The Pet-Food Shortage Is Real, and Owners Are Scrambling. ‘It’s Been a Waking Nightmare’ 

Your dog wants chicken and rice flavor but has to make do with dry kibble, because import and production holdups have hit dog food and cat food just like human food. ‘He looks at me with these sad eyes.’

Shortages of labor, raw materials and transportation are crimping the human food supply, from beverages to snacks. The challenge is the same for pet food, and is even more acute, supermarket executives say, because of the sudden high demand. More people have adopted pets during the Covid-19 pandemic, and pet owners are buying bigger volumes of food. Pet-food sales at supermarkets grew 6.9% over the past 52 weeks ended Nov. 27, compared with 2.3% for food overall, according to research firm NielsenIQ.

The crunch is putting some pet owners in a bind—particularly those whose pets require prescribed food or have dietary restrictions. Dogs and cats often get attached to a specific brand or flavor of food, pet owners said, and can have physical reactions if forced to change.