Business Notes Pets

Some socioeconomic groups are impervious to recession. Dogs, for example. Cats too -- or at least rich ones. In Beverly Hills, Critter Caterers offers pampered pets colognes, tuxedoes and furs, bone-shaped canine birthday cakes that begin at $50, high-tech flea collars using ultrasonic waves, even a $1,600 Kitty Condo, a three-story luxury cat house.

Two years ago, proprietor Tracy Parsons, 28, left Los Angeles' dog-eat-dog garment industry to start a home-delivery bakery for puppies. Then she invested $5,000 of her savings, persuaded a bank to back her and set up shop on ritzy Beverly Drive. Parsons has added a mail-order business supplying pet owners as distant as New York, and hopes eventually to franchise the business. "But," says she, "I don't want to expand too fast, because service is the most important thing to me."