Alpoesque question about... Alpo. (The dog food, NOT him).

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

When I was a kid, (60s- 70s), canned dog food looked like hash or something. Nowadays, it looks, and smells like stew. Almost temping enough to try a bite. 

I recently had to start feeding one of my dogs this stuff because she lost most of her back teeth, which made it difficult to eat hard kibble. And they don't seem to even make the other stuff anymore. Even Amazon doesn't list it.

So I got to wondering, when did they make the change? Was it gradual? I know that there were premium dog foods way back when that were like that, but when those go cheap enough to make that the normal? 

[Subdeacon Joe]

AI Overview:

 

Alpo introduced distinct stew and gravy-heavy lines as early as the late 2000s to early 2010s. The brand shifted its traditional pate and simple cut formulas to include tender chunks, visible vegetable accents, and richer gravies to mirror a homestyle stew appearance.The exact timing of specific recipes:Early 2000s to 2007: The brand expanded its Prime Cuts in Gravy line, transitioning away from uniform loaves and toward meaty chunks.2013: Lines like ALPO Prime Cuts Stew and Extra Gravy were widely promoted, featuring visible vegetable bits and a classic stew aesthetic.It's worth noting that Nestlé Purina discontinued ALPO's wet canned food products in 2022.

[Cypress Sun]

I've tested what my best friends ate on multiple occasions.

 

My parents used to buy Alpo for the dog we had when I was growing up, Susie. She was one of the smartest dogs Ive ever seen. She was a Rat Terrier, smart, fast and low to the ground. The Alpo back then reminded me canned hash also. Made Susie fart so bad that she had to sleep in the living room until she was 18.

 

Back then, it did look like canned corned beef hash. Last I saw, it reminded me of the Dinty Moore canned stew, even kinda looked like it. It doesn't taste like it, trust me. I tried a bite of the Alpo back when I was a kid....it damn sure wasn't corned beef hash and the later Alpo damn sure isn't Dinty Moore stew.

 

I can't even describe how the old Alpo tasted but the newer Alpo tastes more like clay with some kind of nasty, pasty salted gravy. I've always tried what I fed my dog, except for the pills wrapped in cheese.

 

For inquiring minds, Beggin strips doesn't taste like bacon, tastes like Play Doh, and Milk Bones taste like 30 day old hard tack w/no salt.

 

Now, if you don't mind, I've got a spot that needs itchin.

[Subdeacon Joe]

30 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

Milk Bones taste like 30 day old hard tack w/no salt.

 

Only 30 days? Not even close to ripe!

[Alpo]

One of my dogs decided that he was not going to eat dog food anymore. He wanted people food. If Purina was not good enough for me then it definitely was not good enough for him.

 

So I went and got a handful of sack one day and sat down with him watching me and started eating them. A piece at a time. After I had eaten about five or six he came over wanting his share. Never had no trouble after that with him not eating it.

 

All it is is cornmeal and grease and a little bone meal to keep the teeth clean.

 

My senior year in high school. Every year in band we had a Christmas party with a secret Santa. And this one kid is walking around with this giant milk bone. You know the 6-inch ones that are made for Saint Bernards. And he's trying to get people to eat it. He keeps telling people it's a cookie. Nobody would try.

 

He gets to me and he offers it to me and tells me that it's a cookie and I bet one of the lobes of the bone off and I'm chewing it up and everybody started laughing and told me, "it's a dog biscuit hahahaha".

 

I told him I knew it was a dog biscuit. I'd been feeding my dogs Milk Bones for years. And I had tried them before. They're not my favorite snack but they aren't poison. I knew it wasn't going to hurt me.

Never tried any canned food. Actually, never fed them any canned food. That cost too much. But I've eaten dry dog food off and on since I was a teenager. Sometimes you got to show the dog that it ain't bad.

[Sixgun Seamus]

Years ago when my boys were young, I was buying whatever dog food was least expensive. I would mix it with generic dog food that I bought at the local feed mill. I would mix it in a wheelbarrow. My boys would pick out certain pieces of Kibbles n Bits and eat them. Never hurt them, but for me.....I was never that hungry.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I tried tuna for my cats years ago. I like tuna and usually make tuna and pasta or rice once a week. The cat tuna was a reddish color so I guess there was some kind of sauce in it. It tasted like tuna but that sauce wasn’t too good and gave it a strange flavor. Never did that again. 🤮

[Sixgun Seamus]

So that might be what stunted your growth.

[Rye Miles #13621]

16 minutes ago, Sixgun Seamus said:

So that might be what stunted your growth.

🙄

[Eyesa Horg]

Sadly when I was phone repairman back in the 70s I saw way too much canned food in elderly folks homes sitting on the counter 😕. There were no other signs of a pet in the apartment. More than once I left a $20 bill under the cans.

[Rye Miles #13621]

34 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Sadly when I was phone repairman back in the 70s I saw way too much canned food in elderly folks homes sitting on the counter 😕. There were no other signs of a pet in the apartment. More than once I left a $20 bill under the cans.

That’s nice of you! Good points with the big guy! 👍🏻

[Eyesa Horg]

It just broke my heart sometimes. Somehow the billing would get lost as well 😉.

[PowderRiverCowboy]

9 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

When I was a kid, (60s- 70s), canned dog food looked like hash or something. Nowadays, it looks, and smells like stew. Almost temping enough to try a bite. 

I recently had to start feeding one of my dogs this stuff because she lost most of her back teeth, which made it difficult to eat hard kibble. And they don't seem to even make the other stuff anymore. Even Amazon doesn't list it.

So I got to wondering, when did they make the change? Was it gradual? I know that there were premium dog foods way back when that were like that, but when those go cheap enough to make that the normal? 

You Made me go dig in my old posts but Alpo dog food is gone for good 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

When we adopted our little dog (who died three weeks ago at the age of 14) she came with case a 48 "pods" of Cesar dog food.  That was her standby for the rest of her life.

 

Treats were Vita Bone, bacon, Toll House chocolate chips, potato chips, and vanilla ice cream.

[Brock]

The canned dogfood was ground parts and rarely USDA. My personal experience in this process was inadequate refrigeration, rusty barrrels, lungs, udders, tripes that would not pass inspection 

. I don’t know about dogfood. Look for USDA label.