History Edit

Manchester Edit

In 1934, Mars Limited, a division of the large American confectionery company, that had been based in
Slough since 1932, acquired Chappel Brothers in Manchester. This company took low-quality meat and
canned it as dog food, branded as "Chappie".[1]

Melton Mowbray Edit

In 1951, annual sales reached £1m, and the company moved to Melton Mowbray, using a former
sewing-thread mill previously used by Patons and Baldwins. In 1953, the company operated seven days a
week, twenty four hours a day on a shift system.[1] A continuous sterilisation process was introduced
instead of batch processing. New dog food brands Pal and Lassie were introduced during the 1950s.[2]
Due to making more than the Chappie product, the company name changed to Petfoods Ltd in 1956. In
1972, this became Pedigree Petfoods Ltd. A new factory on Shrewsbury Avenue in Woodston,
Peterborough opened in October 1974 which originally produced semi-moist products such as Bounce.
In March 1975, it became the Pedigree Petfoods division of Mars Ltd. During the 1970s, around 2,500
workers were at Melton and 200 at Peterborough and produced around 400,000 tonnes of animal food a
year and virtually doubled production. The raw materials came from the Oakleigh Manufacturing
company in Ascot. Around 3 million cans were used per day at the Melton plant; cans were delivered
every 30 minutes, to limit storage space, from the Metal Box company (which became Novar plc). At this
time, Whiskas was the company's biggest product by sales closely followed by Pedigree Chum, although
more in volume was sold of Pedigree Chum. Whiskas sold four times as much as Kitekat, although only
half as much was spent on advertising Kitekat as Whiskas.[citation needed]

Towards the late 1980s and in the 1990s, the company came under much more competition from what
became Nestlé Purina PetCare. A new £22m pouch production line opened in November 2007. The
company is a member of the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association.
Mars Inc. Edit

Pedigree is now a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. The English division of Mars Inc. has been called
Masterfoods since January 2002, until it was split into 4 separate entities in 2007 : Mars Petcare UK,
Mars Complementary Petcare UK, Mars Chocolate UK and Mars Food UK.

Marketing Edit

Selection of Pedigree dog food

The company makes the market leaders Pedigree (dog food) and Whiskas (cat food), as well as kitekat
(cat food) and Pal (dog food). The slogan used for many years for Pedigree dog food is "Top breeders
recommend it" with a current slogan of "We're for dogs". For Whiskas the old slogan was "8 out of 10
owners say their cat prefers it" and for Pal it is "Prolongs Active Life".

In Australia, the Pal dog food brand was progressively replaced by the Pedigree logo during the 1980s-
2000s.

In the United States, the original slogan for the Pedigree brand was "Recommended by top breeders". It
was replaced in 2007 by "Dogs rule".

The Pedigree Foundation Edit

In the United States, The Pedigree Foundation is a philanthropic organization dedicated to helping
shelter dogs find permanent homes. The foundation, created in 2008, provides grants to 501(c)(3) dog
shelters and breed rescue organizations, and help dog lovers adopt, volunteer, and make donations.[3]
According to the foundation's FAQ site, it has raised more than $4 million to date.[4] In 2008, it
distributed more than $1.1 million in grant money to more than 500 shelters and breed rescues. Use of
awarded grant money by qualified recipients is virtually unrestricted, but is most often used for shelter
improvements or veterinary care.[5

ree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence and appearance or phenotypes of a particular gene or
organism and its ancestors from one generation to the next,[1][2][3] most commonly humans, show
dogs,[4] and race horses.

The word pedigree is a corruption of the French "pied de grue" or crane's foot, because the typical lines
and split lines (each split leading to different offspring of the one parent line) resemble the thin leg and
foot of a crane
Properties Edit

A pedigree results in the presentation of family information in the form of an easily readable chart.
Pedigrees use a standardized set of symbols, squares represent males and circles represent females.
Pedigree construction is a family history, and details about an earlier generation may be uncertain as
memories fade. If the sex of the person is unknown a diamond is used. Someone with the phenotype in
question is represented by a filled-in (darker) symbol. Heterozygotes, when identifiable, are indicated by
a shade dot inside a symbol or a half-filled symbol.

Relationships in a pedigree are shown as a series of lines. Parents are connected by a horizontal line and
a vertical line leads to their offspring. The offspring are connected by a horizontal sibship line and listed
in birth order from left to right. If the offspring are twins then they will be connected by a triangle. If an
offspring dies then its symbol will be crossed by a line. If the offspring is still born or aborted it is
represented by a small triangle.

Each generation is identified by a Roman numeral (I, II, III, and so on), and each individual within the
same generation is identified by an Arabic numeral (1, 2, 3, and so on). Analysis of the pedigree using the
principles of Mendelian inheritance can determine whether a trait has a dominant or recessive pattern
of inheritance. Pedigrees are often constructed after a family member afflicted with a genetic disorder
has been identified. This individual, known as the proband, is indicated on the pedigree by an arrow.[5]
These changes may occur yearly or monthly.