Pet Supply Catalogs for Mail-Order Shopping

Jun 4, 2026 / Jun 8, 2026 · 8 min read · pet supply catalogs ·

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Pet supplies are heavy, bulky, and bought on a schedule — a forty-pound bag of food every few weeks, litter on a monthly cycle, medications that need refilling. That predictability is exactly what makes them one of the best mail-order categories: once you set up a recurring order, the most tedious part of pet ownership disappears from your to-do list. The question is not whether to shop by catalog but which of the surviving retailers fits your animals, your budget, and how you prefer to buy.

Chewy

Chewy (chewy.com) is the category leader and the company most responsible for making pet-supply autoship a mainstream habit. Founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and now publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker CHWY, Chewy built its business around the Autoship subscription — typically around five percent off recurring orders, with free shipping over a qualifying threshold. The catalog covers dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, and small animals across food, treats, supplements, toys, and hardware.

Chewy also runs a full pet pharmacy that fills both OTC and prescription medications, coordinating directly with your veterinarian on Rx items. That folds the pharmacy run into the same recurring order. The company's customer-service reputation is strong — handwritten sympathy cards when a customer loses a pet, generous return handling — and for routine, scheduled supply shopping, Chewy is the default catalog for most households.

Petco

Petco (petco.com) brings something Chewy cannot match: a national network of physical stores you can walk into the same day. Founded in 1965 in San Diego, California, and publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker WOOF, Petco has positioned itself around health and wellness — it phased out artificial-ingredient foods and treats and built veterinary clinics and grooming salons into many locations. The Repeat Delivery subscription discounts recurring orders, and the Vital Care membership bundles in-store service perks on top.

Petco is the pick for the pet owner who wants catalog ordering but does not want to give up same-day physical access. If you use grooming or vet services regularly, consolidating supply orders with the same retailer you visit is a genuine convenience. For the hybrid shopper — deliver most things, pick up the rest — Petco's store-plus-catalog model has an advantage neither Chewy nor a pure-specialist catalog can replicate.

PetSmart

PetSmart (petsmart.com) is the other national pet retailer with full catalog and mail-order reach, and its relationship with Chewy is worth understanding. Founded in 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona, PetSmart is privately held and is the majority owner of Chewy — but the two operate as entirely separate shopping experiences with different catalogs, pricing, and memberships. Owning both does not link your accounts; they simply share a corporate parent.

PetSmart's catalog leans into its store services: grooming, obedience training, boarding through PetsHotel locations, and adoption events with shelter partners. The Autoship program offers recurring-order discounts comparable to competitors, and the Treats loyalty program ties online purchases to in-store points. The catalog covers dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, birds, and small animals, including PetSmart-exclusive habitats and accessories for aquarium keepers not easily found elsewhere. For owners who already use PetSmart's training or grooming services, running supply orders through the same account is a natural consolidation.

Jeffers Pet

Jeffers Pet (jefferspet.com) is the catalog for anyone whose animals go beyond dogs, cats, and fish. Founded in 1975 by Dr. Keith Jeffers in Dothan, Alabama, and still family-owned, Jeffers has operated a print catalog for five decades serving backyard pet owners, working farms, ranches, and animal-health professionals. The selection runs deep into veterinary supplies, livestock vaccines, equine products, poultry supplies, and farm-animal equipment that consumer chains simply do not stock.

For companion-animal owners, Jeffers also carries a full range of dog, cat, and small-animal products at value-oriented pricing, and the print catalog remains an active sales channel. Jeffers is the specialist pick for rural households and anyone with horses, cattle, goats, pigs, or poultry. Where Chewy, Petco, and PetSmart stop at companion animals, Jeffers covers the full farm-and-pet range under one order — and the family-owned model has kept the company focused on that customer rather than the mass-market segment.

Autoship and pet pharmacy compared

The recurring-order and pharmacy features vary enough across these four catalogs that a side-by-side view helps clarify which fits a particular household.

Catalog	Subscription discount	Prescription Rx by mail	In-store pickup option	Livestock / farm supplies
Chewy	~5% Autoship discount (varies by product)	Yes — full pet pharmacy with vet coordination	No (online only)	No
Petco	Repeat Delivery discount; Vital Care membership adds perks	Yes — in-store pharmacy; some mail fulfillment	Yes — nationwide store network	No
PetSmart	Autoship discount on eligible items	Limited — pharmacy in select stores	Yes — nationwide store network	No
Jeffers Pet	No subscription program	OTC animal-health products; no Rx mail program	No (catalog/online only)	Yes — horses, livestock, poultry, farm

Chewy is the strongest pure-mail pharmacy option for prescription pet medications — the online vet coordination is streamlined and the delivery is reliable. Petco's in-store pharmacies give you a face-to-face option for complex Rx situations or when a medication needs to be compounded. PetSmart's pharmacy footprint is smaller. Jeffers covers the OTC animal-health spectrum for livestock but is not a prescription pharmacy.

A note on Drs. Foster and Smith

Longtime catalog shoppers will remember Drs. Foster and Smith as the trusted mail-order name in pet health. Founded in 1983 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, by veterinarians Race Foster and Marty Smith, the catalog built its reputation on clinical credibility — medications, supplements, and health supplies ordered by mail, backed by veterinary knowledge rather than retail marketing.

Petco acquired Drs. Foster and Smith in 2015 and wound the brand down in 2019. Customers migrated largely to Chewy and Petco, which is part of why those two now dominate the category. The autoship-and-pharmacy model that defines the current market owes a real debt to what Foster and Smith proved in print. There is no ordering from the brand today, but its DNA shaped what the surviving catalogs became.

Choosing your pet catalog

For a household with one or two dogs or cats buying the same food, treats, and medications on a schedule, Chewy is the default — the Autoship discount, the pharmacy, and the customer-service reputation make it the easiest fit. If you value same-day physical access for emergencies, grooming appointments, or veterinary care from the same brand, Petco and PetSmart add the store-network layer that a pure online seller cannot. PetSmart has a modest edge for owners who use training or boarding services; Petco has a wider pharmacy footprint.

If your household includes horses, livestock, poultry, or other farm animals, none of the consumer chains serve that need — Jeffers Pet is the right catalog. The same applies to anyone who values the depth of a specialist animal-health catalog over the breadth of a mass-market retailer.

The subscription model is the single best argument for catalog shopping in this category. Signing up for recurring delivery of the items you reorder constantly — food, litter, medications, flea prevention — shifts those purchases from errand to autopilot. Which catalog you use matters less than committing to the routine.

Frequently asked questions

Is Chewy cheaper than buying in store? For the items Chewy carries — food, treats, supplements, toys, OTC medications — the Autoship discount usually matches or beats in-store pricing at Petco and PetSmart, and often beats independent pet-store prices. The advantage is most pronounced on consumables you reorder regularly, where stacking the Autoship discount on top of free shipping makes the math easy. Specialty items, in-store-exclusive products, and brands Chewy does not carry are different questions.

Can I get prescription pet medications by mail? Yes, through Chewy's pet pharmacy and to a lesser extent through Petco. Chewy's online pharmacy handles both common and specialty Rx pet medications; you submit a prescription from your veterinarian, or Chewy contacts the vet directly to confirm the Rx. Petco's in-store pharmacies can also fill prescriptions. Neither PetSmart's catalog nor Jeffers operates a full Rx-by-mail program, though PetSmart pharmacy locations exist in some stores.

Which catalog should I use for farm or livestock animals? Jeffers Pet is the clear answer. Chewy, Petco, and PetSmart all stop at companion animals. Jeffers stocks vaccines, dewormers, medicated feeds, and equipment for horses, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry — the full range of what a farm household needs. The print catalog is still active, and the online store covers the same selection.

What happened to the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog? Drs. Foster and Smith was a veterinarian-founded mail-order pet-health catalog operating out of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, from 1983 until Petco acquired it in 2015 and wound the brand down by 2019. It is no longer accepting orders. Customers who relied on it for pet medications and health supplies have mostly shifted to Chewy (for online pharmacy and mail delivery) or Petco (for in-store pharmacy access). The catalog's legacy lives in the mail-order pet-health model both companies now operate.