History of Dogfood

The history of dogfood is an interesting one. In the early 1800's pets subsisted off of meats and table scraps. In fact the "canned dogfood" you normally envision is less than 50 years old. In the mid-1800's the world saw the first real "Dog Food."
An American named James Spratt (an electrician by trade) in London selling lightning rods. He saw many of the stray dogs down at the docks eating bits of uneaten biscuits. Shortly thereafter he introduced the first dogfood made from wheat, meat, and vegetables. By 1890 his business was so successful that it was able to sell out to General Mills for a lot of money.
However pet food lied low until the 1900's before really taking off. Canned horse meat was introduced as pet food as a way to effectively get rid of dead horses after World War I. The 1930's ushered in dry pet food or "kibble"
World War II almost killed the pet food industry. Metal was in high demands and canned pet food vanished from the market. After the war ended pet food slowly recovered before booming. Companies like Nabisco, Quaker Oats, and General Foods found pet food as a great way to get rid of by-products made in the manufacture of human goods.
1956 saw the first "extruded" pet foods. Extruded food is formed into compact, store-able pellets. After the pellets are formed the food is sprayed with a mixture of synthetic nutrients to make up for those lost during the process.
Up until 1985 pet food became more "luxury" oriented and became more and more expensive. 1985 was when Sojourner Farms took dog food back a step. It helped make dog food healthier by removing many artificial flavors and colors-their goal was to make dogfood more like "normal" human food.
Since then vacuum packing, freeze-drying, breed-specific foods, and solely dogfood based companies have come into play. Not all dogfood is equal though. Many companies pack harmful products into their foods and then offer it for really cheap. Other good brands have had to offer things like "pedigree coupons" or other "special" deals to compete.
And that's a brief history of Dogfood.