It's raining cat and dog food

Prepared Foods, April, 1989 by Alison Otto

Several companies launched treats for both dogs and cats in 1988. Ralston entered the cat treat category with Whisker Lickin's, its first in the category, and Heinz launched 9 Lives Finicky Bits for cats and new varieties of Jerky Treats and Meaty Bone for dogs. Quaker competes in these two markets, too, with Pounce treats for cats and Pup-Peroni and other dog treats.

RJR Nabisco's Milk Bone is top dog in the dog treat market, and Ralston's Stiritz has made no bones about the fact that he'd be interested in buying the brand should it be one of the Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts spin-offs.

Another people trend, the urge to splurge on expensive foods, has carried over to the animal kingdom. In fact, SAMI has created a whole new subcategory to track superpremium cat food products.

For the nutrition-minded, there's the growing market of ultra high-priced pet foods, like Iams and Science Diet. These products are sold outside the supermarket, in pet stores and by veterinarians, and are quickly presenting another challenge for traditional pet food marketers (see related story).

As with people food, two of the most popular pet food categories are gourmet and light products.

"It's kind of a paradox," muses Tim Phillips, a veterinarian and editor of Petfood Industry magazine, as he points out that veterinarian groups estimate that 40% of dogs are overweight.

So on our way home from the health club, when we stop to pick up a Lean Cuisine and a pint of Haagen-Dazs, we'll remember that after last night's bowl of Mighty Dog, Fido needs to diet, too.