It’s the sort of mouth-watering description that one expects to read on the finest menus of the finest restaurants in the land.
“Freshly prepared Aberdeen Angus beef with sweet potato and fava beans, accompanied by a delicious blend of carrot, green bean, cauliflower, tomato, courgette and a hint of olive,” it says, adding that the beef is quality-checked from specially selected farms. “Which means you know your dog is getting the taste and goodness it deserves.”
You stop salivating. Dog food? Suddenly, you don’t feel quite so hungry anymore.
The description comes courtesy of Bounce and Bella, one of an increasing number of luxury pet food brands banking on the old adage that man’s best friend is his dog – and that the way to a dog’s heart is through his stomach.
A 2kg bag of Bounce and Bella dry dog food costs £20.99, roughly the same price per 100g as you’d pay for a premium human food such as Charlie Bigham’s cottage pie. But it’s a price that’s justified, according to co-founder Darren Clunie, who launched Bounce and Bella after both he and one of his dogs started suffering from digestion problems.
“As pet parents, we often can’t work out what the problem is. It’s generally the cheap filler that big businesses use to make profit at the expense of our dogs’ health – usually grains of some sort, which they aren’t physically equipped to digest.”
Like most premium dog foods, Bounce and Bella is devoid of grains, as well as plant, animal or vegetable derivatives, whose usage would lower costs but whose quality is ungoverned, says Clunie. “The derivatives used in mass-market products are made from any plant or animal,” he explains, “My big tip to any pet owner is to never buy anything that includes derivatives – you can’t know what’s in there.”
A noble aim, though as humans become ever more concerned about what they put in their stomachs, some want to nurture their canine companions with the sort of organic, minimally processed diet that they favour themselves.
And so the “humanisation” of pet food continues apace, with owners scanning labels for organic and “hero” ingredients, such as blueberries, kale and seeds. Post-pandemic, a shift in attitude has seen many owners go above and beyond when it comes to giving their pets the best in life.
