Chewy Is Great

This is not a paid advertisement, but I really wish that it was. Ziggy, our cat who will turn 15 this summer, needed to take some medicine recently. The vet suggested mixing it in his food since there was no chance that he would take it on its own. So I crushed the pill, mixed it with the Meow Mix wet food Ziggy has had since he was a kitten, and watched him eat. Ziggy took a bite, noticed the different taste, and then walked away from the food. I repeated these steps the next day, and Ziggy ignored the wet food. He ignored his food the following day too. Even with no medicine mixed with his food, Ziggy stopped eating his wet food completely.

About a week before giving Ziggy his medicine, I purchased 7 boxes of Meow Mix from Chewy for a little over $50 so that I would get free shipping. Seeing that Ziggy was no longer eating this food, I contacted Chewy to return the unopened boxes. Chewy told me to keep or donate the food (which I did to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter) and gave me a full refund. A week later, I received a letter from Chewy wishing Ziggy well. 

I am now a Chewy customer for life. They gave me a full refund, allowed me to donate unused food, and sent a very nice personalized card. The box was pretty heavy, so maybe Chewy didn’t want to pay for return shipping fees, but that’s still a loss for them (at least short term). Of course, based on the goodwill earned and this blog post, maybe this will be a positive in the end. And we will all remember the friendships we made along the way!

The Search For Cat Food

Ziggy eats Meow Mix's Seafood Favorites wet food each morning and has had this since he was a kitten. I should probably mention that Meow Mix is not sponsoring this post or this blog. If the fine folks at Meow Mix would like to be a sponsor or send me free food or even coupons, hi! Anyway, I used to buy a 12-pack at Target, but they stopped selling it several years ago. If I only need to get a box or two, I buy Ziggy's food at Wegmans for $5.99, but Walmart sells it for less, so I've ordered online through them in the last few years. With Ziggy low on his food, I went to Walmart's website only to discover that it wasn't available for shipping. Instead, I could drive to the store about 30 minutes away to buy the only three boxes in stock. Pass.

I looked on Amazon, but the price was $7.99 a box. Hard pass. 

Thanks to an online search, I found that Kroger seemed like the best option. Sure, the nearest Kroger is hundreds of miles away, but they deliver. Who knew? I registered for an account and was all set to buy through them, but I could only buy a maximum of four boxes. Sure, four boxes is fine for Ziggy but not enough to qualify for free shipping. Goodbye Kroger. See you when I visit Columbus, Ohio in fall 2022.

Finally, I discovered and settled on Chewy. Did you know that Chewy's mission is to be the most trusted and convenient online destination for pet parents (and partners), everywhere? Now you know. By the way, I cannot spell convenient without using spell check. While I should probably mention that Chewy is not sponsoring this post or this blog, if the fine folks at Chewy would like to be a sponsor or send me free food or even coupons, hi! Anyway, there is free shipping on orders over $49, so I bought 9 boxes at $5.76. Ziggy is going to be set for months! Oh, for all of the time I spent searching for food, I saved a whopping $2.07. And I got to write a blog post about this entire experience, so the savings and value are priceless!

It's blog posts like this one that make Damon Young, Gene Collier, Merecedes J. Williams, Natalie Bencivenga, and Tony Norman feel comfortable knowing that I have no chance and no reason to win Pittsburgh Magazine's Best of the 'Burgh!