[Excerpts] Canine health insurance, $900 Gucci bowls, paw pedicures are just some of the luxuries making tails wag — and savvy businesses grow…..
….Andrea Weiss calls Desi, her 10-year-old Chihuahua, “my everything.” Weiss, a Los Angeles radio agent, takes her pint-sized pooch everywhere — on vacation, on dates, even on visits to the dentist and gynecologist. She patronizes only dog-friendly restaurants and bars, and boycotts establishments that are not. A veteran traveler, Weiss has crisscrossed the globe with Desi. During a vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, last year, Desi enjoyed an in-room massage, side by side with Weiss. “Everyone knows me as Desi’s mom,” she says proudly……
…….And like increasing numbers of pet owners these days, Weiss loves to shower Desi with gifts. She shops at Wagging the Tail, a Los Angeles pet boutique that sells $225 vintage mink coats for dogs and $125 pet strollers.
……..Although large corporations like PetsMart (PETM) and Petco (PETC) have certainly ridden this wave, small businesses continue to make their mark in the traditionally entrepreneurial industry……
………TAKING NOTICE. Many of these entrepreneurs are pet owners themselves — folks who needed personal solutions, devised them, and discovered a business in the process………
………And that extends to pet food, which has also come to mirror offerings available for those holding the leash. With pet obesity at an estimated 25%, low-carb and vegetarian pet foods have gained popularity. The Honest Kitchen, based in San Diego, features natural, high-protein, low-carb foods considered the Atkins diet of the dog world. According to the Organic Trade Assn., organic pet food is one of the fastest-growing segments of the market — up 64.5% in 2004 and projected to grow an average of 17.4% a year until 2008. Small outfits like Montgomery City (Mo.)-based Spectrum Pet Foods have helped make it a $14 million category.
