Nestlé Purina PetCare 
Nestlé Purina PetCare - based in St. Louis, Missouri, was a major American corporation best known for its production and marketing of animal feeds. Since 2002, Nestlé’s Friskies business has combined in a friendly merger with Ralston Purina. Nestlé Purina PetCare is a division of Swiss based Nestlé company. It traces its roots back to 1894, when founder William H. Danforth began producing feed for various farm animals under the name Purina Mills. Later, in 1902, he merged with Health guru and visionary Webster Edgerly, founder of Ralstonism, who was at the time producing breakfast cereals, to form the “Ralston-Purina Company”.
Purina
The Purina name was principally associated with the animal feed business, which included feed for livestock and household pets. The predominant brand for each animal was generally referred to as “Chow”; hence there was “Purina Horse Chow”, “Purina Dog Chow”, “Purina Cat Chow”, and even “Purina Monkey Chow,” “Purina Rabbit Chow” and “Purina Pig Chow”.
The animal feed business became the subject of a takeover bid by Swiss-based Nestlé, whose “Friskies” brand was the other leading brand of pet food in the U.S. This bid was eventually accepted in 2001. Several brands of pet food (e.g., “Meow Mix”) had to be divested separately to meet antitrust concerns. Purina brands are now made and marketed by a division of Nestlé (Nestlé Purina PetCare) which is still headquartered in St. Louis. The work of developing manufactured diets for pets involves animal testing, thereby introducing controversy.
Purina Mills, Inc., the U.S. animal feed business that was sold by Ralston Purina Company in 1986, was purchased by Koch Industries in 1998, but a U.S. Bankruptcy Court cancelled out all equity held by Koch in order to maintain the company’s viability. Purina Mills LLC is now owned by Land O’Lakes.
While primarily a pet food company, Ralston Purina also made some other pet-related products, such as Tidy Cats brand cat litter. Also, Purina has honoured several Canadian animals every year since 1968 in their Animal Hall of Fame. The latest inductees included a police service dog who “rushed and subdued an armed robber.”
Well-known brands include:
- Alpo
- Beggin’ Strips
- Beneful
- Purina One
- Purina Pro Plan
- Various ‘chows’ - Purina Dog Chow, Purina Puppy Chow, Purina Cat Chow, Purina Kitten Chow
- Friskies
- Fancy Feast (canned wet cat food)
- Tender Vittles
External Links:
- Purina Petcare Corporate Website
- Purina Mills, LLC
- Purina Animal Hall of Fame
- Ralcorp Website
- Purina Mills Poultry Nutrition
This article taken from Wikipedia
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