Kim Albright has a love for animals. The owner of Kim’s Natural Pet Foods in Valrico has eight dogs and three cats of her own.
She originally worked at the store for eight years for the former owner when it was called Bloomingdale Pet Supply. It had been a feed store that specialized in horses for over 40 years.
The store had shut down, prompting customers to look for Albright, who had been helping them. The landlord of the property then approached Albright about opening up her own store. Albright said that the neighborhood came together and helped her fix up the store before reopening.
She sells food for a lot of different small animals, including, but not limited to cats, dogs and now birds as well. Albright recently had customers ask about the possibility of carrying exotic bird feed. She was able to order a shipment from Kentucky and has had 30 customers within a week come in for the feed. She said that nobody else carries this particular feed in Florida.
Albright gives pet nutrition advice as well. She has helped dogs with itchy skin and health problems holistically through changes in their diets. She tries to be proactive with a pet’s nutritional health by feeding them according to their needs.
People often bring Albright animals that need a home and she helps find a place for them. When she sees an animal in need, she wants to help them. She always has cats and dogs in her store. She has customers that come in with their kids to play with the cats.
She does a low-cost shot clinic once a month on the first Saturday of the month from 2-3 p.m. She also provides preventative meds such as Heartguard and Trifexis. No appointments are necessary. She is also doing a charity drive for St. Francis Animal Rescue for the holiday season. People can buy pet products and place them in a box at the store.
Albright credits her store’s success to the fact that people love their pets and they are more conscious of how to take better care of them. “People are happy when you help them with their pets,” Albright said. “Now dogs are in our houses, they are a part of our family, they sleep in our beds. For some people, that’s their companion. I think that we just want to take care of them better, we want to feed them better, we want them to live longer. Times are tough, people want that animal to hug on. They just need that companionship.”
Kim’s is located at 3110 Lithia Pinecrest Rd., Brandon. Call 684-3663 or visit www.kimsnaturalpetfoods.com.
