i have just bought a sack of james wellbeloved lamb and rice our boxers have been on it for over 10 years and now our boston is on it, we chose this food as one of the boxers had colitis (now passed away) and suited him. The man in the pet shop has been advising customers that Pedigree has bought out james wellbeloved and that it is going to change the recipe in the near future by adding wheat and other cheaper ingredients to it so it will no longer be hypoallergenic he also said once the recipe changed it will be put into supermarkets under the pedigree banner. so please keep a eye on the recipe if you have dogs that are sensitive to diet.

:o OMG!! thats awful, i have my dogs on james wellbeloved.. may have to switch to Orijen if this is the case

Thanks for the heads up, worrying info. I have been in the Pet trade for a few years and unfortunately it is always rife with rumours. I wonder where he heard this? I must admit although I did not feed pedigree I do think they have handled the whole situation very badly.

This is awful news! :-(

JWB is under the crown pet foods banner (as is RC) quite a while ago (years I think) Mars brought Crown Petsfoods (and with it JWB and RC) and have also since brought Nutro.  They will not change the recipie I'm sure but it's all just business.  Pedigree DOES NOT own JWB, Mars owns Pedigree and JWB & RC and Nutro.

thats why Mars can pull pedigree from the show scene, the other 3 are all premium foods on the show seen doing very well.  Pedigree can consentrate on the pet market and therefore Mars covers a huge number of dog owners.  Great Business (BTW this is just my opinion and thoughts on the matter.)

Why on this earth will they change it to non hypoallergenic and loose a large customer base on who this food is sold to and market it to be in direct competition with Pedigree?????

I think you are correct with your analysis and agree it is a very shrewd business move, I did predict it but that's another story! Unfortunately it appears to be excellent planning but terrible execution :-) I have never known any industry so bad for rumours as the pet industry.
Did you enjoy your judging at Dartford or am I getting confused in my old (ish) age?

Jeff. 

If you mean Dartford companion show, then yes I did enjoy it!  5 hours of constant judging and filthy hands and aching back afterwards (what will I be like in 20-30 years I don't know!) but I did enjoy it alot.  Love doing companion shows but always come home having to look up the standards of breeds thinking "was that right or wrong in that dog!"

Glad you enjoyed it. Good turn out and the weather could have been worse-although it could have been better!
j

Ice queen, that is also my understanding of the Mars business, though they have bought RC, JWB Nutro and Greenies, (Pedigree is the brand name as is Whiskas) the companies are run with the same people that were there before Mars bought them out and continue to produce as they did before.
Jane

yup, it's just money that Mars fund (and get back!)  The foods are manufactured by and at different companies and sites and infact JB is manufactutred at the same site as arden grange! LOL

OMG! I have one of my dogs on it as he is a sensiitive boy . I have spent a fortune trying to get a diet to suit him and one he WILL EAT , he loves his JWB , he is such a fussy eater . They will lose so many people as almost everyone I know feeds this to 1 or more of there dogs!

>They will lose so many people as almost everyone I know feeds this to 1 or more of there dogs!

Why will they lose customers? The food will be exactly the same, no matter who owns the company that manufactures it.

Mars has owned Crown pet foods for at least a year now and RC or JWB haven't changed.....

Read my post above it explains the ownerships abit better.

It's like saying iams is owned by P&G therefore it must be tested on animals...........

Or Mars will change the ingreedients of the mars bar to the same as dog food.....

The man in the pet shop

The man in the pet shop with have as much inside information as you or I and that is  none :-D I would pay little attention if this food suits until factual information can be given. Call them they are approachable :-D

Well imo since Mars bought out Nutro its not the same,the ingrediants are not quite the same and a lot of people I know who fed it have changed to something else...but I'm only going on my experiance.
If Mars have bought out JWB and they mess round with the ingrediants I will be stuck as my poor wiemie is allergic to
Fish, fish oil,pork,duck,chicken,meat meal........ in fact any animal product except Lamb.

JWB Lamb and rice as it is now is the only food I can feed her without her being violently sick and having to be taken into "Doggy Hospital " to be put on a drip cos once she starts being sick she litterally doesnt stop.

We put her on JWB when we found out what was wrong with her and this is the first time we have managed to get her anywhere near right(shes 8 now)weight wise,healthwise etc..its been a long hard struggle and there have been times when we thought we might lose her.

Goodness knows what I will do now if this food changes....Im really worried

Ok firstly I admit I might have been wrong.  In my first post I wrote that off the top of my head however I cannot find anywhere on the interent which relates Mars to JWB.  In 2001 they brought RC and released that worldwide.  Now I thought RC and JWB were both parts of crown pet foods and crown pet foods were brought by Mars however it appears that it isn't.  If you go ontot he Mars website they have a timeline of their pet foods, how it started, when they were released, name changes and companies they have brought.  There was nothing between 2001 with RC and 2007 with Nutro.

Damm now I'm confused.  RC have on their website that their company registerd name in Crown pet foods.  Yet mars claim they brought them in 2001....Maybe Mars website is wrong?

Either way we are looking at these companies being purchased 7 years ago....I bet half of you who are moaning have fed JWB for less then 7 years on the dogs with problems ;)

It looks like they bought them way back in 2002,I'd have thought any changes they intended would have been done by now? Link here..

http://www.bakersmill.co.uk/History-of-pet-food.php

From that site..

In 1934 the Mars Family (Mars Inc/Pedigree Petfoods) acquired their first pet food business in the UK - Chappel Brothers. The company changed its name to Chappie Ltd in 1939. In 2002, Mars purchased a majority holding in Royal Canin and its subsidiary company Crown Petfoods (James Wellbeloved)

>JWB were both parts of crown pet foods

At the bottom of the JWB website is " © Crown Pet Foods", so they're definitely connected.

Mars have bought Crown petfoods which includes Royal Canin & James Wellbeloved. There are no plans, however, to alter the JW recipe. Probably just another one of 'those' rumours

Goodness knows what I will do now if this food changes....Im really worried Seriously your post worries me.

JWB Lamb and rice as it is now is the only food I can feed her without her being violently sick and having to be taken into "Doggy Hospital " to be put on a drip cos once she starts being sick she litterally doesnt stop.



it isnt the only food available to you, it may be the only convient complete food available to you BUT it is definately not the only one.

Trying to be total helpful here has your vet not suggest trying home made food seeing as she is so seriously ill at the slightest change of food.

You can buy a 800 gram bag of lamb mince in Tesco for £1.68 , a bag of potatoes and a bag of frozen veg. All blended together for provide an excellent dinner for her.  A breed of your size would get 2-3 days out of this mixture. Even say 2 days that would be approx £1 per day !!!!!!!!!!!!! cheaper than your complete food and a guaranteed safe diet if as you say she is alergic to everything else.

> it isnt the only food available to you, it may be the only convient complete food available to you BUT it is definately not the only one.
>
> Trying to be total helpful here has your vet not suggest trying home made food seeing as she is so seriously ill at the slightest change of food.
>
> You can buy a 800 gram bag of lamb mince in Tesco for £1.68 , a bag of potatoes and a bag of frozen veg. All blended together for provide an excellent dinner for her.  A breed of your size would get 2-3 days out of this mixture. Even say 2 days that would be approx £1 per day !!!!!!!!!!!!! cheaper than your complete food and a guaranteed safe diet if as you say she is alergic to everything else.

Im going to sound totally thick here,Im not honest lol...but actually I never even gave that a thought.....dur,silly me, good idea thanks for the prompt :)

Mars did buy JWB, Nutro, Royal Canin, and the Greenies company in America.  Nothing has changed in the way that these companies make / produce dog food.
Jane

Hope it won't change it took me long enough to find JWB fish and rice as the only food that Miller doesn't react too :-)

As well as the manufacturing process, people may also be concerned by the fact that the Mars group do undertake animal testing on some of their products. This may not apply to their pet food division (somebody else may know this for certain), but there has been lots of media coverage regarding the use of animal testing for their other products.

So I guess you COULD argue that by buying any of the group's products you are indirectly advocating this practice.

>So I guess you COULD argue that by buying any of the group's products you are indirectly advocating this practice.

Including the chocolate, of course. Mustn't be hypocritical ... ;)

I know, and that includes Maltesers......

Damn those blasted morals!