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Is this a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

Nestle Purina just purchased PetFinder.com. One of the largest manufacturers of pet food in the world purchasing the largest pet adoption online resource in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. How do you feel about this acquisition?

Nestle Purina just purchased PetFinder.com.  One of the largest manufacturers of pet food in the world purchasing the largest pet adoption online resource in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.  How do you feel about this acquisition?

From a Wall Street Journal press release

“Nestle Purina PetCare Company today announced that it has signed a Purchase Agreement to buy Petfinder, the largest on-line pet adoption website, from Discovery Communications LLC. This strategic transaction, Nestle’s first major acquisition of a digital property, will allow Nestle Purina to broaden its support for pet welfare organizations and strengthen its role as a leading provider of on-line pet-related information.”

“We value Petfinder’s existing framework, which is fully aligned with our commitment to pet welfare organizations and our belief that pets and people are better together. We plan to strengthen that solid framework with our extensive nutritional expertise and vast knowledge of pet welfare.”

Purina Dog Chow contains ingredients such as genetically modified grains, numerous by-product ingredients including two (meat and bone meal and animal fat) that FDA testing determined to be most likely to contain a euthanized animal, dyes, and vitamins sourced from China.  Purina has not responded to numerous requests from TruthaboutPetFood.com to provide their Pledge to Quality and Origin – providing pet food consumers will full transparency.

PetFinder.com links together rescue groups and animals shelters all across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico – trying to place pets in need into loving homes.

So…what do you think?  Does it matter to you who owns the PetFinder.com website – as long as needy pets find homes?  Do you think Purina’s ownership of the PetFinder website will result in lowered adoption fees or perhaps more support for free/low-cost spay & neuter clinics?  Or do you think the PetFinder website will become little more than an advertising website to sell Purina products?  Will the Purina acquisition of PetFinder.com be the ultimate failure for homeless pets or will it help homeless pets?

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible

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63 Comments

63 Comments

  1. Angelis

    August 21, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    A new meat supply for their rotten poisonous pet food?

    • Tracey

      August 21, 2013 at 7:18 pm

      I agree, you hit the nail right on the head. Too bad we couldn’t hit Purina right over the head. Seriously, if Purina thinks this is going to improve their image, they are wrong. I can’t believe that PetFinder did this.

    • Mari Whitmer

      August 22, 2013 at 10:25 am

      What a marketing ploy for them. You can bet that ads will be popping up when people search for a dog or cat too. A cat does not change it colors….

  2. Mia

    August 21, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    Well need to approach carefully with both eyes open !
    Knowing the quality of pet food processed by Purina
    is a big conecern with a red flag. Hopefully pets will get into homes where pet parents are caref ul about their pets’ diet.

  3. Yvonne McGehee

    August 21, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    Well, this seems to be the clue: “…We plan to strengthen that solid framework with our extensive nutritional expertise and vast knowledge of pet welfare.”

    Yet another advertising venue.

  4. Valerie noyes

    August 21, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    It is the advertising opportunity, I’m certain of it. I hate that a great pet website will be bastardized by ads for their garbage food.

  5. Ashley Oslund

    August 21, 2013 at 6:29 pm

    I want to be hopeful this will cultivate amazing possibilities in a better direction for animals. But, I don’t predict this will actually bring about better education (knowledge of ingredients & welfare that they claim to possess is not displayed in their products) of the people adopting from rescues and shelters on the website.

  6. Pat

    August 21, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    They can’t be trusted…Mercenary (MONEY) with a capital “M” is what they’re all about, and they couldn’t care less about the animals. Just my opinion.

  7. nelly valla

    August 21, 2013 at 6:32 pm

    more adopted pet will suffer because pet owner will have the wrong info about nutrition
    personnelly i see it all the time being a volunter for a pet rescue organization
    most food company do a great job to brainwash consumer and infortunatly it work
    food company should not own a pet adoption webside since their main goal are to sell their products

    • judy boitt

      August 21, 2013 at 6:49 pm

      This is not just for adoption by rescue groups. Anyone can advertise their pups here.

  8. D

    August 21, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    It’s all about money when a corporation buys another business out Or
    they want to close them down (competition) It’s ALWAYS one or the other.

    There’s a HUGE community at PetFinders and they now have it 🙁

  9. Margo Mann

    August 21, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    I feel the same way I do about Royal Canin being involved with cat shows, helping to put on Vet Conferences and anything else they can put their name to in order to impress the public, instead of just creating an excellent food for our beloved pets. If just one of these well-known companies put their efforts into using excellent ingredients and properly balanced food for Obligate Carnivores, I would probably faint. They just put their money into advertising and spending billions on that and not the food. Crap!
    Margo

    • jan

      August 23, 2013 at 3:07 pm

      Hear Hear Margo! we’re on the same page about petfood companies adding all that crap to the foods…….cats are obligate carnivores and are unable to utilize veggies and herbs and PLANT OILS! WAKE UP WORLD!

  10. Tom

    August 21, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Color me skeptical. Why would Nestle do this if not solely for financial gain. And…could Petfinder now become a conduit for sale of puppy-mill dogs? One thing is for sure, if their motivations are indeed dubious, they can expect a mass exodus of those of us who use Petfinder, not to mention a whole lot of negative PR.

  11. Christine

    August 21, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    This truly saddens me to hear this. Makes me wonder what their real motives are for purchasing petfinder.com.

  12. Mirsades

    August 21, 2013 at 6:39 pm

    This is a comment I posted when I “shared” this story on my facebook page….

    I don’t like the idea of Purina purchasing petfinder.com at all. Expect to see a bunch of advertising for their products and….this gives them easy access to animals to add to their pet food ingredients. Don’t think it’s true??? Do some research. Testing of pet foods has found evidence of euthanizing drugs. Where do you think these drugs came from!!!! Yes, hard to believe I know, but they are from animals put to sleep at vet hospitals, college research facilities, etc. and think of all the diseases and other stuff from research these poor furbabies died of, also in pet food!!!! So…..What do you feed your pets???? Check the ingredients and do some investigating.

  13. SerryJW

    August 21, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    Everyone said it..This is PR and they know it will give them so many opportunities to spreed this garbage to ever new pet owner…Why is always about money?

  14. Susan

    August 21, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    Awful news. Purina Dog Chow is garbage. Many people do not realize that the lousy diet they are feeding their pets is causing various chronic health problems that are expensive to treat. Pet guardians could spare themselves and their pets a lot of grief if they fed them a biologically and species appropriate diet; this would NOT include Purina products.

  15. Kathy Hart

    August 21, 2013 at 6:56 pm

    This is very sad news for pet guardians. It is a means to an end….another group to be targeted with false information. They are in it for the money not the animals.

  16. Debra

    August 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    When we adopted one of our cats from a shelter, I got the lecture from the shelter about how important it is not to give my cat ANY human food or table scraps and that even canned food would “rot” my cat’s teeth. I was sent home with a bag of the krapple (my word for crap and kibble) that no doubt was given to the shelter by the pet food company. As soon as I got home, I gave my cat a bowl of raw chicken livers with a raw chicken wing as his bedtime snack. There is no doubt in my mind that the number one priority of Purina is to make money and lots of it and there are some very higly compensated executives sitting around a conference table congratulating themselves on what a fine strategy they’ve devised. Most likely, Purina will be getting a huge tax break especially if they turn Petfinder into a non-profit affiliate.

  17. Ceil

    August 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    My question is why in the world would Pet Finder sell to Purnia? Will the Pet Finder Foundation continue to give grants for worthy causes? How will this affect their relationship with the Animal Rescue site? I have always respected Pet Finder now I feel betrayed.

  18. Elenora Sabin

    August 21, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    I’m very sorry to hear this news. I would never feed Purina to my dogs. My guess is that Purina sees this as an opportunity to pimp their products to new pet owners who are not informed about what ingredients should and should not be found in pet foods. I’ve used Pet Finder in the past. I will not use them again.

  19. Kathryn Smith

    August 21, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    I was so sorry to hear this; PF should have remained ‘bipartisan’; selling advertising is one thing, selling your soul is another.

  20. Janet Velenovsky

    August 21, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    I have always loved PetFinder and know many of the wonderful, caring people who have been involved with it. I am extremely sad for those people now, as they must deal with the fallout from being assimilated by Purina and the changes that will require. They may be subtle or they may be overt, but the purchase will mean changes. As someone who worked for a really wonderful pet product company which was purchased by a mercenary shock collar company, I have a visceral reaction to this transaction – a sinking feeling.

  21. Nina Wolf

    August 21, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    I’m going to go with “bad” here. Just a hunch.

    I could be wrong. Their undue influence over veterinary students and practicing vets hasn’t done any harm, right?

    Enough snark. I could scream. Grab people just as they are thinking of entering into a lifetime relationship with a pet. That was a stroke of evil genius, whoever thought that up.

    Who is Big Pet Food going to buy next????

  22. Grateful

    August 21, 2013 at 7:18 pm

    Conflict of interest! Conflict of interest! Conflict of interest! My gosh, where will it end.

  23. Jill Stout

    August 21, 2013 at 7:20 pm

    Nestle Purina is in the business to make money. If it takes buying PetFinder to further their objective (selling more dog food)then they will. IF they continue any community service, it will be strictly for the tax advantage.

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  26. Jean-Pierre Ruiz

    August 21, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    A new distribution tool for their products with which they can wrap themselves in plenty of goodwill by pointing to their “good work” to save dogs. It is possible, but unlikely, that Nestle will divert more money to increase the rate of adoption, lower the adoption fee, provide free neutering and spaying (which goes against their best financial interest – the more dogs there are, the more food they could potentially sell), etc. I say unlikely because that would take away from the company’s financial bottom line. Let’s not excoriate the executives however. They are doing what they have been told to do. Their mission is to maximize profits for the shareholders (and thereby enrich themselves). We, as consumers, have accepted this whether from Nestle’s executives or most other corporations, and certainly all major corporations.

    Remember, your power is not at the voting booth. Your power is at the check out counter!

  27. D Morgan

    August 21, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    I agree with the already posted comments. I think it’s more about Purina’s image improvement than helping in pet adoption. Adopt a pet, get a coupon, send pet home with a bag of PU brand food convincing pet owner theirs is the only brand.

    We stopped feeding Purina years ago after they would too often, throw it up and have soft stools or diarrhea, and other issues. It wasn’t until later we learned the horrible truth regarding this brand.

    The price of quality food is worth it because of less vet visits to figure out what’s wrong or products to correct issues that were due to poor quality food.

    Nestle Purina buying Petfinder stinks to high Heaven!

  28. Dawn Ryther

    August 21, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    Disastrous! Biggest fear is that Purina will insist that all rescue groups use their food (or, lucky them, they get their food donated by Purina themselves). Sounds like a huge advertising monopoly! Very sad.

  29. Christine

    August 21, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    It’s all about money.

  30. MadlyMad

    August 21, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    Another evil corporate acquisition and a middle finger from a trusted animal rescue website to their users. PetFinder is as greedy, it turns out, as anyone. Their idealism turned in to fast bucks of a huge amount you can bet. Now, Purina has a once trusted stage from which they can pontificate to the masses on the benefits (?) of feeding their food to our pets. Greed pops up like grass between the sidewalk cement cracks once again. My stomach is churning.

  31. Informed

    August 21, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    Meanwhile, still coming in daily. Surely all these people nationwide can’t be imagining things!

    http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/ralston.html

    Quote:
    Has anyone experienced any issues with the prescriptive brands? A friend of ours’ dog almost died from moldy Purina One dog food last month. I thought about changing brands then but thought maybe the prescriptive diet food was different…?

    My cat is diabetic and has been on the same food for about a year with no issues (Purina DM). I opened a new bag of dry food this weekend and he started throwing up yesterday afternoon. He still had an appetite but hadn’t kept anything down, even water, for about 15 hours or more. This morning w…though he still hasn’t pee’d or pooped in over 13 hours…
    I called the vet and they received no reports on food recalls and I can’t find anything online more recent then this forum. I thought about trying to feed him the food again; after his stomach settles down to see if that is truly the culprit… End Quote.

    Lovely.
    As if a Diabetic cat being “prescribed” dry food isn’t bad enough … ++HEADSMACK++

  32. Dianne T

    August 21, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    I don’t believe that this bodes well for Petfinder. Nestles are only in it for a self serving purpose; their food quality has already shown how much they really care about the animals. Apparently Discovery Communications don’t care about the animals either.

  33. Regina

    August 21, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    ugh, this is bad. I hate to talk to customers in the pet store who insist on feeding Science Diet because that’s what they were told when they adopted their pet. They think that because the adoption groups tell them to use Science Diet it must be the best thing for their pet. I can’t tell you how often I have tried to tell people that “the food that I use” is so much better than Science Diet, but they feel that their pet is “doing fine” on the Science Diet, so they see no reason to change.
    Also, you’ve got the vets selling the stuff in their offices, and telling folks its what they recommend.

    Purina’s plan with this is to push more of their crap onto unsuspecting pet adopters, and people will go right along with it, because of the “good PR” of “helping” so many animals.

    Another thing I just learned recently about Purina is that they own Canyon Creek Ranch. I was talking to a customer in a pet store and she said that her sister works for Nestle Purina and was telling her about how great their stuff is. I could not find “Nestle Purina” anywhere on the packaging of Canyon Creek Ranch. I will never buy that brand, because even if it is excellent food, it is still going to subsidize the crap that they sell under their other labels.

    Maybe some of these adoption groups will gravitate to a different program, leaving petfinder.com in the dust?????

  34. Peter

    August 21, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    Pet food manufacturers are linking with shelter organizations as a means to grab customers when they first get a pet. In exchange for free or discounted food (and you can’t really blame many cash-strapped shelters for falling victim), vendors get exclusive use of their foods at the shelter (not even donated foods are allowed to be used), and often are privileged to insert displays throughout the shelter. The new pet parents are given a bag of the food with the admonishment that “Fido (or Fluffy) is used to this food,” (and often, has become addicted to the junk ingredients in a short period of time), and presto… a customer for life. Liking Petfinder and Purina is a logical business move, as Nestle doubtless has plans to exploit any possible connection to the shelter system to their truly awful products.

    • Dianne T

      August 21, 2013 at 11:27 pm

      Everyone needs to stop using petfinder and something in its likeness needs to be created.

  35. Shelley

    August 21, 2013 at 11:32 pm

    I just rescued a dog through petfinder. Guess which pet food the rescue group was feeding the dogs??? I’m in the process of slowly changing his food to Organix puppy kibble. I think Purina is “donating” their food to the rescue groups! As if these animals haven’t been victumized enough!!!

  36. Jess

    August 22, 2013 at 7:19 am

    I am going to play devil’s advocate here….. Purina has a LOT of money, and there are a LOT of pets on petfinder that sadly never find a forever home. I tried to adopt a dog at a shelter listed on petfinder to find he had been PTS that day. Made my heart sink. As bad of ingredients as purina has, no choice any of us would have in our pets bowls, it could result in higher adoption rates via their marketing. Yes, they will probably donate food to shelters and influence adopter’s choices of what to feed, but science diet does it too, and the more the public gets educated, they end up switching to a better food anyway. I was one of those people. I personally dont mind that these big pet food companies donate food, those animals have to eat and the food must come from somewhere. Yes i am aware of freekibble.com with halo, but they can’t support as many shelters as the bigger companies can and do. I am not going to say purina doesnt have motives in buying petfinder, but maybe petfinder had motives in allowing it to be bought. And let’s face it, I’d rather see a dog get adopted and maybe not eat the best food in the world because his owners chose to stick with the bag of food the shelter gave them, and have a loving home instead of being killed when it had years left to live. The other thing is that I don’t personally know many people who stick with the bag their dog comes with, I think many people know shelters are poor and take what they are given, as everytime I am in the pet store I will see a new dog owner come in asking what a good food to feed their newly adopted pet. So people are thinking outside of the “bag” on this one and I’d like to think more pets will get homes and less will be euthanized as a result. What do you think?

    • Kathryn Smith

      August 22, 2013 at 10:13 am

      I was Director of Animal Control for a small, rural county in Eastern North Carolina for over 25 years and never purchased the first bag of Purina ANYTHING for our shelter animals (other than rarely for livetock, if that was all that was available); if a Purina product was donated we passed it on to local rescue/humane society groups for their work with the MealsOnWheels program for receipients that had pets.
      My issues with Purina goes way way back to when it was ‘Checker Board Farms’.
      I undertand your point; just don’t 100% agree with it.

    • Laura

      August 22, 2013 at 6:10 pm

      Jess – i was getting ready to make the same comment about playing devils adovocate – even though we may not care for foods that purina makes or feed to our own pets the fact is these companies do a lot of tv ads that advocate for pet adoption with great commercials that want to make you cry and go out and adopt – shelters and rescues cant afford to feed these animals top notch diets, its just the way it is. Yes these companies are out to increase their bottom line, most companies are, lets all look at the positive and hope that it will increase pet adoption

  37. Debra Long

    August 22, 2013 at 8:50 am

    I inquired last year about advertising opportunities with Petfinder, cost $22,000. Petfinder does have a non profit division, however that division records very little on their 990 forms. They are in it for the money, not to save animals. They don’t even screen new petfinder applicants to verify whether they are for profit or not for profit, and should because the general public assumes that all groups listed on pet finder are legitimate non profit rescue groups and that is simply not the case. There are so many backyard breeders and puppy brokers posing as rescues on pet finder it is crazy.

  38. Laurie Raymond

    August 22, 2013 at 9:43 am

    Hills has had their “shelter support” program in place for over 10 years. They do it for the marketing opportunity, of course: providing shelters with steep discounts as long as they give adopters packs of food with their propaganda. But here’s the thing: people and vets are becoming more skeptical. I have a store where adopters get 25% off everything they buy on their first visit, plus some freebies. Many of them have already tossed the Science Diet the shelter gave them before they come to me, because they already know it is crap. I think the petfood industry has become evil, and people are learning this. I think moves like this one by Purina are driven by their sense of “uh-oh, maybe we’ve gone too far” trying to fix an image that is beyond cosmetic repair. Sorta like the Monsanto folks and Big Pharma. Meanwhile from a shelter or rescue point of view, free or low cost food that is consistent is probably a good thing, since reliance on food donations has some terrible consequences, and usually shelter stays are brief.

  39. Nancy

    August 22, 2013 at 9:50 am

    This is awful, now they will be all over the Petfinder website with their ads.

  40. Linda M

    August 22, 2013 at 10:50 am

    This is a VERY BAD THING! I hope Rescue Groups form a different web site! Why is this happening! Wait I know the answer…like everything else that Pur

  41. Pacific Sun

    August 22, 2013 at 12:27 pm

    Information is good, and this article is no exception. It’s how all of us keep learning. And TAPF readers are exceptionally smart. Keep in mind however, that we’re never going to change a corporation or the profit mentality that exists all around us. What we can change is our own behavior. And through example and information sharing, we can influence people around us. There has been this discussion before. But what I’d like are the “tools” to help avert people from lugging out that huge bag of Purina One from Big Box stores! That behavior represents the volume of business PF companies thrive on! Those are the folks through lack of education (and no fault of their own) who are perpetuating the gargantuan sales of sub-standard food. But how do we do this without insulting or alienating the very strangers we’d like to help?! But I do see the challenge as being at this particular point in the whole dilemna. Changing people one-by-one, social media, website info., etc. Let companies donate all they want to organizations and rescues to make sure the supplies are available to deal with as many shelter dogs as possible. But, at the same time, we’ve got to learn how to turn around the sales market through consumer behavior. Only declining profit (and comsumer awareness) will ever speak to these big companies to modify their products.

  42. rebamjr

    August 22, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    Petfinder.com stock just went way down in this reader’s eyes. A valued source of pet adoption got greedy just as most people, organizations, companies do in the end. Sad dad day.

  43. Shellie Cavallaro

    August 22, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    Scary really. What if they use it as a means to aquire “meat” for their food products!
    Shame on the woman for selling out Pets

  44. Rose

    August 22, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    I feel they will have an endless supply of animals to test their products on and if any get sick and or die, so what, there will be more to take their place. Yes it does matter to me. Just th ink about it, getting their adoptees addicted to their food and after you adopt one it might not eat anything else. Case in point: I rescued a cat from a place where she only had been fed Friskies and 4 years later she won’t touch anything else. I have no idea how much I have spent on every known brand of wet and dry food only to have her stick her nose up and walk away. And oh yes I have tried to starve her into eating other foods including what I eat and no luck.

    • Kathryn Smith

      August 22, 2013 at 5:32 pm

      re Cat not eating ‘other’ foods — please don’t try to ‘starve’ a cat into changing his/her mind; they are the only domestic animal that will literally starve to death rather than eat a food it doesn’t want; can go into hepatic lipidosis and the liver will crash – Friskies is better than no food at all, and probably a LOT better than ‘dry’ foods.

      • Rose

        August 22, 2013 at 6:44 pm

        Thank you for your reply, she has a constant supply of both wet and dry Friskies, anything fish, which is her favorite flavor. She is my Tinkerbelle and gets denied nothing. 🙂

  45. brad

    August 22, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    This is really bad. Nestle is a zionist owned corp. Very bad for the USA. Read the many things Nestle is up to at NaturalNews.com
    Nestle is very powerful and very bad for the people.
    I will never use PetFinders website again.
    Its best to promote small local businesses, family owned, or one person owned. Buy Made in the USA to promote jobs for Americans. Stop shopping at walmart, etc. I can now buy everything I use to get at walmart elsewhere now. Walmart is really ChinaMart, they promote the wealth of china while stealing away jobs from the USA. walmart is stealing jobs from americans so why would anyone support these mega corporations.
    Very helpful and insightful, useful info.

  46. Pacific Sun

    August 22, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    Just a reminder, that TAPF is about Pet Food (PF) Consumer Advocacy. Meaning it’s about PF safety and quality assurances. My guess is too many mega-corporations, no matter where they are headquartered, or how they impact global trade, or whatever their international politics – are just NOT safeguarding (much less optimizing) the health and welfare of our companion pets. For these reasons they do not deserve our business. With all due respect to freedom of speech, politics and viewpoints, the attention and energy of our efforts here is to improve the PF Industry, to be accomplished through consumer education, full disclosure, industry communications and product transparency. The TAPF is about – and for the love of our – pets.

  47. Ann

    August 23, 2013 at 11:48 am

    “Or do you think the PetFinder website will become little more than an advertising website to sell Purina products?”

    YES, NO DOUBT IN MY MIND

  48. Marsha

    August 23, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    As far as I am concerned, I will find another site to put my rescues on. Shame on Purina!!!!!!

    • Jess

      August 24, 2013 at 7:31 am

      Please remember that most folks out there looking to adopt, especially if they are looking outside of their local area turn to petfinder and do not know of the other rescue websites out there to find a pet. I know it is hard for all of us who hate purina and all of the other brands like it, but I really would hate to see adoptions decrease because noone posts adoptable pets here. The general public views pet finder as the “auto trader” for finding an adoptable pet. I don’t know anyone who used a different site to locate a pet except personally going to the shelter or googling a breed specific rescue.

  49. Gitta

    August 24, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    Purina is a for-profit business, beholden to its shareholders. The main goal of this purchase is to increase sales, increase profits, increase payouts to the shareholders. If that also benefits homeless animals – icing on the cake. If this is the gold standard for free enterprise and capitalism – why not be honest about the motives behind this purchase? Seems to me this goes hand in hand with their refusal to food transparency. Surprised? Not really. So, how much bad is acceptable for some good?

  50. Reader

    August 24, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    As waith many controversies some have a silver lining BECAUSE they open up discussion that would otherwise not take place. Nestle Purina has advertising/publicity bucks to spend. If not through PetFinder, they will (unfortunately) “find” another way to do so. Unless they won’t let Rescues list on the site if they aren’t willing to promote Purina, then don’t with hold the opportunity for more adoptions. At the point of adoption explain the truth about pet food. Infact, hand out a TAPF flyer or bumper sticker and encourage the new owner to learn about good nutrition for their pet which can reduce veterinaian expenses in the long run. That should be endcouraging good news for them. If you have to, specify any better quality food that they can start out with. Keep it affordable and accessible until they gain more experience. Just keep them away from chain store house brands and the worst of the worst ingredients. Outline some easy bullet points for what they should avoid or look for. Perhaps this approach will reach more owners in the long run than if Purina hadn’t become involved at all. I do know that even when other big name brands (like Pedigree and Eukanuba) support large dog events it doesn’t mean that participants don’t make their own choices anyway. In fact these people know what works for their own program no matter what is being pushed. It’s all about education and experience.

    • Ann

      August 24, 2013 at 4:08 pm

      I think that these are really good suggestions. My daughter has operated a non profit dog rescue group for many years and she will be affected by the change. Check her operation out at dogsonly.org as she and her volunteers are hard at work every day finding homes for abandoned animals and working to put the irresponsible breeders out of business.

  51. Teresa Johnson

    August 28, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    Bad! Bad! Bad! I’m afraid many folks unwittingly will see a “national brand” name and think it’s for the betterment of animal welfare. And I agree, it’s likely to be more of larger advertisement launch then real help to critters.
    I’m going to go hug my hedgehogs and hope the world will soon up-right itself : )

  52. Sally

    September 19, 2013 at 2:22 am

    My older dog and I used to be a Pet Partner team with Delta and visited assisted living facilities. She never seemed to digest her food correctly. I had been sent home with a bag of Purina One and when I saw and smelled her stool, I immediately started trying to find a kibble that she could digest properly. A looked for a kibble because my vet sold me on the necessity of feeding her with kibble. When the dogs started dying from what turned out to be melamine added by the Chinese to make the protein content seem higher, I started cooking for her using ingredients purchased in my grocery store. Immediately all her digestive problems went away. I cooked for her several years and then discovered raw dog foods including dehydrated ones such as Stella and Chewy. Now, thank goodness, she and the other dog I got about that time are both small because that is all that I feed them.

    Then Delta got a Purina executive on its board and tossed out all teams who refused to begin feeding kibble instead of raw. Our local chapter of Delta separated ourselves from Delta and are now operating on our own. All dogs are allowed to eat anything their owner wants to feed them. For some strange reason, Delta changed its name shortly after that. Maybe because Delta turned into a “bad” name?

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