History Of Pet Food

Before the advent of dog food, most domesticated dogs lived off table scraps, and whatever their owners would give them. That is until 1860, when an American from Ohio, James Spratt, took a trip to England to sell lightening conductors to the British. When his shipped docked in London, he saw hungry street dogs lining the piers scavenging for any discarded remains. Usually, it was hard moldy biscuits and scraps of rotten food left over from the sailors. In that moment, an idea was born that would change James Spratt’s future and the way dogs were fed forever. He developed a cake-like biscuit that was made up of blended wheat meals, beetroot, vegetables and beef blood. His early customers were English gentlemen, who bought his biscuits for their sporting dogs. Spratt’s Patent, Limited, was registered in England in 1885, moved to New York in 1895, and monopolized the pet food industry for almost 50 years.

In 1907, another New York company and a competitor, F.H. Bennett Biscuits Co. was established. He introduced bone shaped Milk-Bone dog biscuits and was credited with the “whole nutrition” idea. His biscuits were made with meats, cereals, milk, liver oil, and vitamins, and were packaged in Boxes, rather than bulk, to meet the different breed sizes. Unfortunately, because the customers did not buy this “novelty” fast enough, the biscuits sat on the shelves and the fat content turned the biscuits rancid and moldy. The 1930’s saw the introduction of dry dog meat meal produced by Gaines Food Company. Gaines also capitalized on marketing by exhibiting his own pointer breed at a well known dog show, and gained national attention through wagon jobbers (people selling out of there wagons). After WWI and the invent of cars, horsemeat was cheap and an Illinois horse dealer, P.M. Chappel, with connections to the packing industry started canning under the brand name of Ken-L Ration. The growth of canned food shot up in the 30’s. However, WWII brought a shortage of tin and by 1946, dry food was “top dog” once again. The Chappel Brothers, changing with the times, started manufacturing dry dog food, and as a way marketing, they recommended mixing dry dog food, and canned food. After WWII, the pet food industry capitalized on the by products industry and offered an economical and convenient way to feed dogs.

1956 saw the 1st kibble, extruded “dog chow."  Extruded dog food is a process whereby meat meal, grains, vegetables are ground into a fine meal and steamed at high temperatures, then pushed through a die cut machine to create identical shapes. After that they are sprayed with oils, vitamins, flavors, to make them appealing to customers and appetizing to dogs. Today, most grocery stores devote vast amounts of shelf space for Kibble. However, with the rise in Kibble, also coincidentally became a rise in canine allergies, illness, and skin problems. One reason might be that some dog foods also now contain artificial ingredients, flavors, colors, and preservatives (because people want to buy large quantities of dog foods for convenience). Convenience has always been a selling point for consumers. It is much easier to scoop dry pellets into a bowl then prepare their pet’s diet. This is true especially for people with busy lifestyles. Dog food has come along way since James Spratt, but there is still work to do to create a healthy diet for our pets.

Consumers are becoming knowledgeable about what goes into their canine’s bodies. Sadly, there are still companies out there that choose profits over canine health, but there can be a happy medium for both companies and consumers. The trend now seems to be toward natural and human quality pet food, not that different from the foods that people fed their dogs long before all this ever started. The difference is that the quality of food is better, and people are more conscientious about what to feed their “canine family member.” Muzzle Meals is ready to take our place in history. We have developed meals to supplement feeding so that consumers can add variety with real foods to their canine’s current diet. Real Foods means real nutrition. This serves as convenience for the consumer without artificial colors, preservatives, chemicals, and worse untruthful labels in advertising. No matter what foods are chosen, consumers should always do their research and read the labels.