'Mum had to send cans': Woman's fury over pet food shortage at supermarkets
A shortage is affecting Pedigree, Whiskas, My Dog and Schmackos products at numerous stores, but Coles said it now had them back on shelves.
The issue has been affecting Coles and Woolworths since late March.
Cara Dowsett, from Figtree – south of Sydney, told Yahoo News she had been to two different Woolworths stores and a Coles but could not find any Whiskas cat food for her feline, Coco.
“It’s ridiculous,” Ms Dowsett said.
“My mum had to send cans of cat food down from Sydney via express post.”
Ms Dowsett tried other brands when she could find them, but claimed she was spending twice as much on cat food now.
“When will you have more Whiskas food available in the Wollongong region?” she wrote on Coles’ Facebook page on Tuesday.
Another woman told Coles to “pull your finger out”.
“My fur babies need that food,” she wrote.
Nicole Beulke, who lives in Melbourne, wrote she was also struggling to buy food for her dog, Winston.
“Time to make my own?” she wrote.
A Sydney man also wrote on Woolworths’ Facebook page asking about the shortage, adding he ended up turning to Aldi to buy food for his puppy.
Coles says pet food back on shelves
A Coles spokesperson told Yahoo News the issue had been resolved.
“An availability issue with our supplier resulted in a number of pet food products being temporarily out of stock,” he said.
“The good news for our four-legged customers is that products are now back on shelves at Coles.”
He added some stores might be facing shortages because shoppers were heading to Coles due to issues at Woolworths.
But a Coles representative commented on Ms Dowsett’s Facebook complaint, saying the supermarket was facing “significant supply issues from Mars Petcare”.
“We’re working hard with them on addressing the problem,” the representative said.
“Unfortunately, we’re unable to provide a specific time-frame as to when this will be resolved and we’re very sorry for any disappointment.”
In a statement, Woolworths said it expected stock to return to its shelves “in the coming days” and had been working with suppliers to address “availability issues”.
“We’ve recently experienced some supply shortages on a small range of products,” it said.
“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience.”
National Union of Workers regional organiser Mark Schmidt told the Bendigo Advertiser last week the shortage was due to a price war after Mars raised its prices.
He told the paper the warehouses were full and there was not a shortage of the product.
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