08/06/2026
“Wolves in sheep’s clothing” (A note about Online Pet Pharmacies):
Despite their frequent and suggestive advertising, don’t automatically assume that Chewy has your best interest in mind. Their ads frequently advise consumers, “Don’t pay more than you have at your vet. Get the same products for less through Chewy.” Consumers then look up a product they are currently purchasing through their vet and they see a price listed in large red font that is a price that seems too good to be true. The ads must be true, their vet is over-charging them.
However, if you read the fine print, that price in red (usually a 35% discount) applies only to the FIRST Autoship order. Subsequent Autoship orders receive only a 5% discount. They are banking on people falling for that initial “too good to be true” offer and then failing to notice the future Autoship charges on their credit card statement.
Case in point: We received a Chewy request for prescription food today. The promotional offer on the first Autoship order was below the wholesale cost we pay the manufacturer. However, all subsequent Autoship orders were priced nearly $5 above the retail price we charge for the same bag of food if it was purchased in our office. This is called a “loss leader strategy”. Chewy is willing to lose money on that first purchase because if they can get customers to sign up for Autoship and “set it and forget it” they will make up the difference over the course of the year because they are over-charging for the remaining Autoship orders. Additionally, customers see the amazing discount, assume everything is cheaper on Chewy, and buy complimentary products without giving any consideration to the price. This is precisely how Chewy increased revenue from $7 billion in 2020 to $12.5 billion in 2025. Auto-ship sales make up 84% of their total revenue! That's $10.5 billion last year from Auto-ship orders alone.
We strategically price our products to be competitive with, and usually less expensive than, Chewy products. There are some products we can’t compete with them on because their sales volume is vastly greater than ours. However, more times than not, our price is better if customers would see through the ruse of the loss leader pricing on the initial purchase. We don’t have the time to explain this to every client that submits a Chewy prescription request to us. Please, don’t automatically accept Chewy’s propaganda that your vet is a villain and out to steal your money. We aren’t the wolf in sheep’s clothing!
