Just FYI, Hills are one the biggest and worst culprits of laboratory animal testing in the world, its just not as widely publicised as the Iams thing. I work in a Hills practice but would not touch it with a barge pole myself. I feed Burns, who are BUAV approved. I will admit to also giving my boys some Whiskas, but I know what harm is in every tin before I make my choice to feed it. Everywhere I go on the internet, people are kicking off about Iams. Yes we should boycott them, but not without realising what is on your cats plate is no better if you feed a supermarket brand.
I also give complimentary turkey necks, but I would urge all you raw feeders to pre-freeze your meat if you're giving it raw.
All of the following companies conduct cruel and unneccesary lab experiments and are currently still doing so here in the UK. Some of you might be surprised but I have researched this a LOT and know my stuff when it comes to these tests. If you don't want to read details of some experiments you shouldn't read on, but I feel this is important.
ALL of the following brands are still unethically manufactured, using outdated experiments in sterile lab environments here in our country.
***WARNING - DETAILS OF LAB EXPERIMENTS BELOW***
- Nestle Purina Petcare - Go Cat, Pro Plan, Purina, Bakers, Gourmet, Felix
One of the experiments conducted by this company involved keeping 48 dogs & cats in complete isolation for 15 years (unless death occurred sooner) ending as recently as 2002, one third being fed normally, one third being fed half what they should and one third being fed 50% too much. These animals were blood sampled & xrayed regularly to watch the effects of emaciation & obesity on their bodies.
- Hills Pet Nutrition - Hills, Science Plan, Nature's Best
36 kittens were kept in isolation for 13 weeks, being fed such low amounts that they weighed an average of 56% less than they should, all euthanased after the study. 36 adult cats were isolated and fed varying amounts of salt over a period of a month, most euthanased after the study. 42 puppies were fed a diet with no zinc for 2 weeks, then given a variety of zinc levels in their diets, the effects were so severe that this experiment was cut short early and all the puppies who they made suffer were euthanased and their bodies used for research.
- Proctor & Gamble - Iams, Eukanuba
28 young cats were induced into kidney failure by surgical removal of one kidney and intentional damage to the other, then fed various experimental diets. 2 died during surgery, all of them suffered and were very sick. They were all euthanased.
- Walthams - Pedigree, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Cesar, Sheba
All research carried out in the Pedigree Pet Centre, which houses hundreds of dogs, cats & birds for experimentation. Greyhounds were housed for their entire lives in isolation kennels smaller than the law regarding lab dogs allows, and that reg is small already! Cats were kept in complete isolation and fed only 40 calories per day for 12 months or until they died. Despite Walthams claiming all their research is non-invasive, every single animal housed there lives in a caged and at least partially isolated environment for their entire lives - when they go in, they don't come back out alive!
Hope this was informative and insightful - the more people that know, the better.
