BUSINESS DIGEST || Petco, others respond to demand for natural pet foods

Petco, others respond to demand for natural pet foods

Demand for healthy, natural food is extending from humans to their pets.

Petco says it will stop selling dog and cat food and treats with artificial colors, flavors and preservatives by May, both online and at its nearly 1,500 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Petco’s move is the first of its kind among major pet stores. It comes at a time when sales of natural pet foods are steadily rising.

The U.S. market share of natural pet products more than doubled to 6.5 percent between 2013 and 2017, according to data company Nielsen.

SMARTS Stories

WARREN

Members of the public are invited to attend SMARTS Stories, a monthly storytelling event, at Modern Methods Brewing Co, Students Motivated by the Arts (SMARTS) announced.

The program for adults is aimed at connecting storytellers with live audiences.

W. Rick Schilling, who has a master’s degree in performance studies from Southern Illinois University, will emcee the program. All material must be from your own experience and performed without notes. All participants must be 18 or older.

This event will take place at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning tonight. Admission is $10 at the door, with proceeds benefiting SMARTS.

Modern Methods is at 125 Dave Grohl Alley.

Solving problems

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University will host an interactive creative problem-solving workshop for businesses and organizations from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 28 in the Williamson College of Business Administration on the YSU campus.

Registration is required at cpsatysu.eventbrite.com. Parking, breakfast, lunch and the FourSight Profile assessment are included. Discounts are available for early-bird tickets and for groups of two or more from the same company until Tuesday. For information, email ohiosbdc@ysu.edu or call 330-941-2140 or visit ysu.edu/news/creative-problem-solving-workshop-nov-28-williamson.

More US kids get paralyzing illness, cause is unknown

new york

More children have been diagnosed with a mysterious paralyzing illness recently, and U.S. health officials said Tuesday that they still aren’t sure what’s causing it.

This year’s count could surpass tallies seen in similar outbreaks in 2014 and 2016, officials said. Fortunately, the disease remains rare: This year, there have been 90 cases spread among 27 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

It’s not clear what’s causing some children to lose the ability to move their face, neck, back, arms or legs. The symptoms tend to occur about a week after the children had a fever and respiratory illness.

Health officials call the condition acute flaccid myelitis. No one has died from it this year, but CDC officials say at least half the patients do not recover from the paralysis and some have serious complications.

Staff/wire reports