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After more than a month of pressure from the activist investor Jana Partners, PetSmart is publicly acknowledging that it is up for sale.

The pet supply store disclosed on Tuesday that it had hired advisers to supervise a review of its strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of itself as well as other, less drastic options.

It also announced both its latest earnings, including relatively tepid sales growth, and the acquisition of the online pet supply retailer and information site Pet360 for up to $160 million.

But it’s the acknowledgment of a potential takeover — as part of a process run by JPMorgan Chase and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — that investors may be most focused on. The disclosure comes after Jana, one of the most prominent activist hedge funds around, revealed that it had acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the company and was urging a sale.

PetSmart had actually begun a strategic review of its businesses in the spring, when its sales had begun to slow, according to a person briefed on the matter. But as Jana and other activist investors moved into the stock, the urgency of exploring more drastic moves increased.

“Notwithstanding our confidence in the company’s future prospects, following a detailed board review of the company over the last several months, including many constructive conversations with a wide range of shareholders, we have decided to explore options to maximize shareholder value, including a potential sale of the company,” the PetSmart chairman, Gregory P. Josefowicz, said in a statement.

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Tension between the company and Jana nevertheless remains high. On Monday, the hedge fund said that it had received an anonymous package containing what it said was a confidential internal document outlining the retailer’s plans.

Jana urged PetSmart to release the information, allowing for the redaction of sensitive information for competition’s sake, or risk the hedge fund releasing it.

But the person briefed on the matter said that the company was unlikely to publish the document. Instead, the retailer has contacted authorities about what it maintains is the theft of confidential information that was delivered across state lines.

Part of the rationale behind Jana’s campaign is a slowdown in performance, a fact mirrored in the latest quarterly results. Net income for the second quarter rose 5 percent over the same time last year, to $98.1 million, but net sales rose only 1.4 percent, to $1.7 billion.

Comparable store sales for locations open at least one year declined 0.5 percent, while comparable transactions fell 2.6 percent.

The outlook doesn’t look much better in the near term. PetSmart confirmed its existing guidance for the rest of the year, including flat sales growth and another potential dip in comparable store sales in the third quarter.

Among PetSmart’s responses was to bolster its online sales operations by buying Pet360, which both sells pet supplies and serves as an online information hub for owners. Under the terms of the transaction, which is expected to close next month, PetSmart will pay an initial $130 million, as well as up to an additional $30 million if the acquired company meets certain performance targets.