By Charlene Dean
Most people purchase their pet food from local big box stores or grocery chains. But if you want your pet to have a different kind of nutrition, or it has allergies to grains, the new Pet Food Depot, 70 S. Highway 160, in the Pahrump Junction shopping center might be just the thing.
Former owner of a local pet warehouse, John Shewalter is managing Pet Food Depot for an out-of-state owner and brings his wealth of knowledge to pet owners, but on a small scale.
“I know more about pet foods and nutrition than most anyone,” Shewalter said as he launched into a discussion of the product lines in stock.
“We carry food, treats and toys for dogs, cats and other small animals.” He said the store will increase its stock according to demand.
“I had someone come in asking for bird food, so I ordered it. Someone else wanted chicken feed, so I’m getting that.”
The store stocks pet foods from Diamond, Premium Edge, Chicken Soup and grain-free Taste of the Wild in both bags of dry food and canned as well.
He said not only are some dogs allergic to the grain in most pet foods you find in the other stores, cats are even more adverse to them.
“Cats don’t have the digestive enzyme to break down the grains. They are different than any other animal. Most animals convert carbohydrates to energy, where a cat converts protein to energy.” The store also carries grain-free treats.
Something Shewalter said is “a huge market” are a line of fresh, raw foods for pets. “People are looking for unprocessed foods for pets just like they do for themselves. It’s better nutrition.” He said there are three freezer cases of raw foods and if he doesn’t have what you want, he will order it.
Shewalter said he will also carry a limited number of feeding dishes, collars and leashes in the next couple of weeks. “We only have limited space, so the store won’t carry massive amounts of items, and pet food won’t be available in bulk.”
He said the store will stock smaller quantity bags of pet food to “avoid the mess created when dealing with bulk food and treats.”
For those who make their own pet food at home, Shewalter said he carries a powdered mineral supplement owners can add to the homemade food.
“Making your pet’s food is great, but they need minerals, too.” He said the minerals are already in dry pet food and animals need one or the other.
The quality of pet foods in stock and some of the brand names are available in other locations around town. Shewalter said he will match prices on exact items with those suppliers and “be competitive.”
Shewalter said the store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., every day and if you don’t see something you want, special orders are welcome. Call 537-6533 for additional information.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – John Shewalter is managing the new Pet Food Depot located in the Pahrump Junction shopping center. The store carries premium pet foods for dogs, cats and other small animals.
Hopefully he operates this one better than he did the animal house. I could not go in there for very long because it always smelled like urine and poo! The place always looked clean but stunk. Hopefully they don’t stink out Lil Ceasars.
@ alyaj3. I, for one, am glad to see John back. This town needs every business that we can get. A KENNEL is going to smell like a KENNEL (pee and poo) no matter how clean you keep it. Besides there’s more to the Animal House story than meets the eye. I don’t think Lil Caesars is going to have to worry about the STINK as there aren’t going to be any LIVE ANIMALS on the premises. It’s a good thing that you don’t live next to me. I’m sure that the smell of our 4 dogs and 4 horses would offend your olfactory glands.
I will be interested to see if this store offers anything different than the two animal supply stores we have now? Can Pahrump support three such stores?
Of course Pahrump can support 3 stores. Have you ever listened in the evenings how many dogs are barking? Multiply that by a factor of maybe 200 and that’s how many dogs are inside homes or “lap dogs”. Then add the cats, birds, reptiles and other pets. Big business today. Most people will go w/o medical attention or food to make sure their pet is well fed, ect.
Since I’ve been here there has been only 2 general zoning categories for all of Pahrump. They are DOG POUND AND JUNK YARD.
“Today the US military makes the world safe for bank appointed tyrants who take over sovereign nations and run them for the benefit of creditors ( bond holders) and the TPTB.
Shewalter should not be in any kind of buisness that deals with animals, large or small. He’s very mean to animals; ask him what happened to his pig Charlie? Poor pig lived in his pig poop and ate rotten food. Then the numerous dogs that he used to babysit! Poor animals. He’s a mean mean guy.
I agree with AlyaJ3 and Chaos4tu. His Animal House store stunk SO bad it made me ill the 2 times I went in there at both locations. And the animals at the old location were never cleaned up after. It was just nasty!! And he should not deal with animals or the public in general. He is extremely rude to people. Especially his employees. I know 2 people that worked for him that quit because of his mean attitude and the smell!! And as for Shallett’s comment. The Animal Shelter does not smell like Animal House did. It is kept clean. So DON’T say kennels all smell like that. THEY DON’T. He was just to lazy to keep it clean!!
Oh, and by the way. He doesn’t know as much as he says about animal foods and nutrition.