9Lives is the name of a brand of cat food, owned by J.M. Smucker (after it acquired

Big Heart Pet Brands Big Heart Pet Brands is an American company that manufacturers, distributes and markets branded pet food and other products for the U.S. retail market. Now a subsidiary of The J.M. Smucker Company, it is headquartered at the One Maritime Plaza i ...

, a former division of Del Monte in 2015) and introduced to the market by tuna processor StarKist Foods in 1959. It is best known for its mascot,

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

. 9Lives has four varieties of dry food (Daily Essentials, Plus Care, Indoor Complete and Long Life Formula), and five lines of wet food in various flavors. The brand also promotes adoption of cats from

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s. In 2006, 9Lives kicked off the inaugural tour of Morris' Million Cat Rescue, a nationwide bus tour to encourage local cat adoption. 9Lives has recently added a new cat to their advertising, Li'l Mo, an orange kitten who has been adopted from a Los Angeles animal shelter putatively by Morris himself. 9Lives was StarKist's flagship pet food brand. In 1963, Heinz acquired StarKist, and by 1969, the first Morris TV commercials aired. Heinz sold StarKist and 9Lives to Del Monte in 2002. Del Monte spun off the pet foods division as Big Heart in 2014. For a period of time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, 9Lives used

Sylvester the Cat Sylvester Pussycat, Sr. is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. Most of his appearances have him often chasing Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper. He appea ...

from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoons on the packages and in advertising as the mascot for its newly introduced dry cat food. The animated cartoon TV commercials usually consisted of Sylvester trying to get to his box of 9Lives, while avoiding

Hector the Bulldog Hector the Bulldog is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. Hector is a muscle-bound bulldog with gray fur (except in '' A Street Cat Named Sylvester'' and '' Greedy for Twee ...

. Sylvester would always succeed in luring the dog away so he could get his food, but he would find himself a target again by the end of the commercial, when Sylvester would always proclaim 9Lives dry food as "worth riskin' your life for!" Sylvester never appeared in commercials for 9Lives canned cat food and by 1986, he would be replaced by Morris for the dry food packaging and advertising.

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cat food supplieshow to train maltipoofood review
Products introduced in 1959 Cat food brands Del Monte Foods brands The J.M. Smucker Co. brands 1959 establishments in the United States {{food-product-stub