According to this press release, the pet treat market in the US is projected to exceed $122.1 billion by 2032 as the demand for organic and vegetarian products increase.
Additionally, because pet parents are becoming increasingly concerned about nutrition, "manufacturers are launching organic pet treats" and using graphics on packaging "to show pet food ingredients present in the pet treat item as well as the ingredients that are not present in them." Further, "as pets get bored quickly and very easily, to keep them engaged, active, and entertained, pet owners choose to treat them with pet treats."
I am profoundly disturbed for several reasons:
- Pets are bored so you just feed them? Perhaps a walk or fresh air might doe the trick?
- Vegetarian treats? If the treats are comprised of whole foods and not garbage ingredients, I'd be more ok with it, but the odds of companies like MARs Inc. manufacturing high quality treats with high quality ingredients is highly, highly, highly unlikely.
- Nutrition labels are great, but I would bet that most of the ingredients used, organic or not, are hard to pronounce chemicals that no one should be consuming.