What Did Dogs Eat in the 1800's?

In the days before the industrial revolution, dogs in working class families ate pretty much the same basic, often poor quality diet that their owners were living on. Despite the fact that the dogs were within easy reach of juicy parts of beef and lamb, most poor pups had to get by on bread crusts and bones. Peasant dogs may have faired a slight bit better, eating potatoes, bread, boiled cabbage, and onions (which are now known to be toxic to their systems), but as the economic class of the owner families improved, so did the pet menus. The canines from the wealthier households may have been lucky enough to be offered roast beef, cakes, and even candied nuts and fruits.

Art historians have shown that in the mid-1800's, urban dogs (and even cats) in cities such as London and New York were commonly fed horsemeat, as horse carcasses were cheap and readily available at the time. Horsemeat, combined with leftovers off of the master's dinner table, made for a rich variety of foods given to city dogs.

Now, if you think you spoil YOUR pet, consider the culinary treatment given by the Chinese empress Tzu-tsi to her favorite Pekingese: shark fins, quail breasts, curlew's livers, tea brewed from spring buds, and antelope milk. And not just any antelope... The milk had to be taken only from antelopes that come to pasture in Imperial Park!

As the nineteenth century progressed, so did the recognition and advancement of canine nutrition. Pets were becoming more valued in the minds of their owners, and, as such, breeding, grooming, and health became higher priority. New discoveries in gastrointestinal problems and treatments led to a shift away from unprocessed, raw foods, thought to create bacterial infections in the digestive tract leading to blood poisoning, to a more controlled "modernized" diet of processed meals lacking in high fiber and including laxatives, tonics, and candies in an effort to keep those sensitive little doggy systems flushed out, clean, and healthy for years to come.