‘Pet Parents’ Treat Cats and Dogs to Upscale, Specialty Fare

With U.S. pet ownership at an all-time high—78 million dogs and 86 million cats—things are just about “purrfect” for the pet food industry. According to the American Pet Products Assoc.’s (APPA) 2015 National Pet Owners Survey, 65% of U.S. households have a pet. That is 80 million households—nearly double the number of households with kids. In 2014 APPA reported that there were 8 million new pet owners. The number of minority households owning a cat or dog has…