From The Summer 2005 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Pets roll over for natural treats

Vicky Uhland

The purse-sized pooch belonging to socialite Paris Hilton often appears in cashmere sweaters and collars encrusted with precious stones. But even owners who aren’t heiresses are treating their pets as if they were trust-fund babies, lavishing feathered French daybeds, electric doggie toothbrushes and botanical fragrances on their furry friends.

This largesse extends to pet treats as well. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 88 percent of dog owners and 65 percent of cat owners give treats to their pets. They spend an average of $68 a year on dog treats and $43 on cat treats.

“The humanization of pets is a continuing trend,” leading to an increased tendency to pamper pets with toys and treats, reports Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets in its December 2004 “Pet Food and Pet Care Products in the United States.”

Those who think of their pets as family members want Lassie to eat just as well as Timmy. “Similar to human health trends, pet owners are becoming more health-conscious, driving a movement toward natural, nutritious and premium-priced foods packed with protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids,” APPMA reports in its April “Pet Industry Benchmarking Survey.”

In its February report, “Market Trends: Natural, Organic and Eco-Friendly Pet Products,” Packaged Facts notes that the number of new pet products labeled natural or organic almost doubled in 2003 and that another 500 products hit the market in 2004. Packaged Facts reports $527 million in sales of natural and organic food and non-food supplies for pets in 2004 and estimates that figure will top $1 billion by 2009.

Natural pet treat manufacturers report similarly skyrocketing sales. However, most of them haven’t ventured outside pet and natural foods stores. Those that have say their sales in supermarkets are just as good or better than sales in specialty or naturals stores.

“In the summer of 2002, we changed our focus to grocery predominately because of the success of Waggers in Wegmans’ Nature’s Marketplace stores,” says Steve Fraley, president of Pet Central, the Sylvania, Ohio-based manufacturer of Waggers natural dog treats. “In Meijer stores in the Midwest, we tripled our sales over the three years we’ve been there.”

Pet Central spent $40,000 to redesign Waggers’ dog biscuit tins into grocery-friendly packaging—standup resealable pouches, preloaded display boxes, clip strips, and power wings and panels. It also offers retailer support through temporary price reductions, in-ad insertions and instant coupons. And despite costlier ingredients, Waggers products are competitive on price with conventional dog treats, mainly because the company doesn’t pay slotting fees. “Our support monies go directly to the retailer,” Fraley says.

Other natural pet treat companies put just as much effort into merchandising, recognizing that supermarket shoppers don’t usually expect to see their products among the Milk Bones. “Often it’s a surprise for them. Pet owners who buy gourmet or natural treats usually don’t go down the grocery pet aisle because they don’t think there’s anything there for them,” says Margot Kenly, president of Seattle-based Blue Dog Bakery. “Even in stores that have a naturals section, nobody goes there for pet products.” Kenly says her pet treats sell for about 16 cents an ounce, compared with Milk Bone and Pedigree at about 14 cents an ounce. “We have more expensive ingredients, but we don’t have a $5 million TV ad campaign,” she says.

Shoppers buy natural dog treats for a variety of reasons. Those into cashmere cat beds and aromatherapy dog washes often associate natural with gourmet. Others like feeding their pets a healthy diet. And a growing number are concerned about tabby becoming tubby.

The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that 25 percent of U.S. dogs and cats are overweight. Consequently, Information Resources Inc. and Roper ASW report that the diet pet food market has grown 25 percent, making it the fastest-growing segment in the pet food industry.

Treats are often seen as expendable calories for portly pets. But natural pet treats can have as few as 10 calories each, Fraley says. Because they’re made with real meat or peanut butter, they don’t contain the fatty tissues or organs found in meat meal or meat byproducts. They use whole grains rather than corn gluten meal, which is a byproduct of corn syrup. They’re made with healthy oils, such as canola and soy, rather than the hard white fat known as tallow. Some have antioxidant-rich, low-cal fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes and carrots. Blue Dog Bakery’s Premium Low Fat Dog Biscuits also are made with nonfat milk.

For owners concerned with their pets’ health, Fraley says natural pet treats such as Waggers don’t have the added salts, sugars, gums or preservatives used to keep fats from going rancid, such as propylene glycol, which is used in antifreeze, or BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), which are identified as carcinogens in some research. They also don’t contain meat meal, dried animal digest or meat byproducts, which can include cancerous or diseased tissue from dead animals.

“We use the same ingredients we use in our bakery’s cookies, just baked harder,” Kenly says. “We get all these letters from people who eat our dog biscuits.”

Vicky Uhland (vuhland@mindspring.com) is a Denver-based writer.