Tracking latest trends in pet eats

Maxc Jacobson

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 8:44 a.m.

From the outside the Hap-E-Dog Barkery on South Eastern Avenue in Henderson looks like any other small pet store. But inside it is special. Owner Lindy Harris has turned her onetime grooming store into one of the more unique dog bakeries anywhere.

Bakeries, you say? Picture a glass case filled with a variety of treats baked in the store, in shapes and colors strangely reminiscent of what we humans eat. We're talking Puppy Pretzels, Barbecue Beefy Ribs, Cheezy Tails, Peanut Butter Bears and several other treats, all of which sell for $7 the half pound.

Hey, you know what? These treats don't taste bad, if you don't break a tooth while tasting one.

No one can deny that the furry set is eating more and more like humans. Recently, the company Our Pet, from Fairport Harbor, Mich., introduced Dog-E-Licious Ice Pudding, a healthy frozen dessert developed just for dogs, which features added vitamins and minerals.

This product comes in 3.5-ounce cups and has a 12-month shelf life. Further, it is available in two flavors, vanilla and mint, a nondairy product that sells for a range of prices between $3.99 to $4.99 at retail outlets. (For more information, call Our Pet Company at (800) 565-2695.)

But not everyone, including certain veterinarians (some of whom wished to remain anonymous), say this is a particularly healthy trend. There are also people who question the moral aspects of treating pets as if they are human.

After all, there are people in the world who do not get a properly balanced diet, so some would call the manufacture of sweets and other humanlike foods excessive, when they are made exclusively for animals.

The best approach is common sense, veterinarian Dr. Karen Fount says.

"Cats are carnivores and dogs are omnivores," she says, "so proceed from there. Treats shouldn't be a large percentage of a pet's diet, any more than they would be of a human diet."

Lindy Harris, at least, wants to sell you her treats. She started her business quite by accident. Originally she was a dog groomer, but her yellow Labrador retriever Angel, a dog who today is well-known to her store customers, kept getting an ear infection. Harris decided that it was food borne.

"Many of the popular dog foods are sold in enormous bags, and they contain lots of starches and fillers," she said.

"Dogs don't have as much ambulase (an enzyme that helps to break down starches and complex carbos) in their saliva like we do," she continued, "and finally I decided that dogfoods ... were causing my dog's infections."

So she took her dog off certain dogfoods and substituted such brands as Canidae, Solid Gold and Steve's Raw Food, the latter being frozen cubes of chicken, beef or turkey mixed with carrots, broccoli and other vegetables. And soon after, she developed an entire line of natural dog treats.

Faunt isn't against raw foods in principle, but says using them requires great care.

"The potential for contamination is much higher with raw pet foods," she says, "even if they come from the factory contamination free."

Of course, that's also true for raw foods humans eat.

All dog foods sold at Hap-E-Dog-Barkery are 100 percent natural and contain no soy, corn or wheat. Expect to pay around $35 for a 40-pound bag of this type of food and calculate that a typical 50-pound dog eats around 3 cups of the stuff per day, or roughly 1 1/2 pounds.

One of the dogfoods that Lindy sells is from Wellness, and reading through the brochure, one is ready to go out and try the stuff with a bottle of nice Chianti.

They are made with "human grade chicken, lamb or beef." The brochure tells us the foods were designed by animal nutrition experts and veterinarians, and the list of added nutrients is indeed impressive.

Incidentally, dog treats Lindy sells are all edible for humans, although they require a powerful set of mandibles, since the treats are crunchy in the extreme. The higher-end dog foods, such as Canidae, meanwhile, contain Omega and fatty acids, vitamin E, Linoleic Acid, Brewer's Yeast and several antioxidants, so the dog or cat in your life can enjoy its maximum lifespan.

It's different over at your local Petsmart. This is, along with Petco, one of the new-generation pet superstores, and the number of products available to feed Fido or Tabby is mind blowing.

In fact, Petsmart is so all-inclusive that it even offers Banfield Veterinary Hospitals in its stores, so it can be a true one-stop for pet owners.

But here one can find Nature's Best or Science Diet dog foods for around $1 a pound. In other words, a 35-pound bag costs $34.99.

These foods contain real chicken, peas, carrots and grains, suspiciously similar to the balance found in a human diet.

Cats are eating a little more like we eat, as well. Now cat foods such as Natural Choice are being sold in portion-controlled aseptic pouches. A 49-cent pouch weighing 4 ounces contains "oceanfish and tuna chunks in a tasty sauce."

Now there is formula for kittens, crab-flavored snacks for "tartar control."

Just remember, says Loran Hickton, a PR person with Petsmart: "Dogs and cats overeat like humans during the holiday season, and this is the time of year that they are most likely to end up with digestive problems."

Sound familiar?