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Dog food refers to food specifically intended for consumption by dogs. Like all carnivores, dogs have sharp, pointed teeth, and have short gastrointestinal tracts better suited for the consumption of meat. In spite of this natural carnivorous design, dogs have still managed to adapt over thousands of years to survive on the meat and non-meat scraps and leftovers of human existence and thrive on a variety of foods. In the United States alone, dog owners spent over $8.5 billion on commercially manufactured dog food in 2007. Some people make their own dog food, feed their dogs meals made from ingredients purchased in grocery or health-food stores or give their dogs a raw food diet. ==History== In 37 BCE Virgil talks about the feeding of dogs in his ''Bucolics'': Around 70 CE, Columella wrote his book ''On Agriculture'' in which he addresses the feeding of dogs: In the ''Avesta'', written from 224 to 651 CE, Azura Mazda advises: In France, the word ''pâtée'' began to appear in the 18th century and referred to a paste originally given to poultry. In 1756, a dictionary indicates it was made of a mixture of bread crumbs and little pieces of meat given to pets.〔(''Nouveau dictionnaire universel des arts et des sciencies: françois, latin et'', edited by Fr Girard ((Viuda de)) )〕 In 1781, an encyclopedia mentioned an earlier practice of removing the liver, heart, and blood of a downed stag and mixing it with milk, cheese, and bread; and then giving it to dogs.〔(Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond d' Alembert, ''Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences'' ..., Volume 35, Part 1 )〕 In 1844, the French writer, Nicolas Boyard, warned against even giving tallow graves (the dregs of the tallow pot) to dogs, though the English favored them (see below), and suggested a meat-flavored soup: In England, care to give dogs particular food dates at least from the late eighteenth century, when ''The Sportsman's dictionary'' (1785) described the best diet for a dog's health in its article "Dog": (Greaves, which was often recommended for dogs, is "the sediment of melted tallow. It is made into cakes for dogs' food. In Scotland and parts of the US it is called ."〔("Greaves", Webster's 1913 dictionary )〕) In 1833, ''The Complete Farrier'' gave similar but far more extensive advice on feeding dogs:〔(The complete farrier, and British sportsman, by Richard Lawrence, p. 429 )〕 It was not until the mid-1800s that the world saw its first food made specifically for dogs. An American electrician, James Spratt, concocted the first dog treat. Living in London at the time, he witnessed dogs around a shipyard eating scraps of discarded biscuits. Shortly thereafter he introduced his dog food, made up of wheat meals, vegetables and meat. By 1890 production had begun in the United States and became known as "Spratt’s Patent Limited". In later years, dog biscuit was sometimes treated as synonymous with dog food: Canned horse meat was introduced in the United States under the Ken-L Ration brand after WWI as a means to dispose of deceased horses. The 1930s saw the introduction of canned cat food and dry meat-meal dog food by the Gaines Food Co. By the time WWII ended, pet food sales had reached $200 million. In the 1950s Spratt's became part of General Mills. For companies such as Nabisco, Quaker Oats, and General Foods, pet food represented an opportunity to market by-products as a profitable source of income.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 History of Pet Food )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dog food」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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