Grumpy Editor notes the country definitely is going to the dogs as Americans last year spent almost $70 billion on its canine population, almost a 70 percent hike from 2007, according to the American Pet Product Association.
It’s becoming big business with major food companies.
General Mills, maker of breakfast cereals such as Cheerios and with Haagen-Dazs, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Progresso Soup and Fiber One in the family, recently reached a deal to acquire Blue Buffalo Pet Products for about $8 billion.
The transaction with Wilton, Conn.-based Blue Buffalo will place Minneapolis-based General Mills into the mushrooming market for natural pet foods made with "wholesome" ingredients aimed at the 90 million dogs in the U.S.
So there’s much to bark about.
"We are competing more effectively in our existing categories by really listening to consumers and providing a variety of options that meet their needs," says General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening. "In pet food, as in human food, consumers are seeking more natural and premium products and we have tremendous respect for how attentive Blue Buffalo has been to the needs of their consumers, pet parents and pets, as they have built their brand."
Other examples of consumer packaged goods manufacturers buying pet food companies iin recent years include J.M. Smucker and Big Heart Pet Brands in 2015, Mars and Iams in 2014, Nestle and Ralston Purina in 2001 and Procter & Gamble and Iams in 1999.
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