Dogs get teeth into human menu

MATTHEW BRACE

If domestic dogs look unusually sluggish after the Christmas break, it could well be the fault of a new line in exotic pet dinners.

Those animals lucky enough to have owners who shop at Asda will have been treated over the holiday to a full festive meal including turkey and all the trimmings.

It is all part of a move by the Leeds-based supermarket chain to bring a human touch to dog and cat food and break away from the standard existing flavours of chicken, rabbit and beef.

Asda will be following its Christmas dinner line with a series of cordon bleu recipes with which to tempt your pet at feeding time.

Instead of the usual meaty chunks, dogs can expect bowlfuls of spaghetti bolognese while cats will be offered fish in white sauce.

It seems that the days when pets salivated at the sight of scraps being offered from a fish and chip wrapper or saucers of less than fresh milk could be over.

Increasingly domestic animals are now are being treated more like human members of the family.

Steve Dancer, the head of pet-food marketing at Asda, predicted that the trend for animal meals made from recipes designed for humans would spread rapidly.

"There is a move towards more human `values' across the pet food industry," he said.

"These meals will cost a little bit more but we think they will be successful and we are trying to get the cost down to a minimum."