I have issue with this statement:
"The Big Monkey Wrench In This Whole Calculation Is That Pet Stores Usually Sell Products At A Mark-Up Of Roughly 4 to 5 Times!"
That's completely not true. While animals themselves usually have a markup of 2-3 times, actual products can range from a markup of pennies to roughly 50%. I know it doesn't have much to do with the thread, but I really hate inaccurate information. Crap dog foods, stores usually make $.50 per bag. Good foods, like Wellness, it's more like $8-10 a bag. But most are on the lower end, of a buck or two a bag. A bag of bird food might cost you $9 - the store pays $6 for it.
It mentions several times competing with the shelf space to profit ratio which is obscene... a bag of dog food which you may sell 20 of in a month is still not going to produce as much profit a puppy, which takes up the same amount of shelf space. I'm pretty sure that's not how pet stores come up with their prices for puppies (I never worked in a puppy pet store). It probably has a lot more to do with "what will idiots pay for this puppy mill dog" and less to do with rhyme or reason.
Anyhoo, just semantics I guess. It annoyed me as it was obviously not written by someone who has worked at or owned a pet store.