Your question made me research it a bit for fun. I know I’m a bit late but here:
At first:
Prior to feline domestication, cats hunted small animals like birds and rodents, and before processed kitty food, they were given food scraps and kept humans free of pests. Only when people stopped regularly storing and growing their own food did commercial cat food became available.
Then in 1880s London rotting or diseased food was given out as cat food.
And eventually kibble came about slowly throughout the 1900s. And eventually regulated by the FDA in the US because it could be emergency food in times of need.
Real question: what did people feed cats in that day, before kibble? Constant stream of chicken and fish?
Your question made me research it a bit for fun. I know I’m a bit late but here:
At first:
Then in 1880s London rotting or diseased food was given out as cat food.
And eventually kibble came about slowly throughout the 1900s. And eventually regulated by the FDA in the US because it could be emergency food in times of need.
Source
You telling me I can eat my cat’s food in times of need? I don’t think he’d forgive me if he saw me do that.
Probably that, but also rodents like mice and rats were a lot more prevalent back then so cats were a kind of pest control.
Peasant.