| When you go to buy dog food? | | | | brands. That's a lot of kibbles and bits to sell to keep |
| You might be surprised at who's been manufacturing | | | | those companies' -- and others like them -- gravy |
| and selling your dog food to you. Once upon a time a | | | | trains delivering. |
| pet food company was a pet food company, not a | | | | But none of those ads gives you any good, concrete |
| handy division that creates profits out of by-products | | | | reasons why you should feed your pet their |
| and waste from the other product manufacturing | | | | products. They don't talk about protein sources or |
| going on under their stock market symbol. | | | | give you any real information on digestibility. They |
| Two of the most visible pet food manufacturers | | | | show you a nifty Border Collie or a roly-poly puppy |
| stand out as examples: Ralston Purina sold out to | | | | digging into a bowl of their food like it hasn't seen |
| British Petroleum in 1986, to the Sterling Group in | | | | food for a week, or a Golden Retriever puppy |
| 1993, then was acquired by Koch Industries in 1996 | | | | --when there just happens to be a high profile movie |
| and is now a subsidiary of the Nestle corporation. | | | | being released based on a runaway best selling book |
| Waltham, a name that includes Pedigree, Nutro, Royal | | | | about a Golden Retriever -- ripping into a bag of |
| Canin and Cesar among its stable of pet foods, is | | | | kibble then scarfing it up as fast as he can. The ads |
| owned by the giant Mars Corporation. Mars was | | | | give you the "Awwww" factor -- what they don't |
| already the largest dog food packer in the world, | | | | give you is the "Ewwww" factor. That's why it's so |
| back in 1968, when it acquired KalKan. Oh, and by the | | | | important to learn to understand what's on the label, |
| way, the chain of veterinary hospitals, Banfield, the | | | | and it will be as obscurely described as allowable by |
| Pet Hospital, the one that operates clinics in many | | | | legal standards, for example*: |
| PetSmart stores, is now partially owned by Mars, | | | | Eukanuba, the first dozen ingredients: Chicken, |
| Inc., since 2007 when the CEO sold his shares. | | | | chicken by product meal (ground, rendered parts of |
| On the FundingUniverse site, Ralston Purina's | | | | carcass, i.e. necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines, |
| statement of company perspective reads: | | | | etc.), corn meal, ground whole grain sorghum (low in |
| "The corporate philosophy of Purina Mills is to | | | | digestibility), ground whole grain barley, chicken fat, |
| continue our tradition of providing both the necessary | | | | fish meal (dried ground tissue of whole or fish |
| nutritional products and the value-added services that | | | | cuttings from unspecified fish sources), brewer's rice |
| producers, processors and retailers need to satisfy | | | | (milled fragments of rice kernels), natural chicken |
| the demands of a growing end-consumer market. | | | | flavor, dried beet pulp (residue from sugar beets |
| We remain committed to expanding our research and | | | | extracted during sugar manufacturing), dried egg |
| development to enable American agricultural | | | | product (obtained from egg breakers, hatchery |
| entrepreneurs to capitalize on the opportunities | | | | operations, egg graders, etc., frozen, dehydrated or |
| ahead." | | | | liquid), brewer's dried yeast (by-product of brewing |
| Not seeing anything there about taking care of the | | | | ale or beer). |
| consumer and delivering a safe, quality product... | | | | But wait! It gets more interesting! |
| So, what do these mergers and acquisitions and | | | | Pedigree's "Complete Nutrition:" ground whole corn, |
| subsidiaries mean to you? To your dog? | | | | meat meal/meat and bone meal (rendered "product" |
| One of the areas of largest impact is marketing. | | | | from non-specific mammal tissues, with or without |
| Consider all those Beneful ads on TV. "You only think | | | | bone, exclusive of added hair, hoof horn, manure, |
| you're getting spoiled..." Well, that much is true. All of | | | | etc, except in such amounts as may occur |
| the sponsorships, from Pedigree to Eukanuba to | | | | unavoidably in good processing practices), corn gluten |
| Iams, plastered over every major dog sporting | | | | meal, animal fat (obtained from non-specific mammal |
| event; the inferences "top breeders recommend," are | | | | and/or poultry), wheat mill run/middlings, ground |
| the power of marketing bucks. Stop and think of | | | | wheat, natural poultry flavor, wheat flour, salt, |
| how many bags of dog food and packages of treats | | | | potassium chloride, caramel color, vegetable oil. |
| have to be sold to pay for the Pedigree's | | | | Where's the beef? Oh wait, that was another catchy |
| sponsorship of Westminster or Eukanuba's AKC | | | | ad campaign... |
| National Championship. By 2000, Mars, Inc. was | | | | *Parenthecized information not included on packaging. |
| spending over $850 million a year in advertising their | | | | |