Order at pet food boxes. This guide covers the spec decisions, and for this category weight drives almost all of them.
Weigh a filled pack before anything else
Pet food is dense, and a modest box can be heavy. That weight decides the board, the closure, the base construction and how high it can be stacked. Weigh a filled pack, then tell us three things on the quote: the filled weight, how many units high it will be stacked in a warehouse, and whether it ships on a pallet or as a parcel. Those three answers matter more to the build than the dimensions do.
Fat and moisture
Pet food is high in fat, and fat migrates into uncoated board over time, producing translucent marks and, eventually, a weakened panel. This is why most pet food cartons are not simply printed board. The usual answers are an inner bag, a barrier liner, or a coated board specified for the job. Tell us the fat content territory and the intended shelf life and the material can be matched to that. Moisture is the paired problem: a pack that absorbs humidity in a warehouse loses stiffness and stops stacking.
Structure for weight
| Structure | Weight behaviour | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Auto bottom | Strong base, holds a heavy fill | Pops open in one motion, fast on a line |
| Locked bottom | Strong base, lower cost | Slower to assemble by hand |
| Straight tuck end | Light fills only | The base will bow under a dense product |
| Corrugated shipper with a liner | Highest load, best for bulk sizes | Less refined print surface than folding board |
Handles, scoops and reclose
If the pack is heavy enough that a customer will pick it up by something, design that in. A die-cut handle in the structure is cheaper and stronger than a stick-on one, but it takes board out of a panel that is carrying load, so the position has to be deliberate. Reclose matters too: pet food is used over weeks, not in one sitting, and a pack that cannot be closed again gets decanted into something else, which removes your branding from the customer's kitchen entirely.
Shelf and range
Pet food ranges run wide: life stage, breed size, flavour, and several weights of each. If the pack format is shared across a family, one cutting die covers all of them with only the artwork changing, and the die is included. For the shelf, ask your buyer for the fixture depth and facing width. Retail gondola shelving is commonly specified in depths around 16 to 22 inches, but the number that matters is the one for the fixture you are actually going into.
Ordering
Minimum order is 100 boxes. Price starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and is confirmed on your written quote, because board grade, any barrier, the structure and print coverage all move it. Design support, US shipping and a digital proof before anything prints are included. Production runs from West Chicago in the US and Guangzhou in China, in three lanes: rush (expedited production plus air freight, a premium of about 7 to 25% depending on the job), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery.
For the board vocabulary behind the strength decision, read what C flute corrugated is. Send your filled weight, stack height and barrier requirement through the quote form, then order at pet food boxes.
