The pet food market has been dominated in the last few years by the acquisition of big companies by even bigger companies. With $15 billion a year at stake in the U.S. and rapidly expanding foreign markets, it’s no wonder that some are greedy for a larger piece of the pie.

• Nestlé’s bought Purina to form Nestlé Purina Petcare Company (Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, One, ProPlan, DeliCat, HiPro, Kit’n'Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets).
• Del Monte gobbled up Heinz (MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature’s Recipe, and pet treats Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce).
• MasterFoods owns Mars, Inc., which consumed Royal Canin (Pedigree, Waltham’s, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel).
• Other major pet food makers are not best known for pet care, although many of their household and personal care products do use ingredients derived from animal by-products:
• Procter and Gamble (P&G) purchased The Iams Company (Iams, Eukanuba) in 1999. P&G shortly thereafter introduced Iams into grocery stores, where it did very well.
• Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill’s Science Diet (founded in 1939) in 1976 (Hill’s Science Diet, Prescription Diets, Nature’s Best).
• Private labelers (who make food for “house” brands like Kroger and Wal-Mart) and co-packers (who produce food for other pet food makers) are also major players. Three major companies are Doane Pet Care, Diamond, and Menu Foods; they produce food for dozens of private label and brand names. Interestingly, all 3 of these companies have been involved in pet food recalls that sickened or killed many pets.
• Many major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of gigantic multinational corporations. From a business standpoint, pet food fits very well with companies making human products. The multinationals have increased bulk-purchasing power; those that make human food products have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products; and pet food divisions have a more reliable capital base and, in many cases, a convenient source of ingredients.

Folks, pet food is a billion-dollar industry, is there any real wonder why the gigantic corps would not want an extra income stream of this magnitude? It is all about profits and this is one area that can be exploited quite easily with little expenditures to make insane markups.

Whatever you do, please pay attention and read the labels. Look at the Banned Ingredients List – avoid those items at all cost.

• Glyceryl Monostearate
• Propylene Glycol
• Blue Dye #2
• Red Dye #40
• Yellow Dye #5
• Yellow Dye #6
• Artificial Colors
• Animal Digest
• Artificial Flavors
• Glandular Meal
• Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
• Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• Ethoxyquin
• Propyl Gallate
• Grape Pomace
• Animal Fat
• Fish Oil
• Beef & Bone Meal
• Blood Meal
• Chicken By-Product Meal
• Beef By-Products
• Fish Meal
• Liver Meal
• Meat & Bone Meal
• Pork & Bone Meal
• Poultry By-Product Meal
• Poultry Meal
• Menadione Sodium Bisulfate (Vitamin K3)
• Corn
• Soy
• Wheat

If you check out the ingredients in our recommended cat food, you’ll find that none of these are present.