Hill's Pet Nutrition
Encyclopedia
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...

 Company. They are a large scale provider of dog and cat foods.

History

In 1928, Dr. Mark L. Morris Sr. established Raritan Hospital for Animals in Edison, New Jersey. At the time, this was one of only two small animal hospitals in the United States. By 1939, Dr. Morris believed managing nutrition could have a positive effect on the health of companion animals.

In the late 1930s, Morris Frank, a young blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

 man, was touring the country with his guide dog
Guide dog
Guide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people around obstacles.Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs...

 Buddy promoting Seeing Eye dogs. However, Buddy, a German Shepherd Dog
German Shepherd Dog
The German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...

, was suffering from kidney failure and Mr. Frank asked Dr. Morris for help. Dr. Morris believed the illness was a result of poor nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

, and began developing a new pet food to help Buddy. With his wife, Louise Morris, in the kitchen, Dr. Morris formulated the dog food. Louise and three other women continued making the food in the Morris family basement, storing it in Ball jars. Raritan Ration B was the forerunner of Hill's Prescription Diet k/d Canine and is developed for dogs with renal failure and insufficiency.

Dr. Morris mailed the food to Mr. Frank, who was on tour across the country with Buddy. However, the jars often broke in transit. The U.S. was in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and glass was scarce. Morris Frank arranged for delivery of several thousand cans and a hand-operated canning machine to Dr. Morris. His staff then started canning food. So, in 1948, Dr. Morris contracted with Burton Hill of the Hill Packing Company in Topeka, Kansas, to can the food with a new name, Canine k/d, and licensed Hill to produce his pet food formulas.

In the following years, the partnership between Dr. Morris and the Hill Packing Company evolved into Hill's Pet Nutrition, and it continued to grow and add formulas of therapeutic pet food to its Prescription Diet line of products. Dr. Morris established a research laboratory in Topeka in 1951, when four Prescription Diet pet foods for dogs were available.

Dr. Morris' son, Dr. Mark Morris Jr., continued to help grow Hill's Pet Nutrition over the next several decades. Dr. Morris Jr. noticed a demand for consistent, high-quality pet food for use in research. As a result, he developed a food for healthy pets. In 1968, the food line was made available through veterinarians and pet professionals as Hill's Science Diet. The line has continued to expand, and today includes more than fifty pet foods formulated for many life stages and special needs in healthy pets.

In 1976, the Colgate-Palmolive Company purchased Hill's Pet Nutrition. Today, Hill's pet food products are available in 86 countries around the world and company sales reached $1 billion in 1999. Today, Hill's product lines include more than 60 Prescription Diet brand pet foods and more than 50 Science Diet brand pet foods.

Research and product development for Hill's takes place in Topeka, Kansas at the Hill's Pet Nutrition Center. This center houses veterinarians and board-certified specialists in nutrition and internal medicine that are responsible for working with companion pets to develop products meeting veterinarian-quality standards for nutrition and taste.

Each companion pet has a team to provide it clean living quarters, exercise areas, an agility course and other human and animal companions. The facility also houses a fully equipped veterinary hospital certified by the American Animal Hospital Association
American Animal Hospital Association
The American Animal Hospital Association is a non-profit organization for companion animal veterinarians. It was established in 1933. The association develops benchmarks of excellence, business practice standards, publications and educational programs...

. This means the hospital conforms to the standards of small animal veterinary hospitals.

Today, Hill’s manufactures Hill’s Prescription Diet brand pet foods, therapeutic pet foods available only through veterinarians, and Hill’s Science Diet brand pet foods sold through veterinarians and pet specialty stores.

Product Line

  • Simple Essential Treats (Dog only, 2010 in Market)
  • Weight Loss System (Box Pet food, 2010 in Market)
  • Vet Essential / Healthy Advantage (2011 in Market)
  • Small and Toy Breed (2011 in Market)
  • Ideal Balance (2011 in Market)
  • Senior 11+ Age Defying (2011 in Market)

Prescription Diet

Hill's has a large line of prescription foods for cats and dogs with specific disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

s.
While "Prescription diet" dry and canned food is available only through a vet
Vet
Vet may refer to:* Vet or veterinarian, a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals* Veteran, a person with long experience in a particular area, most often in military service during wartime...

 or pet pharmacy, they typically contain no drugs or medicines.

Product line

  • a/d - Accident
    Accident
    An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...

     recovery, weight gain
  • b/d - Brain ageing
  • c/d - Feline lower urinary tract disease
    Feline lower urinary tract disease
    Feline lower urinary tract disease is a broad term that is used to cover a number of conditions associated with the feline lower urinary tract. It may present as any of a variety of problems such as, inflammation of the bladder or urethra, formation of urinary crystals/stones in the bladder , and...

     and adult cat maintenance diet
  • d/d - Canine/Feline Dermatitis
  • g/d - Geriatric Diet
  • h/d - Heart Disease
  • i/d - Gastrointestinal diseases
  • j/d - Arthritis
  • k/d - Kidney disease
  • l/d - Liver disease
    Liver disease
    Liver disease is a broad term describing any single number of diseases affecting the liver.-Diseases:* Hepatitis, inflammation of the liver, caused mainly by various viruses but also by some poisons , autoimmunity or hereditary conditions...

  • m/d - Weight loss
    Weight loss
    Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...

     and diabetes management
  • n/d - Neoplasia/Cancer
  • r/d - Obesity
    Obesity
    Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

     or hyperlipidemia
    Hyperlipidemia
    Hyperlipidemia, hyperlipoproteinemia, or hyperlipidaemia is the condition of abnormally elevated levels of any or all lipids and/or lipoproteins in the blood...

  • s/d - Struvite
    Struvite
    Struvite is a phosphate mineral with formula: NH4MgPO4·6H2O. Struvite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system as white to yellowish or brownish-white pyramidal crystals or in platey mica-like forms. It is a soft mineral with Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2 and has a low specific gravity of 1.7...

     crystals
  • t/d - Dental disease
    Dental disease
    Dental diseases may affect the teeth, the gums, or other tissues and parts of the mouth. Dental diseases can cause much more serious problems than a toothache; they can affect our ability to chew, smile, or speak properly. Their severity may range from a simple aphthous ulcer, to a common tooth...

     and tartar prevention
  • u/d - Non-struvite crystals
  • w/d - Weight control and diabetes management and lower urinary tract disease and gastrointestinal disease for specific problems
  • x/d - Oxalate
    Oxalate
    Oxalate , is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written 22−. Either name is often used for derivatives, such as disodium oxalate, 2C2O42−, or an ester of oxalic acid Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate), is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written (COO)22−. Either...

     crystals (discontinue already)
  • y/d - Feline Thyroid Health (2011 in Market)
  • z/d - Food allergy
    Food allergy
    A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein. They are distinct from other adverse responses to food, such as food intolerance, pharmacological reactions, and toxin-mediated reactions....



Recalls

One Prescription Diet line and five products of the Science Diet line were involved in the 2007 pet food recalls
2007 pet food recalls
The 2007 pet food recalls comprise the contamination and wide recall of many brands of cat and dog foods beginning in March 2007, and the ensuing developments involving the human food supply. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of renal failure in pets...

for their inclusion of melamine tainted wheat gluten received from China.http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/hills03_07.htmlhttp://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01599.htmlhttp://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/hills203_07.html

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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