Time discovers truth.

I met an account manager (E.F.) from Proctor & Gamble Pet Care who sells Iams and Eukanuba to clients, mostly veterinarians and one or two canine boarding facilities. I emailed E.F. about the Natura Pet acquisition and her reply finally arrived. Here is the Q & A via email:

From: Around the Dog Bowl
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 9:31 PM
To: E.F.

Subject: Natura Pet and P&G

"Hi E.F.,

My name is -----. We met at ----- when you were there to see -----. I recently learned that P&G purchased Natura Pet and I am a big fan of Natura Pet (EVO dog food and Mother Nature & California Natural treats). You must be very excited about this new company! Does this mean your product line for your clients will now include Natura Pet products?

I was hoping you could help me balance what I've been hearing. I've spoken with four local independent pet store owners/managers in the Sacramento region and their response has been very negative. Some have gone as far as pull all their EVO and California Natural from the shelves, place them on clearance sale and provide a discount for owners to seek a new, different brand of dog food. They say Natura Pet makes excellent dog food & treats but now with P&G in charge, there will changes to formulations and ingredients of Natura Pet products in the future. Is this true?

I also spoke to the Natura Pet representatives at the Dog Expo 2010 this past summer and they said there are no expected changes. It would be helpful to get your perspective on it...if you don't mind?"

Thanks.

Around the Dog Bowl

From: E.F.
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 4:16 PM
To: Around the Dog Bowl

Subject: RE: Natura Pet and P&G

 

"Hi -----!  Sorry it took me a little while to get back to you. Things have been really busy lately.  I too love their products.  But as far as I know I don’t think I will have them to offer my clients.  P&G plans on keeping things the same; to maintain business as usual for the foreseeable future and to grow and strengthen the Natura brands.  But I understand the concerns.  When P&G purchased Iams 10 years ago there were a lot of concerns and there were a few changes, but something that stands out to me is how they have actually improved Eukanuba and made Iams more accessible to more pets and pet parents.  Take Eukanuba Maintenance for example since P&G acquired them 10 years ago they have only changed 3 things in the whole formula…those are adding FOS (a natural prebiotic), adding Dental Defense and adding more vitamins…all good things!  Acquisitions always spark rumors. Natura’s dedication to quality is not changing. P&G understands and respects their mission and dedication to nutritional excellence. Superior quality and value are two reasons P&G has grown to be such a large company. The P&G resources now available could actually boost product quality because they are able to utilize some of P&G’s learnings and nutritional expertise.  As to the formulas changing Natura has been extremely successful with their unique formulas, providing high quality nutrition to dogs and cats. Quality is and always has been paramount for them and they are going to continue to provide the current formulas to their customers.  As to the ingredients changing this is Natura’s statement and I agree completely with it!  I really don’t think P&G is going to come in and ruin something that is so great!  

“Will the ingredients change or cheapen now that you are owned by a big company?   

Quality is paramount with every aspect of our business and the number one responsibility of our employees, suppliers and distributors. At Natura, we are all pet lovers; we would not put anything into our foods that we wouldn't feel comfortable feeding to our own dogs and cats.”

I think that a lot of the independent pet stores are worried about their being changes and are scared.  I know P&G is stressing to us how these products are very important to those stores and how much they belong there and how important these stores are to Natura products.  I don’t see that changing.  P&G (IAMs and Eukanuba as well as Natura) are very focused on these smaller stores and spending a lot of money to support these stores and drive customers into those stores thru advertising and other opportunities.  There is a lot more on their web site at: http://www.naturapet.com/ if you want more info on their policies and values it is a great resource.  I wish I had access to these products to sell because they are Fantastic!  I hope this helps ease your mind a little and next time I am in the ----- we can talk more about it. 

I hope you have a great weekend."  

E.F.

P&G Pet Care - Iams & Eukanuba

Veterinary Account Manager

Northern California