Readers of Gray will recognise this book as a postscript or coda to Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals , the 2002 bestseller in which he elegantly dismantled the history of western philosophy – with its illusory faith in our species living somehow “above” evolving life and outside the constraints of nature.

“Increasingly, consumers have started extending their own food philosophies onto their pets, choosing options that reflect the same growing trends in human food, such as no added preservatives and non-GMO ingredients,” Beach says.