Dogs Are Ready for Their Fancy Feast

Dogs get cable. They know what’s going on. They’ve seen Persian cats flaunting their Fancy Feasts for decades now.

And dogs have had it.

No longer will canines be distracted—by squirrels, posh sweaters, or “GET THE BALL!”—from the luxe promise of fine dining.

Quartz published a graph illustrating the incursions that dogs have made into the previously feline-dominated arena of premium cuisine: “The market for premium dog food—the most expensive kinds, including pricey organic offerings and never-frozen meals—has grown by nearly 170% over the past 15 years:”

Graph data: Euromonitor. Credit: Quartz

Apparently the priciest chow “now accounts for some 57% of the overall dog food market, compared to the 36% share it held back in 1999.”So someone out there is shelling out $3 per 13-oz can for Kobe beef for Fido, or picking up a $14 container of foie gras biscuits for Checkers.

Before shelling out the same amount for your pet’s dinner as you might for your own, or plunking down $55 for a bag of chicken-herring kibble, it’s worth noting that, um, dogs don’t have much in the way of taste. As nutrition professor Marion Nestle, who has co-authored a book on feeding pets, told a reporter, “The more disgusting it is to humans, the more dogs like to eat it. They like rotten meat flavors. They like garbage.” And studies have not proven conclusively that more money spent equals a healthier pup.

So perhaps instead of dropping dough for Solid Gold Dog Food, go ahead and treat yo’self.