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Do you feed Iams? Please read my WHOLE post before getting angry and commenting
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I was just looking at the Peta website and it says that Iams has some pretty cruel practices. It claims that they use dogs and cats to test their food on and will induce illness and injury to test certain foods such as dental care or allergy blends. They keep the animals in small pens and 'adopt' them out to other labs when they're done with them. It seems they used to just kill them but have changed their policy due to Peta's urgings.
I've never fed Iams to my cats but am appalled that a company who should be invested in the well being and fair treatment of animals would do such things. I urge everyone who feeds Iams to switch to another more ethical brand. There's a listing on the website. Holistic Blend is one of them. Glad of that because that's what I've been feeding my cats for ages now.
here's a link to the articles...
www.iamscruelty.com/
Also, if you know of anyone who shops at PetSmart they're another allegedly cruel company. See here...
www.petsmartcruelty.com/
the video is very disturbing. I've always held PetSmart in fairly high regard due to the fact that they adopt out cats and dogs from various shelters rather than selling puppy mill pets...but if they get their small animals from warehouses such as the one shown in the vid then isn't that just as bad?
I believe that any pet store that sells animals is likely dealing with some shady characters. Puppies especially. Any reputable breeder of pure bred dogs wont be selling their puppies thru a place like PJs Pets or whatever your local pet store is called. Those puppies come from puppy mills and I'm sure that a majority of the hamsters and rabbits and other small pets come from places like the one shown in the video.
This is only my opinion and I haven't done a lot of research on it so please don't jump on me about it. I'm just starting a conversation, not an argument ...and if anyone has some real concrete information on stores who DON'T get their animals from mills or other warehouse type places please post the names of the stores in this thread.
*added note...I'm not a Peta supporter. I'm only interested in what's best for my animals and yours. I've read the info that the Peta site has because I heard about it on TV and I took a look. The info sounds like it's on the up and up regardless of whether it's Peta reporting it or someone else. I hope this doesn't become an "I hate Peta" thread. I just wanted to share the info I found. : )
Originally posted at 7:58PM, 25 April 2008 PDT
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Surly Bratt edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I don't feed my cats IAMS because they are simply bad, bad food for cats. I feed them Wellness and Nature's Variety.
Posted 4 months ago.
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My guys are on Hills Science Diet and I too have heard bad things about Iams.
Posted 4 months ago.
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No I don't and never will especially after all that pet food recall.
Innova and Wellness Core are what these cats eat.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Iams food used to be okay but went way downhill once it was bought by a big company (Proctor & Gamble?). My cats would always eat the dry food but hated the wet, even before P&G took over.
My cats (2 at home, 2 at work) eat mostly Wellness wet food and some Innova Evo dry. Evo has no grains at all and is very low carb.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Used to feed my cats this but one of them started getting cystisis. Wouldn't listen too much to PETA though - my understanding is they're practically a terrorist organisation:
www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2339
Posted 4 months ago.
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Yeah I pretty much ignore anything and everything having to do with PETA, they're awful.
Posted 4 months ago.
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never fed Iams, and try and avoid proctor & gamble products due to their vivisection practises
Posted 4 months ago.
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PETA can be pretty awful (but certainly not terrorists, though some would have you believe that is the case), but the Center for Consumer Freedom is nothing more than an industry front group. Their agenda is every bit as strong/biased as that of PETA.
Always follow the money. :)
Posted 4 months ago.
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Never IAMS in this home. Only Wellness and sometimes EVO or Innova.
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I'm not sure it's fair to call Peta terrorists. That's a bit extreme I think. They're over the top, yes, but they do bring awareness and at least they're doing something to help. I didn't create this post to be a Peta bashing thread and I hope that's not what it turns into.
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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Surly Bratt edited this topic 4 months ago.
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PETA does very little to help, in fact I think once most people learn enough about them they find PETA does more harm than good.
I'm going to withhold judgment on IAMS until I take the time (which I don't have right now) to look for reputable sources about them and whether they treat animals poorly.
Same goes for Petsmart.
Just take anything PETA tells you about anyone with a heavy dose of skepticism.
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If there's a big brand behind it, then there's a reason. Not only IAMS because of their horrific animal care policies in labs, but the pet food arm of these companies are usually owned because the compan owns a "human food" company somewhere along the chain.
I live in the UK, thankfully we have much stricter guidelines as to what can, and what can't be fed to companion animals than in the USA. After reading an FDA report in detail about what goes into cat and dog food in the USA I would be VERY wary of feeding my pets any of the dry branded named foods, the WHOLE animal is used, when I say whole, I mean, hooves, hearts, eyes, hair, stomach, anything in the stomach and gut (manure, offal, blood, hair) all of this can go and DOES go into american pet food. Worse still it's all classed as MEAT because it's come from an animal, these animals can also be in the 3D meat catagory (Dying, Diseased, Dead) at the time of arrival.
In some circumstances it has been known that euthanised companion animals from shelters and pounds have been used in pet food products, the meat is soaked in an oil which removes all DNA from the meat before it's processed, so as not to cause the same issues as cannibalism.
My information? The FDA! All of this information is freely available, go to the FDA website, there are some very long documents, these all clearly detail what can and what can't be classed as food fit for pet food and food fit for human consumption.
Big companies argue that in the "wild" dogs and cats would eat the whole animal, yes indeed they would, but how many steaks and rumps will be going into the whole food supplied by the pet food company, and how much of this prime meat will be used for the human conusmption market? How much of the remaning animal will your pet food company deem appropriate to use in the making of it's pet food? Steer clear of anything that advertises as having added bone meal or added blood meal, this is exactly what it says it is, powdered meat and blood.
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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Charlee edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I think Iams and Science Diet are both mostly corn and chicken by-products (read that as not fit for human consumption ... beaks, feathers, etc.).
Posted 4 months ago.
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Hi! sorry to intrude. I work for Iams and a friend pointed out this thread to me. With respect, some of you have incorrect information.
If you are interested in reading more about our (Iams) research practices, please visit www.IamsTruth.com.
If you are interested in a third-party's opinion, please visit the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) web site at www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_iams.
If you want to know more about P&G research practices, please visit www.pg.com/science/animal_alt.jhtml where you can read about P&G's joint declaration of committment, along with the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States), to ending animal research.
For those of you bashing our quality and ingredients, you're just plain wrong.
All of our products are formulated with the underlying principal that cats are carnivors and that dogs are best fed as carnivors, so our protein sources are meat, and that includes chicken by-product meal.
Not every chicken by-product meal is as good as ours. Our chicken by-product meal is muscle and internal organs (including intestines) that have been cleaned, dried, cooked, and ground. By industry definition, chicken by-product meal can contain the feet of the chicken – but that’s not an acceptable source of protein for us, so our suppliers make every effort to keep the feet out of our chicken by-product meal. We also put it through a proprietary screening process to further improve its protein quality (no other pet food company can make this claim).
We do not use 4D meats (dead/diseased/dying/disabled) or companion animals in our products.
If you have further questions about our products or our research, please write to us at customer.service@iams.com or give us a call at 1-800-525-4267. We will be happy to answer your questions.
My name is Beverly, and I am proud to work for The Iams Company and P&G.
Posted 4 months ago.
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The shelter feeds Iams orange label to the cats. Camille did eat it but tried to bury it several times,if she wasn't that hungry. She definately seems to prefer Science Diet and sometimes she will even take out a morsel or two and leave them elsewhere,I guess, in case she wants a snack,Later. The Science Diet tends to run a couple dollars more by the bag then the Iams but the shelter seems to be using them equally. They will use the canned food and even the Friskies canned stuff. I do have to say ,though ,I was pretty impressed that the Friskies was one of the very few that wasn't effected by the recall. I figure it probally close but the Science Diet is the one that has been recomended over and over by the vets around here(I am talking like three or four different ones over the years so I consider that very high praise. ) Aizilyn
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You brought up a very contraverse subject here, lol! ;) I could say so much but Im not going there. I think people need to read more and educate themselves on the pet food industry, vets (not all) lack of education on nutrition, and the FDA.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Iams is the evil empire! I have never and will never buy it!
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Well, the gist of the post wasn't the ingredients as much as it was the testing and how the lab animals are treated.
but if we're on the subject of ingredients...by product meal isn't good by any standards. I would never feed my cats any pet food who's ingredient list included by products, whether it be Iams or any other brand. If the 1st ingredients aren't chicken, turkey, or other actual meats then I just will not feed it to my cats.
I wouldn't eat chicken intestines so why should my pets?
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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Surly Bratt edited this topic 4 months ago.
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Some people consider that kind of stuff a delicacy.
Posted 4 months ago.
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WoW!!!
 "i dont like the sound of that good thing i was raised on Purina. Hopefully noting is wrong wit that"
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ack!color...some people consider this a delicacy too...
doesn't make it any more appealing tho. : )
Posted 4 months ago.
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elcapitan8040...well, I just looked up Purina's ingredients list and I wouldn't feed it to my cats. It has poultry by product, wheat flour, corn gluten, beef tallow and animal digest.
A bit of info I found...
POULTRY BY-PRODUCTS consists of "non-rendered, clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter . . ." This recently revised definition states that fecal content must be removed. The old definition did not have this requirement.
POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL is "the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers . . ."
ANIMAL DIGEST is "material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves, and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably . ." Animal digest comes in a liquid or powder form that is typically sprayed onto finished kibbles to add flavour. It is found primarily in low quality foods.
CORN MEAL AND CORN GLUTEN MEAL are high-protein residues of processed corn, and are used as high-calorie fillers and substitutes for animal protein sources in cheap pet foods; they should be avoided.
I would, however, suggest you do a bit of your own research and I don't expect anyone to take my word for anything. I'm only stating that I would not feed that stuff to my cats.
Posted 4 months ago.
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No, I used but stopped about a year ago. We feed our dog & cat Nutrience now, but might be switching to Nutro soon. :3
Posted 4 months ago.
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You don't really want turkey, fish, etc. listed as the first ingredient. This would mean that it is weighed with it's water content. Take the water out and that reduces it's weight significantly, maybe even pushing it down the ingredient scale several positions. As in human food the first ingredient is the most volume and going down the list to the last.
"Chicken by-product meal consists of the dry, ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Chicken by-product meal is an inconsistent ingredient because of the multiple organs used, their constantly changing proportions, and their questionable nutritional value. ".
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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lynmar edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I am sticking up for PetsMart! I should know because I've helped foster cats and dogs through several of their local stores for over five years. The cats and dogs come from local rescue groups. The local rescue groups get their animals from local shelters where they would be destroyed. If animals get sick in the local county shelter they are usually put down. If they can't be fostered then they call the local rescues for help. Right now I am fosttering five TYTS kittens for my rescue group. In case anyone wants to know TYTS means Too Young To Survive. That means exactly what it says.
I'll admit that in some states PetsMarts are not very good. But don't blame PetsMart in general!
Posted 4 months ago.
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No more Iams for Jaymee cat. He's been on Innova for almost a year. He also gets fresh fish, chicken, and steak when we have dinner.
Posted 4 months ago.
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lynmar...I know I sent this to you in reply to your flickrmail but I'll post it again here.
I know that about Petsmart and I'd always admired the company because they adopted out cats and dogs instead of selling cats and dogs from puppy mills and the like....but the article I posted wasn't about the cats and dogs it was about the small animals...rabbits, hamsters, mice, gerbils. The info stated that the places that they get those animals from are much the same as puppy mills in that they don't care for the animals properly. It said nothing about Petsmart not caring for the animals themselves...it just didn't condone them buying the small animals from the inhumane dealers.
Also, in response to turkey or chicken being the 1st ingredient in pet food...I would still much rather have turkey or chicken or duck etc as the main ingredient than any sort of meat by product or by product meal.
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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Surly Bratt edited this topic 4 months ago.
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Good for you sticking up for Petsmart! I do admit when I was looking to adopt I did decide to go to my local shelter instead of Petsmart but only because I had volunteered for them about 15 years ago and just thought they were a bit more thorough about getting as much info as possible and were a bit better in describing the animal's personality. I discovered once I was there they were much more thorough ,had professional evaluaters and still more detail in their charts about the animals. I was also suprised with their no-kill policy(that was new). Even 15 years ago their placement of the animals was 65 percent. Of course ,now it is much better than that. I have gotten good feedback about Petsmart,too. Aizilyn
Posted 4 months ago.
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I apologize. I couldn't view the video because I don't have Flash.
I agree with you about the by-products. It should say chicken meal, or turkey meal, or ... I just hope noone ever buys anything that says "meat" without stating what *kind* of meat.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Ick. I try not to buy anything from P&G on principle, but I'd *never* feed Iams to my kitties (or pups, for that matter) period.
I'm trying to find a healthy dry food at the moment, but for now my kitty eats Newman's Organics wet food.
(But I have to say, I don't trust information from PETA either. They've had their share of issues with regards to animal cruelty and other things, not to mention... well, a lot of things I won't mention because I don't want to steer this into an OT post. ;)
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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FlyButtafly edited this topic 4 months ago.
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www.flickr.com/groups/ilovemycat/discuss/7215760473468336...
No more appealing to you. I wouldn't want to eat it either, and I'm not making any statements about its nutritional value for pets. Just saying just because you wouldn't want to eat it doesn't mean it's bad for you.
Posted 4 months ago.
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wow its amazing what the internet can tell you, and our last cat (Mr. Kitty) who lived a happy 20 yrs, was fed jewel store brand dry food and random table scraps for his last 10 years and he never had health problems just got old.
but ill definitely look into newer foods for my guy now....
any suggestions on dry food for a 4 year old tuxedo male....
and im pretty sure to make the transition over to the newer food is to start mixing it with current food and change the ratio of newer to old until the newer food is permanetly greater..
or just change the damn food????
Posted 4 months ago.
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ack!colour...that's fine. I'm just stating that I wont feed that stuff to my pets as I don't think it's as good for them as actual chicken or turkey meat. I've done a lot of reading on it and I've found that feeding a high volume of internal organs and entrails can be harmful. Here's one statement by a Dr. found on this website www.naturalnews.com/012647.html ...
Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, Inc., 1995), the author, a renowned veterinarian
"… consuming pet foods high in organ meats and meat meal (concentrators of pesticides, and growth hormones used to fatten cattle, which can promote cancer growth) as well as in preservatives and artificial colors known to cause cancer in lab animals."
I don't want my cats eating that but that's my decision only.
Aizilyn...again, I said nothing about PetSmarts practice of adopting out cats and dogs. I think it's wonderful that they do that. I was only sharing the info that I found about where they get the small animals that they sell.
elcapitan8040...every cat is different but if I switch Sweetie Pie's food without doing it gradually she gets the runs. Kitty and Rosie seem to be able to switch gears with no problem. It might be best to make the switch gradually just in case.
We fed my old cat, Boots, grocery store wet food too and he lived to be 18 (poor old guy got hit by a car : ( but that's totally unrelated). He was always pretty healthy but in light of the recent problems with the gluten in pet food I've been doing more research about what's good and what's bad to feed. I figure if it costs me a few more dollars to make sure my cats are getting the best quality food I can give them then it's worth it...even if they can live ok on the cheaper stuff. Kinda like, we can survive ok on bruised fruit, wilted veg and chicken innards but I think we'd do a lot better on the higher quality fresher stuff.
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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Surly Bratt edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I definately would agree with the gradual switchover cause it certianly isn't gonna hurt anything but the last two cats we had were switched over from seniour regular science diet to the Kd because of grendyl's CRF without the gradual and neither one of them had any issues. We did start feeding them separately because it was easier to moniter Grendyl. Aizilyn
Posted 4 months ago.
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We have 3 cats, we live in the UK but in our supermarket you can buy a fairly big chicken for about £3/$6, we can then cook that up for them using no fat or oils, strip it, and this provides them with quite a few meals. Even bags of frozen prawns, the value kind are about £3/$6, just a handfull of those defrosted under the warm tap are enough for one of our girls for a meal, I'd even rather feed them tinned tuna than the horrors that go into cat food.
As for the person that works at P&G, if you're happy to be brainwashed, then that's fine, P&G commit horrific tests on animals, not only for the rubbish they call iams but for all their washing powder brands and chemicals out there, steer clear of P&G, they're animal killers.
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I heard something years ago that P&G had something to do with a cult, had something to do with the moonies or something, anyones else hear of this?
To all of you out there that educate yourself about nutrition and feed your pets good food. 3 CHEERS for you!! it makes me so happy
but for those that are not if makes me very sad:( and wish they'd do more reading and learn.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Check it out :
www.snopes.com/business/alliance/procter.asp
Posted 4 months ago.
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But they did (along with a great many other big-name international companies) have a lot to do with WWII and Nazi Germany... (but that's a topic for another time and place).
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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FlyButtafly edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I think everyone is usually better off to make their own decision based on what they feel is best. I will say that many organizations, not singling any out, will usually have a compelling argument to make about whatever their cause is or whatever their selling. It's our job to sort out the truth. Obtain as much information as possible. As a lifetime farm girl, I have many opinions about the PETA organization including the fact that it is somewhat ironic that their main officials who are dependent and quite well compensated off their fundraising to ostensibly save animals, go around with leather car seats, etc. But I digress.......in the case of PETA, even a stopped clock is right twice a day! I have threatened to turn over some information I have a time or two about some "insider" knowledge just to have it hit the public's scrutiny....and I'm referring now to certain now defunct practices used at animal exhibitions.....
and in closing, sorry for the ramble-I never was so angry at so many companies as when the gluten pet food problem came out. What a bunch of greedy so and so's. Mine don't like Iams, and I don't know how we did it, but we escaped the poisoning that happened during that horrible incident, thank goodness.
Posted 4 months ago.
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