Natura sold to P&G

[Maralynn]

Natura pet foods has been sold to Procter & Gamble

 

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/...t-products.html

 

Bummer. FYI, Natura makes EVO, Innova, California Naturals, Healthwise and Karma brand pet food

[Tommy Coyote]

Natura pet foods has been sold to Procter & Gamble

 

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/...t-products.html

 

Bummer. FYI, Natura makes EVO, Innova, California Naturals, Healthwise and Karma brand pet food

Oh, shoot. I feed Evo. Everytime this happens the foods just go to hell.

[Alchemist]

Dang. Thanks for posting this. I've been feeding Innova. We're getting close to the bottom of the bag, too. Maybe I'll buy one more bag quickly and then start to think about changing to something else.

[Liz P]

Better stock up before they start using poor quality ingredients.

[kelpiegirl]

I think folks in regions ought to come up with food menus for dogs, so we know who we get it from, and how it's prepared. I can't do raw, but perhaps a cottage industry, of sorts, with things like Monday meatloaf, Tues Tuna, you know... I know it sounds schmaltzy, but if someone has access to adequate cooking areas, I bet it would be a hit, especially if trusted food companies keep getting eaten up by corporate monsters.

[PSmitty]

No, no, no.

[Tommy Coyote]

Natura pet foods has been sold to Procter & Gamble

 

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/...t-products.html

 

Bummer. FYI, Natura makes EVO, Innova, California Naturals, Healthwise and Karma brand pet food

I just called a friend of mine who has a boutique and sells lots of premium dog foods. It has become her biggest money maker. There is a huge demand for good food right now.

 

She said the Proctor & G was just trying to put people like her out of business. I wonder if they will decide to sell that product in the grocery stores or places like Petsmart? And you know that their emphasis is going to be on making money.

 

So I am going to start switching my dogs over to something else.

[esox]

Alex has been on this for 3+ years. Guess it is time for a change.

[Guest maya's mom]

We have been feeding Maya California Natural since we brought her home as a puppy over 2 years ago. After hearing of this news however, I will begin switching her over to something else. I picked a few from the 2010 Whole Dog Journal dry food review, and am choosing between Orijen, Taste of the Wild and Fromm. I know each have a few varieties, so I need to do some research. Any opinions on those three foods, or something else I should try?

[Maralynn]

We have been feeding Maya California Natural since we brought her home as a puppy over 2 years ago. After hearing of this news however, I will begin switching her over to something else. I picked a few from the 2010 Whole Dog Journal dry food review, and am choosing between Orijen, Taste of the Wild and Fromm. I know each have a few varieties, so I need to do some research. Any opinions on those three foods, or something else I should try?

 

I think they're all good foods. Orijen and Fromm will probably be a little pricier than TOTW. Since different dogs handle foods differently, I'd just get a small bag of one and see how it works for your dog.

[esox]

Alex will be going on Taste of The Wild. She has had that added to her Innova before and did okay on it.

 

Esox & Alex

[grenzehund]

FWIW, I saw this on another site:

 

"The Procter & Gamble buyout of Natura (makers of Innova, California Natural, Evo, Karma,etc) is supposedly not a done deal. A Natura spokesperson said that if people want to make a difference, they need to flood them with emails and phone calls, and that they are listening. Email is: custserv@naturapet.com Phone is: (800) 532-7261"

[WildFlower]

I picked a few from the 2010 Whole Dog Journal dry food review, and am choosing between Orijen, Taste of the Wild and Fromm. I know each have a few varieties, so I need to do some research. Any opinions on those three foods, or something else I should try?

 

It really just depends what your dog does well on. I feed Fromm's and both of my dogs like and it and do very well on it.

 

Regarding Natura, this really is just awful news......

[njnovice]

We have been feeding Maya California Natural since we brought her home as a puppy over 2 years ago. After hearing of this news however, I will begin switching her over to something else. I picked a few from the 2010 Whole Dog Journal dry food review, and am choosing between Orijen, Taste of the Wild and Fromm. I know each have a few varieties, so I need to do some research. Any opinions on those three foods, or something else I should try?

 

Well, I've fed all flavors of the Orijen and both the fowl and fish-flavors of the TOTW. Fromm's is good. My mother used to keep her old GSD on it, but it's become impossible to find around here.

 

My dogs have done well with all of the Orijen flavors, and same for TOTW. Right now, I have them on Kirkland Lamb & Rice, but that's purely because of money issues. Once things pick up, I'll probably put them onto TOTW. The food they got last before switching to the Kirkland was Evo Red Meat Large Bites, but I definitely won't be switching back to that if P&G buys them out.

[jvw]

I wrote to customer service letting them know I was upset with the sale and that the result would be plumeting quality. This is the response I got. Gag! Yeah, P&G is really concerned with maintaining quality. Uh huh.......more like just quashing competition by eliminating them.

 

 

 

Dear Jennifer VanWagner,

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We are very pleased to know that you and your canine family is showing success with our EVO products.

 

P&G believes wholeheartedly in Natura’s nutritional philosophy and have absolutely no intention of “compromising” the quality of its brands. In fact, they are fully committed to maintaining the quality of these terrific brands.

 

 

 

Our dedication to quality and our nutritional philosophy has not changed. Natura’s Founders; John & Ann Rademakers and Peter Atkins, started Natura’s business with the purpose to provide the healthiest pet foods in the world. In building Natura’s business they have maintained animal health and wellness as a priority. They have strongly supported their independent retail partners.

 

 

 

Let’s take a moment to reflect and think about the fact that they would not entrust Natura’s legacy to the new owner if they were not convinced that P &G would carry out their product philosophies and quality. P&G is committed to growing the Natura brands and they recognize the critical nature of growing the brands through the independent pet specialty stores.

 

 

 

We will continue to celebrate and advance Natura's legacy and nutritional philosophy and maintain Natura's current high standards for product and ingredient quality, food safety and manufacturing excellence. And, we will continue to support the development of a thriving independent pet specialty channel.

 

 

 

Again, thank you for contacting us and we especially thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Friend,

 

 

 

Nicole

 

Natura Pet Products

 

Natura Representative

[sea4th]

Ha! A friend of mine e-mailed them: Here's what she wrote: (being done with her permission):

 

I was very upset to hear that naturapet may be selling to P&G. I have seven dogs and have used your food for over 10yrs. and am quite happy with the results. As soon as I heard about the possible buyout, I started inquiring about finding a new food source. Knowing how big companies operate (the dollar is the bottom line), I feel they will look for ingredients at a much cheaper price if not just changing the formula. I had a coupon for a $1.50 off of three cans of one of their foods. Since I was short on time, I figured I would pick up 3 cans to tide me over. One of my dogs bloated, and so I add canned food to his Innova rather than increase the dry food. After reading the ingredients, I could not in good conscious feed this crap to my dog even if it was just three cans! This was supposedly one of their better dog foods. I use Evo and Innova and when I see them sold at the grocery store, I know it will be time to move on.

 

A satisfied customer and hope to stay one,

 

What they wrote back -- OH! Why bother. It was exactly the same as Jennifer's response -- word for word aka "form letter".

 

Disappointed and disgusted.

[Stoga]

Your Friend,

 

Nicole

Natura Pet Products

 

Your Friend? They sign their corporate correspondence as "Your Friend?" Are you kidding me?

[kelpiegirl]

Money is the root of all evil..

 

Everyone best keep an eye on the labels, and the reactions of the dogs to the food. Looks like TOTW, and Orijen are coming up on the menu.

[sea4th]

Money is the root of all evil..

 

Not necessarily, but the saying that "everyone has their own price" comes to mind and some are cheaper ho's than others.

[kelpiegirl]

Pedantics my friend. In the end, same result.

 

Not necessarily, but the saying that "everyone has their own price" comes to mind and some are cheaper ho's than others.

[sea4th]

Pedantics my friend. In the end, same result.

 

Bingo!

[Guest maya's mom]

Thanks for the replies. I've been doing research all week, and am still deciding between Orijen and Fromm's. Orijen is expensive, but everything I read says that if you can afford it, it is the best you can get. Also, we have bought small bags of it and used it as training treats, and Maya likes it. (She doesn't eat many "hard" treats, so that is saying a lot). Fromm's however, is much more affordable, and they have a grain free surf and turn formula. My dog walker has fed this to her greyhounds for years and she loves it. It is just such a shame that good companies have to sell out to the big wigs.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I just got darn tired of the dog food issues. I recently switched to Dynamite Dog food, loved it so much that I became a dealer so I could get it at a very good price. They have one dog food that is pretty much raw and one that is a super high grade kibble. Oven baked and no corn. The difference in my dogs is amazing. This way I know the company and the product is great and they will not compromise their product. I also found out that quite a few Border Collie handlers have their dogs on this dog food too. They have their own mill so the quality control is top notch (run by a BC handler too!!)

 

Over the years, when big company bought out the dog food that I was feeding, I saw a decline in the quality. I am just tired of this and what it did to my dogs.

 

I also raise my lamb, beef and eggs so I know the history of that.

 

Diane

[1sheepdoggal]

Diane, Natura use to be that way too, I use to feed it and retail it in my store. I guess, like they say, all good things must come to an end. It sucks, cause they use to have a great line of feeds, but I can see that all coming to an end here real soon.

[sea4th]

Friend's reply to form letter:[/i]

 

In response to your answer, all I have to say is this------it's all the about the money for both parties as apparently they got an offer they couldn't refuse. I cannot trust in the fact that P&G will keep the food as is. All I have to do is read the labels on their existing foods to know that the bottom line is not the dogs health. As the old saying goes "the proof is in the pudding." Since you want me to swallow propaganda, you feed P&G's food products to your animals. Since the sale is a done deal, I will be looking for alternative foods; as will many other people from what I have read.

 

Friend's e-mail to me today:

 

I just got a letter confirming the purchase agreement of Natura pet products by P&G. Pending regulatory approval the final closing is anticipated to occur in approximately one month. Natura will continue to operate as an independent company until the final closing.