Truth about Pet Foods

[Grete]

I think like with any reporting you have to take it with a pinch of salt and see where there bias is.

The Iams/Eukanuba debate has been raging for some years now and the information that keeps coming to light is several years old. I actually found out something interesting on my last visit to the vet.

All the vets at my practice are fantastic and I trust them implicitly. The one who my girls saw for their vaccs was chatting to me about diets and I commented that I wanted to change them from Iams because of the recent revelations about their practices and he asked where I'd gotten the information.

I'd been given a flyer from Petsathome store that was distributed by PETA and the pictures were shocking. So shocking, I remembered seeing them on a different campaign leaflet years earlier. So that made me uncomfortable but hey ho, I still wasn't going to feed my cats Iams if it was true.

Anyway, my vet said that this is something that keeps coming round - it goes quiet for a year or so then gets brought up again. It started several years ago when it could have been true and they used outside labs to develop food which they had no control over.

There is no way to tell now but today it certainly isn't. And he knows this for definate as one of the previous vets (who was great with my girls) from the surgery who they are still in close contact with went to work with Iams as an animal care vet with their colony.

He said she is passionate about animals and just would not be able to condone their colony being treated like this. In fact she gets very upset at the calls she gets of abuse from people every time this is sent into the public eye again.

So I decided to take the advice from someone in the know rather than a propaganda leaflet.

Just as an aside, the surgery don't use Iams as their 'preferred food' so it's not like he had any alterior motive for explaining the situation to me.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by Moofster

Another point of view is, what about people with senior cats, what have those cats been eating all these years and are still healthy ??? My seniors are both 14 and are fit and well - for now

Tinker is at least 19, the vet was amazed at how well she looks for her age. She has been fed for the last 10 years in tescos chunks in jelly and tescos dried food. I doubt her previous owner fed her much differently.

Originally Posted by Donna

I dont think anyone should change their petfood just because of a website, it does make for horrible reading.. but perhaps it is a bit of scaremongering too? I buy the best I can for all my animals and that is as much as I can do.

I suspect it is scaremongering, and it isn't clear where the information on that page comes from. I think any articles like that on the web have to be taken with a huge pinch of salt, after all anyone could write any old drivvle and dress it up as fact, then put it on a web page.

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by Moofster

oh heck not good, but to be honest I am not surprised - you only have to see some of the ingredients in human food to realise that they are going put crap into pet food.

Is there a food agency to protect animal food ??? I dont know the answer to that, but you dont hear many, if any cases about pet food manufacturer being taken to court.

Most people would expect pet food to be made up of all the leftovers, but it needs to be quality leftovers, drug and disease free.

The other side of this is, some pet food is cheap, lets face it, what do you expect ? You buy a can of steak filling from M&S and its going cost you, heck even supermarkets own will set you back. So if you want to pay under a pound for catfood its not to be butchers best.

What is maddening is that the dearer cat food can be just as bad as the cheaper ranges just because it has some added ingredient to aid 'digestion, urinary tract etc...etc..

Another point of view is, what about people with senior cats, what have those cats been eating all these years and are still healthy ??? My seniors are both 14 and are fit and well - for now

Dont get me wrong I totally disagree with the use of the stuff listed in the article. Just got on my soapbox for a bit

Good point! Patches was 20, Misty was 19 1/2 when they passed; both fed all their lives on Fancy Feast wet, and occasional dry ..Chef;'s Blend, a Friskies product.