Pan-seared duck with brown rice and blueberry compote.
Roasted turkey with butternut squash and russet potatoes.
Salmon with black-and-white quinoa.
Delish. Just keep in mind that all of this, right down to those banana and yogurt health bars, is dog food. Not mere Alpo, mind you — not by a long shot. And to prove it, Ms. Cornish, who works for a company called Petcurean Pet Nutrition, will give you a taste.
If you’re wondering why anyone would even consider noshing on dog chow, you haven’t been to the Global Pet Expo here, where the impresarios of America’s thriving, multibillion-dollar pet economy profitably ply their wares.
If there is a pet heaven, this could be it.
Even as the economy for us humans bogs down again, the pet economy has proved remarkably resilient to a weak housing market, high unemployment and those diminished 401(k)’s. The industry has continued to grow through the recession, albeit at a slower pace, and last year, Americans spent a record $55 billion on their pets, according to the market research firm Packaged Facts, more than the gross domestic product of Belarus.
Wherever the stock market goes — and lately, it has been going down — this nation seems to be in the thrall of a great bull market for pets. And high-priced, “human grade” pet food is only the beginning.
Pet owners, or “parents” in industry parlance, are being sold on human-style luxuries and medical care. There are stylish rain slickers, organic foods and even antidepressants for today’s pampered cats and dogs. If more evidence of this boom were needed, consider Neuticles, prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs and cats, at about $1,000 a pair, which, their designers say, help “your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aids in the trauma associated with altering.”
Make no mistake: this is big business, as a visit to the Pet Expo here shows.
Over at one booth, Debbie Bohlken, owner of Claudia’s Canine Cuisine, sits behind a table of brightly-decorated cookies and cakes that wouldn’t look out of place in a bakery. All of these treats are for dogs. She sells her products under the slogan: “Treat Her Like the Bitch She Really Is.”
“Will you try one?” she asks.
Her dog biscuits, it turns out, taste a bit like ginger snaps.
Elsewhere, manufacturers are marketing foods with ingredients worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant: pheasant, freshwater trout, yak’s milk, organic pumpkin — the list goes on.
There is much more to this than food. At the Petzlife booth, one of the owners, Steve Tibbetts, explains that his oral spray is made from “human-grade” ingredients that keep a dog’s teeth and gums healthy and fight dog breath. He says it works for cats, too. And apparently, for people: Mr. Tibbetts sprays the stuff into his mouth. Twice.
“People are just ga-ga over their pets,” Mr. Tibbetts says. “They’ll spend money on their pets before they spend money on themselves.”
The growth in the pet market last year was driven in part by a 7 percent increase in veterinary services. America’s pet population, like its human one, is living longer. Human medical technologies are increasingly being used for pets. Dogs’ and cats’ owners — particularly those without children at home — are taking better care of them, both medically and nutritionally, experts say.
“Pet owners aren’t just looking to provide a home for their pets,” says Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association. “They are investing in their pets’ quality of life. Oftentimes they do this at their own expense, cutting personal expenses, but not those affecting their faithful companions.”
Jessica Taylor, managing editor of Petfood Industry, says that when she started at the magazine four years ago, the pet food industry lagged human trends by a year or more. Now, it is just six months behind, or less.
She predicts that blueberries and pomegranates, whose antioxidant wonders have been marketed to humans in recent years, will be the next big thing in pet food.
THE pet industry has long considered itself recession-resilient, and it proved just that during the recent downturn, despite some bumps along the way. For instance, shelters were swamped with pets that were given up by owners who apparently could no longer afford them. Fewer people bought pets, in part because pets are often acquired after a home purchase, and there were considerably fewer of those.
Sales growth of pet products slowed, particularly among “hard goods” like leashes and bowls. But they were still up — which is more than you can say for many industries. Sales growth of natural pet products slowed to a relatively meager 6 percent in 2009, compared with 43 percent in 2007, according to Packaged Facts.
Analysts say the pet industry will continue to rebound, driven by demand for veterinary care and health-related products, including premium treats and chow for dogs and cats.
“I’m still very bullish on natural and organic,” says David Lummis, senior pet market analyst for Packaged Facts, noting that such products account for about 7 percent of pet food sales. “There is still a lot of growth there.”
In addition, he notes that expected demand for luxury pet products is strong enough to lure companies and even celebrities into the business. Among them: Martha Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Fisher-Price and General Nutrition Center, which now offers health supplements for pets.
Wall Street is bullish, too. Shares of PetSmart, the pet store chain, are hovering near a record high, at $43.46 a share. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, the company said same-store sales had increased 6 percent over the quarter a year earlier.
PetSmart’s main competitor, Petco, is privately owned and doesn’t publicly report its earnings. But Jim Myers, Petco’s chief executive, says his company did not have a single negative quarter throughout the recession. Fewer people traded up to more expensive items during the downturn, but he said they didn’t trade down, either, sticking with a “premium and higher-level range of food products.”
“Our perspective is that, thankfully, we are in a pretty emotional category,” Mr. Myers says.
At a Petco store in West Orange, N.J., natural and organic products occupy more than half the aisles set aside for dog and cat food. A sign hanging from the ceiling reads, “It’s all natural: the very best natural products for your pet.”
A representative for Blue Buffalo dog food, Gina Corbosiero, is to pitch an array of products, which she says are “holistic” and contain antioxidant pellets that are “cold pressed.”
Blue Buffalo’s dog food costs as much as $4 a pound, but it isn’t the most expensive line on these shelves. Royal Canin makes dog food for specific breeds. Its Shih Tzu line sells for $6.80 a pound.
Lowly Pedigree, by comparison, costs 50 cents a pound.
It’s all too much for Mike Pinkard, 46, who was dispatched to buy some food for his daughter’s new pit bull-Labrador retriever puppy, Taz. Asked what he will buy, he says: “I have no idea. It’s changed so much from when I had a dog.”
When Mr. Pinkard was a kid, he says, “It was regular dog food. Make sure you give them water and exercise and you are in good shape.” He settles on a bag of Nature’s Recipe, a midprice natural brand.
Are our pets healthier for all of this? Tony Buffington, a professor of veterinary nutrition at Ohio State University, says his students have studied the diet history of thousands of animals and have not yet determined that one pet food is better than another.
“We have been unable to distinguish an outcome in healthy animals eating a wide variety of foods,” he says. Asked about the variety at megastores like Petco, he says, “I don’t even go in there anymore. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
He adds: “If you put them all in a plain brown bag, you’d probably be fine with any one of them.”
ABOUT 62 percent of American households have a pet, with dogs accounting for 40 percent of the total. Cats are second, at 34 percent. Dog and cat ownership has continued to grow slightly in recent years, even as the popularity of other types of pets, like birds, fresh-water fish and reptiles, has declined.
Jennifer Graylock/Associated PressLeona Helmsley’s dog, Trouble, in 2003.
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