If you have pets, you may have heard "a little" about the pet food recall. My partner and I have been somewhat consumed with it. Our cats, who have been eating Science Diet dry food for their entire lives, recently went to the vet. They, of course, weren't exposed to the Science Diet M/D that was recalled, but still the same, with the ever expanding list of recalled foods we were concerned.
Upon the veterinarian's completion of their yearly check-ups, I took the liberty to ask some questions about the viability, potability and even rationality of feeding our cats a product that hails itself as a "superior quality" pet food, contains "chicken by-product meal" and is so pumped full of corn meal, rice and grain products that one wonders if a cat would eat this in it's natural diet. Not to mention it is receiving products from foreign sources containing rat poison.
Understand, for years we have been feeding our cats Science Diet because every vet we ever went to said that it was the best thing on the market. My in-laws all have fed their cats Science Diet and the cats have lived to a very high age. One cat is now 20 years old and has been eating it his entire life. But, there are always exceptions to the rule. A few weeks ago the NBC did a story on a Centenarian that had drank whiskey, ate cholesterol rich foods and smoked his entire life. He is still going strong. Good nutrition is an important thing, and since studying a little about cats, I have come to the conclusion that Science Diet is not doing it for me any more.
Now, back to my story. After asking my series of pointed questions, the vet couldn't give me any "scientific" logic that Science Diet is a food that stands the test as "superior quality". And, by the recent news of their recall, it appears that they are getting sub-standard products to make the "superior quality" food they claim is so good for our animals. The only real answer the vet gave was that she had "tremendous confidence in Science Diet" and that she has "always fed her animals their products". Reading over a news article today about Science Diet, I came across this quote by another loyal vet that has complete confidence in the product:
Veterinarian Nancy Taylor of Northwest Animal Hospital in Owings Mills said she is heeding the recall but hasn’t had any clients affected.
“I use Hills all the time and I have tremendous faith in their product,” she said. >>
So why this undying support for a product that has really nothing "superior" about it? If you go to almost any Veterinarian Office, you will see Hill's Science Diet posters on just about every wall. Why. Because the vets get kick-backs from the Hill's company. That said, it is understandable why I wouldn't get anything other than alot of non-sense from our cat's doctor about a substandard product that they get money to promote.
Since then, we have moved on from Science Diet. Why with rat poison lurking, we needed to supply our pets with something that was potable. The two companies we have settled on, which seems to be the most wholesome are Natural Balance and Solid Gold. Another we just found out about and need to research is an Oregon based company, 14th Street Pets. None of these three have products that have been recalled.
We will continue to search for a truly superior cat food, one that we can trust. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
Peace and Joy!
~Amadeus
these are some good ones we give our cats
http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
and Tikki Cat
Posted by: Derek | April 07, 2007 at 02:48 PM