Methods for customizing pet food

This invention relates generally to methods for manufacturing pet foods, and more particularly, to a process for manufacturing a pet food customized to the health and nutrition requirements of an individual pet. Due to economies of scale, retail pet food manufacturers typically manufacture their pet foods in large quantities and a limited number of formulations. Most manufacturers offer, for example, dog food in several flavors, and in a puppy formula, an adult dog formula, and a mature or inactive dog formula. Some manufacturers offer breed-specific or size-specific formulas. Some manufacturers offer more specialized formulas for dogs having specific food allergies or nutrient responsive diseases. Similarly, retail cat food is typically offered in limited variety of formulas of different flavors or for different stages of development. However, the range of pet food choices does not meet the much more highly variable preferences and dietary requirements of individual pets. For example, an individual pet may have specific dietary requirements because of an existing illness or disease, or because of a genetic predisposition towards a disease. In addition to nutritional requirements, pet owners and pets have preferences regarding the form, flavor, shape and texture of the food. Further, the existing variety of pet food choices typically available at, for example, retail outlets, makes it difficult for pet owners to choose the food which most closely meets their own pet's nutrient needs while also satisfying their own preferences. In addition, once a food is chosen, knowing how to feed it correctly can be difficult. Methods for customizing pet food for an individual pet are described. The method includes the steps of obtaining user input through an electronic user interface, processing the input with stored data on a main computer which is coupled to the user interface, and generating control signals to control the operation of food manufacturing and packaging apparatus according to the user input. The user input is used to form an individual pet profile, which is used to generate a customized pet food formula. The customized pet food formula is then used in the control of the manufacture and packaging of the customized pet food.