Even pedigree dogs are happy to wolf down meat left over at the abattoir. But cats are often fed the fishmonger's best.

"Our pets seem to be eating better than their owners," said Giovanni Turchini, a researcher at Melbourne's Deakin University.

"These gourmet pet foods contain a significant amount of fish that may be suitable for direct human consumption. We don't have enough fish to feed the world."

Turchini would like to see pampered felines weaned off restaurant-quality grub and introduced to the by-products of the fish filleting industry.

Dogs thrive on leftover meat and it follows that cats could get used to offal.

Turchini found that every year 2.4 million tons of herring, anchovies, sardines and other quality fish go into cat food.

"It seems silly that the pet food industry is not even trying to make an attempt to address this problem," he said.

In Australia, pet cats eat their way 13.7 kilogrammes of fish a year - far more than the Australian average per capita fish and seafood consumption of around 11 kilogrammes.

Turchini urged owners to stop turning their pets into gourmets. In the supermarket, they should walk by those premium and super-premium cat food tins and pick the house brand instead. (dpa)