Survey Shows 60 Percent of Pet Owners Need Better Information to Choose Healthy Food for Their Pets

SAN DIEGO, /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 80 percent of pet parents are confident their pet's food is healthy and nutritious, but only four in 10 say they understand pet food labels, according to a recent survey commissioned by PETCO, a leading pet specialty retailer. Backing up its pledge that every pet deserves better nutrition and a long, healthy life, PETCO is launching a campaign to educate both consumers and the company's own associates in an effort to narrow the gap between pet parents' desire to feed their pets healthy food and their ability to understand and meet their pet's nutritional needs.

Whether choosing food for themselves, their families or their pets, most Americans pay particular attention to nutritional value. Eighty-three percent of American pet parents consider the nutritional value of their own food to be critical (31%) or important (52%). As pets are increasingly treated as members of the family, pet parents show a similar level of interest in choosing the right food for their pets, with 79 percent putting the same critical or important emphasis on their pet's nutrition.