Fancy Feast

After a hard day at work, I usually go home, curl up on the couch, turn on the T.V. and go comatose for the remainder of the evening. On one such occasion, in between segments of the Tyra and Ellen, a commercial came on that made my stomach rumble. A seductively deep voiced announcer described a sumptuous carved filet of chicken in a signature gravy while my television showed images of savory spices, and a delicious looking final meal. Right when I was poised to memorize whatever restaurant was serving up this drool-worthy feast, a cat walked into the shot and began to chow down on my gourmet meal and the Iams jingle began to play. I had just drooled over cat food.

While I understand that pets have feelings just like humans, do they really require the same delectable diet? I mean, I’ve personally never seen a house cat hunt down deep sea fish or a dog take on a cow, and yet we insist on serving ocean whitefish and beef. If we’re trying to keep their diet close to their natural menu, why is there no mouse flavored cat food? Companies market their food as a “delectable taste that your pet will love”. While pets do seem to love their dishes, they also love garbage scraps, couches, grass, raw meat, and whatever they dig up in the backyard. Clearly, when it comes to pet food, it is only the owners that are picky. Iams keep the spices for employee lunches and keep it simple for pet food ‘recipes’.