Is there some evolutionary reason why dogs eat out of a bag?
Can we just feed the dang dog our leftovers?!
Let's SCIENCE THIS THING!
Hey pet people!
This is DNews, I'm Trace.
Dogs are probably the oldest domesticated animal, with mitochondrial DNA evidence suggesting
they split from wolves 100,000 years ago[a].
At the time, humans didn't have extra food laying around, and would usually kill competing
carnivores like wolves.
Smaller, less-aggressive wolves would likely scavenge near human encampments, eating from
trash piles and snatching leftovers.
Over generations, humans purposefully fed the cuter, friendlier wolves, and we set ourselves
on a path of domestication to create the dog.
But, if dogs evolved alongside humans, as evidence suggests, then they were eating the
same things we were eating!
But today, Americans often avoid giving dogs, "People Food," so what changed?
In short, nothing.
As dogs and humans grew together, we shared food.
But, as human society advanced and pet ownership grew, we couldn't simply feed them table scraps
in our cave.
In 116 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro wrote a farming manual which included advice for feeding
working farm dogs -- barley bread soaked in milk, and bones from dead sheep.
During the middle ages, common families who needed work dogs, fed them whatever was leftover
-- so we're still following that ancient system -- but by the 19th century, Empress Tzu Hsi
of China fed her dogs shark fins, quail breasts and antelope milk, and the royalty of Europe
fed their pups roast duck, cakes and candies.
The rich got kinda cray with their puppy chow.
During the Industrial Age, dog food started to show up in the West as the middle class
prospered.
As they cost both money and time, pets were considered a luxury item, and people wanted
to show off their climbing of the socioeconomic ladder by purchasing a prime pooch.
Entrepreneurs learned these nouveau caninophiles needed help to feed their new friends -- and
in the 1850s James Sprat of Cincinnati invented dog biscuits from wheat, beet root and vegetables,
bound with beef blood.
The dry food was a hit, and by the 1920s canned wet food was also in production -- it was
mainly horse meat, and by 1941 canned food was 90% of the market.
Then due to rationing during World War II, dry food became hugely popular again.
At the same time, people around the world still fed their dogs what they evolved to
eat, table scraps and leftover people food.
In the 1960s, to protect and grow their giant industry, the Pet Food Institute, a lobbying
group for pet food -- campaigned the American people by funding "scientific studies" and
running radio and TV ads touting the "dangers of table scraps."
Thus, we began to shy away from feeding dogs the same things we were eating.
However, dogs CAN EAT people food if it's healthy.
They probably shouldn't eat fast food, or a mass of cheese (a little is okay), or candy…
But on the other hand, if you're eating roasted chicken, green beans and potatoes…
Table scraps might not be so bad.
Dogs can safely eat flax, green beans, eggs, pumpkins, peanut butter, carrots, apple slices,
and sweet potatoes…
But they CAN'T eat chocolate, coffee, yeast, alcohol.
They can eat grains, but they're better off with meats.
And that's not entirely off from where the pet food industry is going.
These days, you can buy luxury dog food akin to those Victorian princes and empresses -- duck,
squash, salmon, turkey and berries.
It's literally just PEOPLE food in dog packaging.
Or if you'd rather save some coin, you CAN stick to the bagged dry food.
A professor of veterinary nutrition at Ohio State University says, his students have studied
the diet history of thousands of animals and haven't found any evidence that one dog food
is better than any other.
What do you feed your pet?
Tell us in the comments, and be sure you click subscribe to get more science news every day
of the week.
Thanks for watching!