ZuPreem, a brand of Compana, manufactures and sells animal feeds, particularly for

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

animals and

exotic pet An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a Wild animal, wild species rather than as a Domesticated animal, domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as an ...

s. It is based in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

History

The idea for ZuPreem started when Mark Morris, Sr. founder of

Hill's Pet Nutrition Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., trading as Hill's, is an American pet food company that produces dog and cat foods. It is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive. History Hill's Pet Nutrition was founded in the spring of 1907 by Burton Hill and starte ...

, Inc., and his son Mark L. Morris Jr. developed a range of specialized

diets The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of Northern France. Both Belgium and the ...

for cats and dogs with particular health concerns, marketed as Prescription Diets and

Science Diets Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. A phone call to Morris Jr. from a local zoo director Gary Clarke in 1964 lead him to begin researching the nutritional needs, and developing foods, for many different

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

s, including

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, and exotic felines. David R. Morris, the son of Morris Jr., ran the company from 1993 to 2021 expanding the line of foods with an emphasis on companion exotic animals. By 2007 the company determined that it had the largest market share of extruded/pelleted nutritional complete foods for companion birds in the United States and was sold in numerous countries around the world. In April 2021 the company was sold to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

-based Compana, which is managed by the investment firm

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

External links

References

Animal food manufacturers Food and drink companies established in 1964 Pet food brands 2021 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Kansas {{food-product-stub