Why Huge Discounts and Free Trials in Dog Food Do More Harm Than Good(and how acquisition marketing is hurting dogs)
The uncomfortable truth about dog food discounts
“50% off your first box.”
“Try it free—no risk.”
“Just cancel anytime.”
On the surface, these offers look supportive—especially in a cost-of-living crisis. But in reality, huge first-order discounts and free trials in dog food are not designed to protect dogs. They are designed to acquire customers quickly.
And dogs are paying the physiological cost.
This isn’t about blaming owners. It’s about calling out a business model that encourages dietary instability, then quietly steps away from the consequences.
These offers aren’t generosity — they’re acquisition strategies
The pet food industry has borrowed heavily from subscription tech and DTC marketing. That means:
Aggressive sign-up incentives
Hidden long-term costs
Fast onboarding, slow disengagement
Growth first, suitability later
Huge discounts and free trials exist to remove friction, not to improve nutrition. They are meant to get food into bowls before owners have asked:
Can I afford this at full price?
Is this appropriate long term?
What happens when the discount ends?
This is classic acquisition marketing — something I’ve explored previously in
Why Vet-Approved Dog Foods Might Not Be What You Think
If a food only works at half price, it doesn’t actually work
Dog food is not a one-off purchase. It’s a long-term commitment.
If a brand only fits your budget:
With a 60% discount
With stacked referral codes
Or because the first box was free
Then the feeding plan is already unstable.
When the real price kicks in, owners are forced to:
Switch foods again
Downgrade suddenly
Or chase another offer
Repeated switching is one of the most common triggers of digestive upset, something also covered in
Top Signs Your Dog Needs a Diet Change
Free trials aren’t harmless — they still disrupt the gut
A free trial is still:
A new formulation
A new fat, protein and fibre profile
A new processing method
The gut does not care that it cost £0.
Switching food because it’s free is still switching—and switching is one of the biggest triggers for:
Loose stools
Vomiting or bile reflux
Excessive gas
Itching and scooting
Appetite changes
Free trials remove financial hesitation, not biological consequences.
A meaningful food trial does not last a week or a few days
This is where marketing and physiology completely diverge.
Brands such as Years and Different Dog frame a “trial” as:
3–7 days
One box
A handful of pouches
Trial Packs
But a meaningful dietary trial takes months, not days.
True assessment requires:
Microbiome adjustment
Enzyme adaptation
Stabilisation of fermentation patterns
Observation over time
A week-long trial can only show disruption, not suitability.
Judging a food after a few days is like judging medication after one dose—it tells you nothing useful. Seeing if you dog “likes” a food is not seeing whether this food is actually suitable for them or your budget long term.
Constant switching creates the very problems owners try to avoid
Repeated discount-driven changes:
Prevent the gut from settling
Mask real intolerances
Create “mystery symptoms”
Lead owners to blame foods unfairly
Dogs end up labelled as:
“Sensitive”
“Fussy”
“Allergic to everything”
When often the real issue is that their diet has never been consistent long enough to work.
When switching isn’t a choice — consistency still matters
It’s important to say this clearly:
Some owners do not have the privilege of stability.
People relying on:
Pet food banks
Donated or surplus food
Emergency support
Take what’s available—and that’s not a failing.
But this reality makes it even more important to minimise disruption wherever possible.
The simplest protective rule to follow if you can:
Wet → wet
Dry → dry
Changing brands within the same format is far less disruptive than switching formats entirely. Marketing-driven mix-and-match feeding makes this harder, not easier.
The contradiction brands won’t address
Many brands aggressively market their food for digestive health, inflammation control, or sensitive stomachs, while simultaneously demonising other foods as harmful.
Yet those same brands then:
Push free trials
Promote short-term feeding
Encourage rapid switching “just to try”
You cannot warn owners that gut health depends on consistency, then actively promote instability.
Any genuine health benefit — digestive, dermatological, metabolic — requires time and repetition, not a week-long trial or a discounted box. When brands promote feeding windows too short to demonstrate real health outcomes, owners are left confused, dogs are left unsettled, and symptoms are wrongly blamed on “sensitivity” rather than constant disruption.
That isn’t education.
It’s fear-based marketing followed by acquisition tactics — and dogs absorb the fallout.
Brands know frequent switching causes digestive upset
This is not a knowledge gap.
Pet food manufacturers understand:
Microbiome sensitivity
Digestive adaptation timelines
Increased GI risk with sudden changes
Yet they continue to promote:
Free trials
Huge discounts
“Just try it” culture
Because the acquisition metrics matter more than long-term tolerance.
When dogs react, owners quietly leave—and the brand simply acquires the next household.
That cost is externalised onto dogs and owners.
Why this is an ethical problem, not just a nutrition one
Discount and trial culture:
Normalises unstable feeding
Encourages impulsive switching
Treats dogs like churn statistics
Dogs are not subscription experiments.
They are dependent animals whose health relies on:
Predictability
Stability
Long-term consistency
Any business model that ignores that deserves scrutiny.
What responsible feeding actually looks like
✔ Affordability without incentives
Choose a food you can afford every month, not just when it’s discounted.
✔ Consistency over novelty
A “boring” food that works is better than a rotating menu driven by offers.
✔ Meaningful timeframes
Assess diets over months, not marketing windows.
✔ Format consistency when change is unavoidable
Keep wet with wet, dry with dry to reduce digestive stress.
Final word
Huge discounts and free trials in dog food are not kindness—they are acquisition tactics dressed up as support.
They encourage owners to change food because they can, not because they should.
And the dog’s gut absorbs the consequences long after the marketing campaign ends.
If a brand truly believed in long-term suitability, they would invest less in freebies—and more in transparency, affordability, and realistic feeding expectations.
Dogs don’t need novelty.
They need stability.
If you want to learn more and cut through the rubbish download my FREE E-book “Decode the Hype”
References & Further Reading
UK Pet Food (formerly PFMA)
Member brand and manufacturer directory – overview of UK pet food companies and industry structure
https://www.ukpetfood.org/membership/member-listing.htmlPet Food Industry (WATT Global Media)
Top UK-based dog and cat food companies – highlights scale and consolidation within the pet food industry
https://www.petfoodindustry.com/regions/europe/article/15635506/12-top-ukbased-dog-cat-and-other-pet-food-companies-2022ResearchGate
Research on marketing strategies in the pet food industry – explores promotional tactics, customer acquisition, and brand positioning https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386746544_Research_on_marketing_strategies_in_the_pet_food_industry_A_case_study_based_on_existing_brandsNational Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI / PMC)
What drives pet food purchasing decisions? – peer-reviewed analysis of consumer behaviour and marketing influence
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12649392/Springer – Journal of Consumer Policy / Marketing Research
Customer satisfaction and subscription behaviour in the pet food sector – insights into subscription models and retention strategies
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10660-024-09807-8All About Dog Food (UK)
Independent dog food comparison and analysis platform – non-brand-affiliated ingredient and nutritional breakdowns
https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/
