Focus on: Business Strategies Twenty years of steady growth and smart acquisitions have propelled Doctors Foster & Smith to the top spot among pet-supply catalogers.

By Reported Donna Loyle

All of the acquisition opportunities to date came to the doctors either individually by the catalog owners or through brokers. “We didn’t seek out any. They all came to us,” says Foster. When asked what they look for in such opportunities, Foster notes: “The products have to be part of our core business, which is household pets. And the timing has to be right. For example, if we’re going to borrow money to finance the deal, the prevailing interest rates have to be low enough to make the deal attractive.”