Aug 7, 2011

Gourmet and Organic Edibles for Pets Take OffBy Jeannine SteinFreeP.com

Los Angeles, CA – When Gabriel, a 10-year-old rescue cat, tucks into his morning meal, you won’t see any Friskies or Meow Mix in his bowl. Ahi tuna and duck are more the ticket.

“I think there’s more than enough pesticides and chemicals and that kind of stuff in human food,” says Gabriel’s owner, Jason Lanum, on a recent expedition to Urban Pet, a Los Angeles specialty pet store. “I eat natural food, and I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t give it to my cat.”

These days, our pets may be eating better than we are. Big-box pet stores and precious pet boutique shelves are increasingly stocked with gourmet edibles that are corn-free, wheat-free, locally sourced, by-product-free, free-range, minimally processed and raw. Many come with homey, inviting labels, and some look palatable even for humans. At Petco, a number of locations now have a wood-floored store-within-a-store for natural foods.

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