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

[Beowulf]

The Export example is only based on my personal experience.
I have not dealt with every country so I cannot tell you if there are those with lower standards of testing, but for thos that I do deal with (and even some with very poor economies), the testing required for every run is stringent enough that it would definitely have caught any contaminants such as melamine and the container would have been rejected.

You nailed it on the head with industry transparency though, this in my opinion is the single most important factor in all business including and especially goverment. If the entire mechanic is visble to the public and is accurately regulated, then we will not have to worry about hunting down the culprits should a fault occur as they will have to have been completely visible from the get-go. And if all were apparent from the start I wouldn't have to defend the manufacturing process in general because it would be open knowledge for everyone.

I appreciate your well-thought criticisms and know that it's these type of mental jousts that benefit both parties involved and leave both knowing even just a bit more than they had before

I've got to hunt down Health Certificate for Singapore now, this debacle has really slowed
down the normal USDA response time and made my job a little more hellish... even the unafftected are getting shafted by this thing from a mere operational standpoint. Thanks for your insights and opinions, I'll see y'all a little later

-Mike

[amy]

Ok, let me ask a difficult question.  With all of these recalls, and not knowing who to trust, what do we do?  Does one go back and feed a Menu food such as Nature's Variety or Wellness, knowing that they have not been involved at all in the recall, or do we still stay away despite other problems that Menu did not experience?  It may be a stupid question, but I am trying to find the lesser of evils here, given that feeding choices are slim and getting slimmer.

[Beowulf]

Feed a food that:
a. does not contain wheat gluten, corn gluten or Rice protein... for obvious reasons.
b. has an ingredient list you can understand and seems wholesome to you (may take some preliminary study)

You'll be fine if you do that... only "a" is absolutely necessary, but "b" will make for a healthier pet overall, not to mention more peace of mind for yourself.

You'll find a lot of paranoid musings on the net so be careful to take most opinions on what is good and what is not with a grain of salt. Make your own informed decisions and don't worry about anything that doesn't make real sense to you. If we were to shy away from everything that everyone said they thought was no good.. there would be nothing left.

-Mike

[sylvia]

I would like to suggest that people who need more information go to Therese's other site, PetsitUSA , and go over all the different foods she has on the non recall list. I spent over a week going over all of them, some several times, till I narrowed it down to about five companies and then chose a new food. I am very happy with it so far and feel my choice is very safe. I have dogs and decided on Kumpi. I have used Wysong for many years and feel it is also a safe choice. I would suggest you do the same. It takes some time but it is worth the effort and peace of mind in the long run. I found some other interesting choices I may supplement with in the future. I must say I always used very high quality foods but lately have found choices I knew nothing about until this scare hit. Good luck.
PS : None of the ones on my final list have had any recalls and I don't expect them to as they are all small companies that give out lots of information and answer emails.

[Geff]

I can't swear that it's the truth, but Natura (California Natural) told me on the phone that they make their own dry food in their own exclusive factory which they said is owned by them.

Menu does make their wet food, however.

[MissLori]

Feed a food that:
a. does not contain wheat gluten, corn gluten or Rice protein... for obvious reasons.
b. has an ingredient list you can understand and seems wholesome to you (may take some preliminary study)

You'll be fine if you do that... only "a" is absolutely necessary, but "b" will make for a healthier pet overall, not to mention more peace of mind for yourself.

Unfortunately, many of us THOUGHT we were doing that, and those products got recalled also. 

[sylvia]

I have seen very few of the companies I found ever mentioned here or they have been suggested by one or two people and never followed up on. The ones most people keep going to are way more common and can be picked up at almost any pet boutique in my area. I have tried some of the canned such as Innova's, Calif Natural, Merrick, Wellness myself and have never had a problem but until this whole scene plays out I will use no canned at all. I know cats are a different story as I have been owned by several over the years but do not have one now. All I can say is just keep looking. The short list I gave you a few posts back does not include all I found.  Good luck.

[MissLori]

Thanks so much Sylvia!  I'm sure those are all good brands, but unfortunately none of them are available around here. I'd love to try them but unfortunately it's just too expensive to order a bag, pay shipping, and then have the cats turn their noses up at it.  Even if they do like it, shipping often adds $4 or $5 a bag, and that's just too much for me to afford.    I did find a natural pet food store nearby that has samples, and I'm going to try out the Timberwolf Serengeti dry next, I think, since it is grain-free. I'm still debating the Blue Buffalo and Chicken Soup dry foods.  The recent recalls have me spooked, even though those foods are (for now) not on the recall list. I know my cats like these, and they are readily available here.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Correct! The point being that what the label says means nothing.

[sylvia]

Hi again MissLori
Maybe the store you are going to will order some of the foods for you or get samples. I have gotten my food at a feed store for several years. Sometimes they special order for me and then I do not pay postage as it comes with their regular shipments. It never hurts to ask. Timberwolf products look good to me. I also noted The Honest Kitchen sells small sample sizes and maybe some of the other companies would send small samples out  to the natural store especially if the store might order some to stock. As for the labels being accurate, I believe some companies are trustworthy and some probably are not.  Depends on who you are dealing with as in any other business. Blanket accusations are not helpful and there are honest pet food providers. I agree it takes some work to find them.

[Caylynn]

In addition to the brands Sylvia mentioned, I also think that Orijen is a very high-quality food.  Orijen cat food is grain-free and low in carbohydrates.  They make their own foods out of locally-sourced ingredients, and say that they do not use a co-packer. 

[garypen]

A lot of companies seem to make their own DRY food. The problem seems to be finding comapnies that make their own canned food.

This would be a great opportunity for some of these holistic companies to get together and open a joint canning facility. Natura, Blue, Natural Balance, why not give each other a call?

[Cindy Nevarez]

They could certainly save $ that way w/out comprimising quality.

[Kathleen]

 Until I figure out  how I will make my own cat  food , here is my plan.
 
    I was feeding WYSONG  URETIC  kibble but got turned off when I was horrified to discover that one of their  canned foods was made by MENU.The cats would NOT eat WYSONG canned food anyway! I choose the URETIC since I have a cat who had struvite crystals and URETIC can be fed to all cats.It cost me $1,000.00 to sort out that bladder stone  problem so I do not want a reoccurrence,. I had to take the cat  back 3 times for X-RAYS, as there were problems getting the stones to dissolve.[ probably caused by the food I was feeding at that time, plus a genetic pre- disposition on the part of the cat ]
Yesterday I spoke to a holistic animal nutritionist who convinced me not to throw out the baby with the bath water--so I am back on WYSONG kibble. They are not crazy about it, but tough  going cats--if you put it down and leave it for an hour they will eat it. I am not giving in to the little 4 legged  tyrants! They already own me!

The nutritionist suggested sprinkling the top of the kibble or canned food with:
         WYSONG'S ARCHETYPE---this is freeze dried raw meat and comes in a bag

Here is some of what Dr. Wysong says on the back of the bag:
     Wysong diets seek to emulate the food that animals eat in the wild--the diet they are genetically programmed for

     Archtype , first and foremost is not heated.  Heat is the enemy of nutrients and creats toxins

    Archtype is complete with meat, organs, bones, plant nutrients and micronutrients

    Archtype is rich in proteins-50% and amino acids commenly degraded or lost in heat- processed foods

    Archtype contains no grains which unnaturally dilute the diet with high levels of carbohydrates
                          etc. etc. etc.

The cats are mad about this freeze dried meat--but I only add a small bit to the top of the dish of canned food, They follow me around begging for more. I do not give in. It is expensive--$28.00 [Cdn.]  but it lasts a LONG time and as we all know VETS are more expensive if you run into problems feeding your animals that crap that passes for animal food these days. However, you can buy a lot of red muscle meat for the same amount of money---but this is convenient for now.   
I am using Merrick  canned food with an occassional can of WHOLE MACKERAL by  EVANGERS.  I can hardly stand the smell of this mackeral it smells up the whole house, but the cats LOVE it.

              Kathleen, whose life is  ruled by 4 spoiled cats and a couple of dogs
       

[inacircle]

- Who makes their own food?... There's quite a few dry dog choices as covered in other lists and forums... however, a small-independent pet store owner told me that there are NO companies that are a "quaint - simple - natural - holistic - mom & pop" type operation, because dry kibble is suprisingly complex to manufacture... so they're all high-tech factories, despite how "natural or holistic" they appear to be.

- So, who can you trust?...  I really don't know yet, but for immediate damage control and convenience, I've picked the "lesser of evils" by going to a more premium product: Innova dry dog (one of the Natura brands) for now.
- BUT... I'm looking into other, better options