All language subtitles for The.Food.That.Built.America.S04E15.Dog.Eat.Dog.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

It's
the early 1900's

and a New York City
bakery owner grapples

with an uncertain future.

F.H. Bennett was a baker
on the lower East side

of Manhattan who had a lot of
skill, a lot of experience.

The one thing he didn't
have was a lot of customers.

Radical changes
in the way Americans shop

threaten the survival
of small business.

Supermarkets are now
adding bakeries within them

so people can do
one stop shopping

and don't need to
go to a bakery.

They can see the
writing on the wall.

The day of the independent
baker is ending.

To ensure
his bakery's survival,

Bennett needs to come
up with a product

that people can't get
at the grocery store.

F.H. Bennett, he realized
there was a gap in the market.

What he lands
on will one day give rise

to a $3 billion a year market,

giving Americans a
product they'd

never thought they needed.

Bennett's invention will bring
joy to millions of Americans

for generations to
come, even though

they won't be the
ones eating it.

The United States is home

to 77 million dogs
and 58 million cats,

and each year Americans spend
roughly 40 billion dollars

to feed them with over
22,000 different kinds

of pet foods and treats.

We see our pets as an
extension of ourselves

and we want to
give them the best.

Feeding our pets
it's an important part

of the bond we share.

But up until
the late 19th century,

pet food doesn't exist.

Prior to mid-century, dogs
are really about utility,

so they're used as instruments
to help people hunt

and they live behind the house.

Cats were seen
as pest control.

Dogs ate table scraps.

Why would you spend
your hard earned money

on food for scavengers
and pest control?

It doesn't make sense for the
American public to buy it.

Until a
handful of visionaries

see an opportunity
no one else sees.

People don't care about cats.

They don't keep 'em as pets.

I do.

I've got three.

These innovators recognize

that people are moving
closer to their pets

and seeing their pets as more
than just utility animals.

They're part of the family.

They ultimately wanted
to create a product

in a market that didn't exist.

But we're the cereal division.

Now you're the
dog food division.

So this new role of
dogs really gives birth

to this whole market of
kind of dog related items.

Foremost among them, food.

These are
the iconic pet food brands

that changed the food
landscape in America.

This is gonna put
Purina on the map.

The idea of creating
specialty food for animals went

from laughable to a
thriving industry.

It's the industry we
didn't know we needed,

but now we can't live without.

Revolutionizing
the way our pets eat

and the way they live.

This food made cats and
dogs part of our family.

It's 1908

and bakery owner, F.H. Bennett,

has been desperately
searching for a new product

to secure the future
of his bakery.

So being that F.H.
Bennett has more inventory

than he does customers,

he takes the biscuits that
he's made for human beings

and he feeds them to his dogs.

At least you like
my tea biscuits.

As people begin to come
closer to their pets,

as they see their pets as
an extension of themselves

and of their family,

they wanna treat them
with the same kind of love

and cherish them in a
specific kind of way.

So it's hard to believe,

but there was a time in America
before there were dog treats.

For most Americans,

there isn't even dog food.

For as long as dogs have
been connected to man,

they've been eating human food.

The fact is the evolution
of how wolves became dogs,

it's a little fuzzy, right?

They probably developed
somewhere between 40

and 20,000 years ago.

And the going theory is that
these wolves started trailing

around groups of
hunter gatherers.

And humans recognized
the opportunity

to build a relationship
with the species

by breeding them for
specific purposes

like hunting or
retrieving or guarding.

During
the Colonial Era,

the bond intensified as wealthy
families with food and room

to spare begin welcoming them
into their homes as pets.

But for the rest

of the country, the idea
of keeping a dog solely

as an indoor companion
mostly starts

with the Industrial Revolution.

The rise of the middle class

brought more disposable
income into people's homes.

As middle class
started to boom,

so did the dog becoming
that family member.

So dogs slowly moved from
the barn into maybe a mudroom

or into the shed and
eventually into our homes.

But
there's a problem.

We fell in love

with dogs decades before

there were commercially
available dog foods.

So essentially, people
would leave their dogs

to scavenge or would
give them the remainder

of whatever they were eating,
for better or for worse.

But F.H.
Bennett's idea is the birth

of what will become
known as dog treats.

F.H. Bennett comes from
the bakery background,

and so he had been
used to, you know,

making pastries
and breads and all

of these delicious
treats for humans.

He starts to play around

with the idea of creating
a biscuit for dogs

using this dehydrated milk.

The milk was this
nutrient that was wholesome,

it was healthy and it
was also convenient.

He ultimately wanted
to create a product

in a market that didn't exist.

Bennett wisely recognizes

that even though there's
no market for this,

it's not like dogs
are demanding treats,

there's potential to
develop that market

out of humans' love and
appreciation for their dogs.

He makes them look
like a cartoon bone,

'cause he really wants
that kind of adorability

of this really cute
little dog cookie.

And to tout the
high milk content,

he calls it the Milk Bone.

With
his recipe set,

Bennett now faces
another challenge.

You wanna sell
cookies for dogs?

This is a family business.

He's got mouths to feed.

Today, it makes perfect sense.

People have dog psychologists
and buy dog clothing

and go to, you know,

special dog babysitting
centers when they go to travel.

In the early 20th century,

consumers had to be convinced

that dog food was worth
spending money on.

So it was really
an uphill battle.

You have to understand
it doesn't make sense

for the American
public to buy it

and it's kind of laughable.

It's like buying sneakers
for a snake, right?

People just didn't see pets

the way we see them now.

Now they're humanized, they
are members of our family.

We treat them the same
way we treat our children,

essentially, and that just
wasn't the mindset back then.

Bennett's creation

will one day give rise

to a $3 billion a year
dog treat industry

and usher in a new era in the
way Americans see their pets.

But before any of
that can happen,

Bennett's got to find
somewhere to sell it.

To put pet food
beside human food

was absolutely appalling.

I'd like to talk to you about
a new product that we have.

Actually, it's
made just for dogs.

No, not a prank.

I assure you.

Hello?

Hello?

And no way was
anybody gonna do this.

It's
the early 1900's.

A New York City
baker, F.H. Bennett,

hopes to save his
struggling bakery

with a product no one else
is selling, dog treats.

He recognizes that
people indulge the things

that they love.

They indulge themselves,
they indulge their children,

and ultimately they might even
want to indulge their pets.

But at the time,

most people still can't imagine
spending money on dog food.

It's one thing
to say, "Hey look,

we have this nutritious food
for your dog that you need,"

which is already a hard sell,

but at least it seems
like a necessity versus,

"Oh, here's this extra
treat for your dog."

At its launch,
Milk Bone is only carried

at the one place willing
to sell food for animals.

So Milk Bone sold
at animal feed stores,

the same place where a
farmer might get feed

for his livestock.

Initially sold alongside
cow, pig, and chicken feed.

Milk Bone fails to take off.

Bennett understands that

if it's mom who's doing
a majority of shopping,

then you've gotta make
it accessible in a place

that's gonna be part of her
daily chores, her daily routine.

If you had to go
to a feed store,

it takes you out of your way.

But if you could make
this available

where you already shop,

he's bringing
convenience and access

and that's gonna be a
huge boom for Milk Bone.

The biggest problem was,

how do we get into
grocery stores?

Yes. Hello.

I'm calling from the
Bennett Bakery Company.

I'd like to talk to you about
a new product that we have.

I think you may want to carry.

He's wise enough to think

as supermarkets are expanding

and sort of redefining what
a supermarket can sell,

maybe that includes animal
and pet care products.

Actually, it's
made just for dogs.

Hello?

People are
hanging up on him.

No, not a prank.

I assure you, I-

Because at this point
in American history,

the idea of selling animal
food alongside the place you go

for people food-

Hello?

Is nuts.

Bennett next
tries a bolder approach.

He invites a
Nabisco representative

to one of their
exhibitions in hopes

of interesting them in all
things, in a dog biscuit.

It's new.

Are they nutritious?

They are.

They're made from milk.

It could be a
hit with children.

They're made for dogs.

We're Nabisco.

We don't make products
for feed stores.

I don't wanna sell
them in feed stores.

So Nabisco has always
done consumer research

so that they can
have an eagle eye

on what people do at home.

And in
homes across America,

there are more dogs
than ever before.

You might be onto something.

Nabisco recognizes the
opportunity here as well.

This is a stroke of genius.

It's a huge opportunity
for both manufacturers,

for both companies.

In 1931, F.H. Bennett
sold Milk Bone Dog Foods

to the National Biscuit
Company or Nabisco,

and this was the very first
time that a human food company

was taking on

a dog food.

Nabisco makes
food history with Milk Bone.

They took 3,000 salesmen

and put them out into grocery
stores all over the nation

to convince the grocer
to take Milk Bone

and to put it on
human food shelves.

This was a monumental shift

that actually opened up the
doors to allowing dog foods

to go into human
food supply chains.

Today,
grocery stores bring in

roughly 30 billion
dollars from pet food,

with one third of that
coming from treat sales.

The Milk Bone is bar none,
not only the most iconic,

but take all the dog
treats in America,

Milk Bone is 60% of dog food
sales annually every year.

They are massive.

What Milk Bone provided

to the world was a focus

on something pet owners
didn't have before.

You could show your
pet you love them

and you knew you were giving
them something healthy.

Following
Milk Bone's success,

other manufacturers rushed

to grab a piece
of the pet market,

expanding it beyond treats
to canned wet dog food

as an onslaught of
options hit store shelves,

but they're a far cry from
the food we know today.

No one's interested in
what's going into pet food.

There are no labels that
document ingredients

and so it's some pretty
gnarly ingredients

that are going into pet food.

It wasn't just the parts of
the animal the people didn't

like to eat like lungs,
guts, and bone tissues.

It was also meats that came
from more dubious sources,

like sick animals and poultry.

Sometimes dead zoo
animals, even roadkill.

Many popular brands
such as Ken-L-Ration

contain one readily
available key ingredient.

It was horse meat.

In the 1920s, people were
going from horse riding

to get to a location
to buying cars,

so there was a surplus
of horses everywhere.

Not only remaining unwanted
horses were slaughtered

for their meat, but
slaughterhouse leftovers

and byproducts were all
combined to create dozens

and dozens and dozens
of competing canned

dog food products,
which dominated the market.

But
American sentiment

toward dogs is evolving.

As people become
more accustomed

to seeing their pets as an
extension of their family,

they don't want Rover
or Fido to get sick.

They want the same
guarantee of ingredients

in their pet food that they
want in their own food.

That void
will soon ignite a race

to capture a booming market.

Why would anyone feed
their dog anything else?

This is gonna put
Purina on the map.

Pushing the
boundaries of a market

that previously didn't exist.

So you wanna make cat food?

So it's a talking
cat and he's rude?

Not rude.

Morris is finicky.

Which
will one day catapult

into a $100 billion industry.

This would've been absolutely
bonkers in the 19th century.

We accept it, we say yes,

we'll buy that
for these animals.

By the early 1930s,

to stock dog food,

but the only options available
would be considered barbaric

by today's standards.

It's a little
bit like fast food.

You can get your kids to
eat those foods no problem.

But just because they're
consuming them and love them

doesn't mean that
they're meeting any type

of nutritional requirement.

The pet food industry
knew they needed something.

E.A.
Stuart is grappling

with the state of the family
business he's just inherited,

the Carnation
Evaporated Milk Company.

His father had left the
company in profound debt.

Business is not so good in
the condensed milk world.

Henry Earnest, who is an
executive at Carnation,

is pouring over the
company financials,

also trying to figure out a way

to navigate this
incredible debt.

Stuart's dad had
actually purchased

not only an animal feed
company, but a nutrition center.

And he begins to wonder, well,

the condensed milk business
isn't really working so well.

However, now people
are spending money

on food for their
domesticated dog.

He sees the success that
Milk Bone is having.

He figures that this
business that his dad purchased

might be the way out
of this financial hole.

I've got an idea.

Dogs.

He wants to help dogs
through better research

and ultimately better
food offerings.

And hopes to
save his business doing it.

He decides he's gonna figure
out what dogs really need,

the nutritional levels,

how to give them the
best quality he can,

and that's what's gonna guide
his business going forward.

But it's a
risky investment when people

and dogs seem content with
what's already out there.

Do you want to
sink more money?

He could have just
taken some scraps

and slapped a label on it

and called it dog food.

But
Stuart invests heavily

in dog nutrition research.

So in 1931, Stuart
founded his research kennel

and it became one of
the largest kennels

in America with 300 dogs.

So he started doing feed
and nutrition research,

all of the things
that eventually became

the complex research we have
today with in-home studies

and kennel studies and
multi-bowl studies.

They're trying
to create a whole new kind

of dog food.

So the only dry food

that people have access
to are biscuits, but now,

E.A. Stuart is ushering
in this age of dry food.

After several years

of research

in which Stuart's
investment ballooned

to over a million dollars
or 22 million today,

Carnation is ready to introduce

the world's first dry dog
food, which they call Friskies.

Why would anyone feed
their dog anything else?

It's a huge breakthrough,

but now E.A. Stuart
has to figure out

if he can recoup
that investment.

Stuart's
investment will pave the way

for a new 34 billion
dollar industry,

but while he
doesn't know it yet,

it will first need
one pivotal change.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis,

a successful animal feed
company has a new leader

named Donald Danforth.

Danforth, he's a go-getter.

He inherits his family business

where he's selling
horse feed and mule feed

and it's a good business,

but at a certain point
he wants to diversify.

Now Danforth sees a chance

to expand beyond
farm animal feeds.

This is gonna put
Purina on the map.

Purina will one day

create a game-changing new kind

of dog food that
reinvents how dogs eat

and builds the small business

into a global brand
that is now number one

in the $82 billion
dog food market.

But for now, Danforth
is not trying

to make food for animals.

He's trying to break
into breakfast cereal.

In the mid 1930s,

Carnation president,
E.H. Stuart is preparing

to launch his groundbreaking
new dry boxed dog food,

Friskies, nationwide.

America has now grown
accustomed to the convenience

of canned wet dog food.

How do you now make
small individual pellets

of dry food appealing?

So the research component
gave Carnation a leg up

in terms of what they could
say about their pet food.

They were able to say that
it had all the proteins

and vitamins and minerals
that this animal needed.

Modern veterinary
medicine really didn't exist

until about the
turn of the century.

In 1933, an organization known

as the American Animal
Hospital Association

known colloquially
as AHA was formed.

So now there really was
a formally recognized,

publicly known entity in the
realm of animal medicine.

During this time, many people
are beginning to recognize

the nutritional
needs of animals.

This opens the door

to veterinarian medicine
all around the country,

which is really a reflection
of this new relationship

that Americans have with
dogs in the household.

Now the people are
spending their money

to take their domestic
companion animals to doctors.

Then they will also spend
money on a doctor endorsed food

to keep their animal healthy.

Stuart realizes, "If I can
get AHA to give me the okay

on my dog food, I'm easily
going to be number one."

We got the endorsement,

put it on every box
and double production!

In 1934, Friskies
hit stores across America.

It's the country's first
dry boxed dog food.

Friskies came in
with this dry dog food

that had nutrition
research behind it,

but it was marketed also
as a convenience product.

Small boxes, easy to
put in your grocery cart,

easy to put in your grocery bag,

take home and put
in your cupboard.

They set it up against
wet food and went, "Look,

you can pour this kibble out
and leave it out all day.

If you do that with wet food,

the wet food's gonna get
sticky, it's gonna get dry,

it's gonna be gross to clean.

This is way easier."

By the early 1940s,

Friskies dominates the dog
food market by a landslide

and may land a death blow
to any kind of wet dog food.

So when World
War II breaks out,

all non-essential
canning has to stop

because the metal needs to
be used for the war effort.

The other issue is
American sentiment

towards feeding horse
meat to your dogs.

Well, it's changed.

Articles are written in
strong opposition to it.

Americans don't like the idea
of feeding horse meat to dogs.

Maybe they turned a blind
eye to it a decade earlier.

All American
industries notice

this seismic shift
in the food world,

including the owner of
the feed company Purina,

who has been focused on
breaking into cereal until now.

You see this?

We need to do better than this

But we're the cereal division.

Well now you're the
dog food division.

The dawn
of the 1950's ushers

in a time of unprecedented
growth and prosperity in America

as the country emerges from war.

There's a new American
ideal that grows out

of the Second World War.

That new ideal is the suburb,
the house in the suburbs,

2.5 kids and an automobile.

And there's this
idea relatively recent,

that a dog is the perfect
accessory for suburban life.

The number of
dogs in American homes balloons

to 22 million, triple what
it was a decade earlier,

skyrocketing dog food sales
to 200 million dollars

with Friskies far in
the lead, for now.

Purina president, Donald
Danforth has been trying

to expand his
animal feed company

into the growing cereal market.

He was selling poultry feeds,

feeds for cows and horses, pigs.

But now
Danforth sees a market

with more opportunity.

Danforth realizes there's
a gold mine to be had

in specialized dog food.

So Purina really steps
into that marketplace.

Danforth realizes
that Purina's investment

in cereal could actually
give them a leg up

on launching into
the pet food market.

In 1950, Purina invested

in a brand new piece
of cooking technology.

They bought an
extruder and this piece

of equipment allowed them
to make breakfast cereal

that did not get soggy when
it was sitting in milk.

In essence, you mix all
your ingredients together

and you force it through a
tube under high pressure,

high temperature,
with steam and heat,

and the end result is an
expanded food that's light

and crunchy and
highly palatable.

Here's where Purina
had the genius idea.

Their scientists, because
Purina was already

into the cereal industry,

borrowed one of
the cereal machines

and tinkered with
it for three years.

So they decide that
they're going to use

this extrusion
process for dog food.

You make a mineral, vitamin,
nutrient rich paste,

extrude it and they
make these crunchy,

lighter, vitamin rich
pellets for dogs.

New Purina Dog Chow,

made by an exclusive process

that changes the usual
hard, tough pellets

into light, easily
digested chunks,

literally saturated
with a new flavor.

When the kibble came out

the other side, Purina
also sprayed the food

with fat or a top coating.

So this rendered fat
sprayed on the outside

made the food not
just enjoyable,

but actually addictive.

In 1958,

Purina launches their Dog Chow

in grocery stores
across the country.

Purina, with the invention

of their new foods,

were able to get the
same weight of food,

but in like triple size the bag.

The pet owner would come
into the grocery store,

it was a no-brainer on
what they would pick.

And it went gangbusters.

Within months,
Dog Chow overtakes Friskies

as America's number
one dog food.

Stuart obviously sees
that they have to compete,

so they make their Friskies
into smaller size kibble

and they call it Little
Friskies for puppies.

Here's the focus group
feedback for the puppy food.

And?

And I think it will work.

One guy even said he'd
feed it to his cat.

You know it's not a bad idea.

What's not?

Making food for cats?

People don't care about cats,

they don't keep 'em as pets.

I do. I've got three.

Prior to refrigeration,

preserving food was generally
done in storehouses.

You needed a cat there
to kill any rodent

that might be trying
to eat your food.

So cats were not seen as
warm and cute and cuddly.

And it's not really
until about the 1920s

that we start
seeing a slow move

towards domestication of cats.

One of the major obstacles is

how do you let them
go to the bathroom?

Cats use urine to
mark their territory.

You don't want that
smell in your house.

At the time,
kitty litter doesn't yet exist.

So people have begun
making bins filled

with everything from newspapers

to ashes, to sand, to dirt,

but it does nothing
to trap odor.

It's incredibly
difficult to clean.

But in 1954,

a game-changing product
made of clay granules

solves the problem.

This juggernaut of a
brand still available today

known as Tidy Cat
ushers in a new wave

of pet ownership in
the United States.

That was pretty much the end

of the strictly outdoor cat

and the advent of people being
able to have indoor cats.

Once you've taken this outdoor
predatory creature inside,

the owner of this cat

now has to provide this food
they used to be hunting for.

There is dog food
in the marketplace,

but there's no cat food.

So there's obviously a hole

in that market
waiting to be filled.

Henry Arnest realizes

that this massive
American cat population

is an untapped gold mine.

If you look at the research,

about 50% of all American
pets are cats now.

Desperate
to regain market share

from Purina,

in 1955, Stuart agrees

to release Little
Friskies, marketed

for both puppies and cats,
but sales are dismal.

Little Friskies was actually
a formula for puppies.

This product did not
go over well with cats.

Cats wanted nothing
to do with it.

Stuart says, "You know what?

Forget about them,
take cats off the box.

Little Friskies is for puppies."

Friskies is losing
a market share,

but Henry Arnest is also a
cat lover and he realizes

that there's nothing for
them in the marketplace

and he wants to develop
something for America's cats

for his own cats, quite frankly.

Arnest says, "Let's formulate
something specially for cats."

So you wanna make cat food?

Well, yes.

But there's one problem.

Nobody knew how the
heck to feed a cat.

It's the mid 1950's

the first dry dog food
ever to hit the market

has been toppled
by upstart Purina

and their revolutionary
Dog Chow brand.

Now, Friskies executive
Henry Arnest hopes

to convince his boss to shift

into a new uncharted territory.

He went, "Look,

why don't we just come up
with a specialty formula

that's specifically for cats."

Cats don't eat like dogs
do, dogs will eat anything,

you know, you throw
down for them.

But cats are very picky.

What exactly
goes into cat food?

Birds, mice, scraps
from the dumpster?

Well, we'll need
to study them.

Learn about their
nutritional needs.

Any cat owner will tell you

that a cat is perfectly
capable of going

on a hunger strike until
you change their food

and give them something
that they really enjoy.

So if you fund the research,

we will be at the
forefront of a new market.

Carnation Farm's
Research Cattery

would focus on nutrition,

how the cats reacted to the
food they were being given,

so they were at the beginning

of all of the
nutrition research,

which was not something
that anybody was thinking

about at the time.

While dogs are
adaptable to most foods,

including grains,

cats have a higher need
for protein and fats.

So Arnest looks for an
affordable shelf-stable meat

that cats all like.

Cats are
scent-driven creatures.

Every cat will walk
up and smell the bowl

before they eat it, and it
has to be alluring to the cat.

If a cat's nose is telling
it things it doesn't like,

all the high-end
formulation in the world

is not going to get

that cat anywhere
near that food.

After
several years of searching

for a nutritious formula that
cats love, Arnest decides

to try a new source of protein.

Historically,

cats have not hunted
for fish in the wild,

yet over centuries of
living alongside humans,

their sense of smell
and taste are evolved

to recognize
high-quality protein.

So when Carnation experimented

with putting mackerel
into their cat food,

this was something that
was a big hit with cats.

With
fish at the core,

Arnest finally
lands on a formula

for the country's
first dry cat food.

In 1958, they relaunch
Little Friskies,

but this time they
targeted just for cats.

Cats loved it,

people loved it for their cats

and after that initial
failure of just throwing cats

on a box of food that
was formulated for dogs,

this launched dry cat food
in the pet food world,

because it didn't
exist before then.

Within a year,

it pushes the company to
almost $10 million in profits.

I have to believe that
Arnest felt pretty vindicated

when it was a success.

Somebody has to pave the way.

With the success

of Little Friskies ushering
in a new market for cat food,

a slew of new cat food
brands both wet and dry

like Kit-E-Kat and Whiskas

and Purina's Cat
Chow begin to pop up.

And the competition to
become number one cat food

in America is fierce.

And now a new
brand of cat food is about

to forever change the status
of cats across America.

It's the mid 1960's

and Joseph Bogdanovich
has an idea

for how to make his
new cat food brand,

9Lives stand out.

So this is a time

when a tried and
trusted technique

to help build a brand is
to use a spokesperson.

Elizabeth Taylor was
selling Whitman's Chocolates

along with Humphrey Bogart.

Ronald Reagan I think
was selling shirts.

Bogdanovich enlists one

of the country's top
advertising agencies

to market his new product line.

Hi, Bob Martwick,

your talent scout
from Leo Burnett.

What is this?

This is your new spokesman.

Yeah, I was expecting
more of maybe a Clark Gable.

As the story goes, for $5,

he gets a
seven-year-old tabby cat

whose personality
and looks he likes.

I don't mean to tell
you how to do your job,

but mascots supposed
to be fun, energetic.

Tony the tiger, your
Toucan Sam types.

Cats didn't have the warm,

exuberant joyfulness
of a dog, you know?

Despite
Bogdanovich's reservations,

Martwick believes he'll see
the genius in the campaign.

"Why does she call me Sweetie?

With food like this, you
can call me anything!"

"I'll eat when I'm ready."

So it's a talking
cat and he's rude.

Not rude.

Morris is

finicky.

Morris really appealed

to the cat owners who knew
that cats could be aloof,

temperamental, a little rude.

Today we still have
that kind of lovable image

of the difficult cat, right?

We have all these
cat memes and videos

and the whole deal is
that cats are not dogs.

This isn't like
man's best friend.

This is this kind
of like, finicky,

maybe a little bit suspicious,
picky friend who you love,

but it might not be your dog.

The plot's improving.

Not only does it bring 9Lives,

the cat food to be
number one by 1970,

but actually turns Morris
into a pop culture phenomenon.

He's receiving fan mail.

He just all over the place.

Kids loved him, adults love him.

Morris was a star,

and that's beyond like
your wildest hopes

when you develop a spokesman.

By the time you get to
the seventies and eighties,

this kind of ubiquitous symbol
of the feline, you know,

you get it in Garfield the
cat, which comes out in 1978.

I mean, it's the
celebration of the feline

as kind of this discriminating
and independent,

almost human entity.

And we owe that in large
part to Morris the Cat.

Jim Davis actually
credits Morris the Cat

for inspiring some of the
inner voice of Garfield,

you know, the sarcastic cat.

Between
1970 and 1980,

the estimated number

of pet cats in America climbs

from 30 million to
over 46 million.

The original trailblazers of
the cat food market are working

on one more
game-changing innovation.

Carnation realizes, "Okay,

Friskies is our
flagship cat food.

Let's continue that, but
now let's eat away at 9Lives

with something elevated."

This was a bonkers idea
and they had to be convinced

to even look into the idea,

but in 1982, Fancy
Feast came out

as the first gourmet cat food.

The finest food,

Fancy Feast, gourmet cat food.

Bear in mind,

a few decades before,

cat food didn't exist
and now they want

to create an elite gourmet
cat food, gourmet cat food!

This would've been absolutely
bonkers in the 19th century.

Well, we accept
it, we say, "Yes,

we'll buy that for
these animals."

Fancy Feast
quickly becomes one

of the top selling
cat foods in America

and drives a surging demand
for a whole new sector

of specialized pet food.

Now there's specialty dog
food, specialty cat food,

specialty puppy food,
specialty kitten food,

and the industry has so grown,

so diversified people are
so willing to spend money

on their animals to the degree

that the market will not
only bear a luxury cat food,

but that luxury cat food
will sell like wildfire.

Without this sort of movement

towards a specialty crafted
pet food marketplace,

you would never have massive
stores like Chewy and Petco.

In 1984, food
juggernaut Nestle buys Carnation

and their Friskies brand
for 3 billion dollars.

Then in 2001, Nestle buys Purina

for $10 billion and becomes
the largest conglomerate

in the pet food game.

Feeding our pets has an effect

on the bond we have with them,

and so the availability

of convenient food
has made us enjoy pets

that much more so therefore
people get more pets.

At the end of the day,
people like Bennett,

people like Stuart and
Danforth made pet food

not just a mega billion
dollar industry,

but made cats and dogs
part of our family

and we love our family.