July 5th, 2011
While hiking recently with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, we got to talking about pet food choices and how our decisions about them might change over time. This “evolution” of my own thinking about dog food made me wonder if I could reconstruct my past dog food choices — like you perhaps would for cars you’ve owned or people you’ve dated. Here, in its full glory, is “my list,” as best as I can remember.
What does yours look like?
Puppy Chow and Dog Chow, because the brand has been around for a long time and I could afford it for my first very-own dogs (as an adult) ~ circa 1990
Eukanuba, because I’d started writing about veterinary medicine and began hearing people speak of “grocery store brands” with derision (At the time, I believe, it was available ONLY in pet stores.) ~ circa 1995
Pedigree, because I could get large bags of it at Costco ~ circa 1997
Science Diet k/d, because my late dalmatian developed kidney disease (and yes, some not-so-sensitive people blamed her illness on what I had fed her throughout her life) ~ circa 2001
Exclusive Chicken and Rice, because the guys at our local feed store (I live in a rural area) recommended it and we could get 1 free bag every 6 bags ~ circa 2004
Infinia Salmon and Sweet Potato, because the Exclusive got an F from K9Cuisine’s Free Dog Food Rating Tool (My dogs were doing great on the Exclusive, but the F bummed me out. The new food gets an A. Both are mayde by the same company, so I still get a free bag once in a while.) ~ circa 2010
Infinia Turkey and Sweet Potato, because my eldest dog became a water monger (drinking and peeing like crazy) on the salmon kind. (We feared he had become diabetic, but he returned to normal when we changed back to a poultry-based food.) ~ circa 2010
So, I’m curious. If you traced back your past pet food choices, what did you feed and why? What made you change?
Tags: best dog food, dog food, dog food choice, dog food evolution, dog food history
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 2 Comments »
March 31st, 2010
Blame it on my liberal arts education, but I find having historical or societal context fascinating. A while back, I tackled the history of dog toys for one of the American Kennel Club’s magazines. Today, I’m in the mood for a little dog food history. So, let’s fire up the WayBack Machine and see what we can find.
As far as we know, prior to the creation of commercial pet foods, dogs and cats pretty much lived on table scraps and things they could scavenge or catch on their own.
The First Dog Food
But, in 1860 an American living in London, named James Spratt, devised something he thought better than the dog biscuits fed to the canine’s aboard the ship he took across the Atlantic. It sold well to huntsmen in the United Kingdom, so Spratt expanded into the United States about 10 years later. (In the 1950s, General Mills bought what was Spratt’s company.)
Dog Food for A New Century
Industrialization had really taken hold in society, and by the early 1900s, more companies got into the dog food game. In fact, Milk-Bone launched in 1907 in New York City by F.H. Bennett. (The kinds of biscuits we now feed as treats were sold back then as a complete dog food.)
The 1920s saw the introduction of canned Ken-L-Ration, which was ground up horse meat, and later a dry food. About the same time Gaines Dog Meal got started. It was the first food that ground up a bunch of ingredients into food sold in 100-pound bags (and later as semi-moist Gaines Burger).
How War Made Dry Dog Food King
Because the government classified pet foods as “non-essential,” the tin used for cans went into the WWII effort. Goodbye wet food. Hello dry. 
In fact, by 1946, dry food dominated with 85% of the market. (Today, dry food still outsells canned in America — based on dollars spent — about $7.5 billion to $1.8 billon per year in 2008.)
Dog Food in Grocery Stores Controversy
Early dog foods were sold beside livestock rations in rural feed stores, but as our culture became more urban, the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), which bought Milk-Bone in 1931, made its entree into grocery stores.
And, it caused a ruckus.
Seriously.
Since dog food was made almost entirely from byproducts, it really creeped people out to think it would be on shelves in close proximity to their own food.
Take a minute to think about that and what it means in the context of how we think about dog food today.
Go ahead … I’ll wait, while humming The Girl from Ipanema.
Dog Food Convenience Wins
It didn’t take long for the convenience and economy of buying dog food at the grocery store to overcome any sanitation fears.
So, that’s how we got from there to here.
Pondering the Narrative Arc
I would argue that dogs’ lives, in general, improved with the introduction of commercial pet foods. And, yet, in some ways, we’ve come full circle with many consumers (and even modern-minded manufacturers) looking derisively at the ingredients of so-called “grocery store brands.”
Some may no longer fuss about having dog food near people food, but there are plenty who’d NEVER feed a byproduct-laden dog food to their canine pals.
Tags: dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog food history, history, industrialization, K9Cuisine.com
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 22 Comments »
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
