Cruelty Free Dog Food?

Lorna71

Hi.

Anyone know where to buy cruelty free pet food in Dublin (or online)?

Cheers

boomerang

Burns or Arden Grange - have a look at their websites.

Really depends on how you define cruelty, though.

Home-cooking is an alternative. I cook for my crew and only buy free-range chicken and free-range eggs. But actually that doesn't mean a huge improvement in the chicken's standard of living.

Ayla

I second Arden Grange, which we've been using for our 3 for a few months now. You can find them direct on their own website or through dogfooddirect.ie

Their marketing very clearly states they are free of any sort of forced/cruel animal testing and don't support any providers that do use these means.

Millem

Lorna71 wrote: »

Hi.

Anyone know where to buy cruelty free pet food in Dublin (or online)?

Cheers

<snip>

kildare.17hmr

Whats cruelty free dog food??

Cherry Blossom

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Whats cruelty free dog food??

I think they mean not tested on animals.

Anyways Barking Heads and Fish4Dogs are not tested on animals

Mo60

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I think they mean not tested on animals.

Not intending to criticise, but how do they produce animal food without testing on animals?

Ayla

There's a big difference b/w doing market research by canine "taste testers" to see if the food's palatable, etc, vs. making the food from ingredients you know to come from chemically-grown chicken/lamb/etc, or from manufacturers who regularly undergo forced & usually cruel animal testing.

I'm just copying this from Arden Grange (and I'm in no way affiliated with them other than by being a satisfied customer):

Our "Not Tested on Animals Guarantee" logo, which you will find on all our packaging and literature, demonstrates our commitment to the welfare of animals.

We have not and never will fund any invasive research projects conducted in relation to the development or refinement of pet foods manufactured or sold by our company. Nor would we be party to any act that could be deemed harmful or injurious to animals.

DogsFirst

That's interesting Ayla. Wonder what it all means though. Either they didn't stick to the AAFCO 2008 minimum guidelines which all premium dry dog foods try to adhere which requires manufacturers to house 8 dogs in small cages for 6 months before they can sell their crackers using the word "complete". This involves 6 of the 8 dogs making it to the end of the test. Their less than stringent tests include 4 blood values (not orthopaedics, not skin and hair condition, not lean muscle mass, not behaviour). Check out the FDA website (type in pet food recalls) to see just how many products are recalled each year after thousands of animals suffered, and this is after they tested their product on 8 caged dogs in this manner. At this point there is little doubt of the fate of said test subjects having spent their first 6mths in a laboratory consuming experimental crackers.

Then they would also have to test the source of all their meat ingredients to make sure all the animals were sourced from humans sources, preferably from Ireland and the UK. This would require going out to the rendering plants that supply them with their leftover bits and go through exactly where all those bits came from. It's preposterous to suggest that this occurs.

Or they're saying they didn't test their crackers and are now in full scale production involving millions of tonnes. That's many thousands of dogs consuming untested, chemical laced, processed crackers, every day of their life. With no guarantee of efficacy this could be seen as cruelty. They had to have tested their product, it's misleading to say otherwise. Would you want a product that hadn't been tested?

Sad truth is, you need that stuff tested on dogs before it's sold to you guys. Just like makeup and deodorants and every new chemical they come up with. Either those dogs suffer, or yours do. If anyone's not happy with this scenario you can buy fresh Irish chicken, beef and fish which you know has had as good a life as possible, all for the same price as a bag of meat flavoured crackers, whilst benefiting enormously from the decent, chemical free nutrition.

I love the way the company you mentioned now proudly boast their crackers are "full of fresh chicken"!!!! By fresh they mean high pressure steam cooked within an inch of it's life. And by chicken, well don't get me started on that doozy!!!!

I'll email them this rant and see what they say, hang on!

DogsFirst

Emailed them the problem with their quote. No response yet. Won't hold my breath. Just another example of dry food information. Others I like:

Made with chicken as the number one ingredient (and cereal being the next 5).

Now with DHA and acetylcholine (has beef fat)

For the cognitive function in your older dog (would of been nice in my pup too)

Adheres to AFFCO's (minimum) standards!

Made with fresh chicken!!!

Special Tooth Formula! (so all our other biscuits are bad for their teeth)

Contains plant fibre that may aid digestion (may but won't)

Dogs are omnivores.

Dogs need carbohydrates.

No dogs were harmed before eating this product....


Anyone got any else?!