (877) 919-5356.

The Mars Petcare pet food plant is responsible for producing about 25 different brands of dry pet food, both cat foods and dog foods. An inspection of the manufacturing plant revealed an isolate of the outbreak Salmonella strain on an environmental surface and two isolates in two brands of dry dog food.

Following the inspection, operations were suspended between July and November, 2007, for cleaning and disinfection, and specific batches of the two brands of dog food, Krasdale Gravy dry dog food and Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food, were recalled as of August 21st, 2007.

Neither of the recalled brands was related to human illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which publishes the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. The CDC added that the limited recall by Mars Petcare means that contaminated dry pet food is almost certainly still present in many homes.

Mars Petcare US, Inc. manufactures a variety of well-known pet food brands, including Pedigree dog foods, the Goodlife Recipe cat and dog foods, Whiskas cat food, Cesar Canine Cuisine wet dog food, and Sheba wet cat food. The company originated within the Mars, Incorporated family as Masterfoods Pet Division/Mars, Inc. and later acquired the Doane Pet Care company.

Mars Petcare expanded again last year with an acquisition of Nutro Pet Food Products, manufacturers of a healthy line of “super premium dog and cat foods,” including Nutro Max, Nutro Ultra, and Nutro Natural Choice brands.

To date, Mars Petcare has not recalled any brands or batches other than specific batches and sizes of the Krasdale Gravy dry dog food (5lb bag) and Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food (50lb bag). The dog foods were sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania markets.

Salmonella bacteria can cause diarrhea (possibly bloody), fever, and abdominal cramps, with most victims recovering within a week without treatment. Babies, elders, and those with weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable.

The CDC urges pet owners to wash their hands immediately after handling pet food in order to prevent a possible Salmonella infection and also recommends that infants and children be kept away from pet feeding areas and prevented from touching or eating pet food, pet treats, or supplements.

Additional information is available on our Mars Petcare Dog Food Recall page.

A+ FRR Note: Flint River Ranch has no involvement with Mars Petcare or Nutro Products, and none of Flint River Ranch’s all natural, healthy dog food formulas or cat food formulas are involved in the dog food recall mentioned above or any other pet food recall.

As previously reported, Flint River Ranch will be increasing the price on its Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet, and Rice Dog Foods effective May 11th, 2008. On May 11th the prices will increase from:

FRR Lamb & Rice – 20lb bag (LMR20): From $30.89 to $32.89
FRR Lamb & Rice – 40lb order (LMR40): From $56.79 to $58.79
FRR Lamb & Rice – 200lb order (LMR200): From $276.99 to $289.99
FRR Lamb & Rice – 520lb order (LMR520): From $679.99 to $729.99

The price changes are due to the continued price pressures on the cost of ingredients in Flint River Ranch pet foods. Following the pet food recall in 2007, many pet food manufacturers turned to buying their lamb exclusively from New Zealand, which has long been recognized for its high quality and efficient production capabilities.

Large commercial pet food companies have made a huge impact on the cost of lamb since most have discontinued purchasing from their old sources in China. This coupled with the declining value of the US dollar and a historic drought in New Zealand and Australia (severely depleting their viable crops) has caused commodity pricing to soar to historic levels.

FRR Lamb & Rice – 20lb bag (LMR20): From $30.89 to $32.89
FRR Lamb & Rice – 40lb order (LMR40):  From $56.79 to $58.79
FRR Lamb & Rice – 200lb order (LMR200): From $276.99 to $289.99
FRR Lamb & Rice – 520lb order (LMR520): From $679.99 to $729.99

The price changes are due to the continued price pressures on the cost of ingredients in Flint River Ranch pet foods.   Following the pet food recall in 2007, many pet food manufacturers turned to buying their lamb exclusively from New Zealand, which has long been recognized for its high quality and efficient production capabilities.

Large commercial pet food companies have made a huge impact on the cost of lamb since most have discontinued purchasing from their old sources in China.  This coupled with the declining value of the US dollar and a historic drought in New Zealand and Australia (severely depleting their viable crops) has caused commodity pricing to soar to historic levels.

Flint River Ranch has made contractual agreements with its suppliers to maintain its quantity and high quality demands, but it has had to do so by agreeing to purchase lamb at the same price being offered by the larger pet food factories.  This has resulted in the cost of lamb literally doubling overnight.

The cost of pet foods ingredients like lamb continue to rise without any sign of leveling off, but we will continue to do our best to keep Flint River Ranch prices as affordable as possible.

This change has created slightly longer shipping timeframes for many customers as well as an increased number of multi-item orders being shipped out from different FRR distribution centers, resulting in products in the same order often arriving on different days.

As of April 3rd, 2008, we’ve added support for multiple UPS Tracking Notifications to handle these types of shipments. Both our online customer account system and our order notification e-mails have been upgraded to now display multiple UPS tracking numbers and scheduled delivery dates for multi-item FRR orders in which deliveries are scheduled for different days.

We also want to take a moment to provide an updated list of Flint River Ranch official distribution facilities and the areas they currently serve:

Western U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Denver, Colorado (Commerce City, CO) – Official Flint River Ranch West Coast Distribution Center
Serves all West Coast states and most central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming

Los Angeles, California (San Bernardino, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada

San Francisco, California (Stockton, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Northern California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona

Salt Lake City, Utah (UT) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and California

Portland, Oregon (Tualatin, OR) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana

Eastern U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Atlanta, Georgia (GA) – Official Flint River Ranch East Coast Distribution Center
Serves all East Coast and some central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Thornburg, PA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, District of Columbia (D.C.), West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin

Keene, New Hampshire (NH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island

Tampa, Florida (FL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Florida and Georgia

Central U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

Chicago, Illinois (Addison, IL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Missouri

Columbus, Ohio (Chillicothe, OH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland

Kansas City, Kansas (KS) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, and Tennessee

Dallas, Texas (Northwest TX) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

Minneapolis, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota

If you’re interested in learning how long a FRR shipment might take to your state, you can utilize our helpful new Flint River Ranch Delivery Graph to get an average timeframe for deliveries as well as the most common distribution locations used for shipping FRR pet foods and treats to your state.