Who remembers Gaines Burgers???
Gaines Burgers were a type of soft-moist dog food which were shaped into hamburger patties and individually wrapped in a cellophane wrapper. They were made by General Mills and came out in 1961. Production ceased sometime in the 1990s.
My mother would sometimes buy Gaines Burgers for our dogs but only as a special treat. Like most semi-moist foods, they were quite expensive as far as dog food went. We had a German Shepherd in the 1970s who had a malabsorption syndrome. Poor Baron was always thin and he was a crappy eater. The vet’s advice back then was to feed him whatever we could get him to eat. Gaines burgers were a favorite of his and so my mother would feed them to him periodically because he loved them so and because she was always trying to get weight on that dog. Sometimes, we would crumble a Gaines Burger or two over the top of his regular food so as to make it more edible. I can still smell those reddish crumbly burgers now.
In my nutrition course in veterinary school, I learned that semi-moist foods aren’t really all that healthy for dogs and cats. Mostly because they are full of sugar (which is precisely why most animals love them). They’re also full of preservatives and dyes and some other not-so-healthy stuff. I never fed any of my animals semi-moist foods after hearing that little lecture and I advised my parents to do the same.
But I do have fond memories of Gaines Burgers.
I had also forgotten about this dog food.
What dog food looks like a hamburger patty?
Gaines-Burgers was a brand of dog food introduced in 1961 by General Foods and produced through the 1990s. The product consisted of individually wrapped hamburger-like patties of soft-moist dog food that could be stored indefinitely at room temperature.
This is the closest to Gaines-Burgers that I could find. Except, this is not formed into a patty. Which may or may not be important, because… you see, folks were breaking those in half, crumbling them, and pinching them into different shapes. Meatballs and SlimJims shapes ???????? were my PERSONAL FAVORITES.
For fun, I mixed it up a bit. A cheddar burger ball with a bacon and egg center. Sophia loves me. Mission accomplished.
???????? Here’s the link. Click me. Or click the picture. It’s up to you.
NOW, I AM A CHEF IN MY OWN BURGER JOINT. And, this is p’rolly waaayyy better than a Gaines-Burger anyhows.
Then it dawned on me to do my research here. Oh, oh no! Gaines-Burgers has made it to Wikipedia y’all! According to Wikipedia:
Gaines-Burgers Dog Food Commercial (1979)
– Clarence Gaines of Sherburne is credited with revolutionizing the way people feed their dogs. Courtesy of Sherburne Historical Park Society and MuseumCourtesy of Sherburne HistoricalNEW!1,057shares
If you are a dog owner and appreciate the ease of feeding your pets with nutritious dry dog food, you owe a bit of gratitude to a forgotten Upstate New Yorker.
In 1928, Clarence Gaines of Sherburne, N.Y. revolutionized the dog food industry when he developed a “complete dog meal product” and struck it rich when his product was used during an expedition to the South Pole.