History of Canine Nutrition Part:1

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> History of Canine Nutrition Part:1>> Today I came across the Lost History of the Canine Race by Mary Elizabeth Thurston (1996). From a very old E-mail I saved.Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. The Way To A Dog's Heart Part1:>>> Before the industrial evolution, canine working nutrition for working>>> class dogs was much like the diet of their working class owners- basic,>>> simple and sometimes not very good. Although they worked all day within>>> a whisker of glistening sides of beef or lamb, Turnspits were lucky to>>> get anything beyond a crust of bread or a greasy knuckle of bone.>>> Trekhonds fared a little better, although their diets also were>>> identical to those of their peasant masters-meatless fare consisting of>>> bread, potatoes, onions and boiled cabbage. In general, the greater the>>> wealth and status of the master, the more varied the diet of the dog.>>> Canine dinners at the french court in the 1700s were lavish, for>>> instance, including succulent bits of roast duck, consumme, cakes and>>> candied nuts or fruit.>>> The chinese empress Tzu-tsi was said to have ordered her beloved>>> Pekingese amply fed with "shark's fins, curlews's livers and the breasts>>> of quails...and for drink, tea that is brewed from spring buds or the>>> milk of the antelope that pasture in the Imperial Park." Prince Albert,>>> consort to Queen Victoria, was insistent on supplying his beloved>>> greyhound "Eos" with a steady diet of pate de foie gras and fresh>>> unsalted butter. When Eos died suddenly, Albert lambasted the scullery>>> maid assigned to care for him for serving him salted butter, generally>>> the fare of "commoners.">>> Dogs belonging to urban working-class owners in the mid-1800s fared>>> somewhat better than their peasant predecessors. According to art>>> historian Campbell Lennie, it was common in cities like New York and>>> London to purchase rations of horse meat for dogs and cats, since horses>>> were dropping dead in the street everyday, the passerby scarcely sparing>>> them a glance as the contractor or coster haggled over the price of a>>> carcass with the cat's meat man. These inexpensive cuts of meat,>>> combined with varied leftovers from their masters table, meant that many>>> victorian urban dogs enjoyed richly varied diets.>>> In the latter half of the nineteenth century, as pets came to be>>> regarded as luxury items, the question of how to best maintain ones>>> "investment" sparked new interest in canine nutrition. Fanciers were>>> inspired to look beyond breeding and grooming for additional ways to>>> "civilize" and elevate the canine race. In an era when medical>>> breakthroughs cast new light on the world of microbes, the>>> gastrointestinal tract was viewed as a brewery of disease fueled by a>>> diet of bulky, unprocessed vegetable matter, which could result in an>>> array of maladies loosley categorized as "blood poisoning." Harsh,>>> antiseptic high colonics and even radical "colectomies" - elective>>> surgeries to remove healthy colons - were employed in conjunction with>>> disciplined diets of heavily processed foods void of dietary fiber and>>> generous doses of laxative tonics or candies. In essence, imposing a>>> "modern" diet on the body became a means of controlling an embarassing>>> inner, natural world.>>>>>> Canine bodily functions were subject to the same obsessive concerns.>>> Since the eating of meat (particularly raw meat) was natural to canines,>>> dog experts often pointed to that as a corruptive influence that led>>> civilized pets to lives of savage depravity. The more well bred the>>> urban dog, the more important it was to control its behavior through>>> diet. It might be acceptable to feed large, mongerel, country dogs a>>> carnivore diet, but according to Victorian British dog expert Francais>>> Clater, meat caused mange or cankers and could "overexcite" pedigreed>>> lapdogs adapted to life in city townhouses and apartments. Fresh meat>>> brought out the worst in unspayed females, too. When the animals were in>>> heat their primal passions could be inflamed by a "primitive"-and>>> therefore- 'wrong" - diet, leading to disgraceful bouts of nymphomania.>>> To head off such a crisis, ice baths and meals of crustless bread,>>> ground hemp seed and milk were prescribed to calm the animals nerves.>>> (LOL...ya gotta love it)...>>>>>> Writing in the 1800s, French author Jean Robert pointed out that highly>>> processed meals for dogs were "contrary to their carnivorous nature.">>> Other dog authorities of the time, such as Charles Burkett, agreed and>>> argued for a more rational approach to canine nutrition., adding that>>> "it is not bad to vary the food with rye bread, brown bread and>>> vegetables." In a conciliatory nod to modernist thinking about dogs,>>> however, even these experts advised the meat be cooked. American>>> veterinarian A.C.Daniels prescribed a recipe for homemade "canine cakes">>> of boiled minced beef or mutton, mixed with rice and vegetables, then>>> baked, at the same time reluctantly admitting that canine nutrition was>>> still "a subject of opinion.">>>>>> Victorian kennel masters took pride in their own dog food recipes, some>>> handed down from generation to generation. Most prepared huge pots of>>> fresh vegetables and slaughterhouse leavings such as calves' heads, feet>>> and entrails, with a few "secret ingredients" that might be anything>>> from a splash of sherry to a pinch of gunpowder. The kennel master to>>> Queen Victoria took offense when Lootie the Pekingese came with special>>> feeding instructions: "(the dog) is very dainty about it's food and>>> won't generally take bread and milk, but it will take boiled rice and a>>> little chopped chicken and gravy mixed up in it, wrote Captain Dunne,>>> Lootie's savior. Not only unimpressed but unsympathetic, the man>>> retorted that this "Imperial" Pekingese would get the same "nice cooked>>> meat with breadcrumbs and powdered biscuit" as the other dogs, and>>> "after a little fasting and coaxing, will probably come to like the food>>> that is good for it.">> JanetGSDBuster