Pets are big business: Americans spent over $62 Billion on their pets last year. $24 Billion of that was food, with $11.6 Billion spent on dog food and $3.8 Billion on cat food.  A number of facts about dog food:

1. We care about our dogs – maybe more than we care about ourselves.  A 2010 study found that in general we are more serious about buying healthy dog food than healthy human food.
2. There are over 3,000 dog food brands available in the U.S.!  However, 80% of them are owned by four companies: Mars, Nestle, J.M. Smucker and Colgate-Palmolive.  The next 10% is Blue Buffalo and Diamond pet foods.
3. Dog food on average contains 49 ingredients! Most of the ingredients are added vitamins and minerals that probably are not absorbed or digested by dogs.
4. “Natural” dog food has been all the rage starting about 10 years ago with the recall of dog food that contained melamine and killed thousands of dogs.  The move to premium natural dog food has resulted in the average price of dog food doubling.
5. Many experts question whether premium natural dog food is any healthier for our dogs. In fact, there is concern that most dog food is not very healthy for our dogs.

Sources and more reading:  https://medium.com/@michaelwaxman/whats-your-dog-really-eating-3cdf45b7d2fd#.7oul9lwpr

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.20364/abstract

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/05/how-the-worlds-biggest-food-giants-swallowed-the-pet-food-industry/?utm_term=.e0d91e8e8c2c