BOYCOTT SCIENCE DIET PET FOODS!!!

[Maraya1969]

I am stunned to read in the newspaper that Hill's Research, the company that makes Science Diet pet foods helped sponsor a research study on Alzheimer's using older Beagles. The ones that were not "Lucky" ended up sitting in a cage with no stimulation, no exercise and poor nutrition just to see how that would affect their cognitive abilities.

:nuke:

I had to scan the article and I can't seem to copy the parts that I want. But I have made a list of the groups and persons involved that were in the article.


The National Institute on aging :nuke:
Molly Wagster - program director :nuke:
Elizabeth Head was one of the collaborators. :nuke:
The University of Toronto, :nuke:
The University of California Irvine
Hill’s Pet Nutrition Science and Technology,(the makers of Science Diet) :nuke:
Lovelace Respiratory Research center. :nuke:


I can't stand to hear about animals abuse. And to think that a company that supplies most veterinarians and pet stores with specialized and expensive foods for pets would participate in such abuse is despicable. :nuke:

The article may be somewhere on the internet.

Please kick this and email the information to everyone you know. Boycotting them is the best way to get them to stop.

[spunky]

1. What newspaper was it?

I'm glad I feed my kitties purina.

[Maraya1969]

25. The NewsPress, Fort Myers, FL 1/26/05

[Renew Deal]

2. My girlfriend likes Science Diet for the cat.

She (and I) likes to buy the dry food. I am around 3 cats and they all seem to like it. I would like to know more about this.

[ernstbass]

3. Sickening

and I will boycott Science Diet

[Renew Deal]

4. Hang on

See the evidence first. I have been looking and I haven't found anything about them being cruel to animals. Check it out first.

[Maraya1969]

28. A Google seearch oh Hill's animal testing

Hills is the company that makes Science Diet

Iams... the suffering behind the 'science'

LATEST NEWS:

More IAMS spin dismissed

IAMS spin - our response

IAMS supports hunting

Don Carey reveals IAMS' true colours

IAMS hires vivisector as director of veterinary services

Kick cruelty out of Crufts - 2004 report


2003 EXPOSÉ:

Damning and shocking evidence reveals "research policy to be a sham"


UNCAGED EXPOSÉ:

Harmful, invasive and lethal experiments conducted on previously healthy cats, dogs and other animals - read our report including full references to scientific journals


PET FOOD INFO:

Click here for our 'pet' food information sheet, with best buys and brands to boycott


"10 out of 10 cats prefer not to be vivisected by IAMS / Eukanuba"


The IAMS Company have funded and participated in laboratory experiments on hundreds of animals that caused kidney failure, obesity, malnutrition, liver damage, severe allergic reactions, stomach inflammation, diarrhoea, severe skin disorders, lesions, skin wounds and other painful illnesses, and animals have been kept in barren dungeon-like conditions.

Dogs have been force-fed vegetable oil, had chunks of muscle removed from their thighs, and been 'de-barked' by having their voice-boxes cut out in a painful and bloody procedure.

Click here for a list of other pet food companies who test on animals, including Hills Science Diet.



IAMS and Cruel Animal Experiments: Introduction
In August 2000, in a response to a supporter of Uncaged, IAMS stated that "no invasive testing on animals is carried out on the IAMS diets."

Uncaged first exposed IAMS/Eukanuba's painful, invasive and lethal experiments on cats, dogs and other animals in 2001 after trawling through articles published in scientific journals. In some of the most horrific research cats and dogs suffered and died due to surgically-induced kidney damage. Severe allergies were inflicted on husky puppies and cats were killed in invasive abdominal experiments. See further down this page for more information about IAMS practices. A front-page story in the Sunday Express revealed these experiments to an unsuspecti

<snip>


http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm

GOOGLE: Hills+animal +experiments

[dubyaD40web]

5. Anyone have any links or documentation about this?

I feed my dogs and cats S.D. and would like more info about this to see if I need to switch brands.
Thanks for the info.

[Maraya1969]

26. n/t

There's no way to delete a message???????

[gollygee]

6. I've been trying to get my cat off Science Diet for ages

It isn't easy to change a cat's food. But I'll give it another try.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to change her food that won't cause her to barf all over the place? I've tried mixing the food to gradually change it, but that hasn't been successful.

[Maraya1969]

31. Have you tried Max Cat by Nutro?

It is all natural. No preservatives. Maybe she would not barf from it.

[Maru Kitteh]

38. Oh, hell, they barf anyway hon

just work in the new food, bit by bit. I would suggest a mix/replace ratio of about 10% per day.

Ultimately you have to deal with you own, I think cats are more varied than humans.

[WillowTree]

57. Try mixing the old food...

....with the new food. Start with a mixture that's mostly the old food and increase the amount of the new food in the mixture very gradually, by just a little bit every week, until they're getting all of the new stuff.

I had one cat that did a whole lot worse than just barf if I changed his food suddenly, but this method worked just fine with him. It gives their digestive systems, not to mention their taste buds, a chance to adjust over a period of time.

Hope this helps.

[Greylyn58]

62. I don't use any of the name brands anymore

I get my dog's food from a company in SC called Blackwood. They also make cat food. They ship it directly to your home. I live in NC and can order from them one day and have it the very next day.

My dog has food allergies and this is the best food he's ever been on.

Check out their web site.

http://www.blackwoodpetfood.com/navigation.htm

:eyes:

[Rhiannon12866]

65. That's What I've Always Done

Mixing the old and new foods, starting out adding just a little of the new food and adding more and more, gradually. This has always worked for me, but this was with my dogs.:shrug:

But I know what you mean about cats. Both of my cats have been prescribed special food by their vets, at one time or another. And it was extremely difficult for both of us. Rhiannon made a huge fuss because what she was given only came in dry and she was not shy about letting me know how unhappy she was with it. Another vet finally prescribed canned, which she would eat. Then the same vet prescribed the same food for Catlin, but she just refused to eat it. So, it was back to to the two flavors of Fancy Feast that she would eat, just so she would eat! Cats are a law unto themselves.:shrug:

[StClone]

7. Dick Van Patten Pet Foods are good Alternatives

Natural Balance is pretty good stuff.


http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

[musette_sf]

9. Also Wellness is GREAT!!

My guys love Wellness dry food. They were okay on the Van Patten stuff too.

I will not feed Science Diet any more, due to the huge amount of low quality meat "by-products" that go into their foods. Also because their "prescription" foods sold through vets have a huge profit margin, and are made primarily from the same low-quality, cheap ingredients.

You can put a vitamin in a turd and it's still a turd.

Why I have my main gripe about Science Diet is, my big boy Junior Mintz Kitty almost died from a urinary blockage. At the time we were feeding IAMS, Science Diet, none of that Cat Chow stuff. We thought we were doing right.

After unblocking and recovery, vet wanted him on Science Diet prescription for FUS (Feline Urinary Syndrome), for the rest of his life. We read the label and gagged. THIS crap for the rest of his life?? Plus, we were supposed to isolate him from the other cats when eating, and keep the food for the others away from him. Yeah Right.

We did some holistic research and did the following: (1) changed to distilled water (we live in a hard water area); (2) removed products high in calcium from diet; (3) changed to all-natural foods for him; (4) administered an amino acid supplement for acidizing the urine. Two years later he is fine and healthy, no thanks to Science Diet.

[vireo]

8. Boycott IAMS while you're at it

http://www.iamscruelty.com/

I suggest trying some of the many alternative brands now on the market which also are more nutritious (for example, PetGuard).

[DemExpat]

10. That's IAMS and Science Diet.......my dog's favorite is Royal Canine....

wonder when the horror stories at that company get exposed...

I have tried organic dog foods, but Royal Canine is the one she just loves, while others she eats just to get something in her tummy....

DemEx

[TLM]

11. Listen I'm all for boycotts of animal testing....

when we're talking about things like make-up and hairspray etc. When it's stuff that doesn't need to be tested on an animal.

However when it comes to medical research to help cure diseases that afflict people like Alzheimer's, that need living speciments, I have much less of a problm with it.

If some dogs "sitting in a cage with no stimulation, no exercise and poor nutrition just to see how that would affect their cognitive abilities" gets us one step closer to treating or curing Alzheimer's, then so be it.

[pmbryant]

12. I agree, plus this is mere hearsay right now anyway (edit: found a link)

No one has provided a source for this information yet.

--Peter

On edit: Here's a link I just found that seems to describe what the original poster saw:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/nioa-des011805.php

For the study, the researchers divided 48 older beagles (ages 7 to 11) into four groups. One group was fed a regular diet and received standard care; a second group received standard care but was fed an antioxidant fortified diet, consisting of standard dog food supplemented with tomatoes, carrot granules, citrus pulp, spinach flakes, the equivalent of 800 IUs of vitamin E, 20 milligrams per kilogram of vitamin C, and two mitochondrial co-factors--lipoic acid and carnitine; the third was fed a regular diet, but their environment was enriched (regular exercise, socialization with other dogs, and access to novel toys); the fourth group received a combination of the antioxidant diet as well as environmental enrichment. In addition, a set of 17 young dogs (ages 1 to 3) were divided into two groups, one fed a regular diet and the other fed the antioxidant fortified diet.

There's no abuse here that I can see.

[Maraya1969]

35. You've never volunteered at a shelter or worked for a vet

and seen what happens to animals who are left in cages, especially cats who do not get to go out.

I worked briefly this past summer for a vet and saw about 10 cats that she just "kept" in cages in the back. One wouldn't even face the front of his cage. According to the others he was "mean". Well he wasn't mean to me.

WHEN I was fired after two weeks, (my desire to stick the vet in a cage was transparent I suppose), I called the group that oversees them and they made her put these animals up for adoption.

And as I mentioned in another post, these animal experimentation groups are often just money making machines. And we are too advanced scientifically to NEED animals anymore. Computers can give the same kind of information. (Unless you want to check out whether putting a person in a lonely room with nothing to read or do and make sure they have no contact with other people and feed them crap causes them to loose cognitive function. WELL OF COURSE IT FU**** DOES! It doesn't take an Einstein and 82 dogs to figure that one out.)

Sorry, didn't mean to yell at you. This is an area that just burns me. :nuke:

[Maru Kitteh]

40. Your "reasoning" is antithetical to basic logic

Do a wee bit of research and the thousands of variables, physiological and genetic that make this "research" junk "science" is overwhelming.

Do you agree that animal experiments should be performed in the most humane way possible and ONLY when it has been proven of real, not third grade speculative value? If you do............. I have a surprise for you. You are on the same side as many animal activists.

Basic logic calls for us to look at the HUMAN data for human diseases. No matter how much hell you are willing to put a discarded dog through to feed your indignity, you cannot wipe his blood from your hands.

The native central Americans considered the pig to be the invaders greatest contribution to their culture. Pig flesh smells, looks and tastes JUST LIKE the cannibalized flesh of human beings. Because of this, they could disguise, give up or hide their habtits as they wished.

[Maraya1969]

43. You just reminded me of the "research" done by the Muscular

Sclerosis society where they sewed the eyes of kitten together so they could study the effects of being born blind.

[Bluebear]

13. Is it possible to give us the source of this 'boycott'?

In which newspaper did you read this?

I have used and continue to use S.D. for my dogs and would like to have some background info/link before I consider something like this. Thanks very much!

[pmbryant]

14. See post #12. This seems to be somewhat overblown.

The worst treatment: "One group was fed a regular diet and received standard care."

All other groups of dogs had "enhanced" diet and/or care.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/nioa-des011805.php

Where's the abuse?

:shrug:

--Peter

[Bluebear]

17. From the tone of the boycott I thought they were butchering them!

Plus the article mentions nothing about any pet food manufacturers sponsoring/participating in the study to begin with!

[pmbryant]

19. Yes. No mention of any sponsoring by a pet food manutfacturer

So I have no clue where the original poster got that from.

--Peter

[xultar]

23. Or locking them up in dark cages where they can't move around or

weren't taken care of.

[Maraya1969]

36.

I was in a frenzy when I posted the original. I still am. It is the "no stimulation, no activity" part that is upsetting. I know what they are doing. These dogs are living in a box for 2 years with nothing but food and water and I bet it is dark. They are probably being taken out once a day to go "potty".
]
Dogs have emotions too. That is why the vets now prescribe antidepressants for dogs, cats, birds, and who knows what else.

[Robbien]

15. Science Diet and Iams are no better for your pet than Purina Cat/Dog Chow

just three times more expensive.

[Lorien]

18. And all three are big GOP contributors

if you love your pet and your country, you'll buy healthy, holistic blue brands.

[Lorien]

16. Most of the big brands are RED, too

Hey Maraya1969, you may want to post this in the pet foods thread in the Economic Activism and Progressive living forum too (in DU groups).

I only feed my cats holistic BLUE foods like Organix, Wellness, Artemis, Merrick and Innova. Commercial brands-even the premium brands- contain non-human grade meats. That means spoiled meat, slaughter house floor sweepings, and even road kill. Plus, the antibiotics and growth hormones in non-holistic meats contribute to illness.

Go to www.waggintails.com for a fairly good list of Holistic brands.

[AllyCat]

33. "Meat By-Products" are sometimes ground up

cats and dogs euthanized at vet clinics. I'm not kidding. I even asked my vet about it and she said the practice is wide-spread.

Glad to see my cats' new favorite food, Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie, southern Delight, and New England Boil is on the list! Also, the old stand-by Nature's Recipe. Now if I could just get them to like something other than Nutro...

[TX-RAT]

58. got a link for that?

""Meat By-Products" are sometimes ground up"cats and dogs euthanized at vet clinics.

[AllyCat]

60. Here's two...

http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html

--snip--
From the book, "Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food." By Ann N. Martin. NewSage Press (1997). This book is on sale at Dr. Jeff's Homevet/Amazon.Com bookstore.
--snip--

As discussed in Chapter Two, companion animals from clinics, pounds, and shelters can and are being rendered and used as sources of protein in pet food. Dead-stock removal operations play a major role in the pet food industry. Dead animals, road kill that cannot be buried at roadside, and in some cases, zoo animals, are picked up by these dead stock operations.

--snip--

http://www.preciouspets.org/truth.htm

Canned Cannibalism
Another source of meat that isn't mentioned on pet food labels is pet byproducts, the bodies of dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were found in pet foods. Although pet food company executives and the National Renderers Association vehemently denied the report, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the FDA confirmed the story. The pets serve a viable purpose by providing foodstuff for the animal feed chain, said Lea McGovern, chief of the FDA's animal feed safety branch. Because of the sheer volume of animals rendered and the similarity in protein content between poultry byproducts and processed dogs and cats, rendering plant workers say it would be impossible for purchasers to know the exact contents of what they buy. In fact, Sacramento Rendering cited by inspectors five times in the past two years for product-labeling violations.

[Cleita]

20. No problem.

My cat Benny, boycotted Science Diet and IAMS on his own.

[wadestock]

21. HELL ON EARTH.....

is the abuse of animals.

May anyone that abuses animals be reincarnated as one of these poor abused creatures someday.

[xultar]

22. Use Solid Gold or Breeders Choice. Some people can't afford

those foods or they are hard to find.

What about Nutro?

[rucky]

46. Nutro is owned by Iams is owned by Procter & Gamble

do with it what you will.

Even though the super-premium foods are more expensive, you don't have to feed your pet as much as it. There are less fillers and more nutritional value per bite.

[Rockholm]

49. I Buy Solid Gold (Bison Formula) for my Dogs!

Ababy is really good, but Solid Gold produces small poops (and I have 2 BIG doggies)

[DrWeird]

24. I sure hope you or your loved ones don't get Alzheimer's.

I for one, would like a cure.

[Maraya1969]

30. You don't need to abuse an animal to find a cure for Alzheimer's

Check out Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine.

These are money making research facilities.

[Pithlet]

32. It is possible that research facilities make money

but that does not mean their research is never valuable.

I'm always against any animal experiments that aren't medically necessary. But, research on animals is a necessary evil for medical research.

[Merope215]

37. Sure, but...

...a lot of it isn't. Plenty of so-called "necessary" experiments are just stupid, done by researchers eager to get their names in the Journal of Toxicology or what have you. Of *course* animals who have toys and friends and playtime are going to have better-developed cognitive abilities than the ones that sit by themselves in cages their whole lives. Duh. Since when did that discovery require the isolation of social animals for long spans of time?

I heard it put best somewhere else, though I don't remember where: "When we call something a 'necessary evil,' something requiring the suffering or death of a fellow creature, the evil is real and it had better be necessary."

[DrWeird]

64. If by "abuse an animal" you mean medical research on animals...

I'm afraid you're very wrong.

[poe]

27. Boycott them for using GMO's as well

Call their head office and ask. In fact boycott every pet food that uses corn meal and soy they will be from GMO laden grain silos. Neither of these ingredients are digestable for dogs. Hill's is nassstttyyy stuff. Woof.

[despairing optimist]

29. My cats hate Science Diet already

I think only vets like it, and even that's questionable.

If it's a red company, someone should put it in bowls at red parties as a "healthy" substitute for cheese-flavored goldfish and not tell anyone.

[Gloria]

34. It just plain sucks, too. I use California Natural for my doggies...

My little guy Tico gained tons of wait when we adopted him...We had him on the weight loss crap for a bit, then I realized what was going on with it....UGH!!!!

There's a product for cats, too. This is good stuff. No Crap or fillers in it.

www.naturapet.com Comparisons to other products, etc.

[leftofthedial]

39. Molly Wagster was studying old beagles?

was this in The Onion?

[Maraya1969]

44. It was in my local paper

I scanned it but I can't seem to copy it.

[leftofthedial]

45. I just thought her name made for a pretty ridiculous pun

given the subject matter.

[Maraya1969]

52. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Got it! :7

[Rhiannon12866]

41. I will pass this on to both my vets, since they prescribe it

I will withhold judgment until I've heard their take on this. Thanks so much for this post, since my dogs have had Science Diet.:-(

[xultar]

47. Read Post #12 it isn't as bad as it seems. n/t

[Maraya1969]

53. Yes it is that bad

and since I have looked farther it is worse than that. They have been involved in horrific animal experiments - I thought I posted about some.

[Piperay]

42. Nutro Natural Choice

is what I switiched to when I heard Science Diet was so awful. I hope the Nutro is OK.

[Taxloss]

48. What's with the mushroom clouds?

I really hope you're not advocating violence.

The testing they're doing is, if it is as you say, wrong, but let's not get violent.

[natrat]

50. BOYCOTT WALLMART- KFC -SCIENCE DIET

tell 10 friends

[wadestock]

51. OF COURSE BOYCOTT WALMART - OLD ROY

IS RATSHIT. Many articles been written on that.

[natrat]

63. just a reminder

saw a walmart ad on tv the other day for the first time-maybe they the pinch

[doodadem]

54. This is nothing people

Sorry to say, this is only the tip of the iceberg. If you really want to get physically ill, do a little research on pharmaceutical companys and CROs (Clinical Research Organizations) do in animal testing.
They use Beagles because they are a malleable breed. They can do the most horrible tests on them, and these little dogs will still lick the hands of the caretakers. The same thing for Greyhounds--they get them for cheap coming off the track. They want purebred dogs to be able to track the genetics. There are big time breeders out there, that's all they produce for--animals for research.
And there's no reason for it. It's been proven time and time again that testing done on animals does not necessarily transfer to humans, and vice versa. Example, Tylenol kills cats.
Even worse, what few restrictions there are, do not apply to LARGE animals. That means they can do whatever the hell they want to horses, cattle, pigs, etc.
I don't agree with the PETA folks, who think no one should "own" animals. But animal testing is the pharma companies dirty little secret, and long since time to be overhauled.

[Dark]

55. No. I'm not going to boycott them.

Listen. I'm against testing cosmetics, perfumes, etc.; basically things that are luxuries for people and will only help them get laid, on animals.

But this is a study trying to find out about Alzheimer's. They aren't testing products whose purpose is to make people look or appear better. They're testing to develop products that will actually HELP people.

A close friend lost his grandfather to Alzheimer's. He said it was horrible, watching a relative he loved degenerate into a stranger.

I don't mind testing on animals that could save lives.

[lojasmo]

56. This is how medical science gets advanced.

If you don't like it, boycott all medical care and medicine.

[BiggJawn]

59. Boycott EVERYTHING!

Just go and sit in the woods and starve/die from dehydration.
That'll show them evil "Red Companies"...

Do the "blue products" (what few of them exist) arrive at your co-op by truck? chances are, the driver who delivered them is a die-hard (only if he takes his "pills") Gush Pfleghmball listener....

The point is, unless you create it yourself, chance are a ReTHUGlican touched what you consume somewhwere along the way.

[zmdem]

61. Damn right

I am boycotting all cat food. My cat is with me, even though he is starving to death. I have told him that he can derive all the nourishment he needs from the air. I convinced my previous cat that it is immoral to eat animal products, she wasted away and died, but she died with a clean concious.

Excuse me for a moment while I go tend to my tofu.

[Rhiannon12866]

66. I believe you, but is there an article that I can print out

and bring to my vets? I will absolutely do it, since I'm always hitting them with something, LOL, so they are used to me, and know that they'll take me seriously.:-)