The history of pet food is very interesting and very important for you pet owners to know. It might come as a shock but commercial pet foods didn’t exist 30,000 years ago when dogs first met man. Allow me to take you on a journey on how commercial pet foods had entered our pets lives.
Dogs are thought to had been domesticated about 30,000 years ago. But, commercial dog food was first introduced only 160 years ago. Dry kibble, as we are familiar with today, entered only around the 1950’s. Until that moment, dogs and cats had eaten what their owners ate – stews, left over meats, grains and vegetables.
First stages of commercial pet food
Around 1860, an English man names James Pratt had invented the first dog biscuit. His biscuits were made from vegetables, animal blood, wheat and beet pulp. Other companies, seeing the interest in this product, started creating their own version of it. And so, at around 1890, commercial pet treats started to be widespread in the U.S.
After world war I, mass production of canned dog food from horse meat had started. Also in those years, started the production of canned cat food. And around 1930, began the first production of dry kibble for dogs made from different flours.
At 1946, dry foods reached a market share of 85%. At those years there were two kinds of dry foods, Biscuits or crumbles.
After world war II, when the economy started to blossom, people could afford to buy quality pet food. So, in the 50’s and 60’s many companies saw the potential and started adding manufacturing lines for pet foods, along their human lines. Among these companies were General Foods®, Quaker Oats®, Campbell’s® Soups, Mars®, Lipton®, Post®, Carnation®.
Second stage of industrialized pet food
The next innovation arrived in the late 1950 with the extrusion manufacturing process by Purina. The final product was lighter then with previous manufacturing processes, which gave the feeling that you receive more for your money. Extruded kibble needed to contains large amounts of starch, in order to combine the ingredients and hold its shape. Above this, nutrients were added and sprayed in order to compensate for their loss due to the double high temperature cooking.
Pet food manufacturers started to market their kibble as “complete and balanced”. They advertised that feeding human food and left overs to pets was dangerous. At 1964, the pet food manufacturers organization started a campaign warning pet owners about the risks of feeding table scraps; And the importance of feeding pets only commercial processed foods.
The next step was the distribution of veterinary prescription pet food through veterinarians. This started with Hill’s® (bought buy Colgate Palmolive®) after its parent company massive success in marketing tooth pastes through dentists. This marketing technique sends pet owners the message that pet nutrition is complicated; So, they should leave it in the hands of professionals. And, that veterinarians are the only ones who really know what pets need to eat.
Natural nutrition trend
There is a growing movement toward natural, raw, home cooked pet food. This movement isn’t new, but it is growing every year. Some pet owners have been feeding natural food for decades. Refusing to follow the marketing messages of the pet food companies. Also, there is a growing number of commercial companies which manufacture natural food in different methods.
Preparation methods of natural pet foods include frozen raw, pouched cooked, dehydrated and baked foods. Each of these foods try to mimic they way they perceive pets had eaten before the introduction of processed foods. Commercial natural foods are based mainly on meat, vegetables and fruits and may contain quality grains. Usually, because of the minimal processing, the ingredients preserve their original nutritional values.
In recent years, you can see an increase in the natural nutrition trend; Mainly due to increase in human awareness to the affect foods has on health and wellbeing. And the awareness to the ingredients present in processed foods. Moreover, there is the support of part of the veterinary community to encourage natural feeding after seeing the results of a daily feeding of industrialized foods.
In conclusion, commercial pet food wasn’t here from the beginning of time. Kibble and canned food isn’t what our pets had been eating since they were domesticated. Most of their lives they had eaten real homemade food. Until people and companies realized that they can make a profit from selling by products wrapped up in a bag labeled pet food. And scaring owners into thinking they don’t know what’s best for their pets.
Remember, Dogs and cats are biologically equipped and meant to eat real food, not processed. Think about it, industrialized foods have only been around for 160 years. We are now starting to see the result of these foods on our pets health, in the form of food sensitivities, allergies, more infections, cancer, diabetes and more.
If you have a question, feel free to contact me.