What was the profession of the person who invented dog biscuits?

Most people may guess that the inventor of the dog biscuit was a veterinarian. In reality, though, they were invented by an Ohio electrician named James Spratt in 1860.

Spratt invented the treat after seeing stray dogs eat a dry biscuit made for humans called "hardtack." Spratt changed the recipe by adding grains, vegetables, beetroot, and gelatinous beef bits to make it something that dogs could eat for a meal.

Spratt had patented a new type of lightning conductor in 1850. Later in that decade, he traveled to England to sell it. In 1860, still in England, Spratt unveiled Spratt's Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes.

It was the first attempt to lift the dog out of the class of scavengers which he had occupied from caveman times. The market was untouched, and in those early days, Spratt's Patent secured a bulldog grip on it that it has never relinquished.