Some Peoples’ Pets Eat Better than Their Children
Meeting every need:
There are products for young and old pets and those with sensitive skin, sensitive stomachs and sensitive skin and stomachs, as well as foods enriched with supplements like antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, glucosamine and chondroitin, the value of which has yet to be established for people, let alone pets.
Sparing no expense:
The $18-billion-a-year pet food industry is considered to be recession-proof. Although during this economic downturn shelters have been overwhelmed with pets people could not afford to keep, those who have kept their pets are not stinting on what they spend to feed them.”
But is it Kosher?
If characteristics like natural, organic, holistic, vegetarian or kosher are important to pet owners, it may be worth it to them to pay top dollar for pet foods that claim to provide the desired attribute, even if there is no official or enforced definition of the claim.
Is it green?
“Besides, the pet food industry serves an important ecological function by using up food that would otherwise be thrown out,” Dr. Nestle said. “If everyone cooked human food for the 472 million cats and dogs in America, it would be like feeding an additional 42 million people.”
Full article on feeding pets well.
Some people like their pets more than their children.
Bruce, as a general rule, I like pets more than children.
This is one of my pet peeves. And I’m not kidding. Also, writing this post has been lots of pun.
This is certainly no catastrophe. If we pet owners are so doggedly determined to pamper our pets, I see nothing fishy to be vetted in that. We can spoil our furred, finned & feathered friends and they won’t bite the hand that feeds them as many spoiled children do when they turn into teenagers.
I agree with Larry. And I must add that this is the reason that I don’t have a pet: I would probably pony up on the $20k for the “life-saving” surgery. It’s much easier to just not have to make that decision.
Who ever heard of disinheriting a pet. Kids are disinherited all the time.
When I took Marketing Management in grad school for an MBA program, the professor explained why there are so many coupons for pet food. Because people (maybe in 1985) tended to view pet food as a commodity, they were willing to switch brands to save a dollar. After all, the purchasers weren’t the ones who had to eat the food. My how things have changed since 1985.
Back when I owned a cat, I purchased the expensive cat food because due to all of the negative externalities associated with buying the cheap stuff (I will spare you from having to read about the specific externalities in question).
My father-in-law tells the story of the woman in the checkout line at the grocery store trying to buy dog food with food stamps. When she was told she couldn’t use food stamps for dog food she went back and picked up several packages of sirloin and said “It looks like the dogs are going to eat well tonight.” My father-in-law was purchasing cheap round steak for his family with money he earned.
Our dog eats the good food because cheap food makes him break out in hives. He’s allergic to corn and several other common ingredients.
It’s hard to believe some folks kin’ll ration their food that way and it really ticks me off. I’m surprised the kids don’t flea, but I guess they feel collared.
You’d think they would cry for alp, po things.
Still it gives one paws, make no (milk) bones about it.
It’s a rough way to treat children, if the tails we hear about these wags are true, you just have to wonder about their pedigree.
Vicki,Attila and Don: I’m groaning.
I’ll take the pets over the kids any day. Arf Arf.