In case you haven't already heard the terrible news, it's true. Procter & Gamble, maker of Iams/Eukanuba, bought Natura Pet Products, maker of Innova, California Natural, Evo, Karma and Healthwise.
I remember what happened when P&G bought Eukanuba and it wasn't pretty. Quality ingredients being replaced by inferior ingredients, completely unnecessary chemicals and crap kept getting added to the food, the price kept going up and the bag size kept going down. (Psst - P&G! Maybe if you stopped changing the bag art every 5 months, you could save your customers some money.) In one of the shiestiest moves I've ever seen a pet food company make in the 11 or so years I've been doing this, the first thing P&G did upon acquiring Eukanuba was to fart around with the ingredients and formula - without listing the changes on the bags. They wreaked havoc on so many canine GI tracts. It was pretty uncool of them.
P&G has been trying to snag the "organic, all natural, holistic" dog food market for years and has been meeting with Epic Fail at every attempt. They came out with the Naturally Wild product line. That tanked so hard I almost felt embarrassed for the Eukanuba rep when I saw him coming to pick up almost our entire order of it after it all expired. Then they decided to try again with Pure. I think that's doing a little better, but now three production plants are out of commission due to being tainted with Salmonella bacteria, Pure has been gone from our shelves for most of the summer and P&G has lost many of what few holistic customers they had to other brands.
Facing so much Hardcore Fail, P&G decided to muscle it's way into the holistic market by buying an already established brand. Innova and California Natural have been cornerstones of the holistic market since the beginning of holistic pet foods. People love that brand. Really, they love it. A lot of those people are heartbroken (I've heard that exact word used when discussing this) about P&G buying Natura Pet Products. They feel like they're losing a trusted brand.
And that's what P&G's whole problem has been this entire time. People don't trust Procter & Gamble. They don't trust that a company that exploits dogs to make dog food with the dog's best interest in mind. They don't trust a company that has already proven it's untrustworthiness by switching formulas without letting anyone know about the switch, thereby sickening a lot of dogs. And they've just gotten it so horribly wrong in the past when trying to make their own holistic formulas, I don't think any savvy consumed honestly believes they're going to leave the Natura formulas alone. The news is out and people are expecting the worst. After working in the pet industry for 11 years now, I think they're right to expect the worst. P&G does not have the best track record of upholding quality or company integrity as far as dog foods are concerned.
I never recommend Iams and especially not Eukanuba. Once upon a time Eukanuba was a great food. That time is over now.
They couldn't PAY me to feed any of their brands to my dog. That now includes California Natural, Innova, Evo, Karma, and Healthwise.
What others are saying:
Business Week
Veterinary Practice News Check the comments. So much for being able to buy your way into the club.
It's a real cool club.. and you're not part of it! STILL. Nice try on that one though.
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My husband works at Natura's Fremont plant. It has been over a year and NOTHING has changed there in regard to how the food is made or what its ingredients are. P&G is, in fact,using the plant as a model to improve its other pet food brands. Calm down already.
ReplyDeleteI have fed my dog Evo red meat on and off for years... This latest bag resulted in the most awful diarrhea I've ever seen. Switched him for a few days to human food (boiled chicken breast and rice) and he recovered. Went back to Evo not thinking anything of it until he, again, within 24 hours, had awful diarrhea again. Can't find any info on whether they have switched ingredients but not willing to risk it with my dog's health. Switching to Orijen (and maybe Nature's Logic) permanently.
ReplyDeleteYour bag probably was in the recall for salmonella contamination. That is one of the symptoms. Google EVO recall for the lot number and check your bag. Food was manufactured between Dec 17 and Jan 2. You can also call EVO fora free replacement bag. This was an isolated situation from their Fremont facility.
DeleteEVO DOG FOOD! YOU KILLED TWO LITTERS OF UNBORN BABIES! THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN A SCHHOOL YARD KILLER!
ReplyDeleteProcter & Gamble -- it is what it is - no matter how much marketing dollars they spend to make you think otherwise...
ReplyDeletei stuck around after the first cali nat chkn and rice /salmonella contamination scare earlier in the year (mainly b/c girlie cat refuses anything else)... after another recall, i can gladly say f u p&g. i will do everything i can to cut you out of my life
ReplyDeleteNow days its easy to give great food to your pets because its easy to Buy Online Pet Products rather than going to shop and getting it.
ReplyDeleteWe also keep our treats in a small metal pail by the door so they're easily accessible. best dog food for boxers
ReplyDeleteI was reading your article and wondered if you had considered creating an ebook on this subject. Your writing would sell it fast. You have a lot of writing talent.automatic timed feeder for cats
ReplyDelete