The Cat Post Intelligencer

Scratching and Reporting by Chey

You are here: Home / The Latest With Chey / An Open Letter to Hills and Iams

An Open Letter to Hills and Iams

· ·

Dear Hills Science Diet and Iams Food companies,

I find myself asking a few questions about your products due to the Menu Foods Recall.

There was a poison that has been used to kill rats found in the wheat gluten of some of your food products. I want to know a couple of things.

First, my human was a veterinary receptionist for years back in the day. When clients asked why they should eat Hills or Iams (which the clinic sold) when their pet loved Purina (which was claiming to be a superior product), the techs and receptionists were told to tell them “Because Hills and/or Iams has better quality control.”

Where was your quality control when the poisonous substance was introduced into the foods? The first suspicion of a problem was in early February. The recall made headlines at the end of March. If your quality control is so good, why did it take 6 weeks and the deaths of at least 17 pets before you recalled contaminated food–never mind that with your superior quality control the food should not have been contaminated in the first place and if it was, it should never have made it to the shelf.

My second question is that the contamination was in wheat gluten. I don’t know as much about dogs, but cats are true carnivores. Wheat is not a meat. Wheat gluten is a plant based protein. Plant based proteins have a different structure and offer a different nutritional value than meat. True carnivores get their essential nutrients from the flesh of other creatures. We need fats and we need proteins. We do not need wheat. Why is wheat in cat food?

If the excuse for having wheat in the food is that food needs bulk and filler, then may I ask why wheat gluten is the filler of choice? Wheat is one of the most highly allergenic substances out there. The more processed it is the more likely it is to cause an allergic reaction. As the more highly processed form of the gluten is typically less expensive, need I ask what exactly you used in the food? Perhaps those itchy cats will stop itching now that their owners are afraid of feeding your foods.

In the last 20 years, Hills Science Diet and Iams have been hearlded as the gold standard of pet food by most veterinarians in the United States. Only the naturopathic veterinarians seem to dislike it. Hills has done a job any good pharmaceutical company would be proud of. All the docs love it, except the naturopaths, but they’re all a little weird anyway aren’t they?

The foods recommended by naturopathic vets have several things in common. Their companies claim a high level of quality control. They are typically smaller companies as this is currently a niche industry. This allows them more space to actually have quality control. Companies like Solid Gold were founded by people who loved their pets and wanted a quality of pet food not otherwise found in the United States. These companies require that their food be fit for humans. They minimize preservatives. They try to find organic ingredients whenever possible. They avoid known allergens like wheat.

Why don’t Hills and Iams try doing those things? The quality of the ingredients might cost a bit more, but there would be less need for lots of representatives to go out to veterinarians to try and sell the product, so in long run you’d save money. Clients would like the product so much it would sell itself. Consider it. After all, if one of those fit for human consumption foods gets contaminated, chances are it will reach the human population first and you wouldn’t be in this mess.

Sincerely,

Presidential Candidate Cheysuli

and her human.

PS: if you want to know how we choose our foods, you can go to our page on Cat Food. You can also do some general reading on nutrition at our nutrition page.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. My two Min Pins have been raised on Solid Gold since they came to me. I never trusted any other food exept Wellnes once in a while. Solid Gold is great,they love it. Thanks for caring Solid Gold!!!! Lis

  2. Once again you have proven that you are the perfect candidate for president.
    My pet human is constantly preaching about healthy organic foods for pooses. We eat Wysong or Solid Gold. Sometimes Wellness… tho it gives Nubi stinky-boy-syndrome.

    My pet human is always shocked when vets tell her dog patients’ owners to feed them Iams or Science Diet……..baaaaaaaaaaaa aaaackkkkkkkkkkk agaaaaaggggg puke
    She thinks that Science Diet must fund the vet schools…how else could they be promoting such garbaaaage??? Shocking.

    Vote Cheysuli for President….Good Organic Food = A happy country.

    zevo calamari
    pooses for peace

  3. A very timely post, Cheysuli! Mom chose Nature’s Variety because their food is grain-free and (according to them) 6.5 ph. This is important to her because of my struvite stone surgery.

    Now she’s thinking she might start making us food from scratch, but she wants to be sure it falls in that 6.5 ph range (i.e., neutral range). She’s not sure how to know, though. Meanwhile, both Silky and I just love their raw frozen medallions (organic chicken is our favorite).

    Mom’s just not sure which pet food to trust now.

  4. I saw a stabby person on TV the other day and I think he said something about while wheat is a carb, wheat gluten is a protein. I was only half listening, so I’m not 10% sure. I’d rather get my protein from real live dead fish or meat, either way.

    Know what chaps my beeehind? That this ONE company makes so many “different” foods…like some people pay 20 cents for the same food someone else pays 75 cents for. That’s just not right…

  5. Dearest Chey, such a wonderful post. Me and my mom have very similiar sentiments.

    Psychokitty is right, there is a lot of protein in wheat gluten. Apparently it was also used as a thickener, which is why only the cuts and gravy products were affected.

    Regardless, Mom won’t buy any Menu Food’s products again, even though I love Nutro Natural Choice dry kitten food. She just bought some Natural Balance Ultra Premium. I’m trying it out, I think it is OK.

    Love
    Tara

  6. PS Check out Luxor’s post. I just came back from your Cat Food page. Unfortunately, Newman’s Own Organics is also made by Menu Foods. Sigh…
    Tara

  7. Max, wheat is still a plant food, even if wheat gluten is a protein. As true carnivores, cats can’t process and use the proteins in wheat as well as in animal flesh. This is the definition of a true carnivore. There is absolutely no reason to use it in a cat food. The gluten is the property in wheat that causes the allergens as well, so again, poor choice of use.

    Corn has many of the same properties and is marginally better. However, we get back to the issue of cats being true carnivores. What we need in protein is not found in the plant kingdom, only the animal kingdom.

    Tara, we did see that about Newman’s Own. However they do no add wheat gluten to
    their foods. What we found far more distressing was the fact that Wysong was on list of products that purchased from Menu foods. We will definitely be promoting Solid Gold much more strongly!

  13. For those thinking of going to a homemade diet, please check with your vet to make sure the recipe you use has all the ingredients needed and in the right balance. There are certain nutrients cats need and you want to be sure they include them. For instance, I’ve seen “vegetarian diets” posted for cats, but they are obligate carnivores and some nutrients, such as taurine, are found only in meat. You can buy supplements to add but the source is still meat. I’ve also heard the opposite argument, that since cats are carnivores, all they need is raw meat. Again, it’s more complicated than that — when a cat eats something it has killed it’s also getting the bones, the “guts” and the pre-digested vegetable matter in said “guts,” also a source of various vitamins and minerals. Feeding meat without getting the calcium/phosphorous ratio right can lead to a lot of health problems. And keep in mind if your cat has kidney, heart, IBD or other health issues already, you may need to tweak the diet further. Not trying to discourage anyone, but it’s a complicated thing.
    As for all the manufactured foods being “the same,” that isn’t true. They are manufactured at the same facility, and use some of the same ingredients, but not the same recipes. (The way I look at it is, if you gave me five ingredients, and gave my friend Laura the same five ingredients, and asked us to make something, you’d be way better off eating what Laura came up with, trust me :). ) Hill’s foods were developed by Dr Morris, founder of the Morris Animal Foundation. Not sure if I can post a link, but if so http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/ If you click on the “History” link under “About MAF” it tells the story of how the first diet was developed to save the life of a Seeing-Eye dog.
    I’ve fed Hill’s foods to my cats since they were kittens. My first two cats lived to be 19 and 18 years old respectively, and my three current cats and my dog are all happy and healthy, so they must be doing something right :). My understanding is that no animals that have eaten Hill’s foods have fallen sick, but they voluntarily recalled the food anyway to be safe. That’s one thing I think is kind of weird, considering how many thousand’s of cans and pouches are out there, only some animals (thank God)have gotten sick. Maybe only some containers of the wheat gluten were contaminated?? As to why it’s added to the food, it’s not for nutrition, it’s as a thickener for the gravy part (which is why only the gravy-type foods were affected), sort of like flour or corn starch in people gravy.
    The poison having gotten into the foods appears to be a horrible accident or possibly a case of someone in China being careless. As to what Menufoods knew, and when they knew it, I agree, if they knew there was a potential problem and waited, then something needs to be done and the companies that used them to manufacture their foods should go elsewhere.

  14. Cheysuli,

    My mom makes us a home made raw food that she grinds at home. It is really yummy stuff. Mom met some really smart people 2 years ago when Tubby was diagnosed with diabetes. We used to eat some really yucky stuff for a long time. The vetty bean told mom that Tubs had to had some stuff called W/D and R/D because he was…well…Tubby. Tubs got even fatter on that food and then got the dire beasties. Tubby doesn’t have to get shots anymore and he has lost a lot of weight. Mom says that we are carnivores…well duh! and that a high protein, low carb, moderate fat diet helps us to lose weight and maintain lean muscle mass better than high fiber and high carb diets do. There are even some vetty beans at a place she calls VIN that think so too. That’s good for lots of us carnivores, maybe our friends won’t have to eat so much cereal anymore.
    We also eat some canned food too. Mom tries to find foods with no corn, wheat, soy, grains or vegetables. I guess it’s hard to find even in the premium foods. So we eat Wellness (even tho it has some vegetables) or By Nature Organics.

    Here’s some good places to check out:

    http://catinfo.org/
    Dr. Lisa is a super great vetty bean and pretty smart too.

    http://felineoutreach.org/
    Lots of information!

    We really like those websites. They help teach cat moms and dads how to take care of their kitties. And maybe if you could spare a $1 or $2, not only does Dr. Lisa help with what carnivores should eat, she also helps take care of those kitties that live outside and don’t have any human beans to live with them. The people at felineoutreach.org also help give human beans money to take care of their special kitties. They also teach the beans how to take care of their special needs kitties so they can stay at their own house.

    Mr. Tubs and Rocky

  15. We’ve seen Dr. Lisa’s site Tubs and Rocky. Thanks for the link. If others haven’t seen it, they may wish to visit it.

    Joey’s Mom, I have to respectfully disagree with you. Many of the recipes for homemade diets are prepared under veterinary supervision and with great care. The premium, organic and whole protein diets are also created with great care and meet the same requirements that Cornell University sets out for cats that the products of Hills Science Diet. We do not eat Science Diet any longer and haven’t since being taken off of Science Diet improved the health of our cats. Our vet found a heart murmur and we used imaging to confirm cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy cats have about five years to live. We approached a naturopathic vet. She switched diets to Solid Gold. Our vet was no longer able to hear the heart murmur, which had been quite strong at the time and it was at least five years before she could hear it again. There was a time when Science Diet was probably leading edge, but we have learned much about diets since that time.

    I don’t think that being produced at the same plant makes all diets the same. I am concerned that if Science Diet tells me they have quality control and are producing their food at their base of operations (which they have claimed at various times in their history) that they actually do so. I am concerned with pet foods that claim to have such wonderful qualtiy control are actually contracting out to other companies to actually produce their foods. It makes me wonder what quality control actually means.

  16. Our names are Rumpelmintz, Kitty.com, Studley, Omaha, Afer, Ralph, Latifah, Louie, and Jellybean. We eat the homemade food, too, from the instructions at catinfo.org and catnutrition.org. When Ralph came to live with us, he was real sick. He had bad tummy trouble and anemia and was getting the diabetes. Our human bean got rid of the dry kibble and fed us only canned food (without grains, especially corn) and the homemade raw food. Ralph got all better. Omaha was real fat – he could barely stand up. He lost lots of weight when the dry food was gone. I guess they dry food is full of something they call “carbohydrates” that makes you fat and get the diabetes. Also, dry food is well, DRY. That’s not good for our urinary tract and our kidneys.

    Our human bean has become a cat food fanatic now. She adopted three more cats with the diabetes (Latifah, Louie, and Jellybean) and two of them don’t have diabetes anymore. Louie still has it, but he needs a lot less insulin – only 1 unit now instead of 9 units. She found a pre-made raw diet called Feline’s Pride that is like the homemade she makes us, so now sometimes we get that and it’s really good.

    If you want to read more about cat food, we think you should visit catinfo.org, catnutrition.org, and felineoutreach.org. If you have the diabetes, go to yourdiabeticcat.com.

%d bloggers like this:

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close