origin of dog food

[colesy666]

When did people invent dog food?...as opposed to scraps.

[shaneystar2]

The first commercial dog food was a biscuit product introduced in England about 1860. Although the site was overseas, the ingenuity was Yankee. James Spratt, an electrician from Ohio, was in London trying to sell lightning rods. He saw dogs being fed left-over ship's biscuits and decided he could do better with a preparation of wheat meals, vegetables, beetroot, and meat. While the formulation was based more on guesswork than science, it was clearly a step forward, for Spratt's company thrived selling food to English country gentlemen for sporting dogs. About 1890, Spratt's formula and production were taken over by a public company and began a U.S. operation.

Several U.S. firms entered the market with their own formulations of fortified biscuits and dry kibble based on limited nutritional knowledge of the day. Canned horsemeat for dog food was introduced in the United States after World War I. In the 1930s, canned cat food and dry meat-meal dog foods were introduced. The 1950s saw the introduction of dry expanded type pet foods. The 60s were marked with great diversification in the types of food available to the pet owner -- dry cat food, many more varieties of canned products, and new soft-moist products.