Photo: Steve Jurvetson, flickr.
Mississauga, ON—Purina has a new product meant to decrease redundancies in the pet food aisle: cat food for dogs.
Head of Development, Doug Chase, explained. “We’d been working on a new chow category to bolster sales when my own pets gave me the idea. No matter what prototype I brought home from work, the dog would eat it up. But the cat was much pickier. So it occurred to me that as long as I catered to the cat, I could feed them both the same thing!”
Tentatively called Purina Cats First! Cat and Dog Chow, the product consists of small oval pieces containing nutrition relevant to both species. “There’s enough crossover in the ingredients of most cat and dog foods to create a mix that will reasonably cover the needs of both animals,” said Purina head veterinarian Tom Shadd. “Kibble size is largely irrelevant to dogs since they don’t tend to chew their food. So this is another way in which the cat takes top priority with its smaller teeth and mouth. Both animals are expected to regurgitate the food as frequently as their non-hybrid eating counterparts.”
The target buyer is lazy, young, cheap and has pets with no special needs. Purina is also working on a wet version of the food plus treats, including mouse-flavoured bacon bits.