The Connection Between Dog Food and Dog Vomiting

To most people, dog food is synonymis with kibble. Commercially manufactured bagged kibble and canned wet food has been synonymous with kibble or over fifty years.

Although the first processed dog biscuit was first invented by James Spratt of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1860, it was World War II that spurred commercial manufacturers to first start pushing the ease of kibble and canned food onto the already stretched family unit. It was convenient, affordable and no one considered the quality of the food or the ingredients that went into this new time saver because it had to be better than the table scraps that domestic animals enjoyed at the time, right?

They couldn’t have been more wrong!

In fact, early commercial dog food manufacturers agreed that feeding dogs meat, vegetables and some grains was better for the dogs than the processed kibble they were making from meat scraps, meat- by-products, and factory waste, such as saw dust and grain husk. Convenient? Absolutely! Cheap – not in the long run. Healthy? You can excuse the early adopters but, generations later, dog diseases are near epidemic levels. In spite of the evidence that something is wrong, millions of people continue to give their dogs manufactured dog food.

The commercial pet food industry has been a win-win operation for everyone involved. Instead of paying for removal and disposal, grain farmers and slaughterhouses actually made money selling left overs to dog food manufacturers, that were unfit for human consumption. Unaware dog owners were easy targets for slick Madison Avenue advertising agencies. Purina pushed the envelope when they developed an extrusion process; a technique that puffed up the kibble before drying, making it appear like more than it actually was.

In 1964, without scientific basis, the Pet Food Institute began their massive media campaign against table scraps. Veterinarians throughout the world jumped on the bandwagon and by the early 1960s, few people were feeding their four-legged family members anything but this wondrous, convenient and readily available food.

Tagged with: dog diarrhea • dog health • dog vomiting • gastrointestinal problems in dogs • Home & Family

Filed under: Home & Family

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