Nutrition: Page 283

Wellness Pet Food launches holiday giving Facebook campaign

Through January 16, 2014, Wellness Pet Food is hosting a holiday giving campaign, "You Click, We Donate." The petfood brand's campaign will benefit The Cat House on the Kings Cat Sanctuary & Adoption Center and the Green Chimneys Farm & Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, nonprofits that both support animal causes.

Wellness' 'You Click, We Donate' Facebook campaign will benefit two nonprofits that support animal causes.

Pet Food Market

Food palatability and canine obesity

Contrary to common consent, there is no published evidence that the addition of palatability enhancers to industrially produced foods increases the risk of obesity development in dogs. However, there is such evidence for added fat, which is both a conditional palatant and a concentrated energy source.

Flint River Ranch marks 20th anniversary with new petfood, supplements

In October, Flint River Ranch marked its 20th anniversary, and the company is celebrating by launching some new varieties of all-natural, holistic dog and cat foods and supplements. Flint River Ranch, established in 1993, says the company was among the first to feature the "natural, oven-baked freshness" foundation to all of its formulas and the first company to offer home delivery of pet products throughout America.

Flint River Ranch is launching a line of new pet supplements.

Pet Food Ingredients

Fillers: Are they incorrectly vilified?

Whether product promotion or informational website, the term "filler" is a popular topic of scorn. Many petfood packages make bold statements that their recipe "contains no fillers," has "no added fillers," or never uses "cheap fillers."

BarkBox subscribers to receive alligator treats in January 2014

Dog owners who subscribe to BarkBox, the monthly subscription treats and toys box for dogs, will include alligator treats by Delca Corporation in January 2014. The companies have teamed up to deliver a package of think!dog Louisiana Alligator Treats in the January 2014 mailing.

Louisiana Alligator Treats will ship in the January 2014 BarkBox.

Diana Pet Food, Opertech Bio to collaborate on taste science research

Diana and Opertech Bio Inc. announced the companies entered into an agreement to collaborate in the area of taste science. The companies will use Opertech Bio’s high-throughput taste evaluation technology known as the Microtiter Operant Gustometer (MOG) to evaluate the degree of relevance of using rats as surrogate taste testers.

Pet Food Market

Petfood mergers and acquisitions poised to reshape the market

Petfood is a concentrated, top-heavy market, with the top two companies alone (Mars Petcare and Nestlé Purina PetCare) accounting for nearly 50% of sales. The top 30 companies comprise at least 70% of the market (see p. XX). Much of that concentration is due to continued merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, which never really slowed down during the global recession and has really heated up in the past few years. Expect it to continue this year and beyond.

Royal Canin, Banfield hosting holiday petfood drive

Banfield Charitable Trust, Banfield Pet Hospital and Royal Canin are asking pet owners and advocates across the US to take the "Pledge to End Pet Hunger" in support of the eighth annual holiday petfood drive. The program, launched on November 29 and running through December 31, raises awareness about pet hunger, collects petfood and raises funds to benefit senior citizen pet owners needing support in the care of their companions.

Nutro Pet Foods donates to support Holiday Pet Food Drive

Nutro Pet Foods is teaming up with Rocky's Ace Hardware of Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, to help support its third annual Holiday Pet Food Drive. Nutro is donating more than US$1,500 worth of dog and cat food to get the drive started.

Hackathon to redesign Los Angeles animal shelter website taking place December 7-8

Purina ONE cat and dog food brand and GOOD are collaborating with Karma Rescue, a Los Angeles, California, USA, animal rescue group, to host the Karma Rescue Redesign on December 7-8. The 24-hour hackathon will bring together developers, designers and pet lovers to help the nonprofit rescue redesign its website so it can be better used as a tool for pet adoptions.

Market Trends and Reports

Merrick Pet Care to provide petfood for pets at PAWS Chicago

PAWS Chicago and Merrick Pet Care are partnering to provide quality nutrition for homeless pets in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Starting December 1, Merrick Pet Care will provide petfood for the dogs and cats at the PAWS Chicago and PAWS Chicago North Shore shelters.

Greg Shearson, CEO of Merrick, feeds dogs at PAWS Chicago.

The Honest Kitchen releases short film about petfood brand

The Honest Kitchen, a producer of human-grade petfood products, released a short brand film, in which employees’ own pets deliver the company message by “talking” about ingredients, procurement, production and quality control. The short film is shot inside The Honest Kitchen’s company headquarters and on the streets of San Diego, California, USA, and was produced by Emota, a local digital story-telling agency. T

Page 283 of 330