History of Pet food
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Commercial pet food really started in the 1860’s when James Spratt (a lightening conductor salesman from the US) arrived in the UK and noticed stray dogs eating hard biscuits thrown away by sailors
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He went on to produce a pet food called Patent Meat Fibrine cakes
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After the First World War, canned dog foods were introduced in the USA which predominantly used horsemeat
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In the 1930’s dry meat meal foods (pressed pellet foods) were introduced first in the UK and then by Ralston Purina in the USA
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In 1934 the Mars Family (Mars Inc/Pedigree Petfoods) acquired their first pet food business in the UK – Chappel Brothers. The company changed its name to Chappie Ltd in 1939. In 2002, Mars purchased a majority holding in Royal Canin and its subsidiary company Crown Petfoods (James Wellbeloved)
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During the 1980’s Nestle entered the pet food market with its purchase of Carnation and went on to purchase  Spillers, and Ralston Purina
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Two other global players entered the market – Colgate Palmolive acquired Hills Pet Nutrition in 1976, and the Iams Company was acquired in 1999 by Proctor & Gamble.
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In 1957, Ralston Purina invented extruded dog food. They managed to make a dog food that squirted out of a pressure cooker. The product took off in the USA as consumers looked for convenience.

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Extruded foods were slow to catch on in the UK mainly due to the large investment by certain manufacturers in can production
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1990’s saw the UK begin to adopt extruded foods, cans began to decline and the extruded dog and cat food market grew
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Super Premium dog and cat foods were introduced from the USA into the UK in the 1990’s
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Today, the pet industry is dominated by large multi National companies such as Nestle (Bakers Complete, ProPlan), Masterfoods (Pedigree Petfoods, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved), Proctor & Gamble (Iams, Eukanuba) and Colgate Palmolive (Hills Pet Nutrition)
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Laughing Dog is the first company to introduce an Oven Baked complete food.