Americans traditionally treat their four-legged household pets like members of the family. And they feed them accordingly. Today, even table scraps are not good enoughwhich means that the nation's 3,000 dog-and cat-food makers and marketers contemplate 1968 sales of over $900 million, up $300 million since 1965. At that price, the doggy dish runs all the way from chicken croquettes to chunks of pure beef.
Pet-food makers insist that there is a little of the gourmand in every dog and cat, and last year they spent $52.5 million to advertise their argument more than 80% of it on television. Accounting...