What company makes their own pet foods? I need someone to trust!

[MissLori]

It's looking like the only thing short of making my cats food myself is to find a company that makes their own foods in their own plant from ingredients that have NO connection to China in any way, shape, or form.  (And obviously need foods that contain no filler ingredients like glutens and rice proteins of any kind.)   Anyone know who might fit this bill for both dry and canned cat foods?  I don't feel like I can trust most of the companies I thought I could before, including Blue Buffalo and Chicken Soup.

[Caylynn]

Orijen looks good.

[Sharon L.]

MissLori I feel your pain.

I had narrowed my canned choices down to Evangers and Merricks, but my cats wouldn't cooperate and refused pretty much all favors in both brands.  So I'm using Wellness canned because they offer 5 flavors which are completely grain free (look for the yellow "grain free" triangle on the can). Yes, I know they use Menu to manufacture their food, but my options are fairly limited at this point and the cats like this food.

For dry there is Orijen, manufactured from locally acquired ingredients in Western Canada. My cats just love this food ... my only difficulty is that it is not sold in my area and the shipping cost is a problem so I may have to switch to the grain free Wellness Core or Innova Evo. Innova stated that they manufacture their dry own dry food, but they do use Menu to manufacture their canned product. I don't know where Wellness manufactures their dry.

I'm just beyond angry at this debacle. I just want food which won't harm my pets ... how hard it that!? So I'm focusing on completely grain free foods as the safest bet right now.

Sharon L.

[Cindy Nevarez]

The only one I trust right now is Evangers. Unfortunately they do not make a dry for cats...I already asked if they would be in the future...they are "thinking about it."

I suspect they don't since it's a general consensous that dry for cats is not the best option, as they do better health-wise with all wet food.

[Beowulf]

Mike with Back to Basics here (speaking personal opinion only):

You'll be hard pressed to find a food that solely owns 100% of it's production process. It is a multi-million dollar cost to operate on a level that could supply the public and the reason it works as-is is because these manufacturers are contracted with many different pet foods. Most of the companies that could afford to run such an operation on the solo are the same giants that strive to maximize profit by using cheaper (and as of late, more vulnerable) ingredients.

As far as blame and trust goes, it's not the manufacturers' fault that these ingredients are being used or where they come from, they are simply providing a service to those who own the formulas and the ingredient suppliers who compile them. There are only 3 points of blame involved in this recall (and less than perfect pet nutrition in general): The Pet Food Company themselves who are fully aware of every ingredient (uncontaminated of course) that goes into the food, the ingredient Supplier who is responsible for making sure those ingredients test clean, and of course the FDA/USDA for not having more stringent testing regulations.

Even Menu foods, the largest involved party, is not doing anything "wrong". Only the foods they produce that contain these ingredients were affected and there are plenty of other foods they make that were perfectly safe... if you noticed, there have been no cases of contaminated food due to poor manufacturing practices (ie: a food that doesn't contain any culprit ingredients being affected due to being made in the same manufacturer as one that has.) This is because the manufacturing standards are very high and there can be no risk of cross-contamination between different formulas made in the same facility. I can tell you this first-hand because I arrange for export fo our food to other countries and if at the other end the testing shows anything not specified in our formula, the shipment is fully rejected... and this has never happened to me in over 5 years of international dealings.

The most appropriate judgements to made made right now should not be at the manufacturers, and it's not fair to pet food companies that have been doing the right thing all along and who are unaffected to be crucified because of WHERE there food is made, the focus of concern now and as always should be WHAT is in the food.

That being said, there certainly are probably a few foods out there that can meet your expectations, but I feel it important to try and dissuade you from the thinking that you'll only find quality in completely self-owned operations... in fact, those who own their own facilities have WAY higher overhead costs and so will probably be seeking more profit per unit (bag/can)... thus the reason for using cheap filler ingredients such as those we commonly source from overseas.

I see a lot of shooting off the hip lately all over the internet and while I understand the concern and could very easily see myself in those shoes, my experience dictates that it's best to get an understanding of each aspect before passing judgement on an entire operation. You don't throw away a nice new car because you find out that the tires you bought for it to run are faulty, you just replace the tires and make sure you don't buy those ones again, and if it's something more in-depth like the type of rubber used to make the tires, you do your part as an informed consumer and stay away from that type of rubber.

Sorry to rant on for so long but we should all know from a lifetime of experience that we cannot rely on government or big industry to meet OUR standards, we can only do that for ourselves... I don't know why, but I think of Rosa Parks... left to their own devices at the time, the established norm would have continued regardless of how wrong it was, it takes the power of individual action though group collaboration to make any real changes in the world, and if you want all of our pet foods to be safe and healthy... well, do a little research and don't buy the ones that aren't... if everyone does this the market itself will bankrupt or force positive change on the companies in question.

Capitalism is one of the few systems that allow individuals true freedom, but once you accept that freedom, you also have to accept personal responsibility else the system will become corrupt and eventually fail.

That's all for now, I'm sure I'll be back to vent later

-Mike

[garypen]

As Mike pointed out, but may have been lost in the long post, is that most of the companies who manufacture 100% of their products are the same ones that use the cheapest and least healthy ingredients, like Purina. They just kill your pets slowly, instead of immediately.

[Beowulf]

I'd like to make a quick amendum to my previous post:

I am not heralding for ALL manufacturers, just the process itself and the reality of the operation. There are certainly manufacturers such as American Nutrition who, if what Natural Balance claims is true and there was never RPC in their food, are certainly soley to blame for poor and questionable practices... but this an exception to the rule, not the rule itself.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Mike,
I understand what you are saying RE: merely it is a service provided. Also, we ARE focused on "what's in the food." For crying out loud...that's what this whole forum is about.

Ultimately the pet food company's neck is on the line, if they are claiming to have certain ingredients in the food, and later it is found that the list is wrong. Plus, if a company would want to be sure that commitments on service contracts are being met, the company would have to self test every run to be sure that is indeed what is going on, since that test would be documented, otherwise if later they wanted to sue for breach...they would not have the evidence to back it up.

That they do not test says volumes about the fact that either don't concern themselves about that for whatever reason (i.e.; there are no 'real' laws saying they have to adhere to the ingredients stated...so they already know there's no basis for lawsuits), or the REAL way to cut costs is to NOT TEST, NOT do REAL supervision of manufacturing, NOT follow the trail of the ingredient back to its origin, NOT be sure that any kind of regulation is really being adhered to.

[MissLori]

Mike, you make good points and I appreciate your feedback.  I still, however, have no way of determining which companies are being truthful when they say they didn't know anything about those ingredients being added to their foods, and which are not.  I wish I knew who to trust, but at this point I don't.  I do see that the "self-contained" company isn't necessarily the way to go. I'll just have to keep looking and reading.

For what it's worth, I got a sample of Back To Basics dry foods, and my cats liked it quite a bit. Unfortunately, no one here carries it so I would have to order it directly. This adds $4 per bag to the cost, which is out of my budget.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Speaking of "self-contained" companies Mike...I'm not buying it. Many self-contained companies can for others as a way to add to their revenue. It's an obvious solution.

From a business stand point, wouldn't a self-contained company with a good reputation stand to only benefit from others approaching them with a proposal to have them manufacture for them? Wouldn't that only serve to add to their good reputation? "Hey, XYZ's food is so good....I'm having them make it for me...since they do a better job than I ever could."

Yes, the experience, history, long-term manufacturing practices, and word of mouth make all the difference to these self-contained companies. If they've already got a good reputation...believe me they want to keep it.

[Beowulf]

Cindy,

You make a very valid point about the lack of testing for pet foods within the USA.
And of course I do not question anyone's concern with what's in pet food, I addressed the idea of sole ownership of production and thus used the argument of WHAT only vs. WHERE.

While our current import testing regulations are appearing to be at a lower than acceptable level, you may find it interesting to know that there may be a higher level of regulation for foods that EXPORT outside of the USA. As I pointed out in my original post, getting food out of the US and into another country is no walk in the park... I spend probably 3 weeks on each order just dealing with paperwork and acquiring testing results/certificates from the USDA. Because of this, it may be that you can find more trust in a company who also sells outside of the USA as those foods are regularly tested due to export necessity and not just for quality assurance.

I'd go into length about how "certain" foods take even further precautions and measures to ensure quality, but because I can only think of one... *wink* I risk crossing into the advertising line (which I may have already... damn I hate being a pet food employee, have to tread lightly)

I guess the underlying theme I am constantly trying to address is that it's important to not throw away the good stuff with the garbage just because we're upset.

Kudos to all for being so involved and expanding the horizons of public pet food awareness... Not even one death is acceptable from what is supposed to provide life and the bigger this thing gets blown open, the better... just be careful of the stray fire when yer guns are 'a blazin!

-Mike

[Cindy Nevarez]

Thank you for your quick response, however, I must disagree again; I wouldn't look at a company's integrity based on its ability to export, first of all, if the company can export, it can add more $ to the USA $ being made to the kitty, 2nd, depending on the country, it just may be a question of 'how much can you line our pockets so we'll let your food in,' and 3rd, again depending on the country, the regulations may be very lax in comparison to ours, so that it may actually be EASIER to get food in over there, thus creating an opportunity to make more $ than it would be to sell it here.

[Beowulf]

Of course you are correct Cindy, hence my statement:

"there certainly are probably a few foods out there that can meet your expectations, but I feel it important to try and dissuade you from the thinking that you'll ONLY find quality in completely self-owned operations..."

Hopefully this will become the new paradigm for pet foods and your heart and mind are certainly in the right place, the fact of the matter is what's unfortunate... and that is that these facilities are nigh non-existant.

You never hear about the manufacturers in relation to the food though, and maybe that will soon change in light of this recall... it would be a good day indeed when the general public can first find a reputable manufacturer of pet foods and then proceed to make their selection of food from within that parameter. There are damn good manufacturers out there, some who deal primarily with only high quality ingredients... there is one in particular I know of that refuses to even include certain commonly used  ingredients in their lineup even though it would surely spell increased profits for them, and I'm sure there are others like them.

I really hope to see some changes in the labeling laws of pet foods, I'm against the tide on that one for the most part as a pet food employee because we and many others would benefit while it would definitely put a thorn in the side of the majority of foods.

[Cindy Nevarez]

And I don't base my decisions on that fact alone.

We all here on this forum already have dicussed in length the differences between Merricks and Evangers for example. While we don't (yet) know their true manufacturing processes, we may soon as you say. They may prove to be the worst in the bunch after all.

I think that it's important that every pet guardian around get to see all the 'behind the scenes manufacturing practices' whether they be good or bad. If we take anything away from this horrible experience it may be that we see the worst of it, and later we see the best of it.

[sylvia]

Miss Lori you might want to go to the following websites. These are all interesting foods I would consider.
1. Wysong :  I used their dog foods for years and was always very happy  with  them. I have very healthy dogs.
2.The Honest Kitchen
3. Halo
4. Flint River
5. Kumpikat
6. mOrgins
They all can be reached through the Petsitusa site and there are others there that might be of interest to you. It is a great resource list for dog and cat food.