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| Formerly | Hill Rendering Works |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Genre | Pet food |
| Founded | 1907 |
| Founder | Burton Hill |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Products | Cat food Dog food |
| Brands |
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| Revenue | $2.2 billion |
| Parent | Colgate-Palmolive |
| Website | www |
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., trading as as Hill's, is an American pet food company that produces dog and cat foods. It is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive.
Hill's Pet Nutrition was founded in the spring of 1907 by Burton Hill and started operation as Hill Rendering Works. [1] [2] Hill Rendering Works provided rendering services to Shawnee County, Kansas, and had a contract with Topeka, Kansas, to dispose of dead and lame animals. Hill Rendering Works produced tallow, hides, tankage, meat scraps and farm animal feed including hogs and chicken feed.
By the 1930s, [3] [4] [5] the name had changed to Hill Packing Company, which included a milling division, Hill Milling company. At this time the company produced farm animal feed, dog food and horse meat for human consumption, processing 500 head of horse per week. [6] The meat was shipped to markets in Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. Much of the horse meat was sold to the east coast as a product called Chopped and Cured and shipped to Europe as barreled horse loins.[ citation needed ]
In 1948, Mark L. Morris contacted Hill Packing Company to produce Canine k/d. Hill Packing Company became the license producer of Canine k/d. [7] In 1968, the food line was made available through veterinarians and pet professionals as Hill's Science Diet. The line continued to expand and includes more than 60 Prescription Diet brand pet foods (prescription foods for cats and dogs with specific diseases, only available through a vet or pet pharmacy) and Science Diet brand pet foods (sold through veterinarians and pet specialty stores). In 1968, [8] Hill Packing Company was sold to Riviana Foods, [9] then in 1976 Colgate-Palmolive merged [10] with Riviana Foods. [11]
Science Diet was developed in the 1960s by Mark L. Morris Jr. (1934 – 2007). Morris was the son of veterinarian Dr. Mark Morris Sr., who pioneered the field of veterinary clinical nutrition when asked to create a specialized diet for the original seeing-eye dog, Buddy, a female German Shepherd with kidney disease. That success led Morris and his son to create additional condition-specific and life-stage pet food formulas under the Prescription Diet and Science Diet brand names. [12]
Prescription Diet is a line of pet food formulated to help cats and dogs with health issues.
One Prescription Diet line and five products of the Science Diet line were involved in the 2007 pet food recalls for their inclusion of melamine tainted wheat gluten received from China. [13] [14] [15] [16]
On January 31, 2019, Hill's recalled 25 varieties of its canned dog food, because of elevated levels of vitamin D, due to a supplier error. Vitamin D overdose in animals can cause irreversible kidney damage and eventually death. [17] On February 12, 2019, San Francisco law firm Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Hill's on behalf of affected owners for distributing dog food which contained potentially toxic levels of vitamin D. [18] [19]
A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources, or that are synthetic. The classes of nutrient compounds in supplements include vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, and amino acids. Dietary supplements can also contain substances that have not been confirmed as being essential to life, and so are not nutrients per se, but are marketed as having a beneficial biological effect, such as plant pigments or polyphenols. Animals can also be a source of supplement ingredients, such as collagen from chickens or fish for example. These are also sold individually and in combination, and may be combined with nutrient ingredients. The European Commission has also established harmonized rules to help insure that food supplements are safe and appropriately labeled.
Dog food is specifically formulated food intended for consumption by dogs and other related canines. Dogs are considered to be omnivores with a carnivorous bias. They have the sharp, pointed teeth and shorter gastrointestinal tracts of carnivores, better suited for the consumption of meat than of vegetable substances, yet also have ten genes that are responsible for starch and glucose digestion, as well as the ability to produce amylase, an enzyme that functions to break down carbohydrates into simple sugars – something that obligate carnivores like cats lack. Dogs evolved the ability living alongside humans in agricultural societies, as they managed on scrap leftovers and excrement from humans.
Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives have fire-retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred. Melamine can be combined with formaldehyde and other agents to produce melamine resins. Such resins are characteristically durable thermosetting plastic used in high pressure decorative laminates such as Formica, melamine dinnerware including cooking utensils, plates, plastic products, laminate flooring, and dry erase boards. Melamine foam is used as insulation, soundproofing material and in polymeric cleaning products, such as Magic Eraser.
Animal euthanasia is the act of killing an animal humanely, most commonly with injectable drugs. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable conditions or diseases, lack of resources to continue supporting the animal, or laboratory test procedures. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress. Euthanasia is distinct from animal slaughter and pest control.
Cat food is food specifically formulated and designed for consumption by cats. As obligate carnivores, cats have specific requirements for their dietary nutrients, namely nutrients found only in meat or synthesized, such as taurine and Vitamin A. Certain nutrients, including many vitamins and amino acids, are degraded by the temperatures, pressures and chemical treatments used during manufacture, and hence must be added after manufacture to avoid nutritional deficiency. Cat food is typically sold as dry kibble, or as wet food in cans and pouches.
Raw feeding is the practice of feeding domestic dogs, cats, and other animals a diet consisting primarily of uncooked meat, edible bones, and organs. The ingredients used to formulate raw diets vary. Some pet owners choose to make home-made raw diets to feed their animals but commercial raw diets are also available.
Science Diet is a brand of cat and dog foods marketed by Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.. In the United Kingdom and Europe, Science Diet operates as Science Plan.
Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food industry, and is not regarded as "human grade".
ZuPreem, a brand of Compana, manufactures and sells animal feeds, particularly for zoo animals and exotic pets. It is based in Kansas.
The Nutro Company, Inc., a subsidiary company of Mars Incorporated, is the developer and manufacturer of the Max, Wholesome Essentials, Ultra, Wild Frontier, and Crave brands of dog and cat food, as well as Greenies dental treats. The company is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, US.
In processed animal foods, a filler is an ingredient added to provide dietary fiber, bulk or some other non-nutritive purpose.
Beginning in March 2007, there was a widespread recall of many brands of cat and dog foods due to contamination with melamine and cyanuric acid. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of kidney failure in pets. Initially, the recalls were associated with the consumption of mostly wet pet foods made with wheat gluten from a single Chinese company.
This timeline of the 2007 pet food recalls documents how events related to the 2007 pet food recalls unfolded. Several contaminated Chinese vegetable proteins were used by pet food makers in North America, Europe and South Africa, leading to kidney failure in animals fed the contaminated food. Both the centralization of the pet food industry and the speed and manner of the industry and government response became the subjects of critical discussion.
In China, the adulteration and contamination of several food and feed ingredients with inexpensive melamine and other compounds, such as cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide, are common practice. These adulterants can be used to inflate the apparent protein content of products, so that inexpensive ingredients can pass for more expensive, concentrated proteins. Melamine by itself has not been thought to be very toxic to animals or humans except possibly in very high concentrations, but the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid has been implicated in kidney failure. Reports that cyanuric acid may be an independently and potentially widely used adulterant in China have heightened concerns for both animal and human health.
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods is an American pet food manufacturer with its headquarters located in Burbank, Los Angeles, California. Established in 1989 by actor Dick Van Patten, the company markets itself as "Food For a Lifetime" and promotes itself as having "the finest food you can buy for your pet." A subsidiary of Big Heart Pet Brands, it was previously owned by the J.M. Smucker Company until February 2021, when it was sold to Nexus Capital Management LP.
PetMed Express, Inc., also known as PetMeds, is an online pet pharmacy based in the United States. It is publicly traded and sells prescription and non-prescription pet medication.
SmartPak is a business headquartered in Plymouth, Massachusetts. SmartPak was founded in 1999 by two Harvard Business School graduates, founders Becky Minard, and her husband Paal Gisholt. SmartPak provides custom-packed nutritional supplements in daily-dose packages for horses and dogs. In addition to its patented feeding system that provides convenient administration of supplements and medications, SmartPak has since expanded into selling equestrian apparel and gear, and added products for dogs, including dog supplies.
Vitamin B3, colloquially referred to as niacin, is a vitamin family that includes three forms, or vitamers: niacin (nicotinic acid), nicotinamide (niacinamide), and nicotinamide riboside. All three forms of vitamin B3 are converted within the body to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). NAD is required for human life and people are unable to make it within their bodies without either vitamin B3 or tryptophan. Nicotinamide riboside was identified as a form of vitamin B3 in 2004.
Pet Fooled is a 2016 American independent documentary film exploring the pet food industry with interviews from veterinarians and pet owners whose pets died, they allege, due to commercial packaged pet food. After premiering at the Catalina Film Festival on 2 October 2016, the film had an "on demand theatrical run" via Gathr, after which it became available on VOD platforms on 10 January 2017. The film is currently available to Netflix subscribers, as a digital download on iTunes or as a physical DVD via Amazon. The film, produced by Myla Films and directed/narrated by Kohl Harrington, was distributed by Gravitas Ventures.
As in the human practice of veganism, vegan dog foods are those formulated with the exclusion of ingredients that contain or were processed with any part of an animal, or any animal byproduct. Vegan dog food may incorporate the use of fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes including soya, nuts, vegetable oils, as well as any other non-animal based foods.
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