List of Dog Food Companies that DON'T Test on Animals

[MaddiesMommie]

I am currently gathering information from the Natura company (Innova, EVO, California Natural, Health Wise, Karma, Mother Nature). I did receive this email but wasn't completly satisfied with the information, so i digging deeper. I post updates.
July 15, 2009

Dear Amanda,

Thank you for contacting us about our products. Natura does not do medical experimentation on animals to test the results of them eating our foods. Our purpose at Natura is to produce the "Healthiest Pet Foods in the World." Cruelty to animals would be in complete contradiction with our goal of improving the health of cats and dogs. We do perform many tests on our foods before, during and after production. We want to ensure that the superior quality of our foods does not vary. We contract with responsible outside companies to perform the standard feeding tests required by the Association of American Feed Control Officials. These are feeding trials, in which cats and dogs are fed a closely monitored diet of our foods for a specified amount of time. The tests last up to 26 weeks (6 months). The pets' general health and weight are documented, and their waste matter is analyzed scientifically for data such as moisture content, fat and protein levels, etc. The companies that we contract with maintain clean, well-managed and humane facilities and have outstanding reputations in the industry and within their communities.


I hope I have given you enough information to answer your questions. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Best Regards
Ember
Natura Consumer Service Rep

[yorkiepuppie]

Originally Posted by bchgirl

Not to rain on the parade here....but while these companies may not test on animals...trust me at some point the ingredients have been. It's an argument in semantics.

...the parade is getting soaked here... what are we supposed to do then? to help the animals?

[MaddiesMommie]

I want to know also Should I continue to use a food if they do laboratory test, i feel that is supporting the act. However, I am not excited about beginning a food search...

[Nancy1999]

Wow, everyone wants the best foods for their dogs, but no one wants these foods tested? This just opens the door to more charlatans, and people who can convince others with pseudoscience. What about companies who have tested certain formulas, on dogs so who are prone to kidney stones, or other illnesses? You cannot use a computer model for this, and results don't always carry across species. We should be against inhumane testing, but I won't buy a food that hasn't been tested. The makers of Greenies should have tested more in my opinion. Don't forget, only the bigger companies test, small companies just use ingredients that have already been tested or don't need to be tested because they aren't making any claims that it will do something special. Do you want your pets to be the guinea pigs?

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by MaddiesMommie

I want to know also Should I continue to use a food if they do laboratory test, i feel that is supporting the act. However, I am not excited about beginning a food search...

I think it's a personal decision, and a tough call if the food is working for you. I have to say, I was reallllly glad about Primal, bc I do feed that sometimes. If they hadn't made the list, I probably would've stopped using them bc I don't like those feeding trials and I do feel better not supporting animal testing, when and where I'm able to.

I don't even know why this all came up really...I was laying in bed after reading something about animals...and I got to thinking of the food and how sad that some dogs may have to suffer testing so that *our* dogs can eat. I looked at Wylie and Marcel laying next to me and thought, what if *these* babies had ended up in cages, testing food ? And I then decided to look into it and found that list. And it rather opened my eyes to yet another spot we could have an impact.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

Do you want your pets to be the guinea pigs?

I don't see my dogs as guinea pigs, any more than I see myself as a guinea pig just bc I choose to use a mascara that hasn't been forced into a rabbit's eyes until it reaches blindness. Like in all animal testing, once an ingredient has been tested over and over as safe - it is moot to keep testing it. That's why so many cosmetic companies ceased so much of their testing, it's no longer necessary (in most cases). Same concept.

[MaddiesMommie]

First, let me say Maddie's health is my main concern. I want to but a food that is safe for her. I certainly don't want her to ingest something that will harm her. However, it saddens me to know animals suffer needlessly.
Second, I am posting a responce to the second email I send to Natura. I spent so much time researching foods and thier ingredients, this thread made me curious to learn more about the COMPANY I am supporting.

July 16, 2009

Dear Amanda,

Thank you for contacting Natura Pet Products with your concerns regarding our foods. Natura Pet Products believes strongly in the importance of nutritional testing to validate our products and to support the development of new, innovative and healthful diets. However, we have never been comfortable with the care and treatment of animals at most independent facilities. As a result, we realized that the only way to reconcile both issues was to build our own facility and manage the care and treatment of the test animals ourselves.

The Belfield Pet Food Research & Development Center is a humane, non-invasive testing facility which was built near our manufacturing plant in Nebraska. The Belfield Center sits on 8.5 acres. The building itself is 11,500 square feet under roof and is climate controlled year-round with 3 large HVAC units. There are 56 indoor runs with full access to outdoor runs and 2 x 3000 square foot dog exercise yards. There is a cat play room and Natura's "Dog of the Week" room, which is a fully decorated home living room which is being utilized by a different canine resident each week. All residents of the Belfield Center have regular play time and frequent interaction with the staff. Toys of all kinds, cat scratching posts and cat furniture is available for all residents. Animals living at the Belfield Center come to us from a variety of sources, including rescue groups, breeders and private homes.

All animals in the facility are cared for humanely and it is important for our customers to know that all living and test spaces far exceed the minimum requirements set by the USDA. It is also important for everyone to know that all work done at the Belfield Center is non-invasive; the dog and cat residents serve us to eat pet food. Period. A practicing local veterinarian has been contracted to provide regular health care to all animals. The animals are cared for by a conscientious staff of 4 full time staff members, including one staff member with veterinary technician experience.

TESTING POLICIES

1. All testing will be non-invasive to the animals and consists only of palatability, stool quality, protocol feeding studies or other similarly designed studies for nutritional substantiation.

2. All animals will be cared for as if they were pets in our home, including interaction and socialization.

3. We will always far exceed minimum standards established by the Animal Welfare Act of the US, the US Department of Agriculture.

4. We will not conduct any study requiring or resulting in the euthanasia of cats or dogs.

5. We will ensure the humane treatment of cats and dogs that reside in the facility and provide for animal well-being, socialization and husbandry in a manner compatible with our own philosophy and conscience.

6. We will require that all residents have regular and timely veterinary check-ups. Any animal that shows signs of illness will be provided veterinary care immediately.

7. Resident animals will be adopted-out to private homes following their retirement from the Belfield Center. The adoption process will begin while the animals are still well within their productive and active years.

8. Natura will continue to keep an interest in our "retired" residents, and will support their feeding and health care for a period of time after adoption. Natura employees, dealers and customers will be given first priority to adopt these animals.

9. The Belfield Center has an advisory panel made up of pet care professionals, community representatives, and veterinary practitioners for the purpose of routine facility tours and oversight. Dr Wendell O. Belfield will serve on the Animal Care & Use Committee which meets at least semi-annually.

10. Extra care will be taken with all new animals upon their arrival at the Belfield Center to minimize the stress of their relocation and to encourage quick socialization with the other animals and Natura staff. Each animal at the Belfield Center will have a name, not a number.

The other facilities that we use are proprietary, but can assure you there are of Natura quality. Here is more information about these facilities:
Dog:
·Animal Enrichment Team
·Large Outdoor Puppy Parks
·Socialization / Exercise Programs
·One-On-One Attention
·Proven Colony Veterinary Care
Cat:
·Large Open Community Housing
·Cageless Testing Available
·Enriched Environment for Singles and Groups
·Socialization Activities for all Cats
·Large Window Areas Overlooking Outdoor Courtyards

If you have any additional questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Best Regards

Ember
Natura Consumer Service Rep

[Woogie Man]

This list concerned me since I did not find the food I use (Nature's Logic) on it. I'm also disturbed by the authors of the list (PetSci?) assuming that any food not on their list is doing inhumane lab testing.

I contacted the owner/founder of Nature's Logic about this and received a prompt reply. Since I didn't receive (or ask for) explicit permission to post his reply in a forum, I'll just paraphrase a bit and say that Nature's Logic does not do lab testing of its foods but have had its foods AAFCO tested in feeding trials. Nature's Logic is the only commercial dog food that doesn't use chemically synthesized vitamins and minerals. These synthetic vitamins and minerals do have toxic and lethal dose levels that have been arrived at in lab testing and companies use these results in formulating their products.

Here is a link for vitamin and mineral research from the Nature's Logic web site.

http://natureslogic.com/pdf/vitaminmineral.pdf

I am sharing the e-mail with Ann as a PM.

[Wylie's Mom]

Very interesting, thanks Jim!

[fritz1963]

I am here representing Nature's Logic. I am posting the following for our owner, Scott Freeman.

We have had our food AAFCO tested in humane feeding trials. The kennels that performed the trials has a very humane set up with dogs and cats allowing time outside in real sunlight, daily human contact and contact with other pets; also play toys. They are not caged up all the time like in some trials. All cats and dogs used in the trials were adopted. The feeding trails proved that you can feed a dog or cat with just food and have them be completely healthy. We do not supplement our food with any synthetic (man made) vitamins or minerals. Look at our ingredient panel - it's just food.

The issue I have with companies saying they do no animal testing is the fact they use ingredients in their foods that have been tested on laboratory animals and many of these animals have been sacrificed in the testing with lethal doses of additives. I am talking about all kinds of pets and other animals being tested with synthetic vitamins and minerals in order to find out toxic and lethal dose levels. All commercial dry and canned diets use these ingredients which have been animal tested except for Nature’s Logic. Nature’s Logic is the only 100% whole food line of kibble, canned and raw that uses no chemically synthesized vitamins or minerals. You can see some of the test results of chemical forms of vitamins and minerals on dogs and cats at: http://www.natureslogic.com/pdf/vitaminmineral.pdf Be sure and read the “effect” column on each page.

One could infer that companies using synthetic supplements, which is all commercial dry and canned diets with the exception of Nature’s Logic, are complicit in the sacrificing of these animals in laboratories.

[Woogie Man]

Thanks for posting the info about Nature's Logic. It really is a unique formula and all my dogs thrive on it. I was hoping others would have contacted their dog food companies to find out about their testing procedures. The list posted certainly isn't all-inclusive and I think it would be great to have this information available to help in making food choices.

[yorkiekist]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

Wow, everyone wants the best foods for their dogs, but no one wants these foods tested? This just opens the door to more charlatans, and people who can convince others with pseudoscience. What about companies who have tested certain formulas, on dogs so who are prone to kidney stones, or other illnesses? You cannot use a computer model for this, and results don't always carry across species. We should be against inhumane testing, but I won't buy a food that hasn't been tested. The makers of Greenies should have tested more in my opinion. Don't forget, only the bigger companies test, small companies just use ingredients that have already been tested or don't need to be tested because they aren't making any claims that it will do something special. Do you want your pets to be the guinea pigs?

Great post Nancy!!

Are all the dog foods mentioned never been tested on dogs/cats? If there was no testing, how do the companies know what is good, bad or ugly for your pets? Testing foods on people should not be the norm or the model. People do not have the same nutritional needs as a dog or cat. What about whelping dogs and cats? What tests have been done to ensure that pregnant dogs/cats are getting what they need? By testing, I am in no way referring to cosmetics used for humans or torture of any animals. So how do these companies validate their research and results without testing?
I wish the "holistic, all natual remedy" I took almost 3 years ago would have been tested more and researched more. That way all the smells and tastes in this world wouldnt be a distant memory for me.

[yorkiepuppie]

animal testing of any kind is very upsetting to me. i do not understand what special foods or chemicals that still need to be tested? i don't think any dogs should be subjected to testing trials of any sort. would any of us be willing to send our dogs to these labs for them to do these tests and trials. the answer is probably a BIG NO. none of us are willing to send our dogs to a lab to become a test subject for the dog food companies so why should we expect any dogs to have to go through this for any of us or our dogs?

the only kind of testing i am ok with is testing on humans. (by this i mean human who are coherent; people who can give consent to the tests and trials they go through)

[yorkiepuppie]

Originally Posted by yorkiekist

I wish the "holistic, all natual remedy" I took almost 3 years ago would have been tested more and researched more. That way all the smells and tastes in this world wouldnt be a distant memory for me.

i am sorry that the medicine you took had bad side effects. but you took the medicine, no one forced you to take the medicine. with most medicines, there are side effects. and at least for us, people taking the medicine, there are also desired effect from the medicine we need.

so who or what was supposed to suffer the undesired effects of the medication that YOU needed or wanted for you? does that living creature also suffer the same symptoms as you and also needed the medication for some reason?

i am not understanding where all our superiority and entitlement come from? what makes us so great that other living creatures have to sacrifice on a daily basis for us?

[yorkiekist]

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

i am sorry that the medicine you took had bad side effects. but you took the medicine, no one forced you to take the medicine. with most medicines, there are side effects. and at least for us, people taking the medicine, there are also desired effect from the medicine we need.

so who or what was supposed to suffer the undesired effects of the medication that YOU needed or wanted for you? does that living creature also suffer the same symptoms as you and also needed the medication for some reason?

i am not understanding where all our superiority and entitlement come from? what makes us so great that other living creatures have to sacrifice on a daily basis for us?

This was pretty uncalled for, IMO! If it werent for animal testing, a lot of human diseases would not be understood or cured. Alot of testing is done on humans as well. This particular product that I took was not tested nor FDA tested(found that out later) and has caused damage to those who only used it under the guise that it was "natural", "homeopathic","a safe alternative" etc. If there had been one warning on what this product might do in the box in the tiniest lettering, I would not have used it. So I believe that its better to be safe, by doing testing, than sorry, by believing in the hype of "all natural", "holistic", etc and therefore doesnt need testing.
And if we, as a human race, followed your way of thinking, we would still be back in the dark ages. Sounds like you do not like modern medicine nor see the benefits from it.I hate to break it to you, but alot of modern medicine has been developed using animal testing. This has nothing to do with superiority and entitlement unless you are Hitler.