It is Boom Times of High-end Pet Food Industry

Shoot: Xiaolu Sang | Music: Benjamin Tissot - Sunny | Edit: Xiaolu Sang

Creamy, a leopard cat, munches on freeze-dried raw salmon with his head tilted, muttering and licking the sides of his mouth from time to time.

It is Creamy cat’s snack time.

He gets a chance to taste a kind of pet snacks from around the world every two or three days. Among the wide range of treats include freeze-dried and air-dried strips made from fresh offal and meat, lumps of pulps made from quality fish, and lollipops made from meat patties and organic coconuts, all of which are for pets only.

During the snack time, Creamy always put his paw up to his owner’s knee and try to stand up and ask for more.

“I think cats will also get tired of eating the same taste of food for long periods of time, they are just like humans,” says Creamy cat’s owner, Abby Lam.

“The different tastes of various snacks are unmatched by staple food. They provide a rich experience of eating for my baby.”

Purchased pet snacks need to satisfy some standards: Only choose non-harmful ones that chemical addition is 0% and be made with 100% fresh raw meat for protein supplication, while retaining maximum nutritional value and natural flavours. Although pet food bills are over $300 a month.

Feeding high-quality healthy snacks to pets is becoming more and more popular among pet owners, and the pursuit is reflected in consumption.

According to Animal Medicines Australia (AMA), Australians spent $3.9bn on pet food in 2019, account for the largest segment of pet spending. Meanwhile, according to Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the Australian pet food market is growing at an annual rate of 4.6%, and the trend is expected to continue to 2024.

Source from Meat & Livestock Australia

Behind the prosperity of pet food industry are high pet ownership rate and the trend toward pet humanization.

According to a report from AMA in 2019, with more than 29 million pets, Australia has one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world. There are about 61% of households have pets in Australia, with dogs (40%) the most common and cats (27%) second.

Source from Animal Medicines Australia

Source from Animal Medicines Australia

These pets are an integral part of their owners’ lives and many people consider them as family members.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald last year, an animal behaviourist Dr Kate Mornement says there is a significant increase in the number of dogs and cats considered family members compared to pets.

“I started doing my job in 2004, before the technical term ‘fur baby’ appeared,” she says. “Over the past few years, that has suddenly happened. Pets now have more privileges than they did 20 years ago.”

Stock at Home

Pet Treats

Shoot: Abby Lam, Xiaolu Sang | Edit: Xiaolu Sang

As more and more owners treat their pets like humans, the requirements of pet food are moving closer to human eating standards. The quality of high-end pet food is in line with the parts that are considered high-quality in human eating: fresh ingredients, rich nutrition, unique taste, and no additives.

Source from Meat & Livestock Australia

Source from Meat & Livestock Australia

Do pet food only need to satisfy taste and nutrition? There are countless snacks to meet the needs of particular occasions or situations, in order to facilitate the participation of pets in every aspect of their owner’s lives.

It is easy to find more than 10,000 kinds of product recommendations by entering the keyword “pet snacks” on Amazon.

They include chicken popcorn (Doggy Popcorn Treats: 25g, $4.99) for family movie days and holiday-themed handmade cookie set (Dog Cookie Box: 800g, $63.89) for celebrations. There is also a special breakfast for pets made from a mixture of yogurt, berries and seeds (Breakfast Crunch for Dogs: 800g, $39.95), cats and dogs could enjoy them during the brunch time.

Consumers are willing to pay for a wide variety of pet food. An Amazon spokesperson told The Guardian last year, the sales of doggy beer and rosé wine gift sets on its website were up 260% in 2019. “More and more consumers want to share similar life experiences with their pets.”

On a New Zealand-made pet food package: rich food ingredients & no additives. (Photo by Xiaolu Sang)

Tina Zhang likes to order various kinds of cat food cans online at once. (Photo by Xiaolu Sang)

Supaw Pet Bakery

West Melbourne

Shoot: Xiaolu Sang | Edit: Xiaolu Sang

Supaw Pet Bakery is a pet snack shop in Melbourne. Meg Cai, the owner of the shop, sees a business opportunity in the trend of sharing experiences.

“The beauty parlours, coffee shops and hotels are no longer a privilege for humans, so of course, pets can have their own bakeries. My product was born.” “Four years ago, I introduced my first custom-made pet cake in Melbourne.”

Since then, her bone cake (which can be topped with pet names and is made from human-grade chicken, beef, kangaroo and eggs and contains organic apples, organic coconuts, organic tapioca and sugar-free yogurt) and portrait cake (the topper can be customized from pet photos and is made from unseasoned chicken broth mixed with human-grade chicken, beef and fish puree and decorated with organic coconut and vegetable juice) are uniformly popular with cats, dogs and their owners.

Tina Zhang, the owner of Duke cat, has bought nearly ten cakes at Supaw Pet Bakery over the past three years.

“I would like to buy cakes for Duke on some holidays and his birthdays, because he is like a son to me,” the 28-year-old said with a laugh. “The selection of ingredients is very strict in Supaw and my boy is drawn in a lovely way, so I think a few tens of dollars is well worth it.”

Duke is enjoying his personalised birthday cake with the topper of a cartoon head based on his likeness. His name and birthday wish are written on the bottom board in Chinese, made of pet-friendly carob chocolate. (Photo by Tina Zhang)

Duke is enjoying his personalised birthday cake with the topper of a cartoon head based on his likeness. His name and birthday wish are written on the bottom board in Chinese, made of pet-friendly carob chocolate. (Photo by Tina Zhang)

Luna dog and her birthday cake, the unicorn is edible for pets. (Photo by Meg Cai)

The dedicated dryer for Thailand Latte cat is now in operation, and it needs to be turned on for two days and nights to bake crispy chicken breast strips. (Photo by Xiaolu Sang)

Supaw’s cakes range in price from $30 to $95, depending on dissimilar sizes and decorations. If pet owners have special requirements for the ingredients, such as no fish in the patty or the whole cake has to be made by beef, the price of the cake will fluctuate according to the cost of different ingredients.

Higher standards for pet food require more money to pay for it. From MLA’s statistics, the global average price of pet food rose 18.5% to nearly $3.50 a pound between 2013 and 2018.

The value-added of pet food is reflected in many ways, from freeze-dried meat to handmade cakes, consumers are concerned about the health and happiness benefits that food could bring to their pets.

Maine Coon cat Thailand Latte has his dedicated snack-making machine - a food dryer. His owner, Kisa Guo, will personally use this dryer to make him some air-dried meat strips every two to three weeks. All of the ingredients are human-grade and high-quality raw meat.

“I enjoy the process of making him some healthy and delicious snacks because cooking for my family makes me happy,” she says. “I am sure he will have different feelings in my homemade food and store-purchased snacks - homemade treats are filled with my love to him.”

If people’s criteria for choosing pet food sound inscrutable, Ms Lam says it makes sense to think of pets as our family members.

“I think pets are like your closest families and friends, who are willing to accept all of your faults and will always be there for you,” she says, holding Creamy cat as if he was a human baby.

“In the face of such loyalty, the only thing you want is to offer him the best that you can, and food is only one aspect.” As soon as she finishes speaking, Creamy cat yawns in her arms.

Author

Xiaolu Sang

Background Photo

Abby Lam
Meg Cai
Xiaolu Sang