Does Iams test their products on animals??

Question

I read on PETA that Iams test their food on animals by force feeding them. I just want to know if this is true...

Answer 1

Do you really have to force feed the average dog? Ummm no. But Iams is bad for dogs according to most vets (that I have talked to) and I know the rescues I have talked to won't even think about using it for their dogs but it has nothing to do with testing. Animal food is always tested on animals that is how they know if they like it or not. Unfortunatly Iams is just a bad food. Dogs will eat it (some will) but it isn't healthy for them and their coats get dull and the dogs usually end up not looking very healthy.

Answer 2

Betcha Ducky has never been near an animal laboratory in her life. Anyway, I don't like testing things on animals, but I do agree that in some cases it is a necessary first step. For instance, our corneas on our eyes and those of animals are very similar. Before we blindly (pun intended) put an unknown chemical in a humans eye, wouldn't it be a better idea to anesthetize an animal, put some of it in their eyes, see if a reaction develops, then humanely euthanize them and do microscopic studies of what the chemical did? Yes, some medications and products test fine on lab animals and then cause problems in people. That is because there is NO drug that doesn't have different side effects in some species more than others, and because we live so much longer than other species that we get old enough to have things like cancer, heart problems, etc. But if a drug does CAUSE problems in the test animal, it is scrubbed or reformulated well before the human testing starts. As a vet that studied laboratory animal medicine, I can tell you that painful tests are required to be done under anesthesia, and animals must be given pain medications if they are allowed to wake up from a surgery or painful procedure. The reason that animals are still given cigarette toxins is to try to figure out how to treat the human disease, not to say 'its still toxic'. Few humans are willing to be guinea pigs for research involving chemicals put in or on their bodies, so without testing other animals, every drug on the market would be sold as 'buyer beware'. That said, I do not believe in testing cosmetics, doing esthetic nonessential surgeries on animals, killing whales for using their blubber for lipstick, killing corals and starfish and alligators to feed the publics sense of what is pretty to decorate their homes with, using any leather product that isn't from a farmed animal, and eating fish that hasn't been farmed. Fishing is an extremely brutal terrible way for a fish to die, yet no one pitches a fit that the fish are suffering.

Answer 3

I refuse to feed my animals Iams because they test on animals. They did this study at Columbia University where they were carving out the thigh muscles of beagles (using no pain reliever of course) to test the protein building component on their dog food. I worked at the University at the time, so I know it to be true.

Answer 4

Iams promotes animal testing for everything. I refuse to feed my dogs Iams because of that.

Answer 5

Would you want to feed something that hadn't been tested? Why would they force feed if they want an accurate representation of how their product will work in everyday life? It's yet more PETA BS. It's a terrible quality food though, that's why I won't buy it.

Answer 6

P.E.T.A is in a huge lawsuit right now over the euthanizing of puppies and kittens. I don't think they are exactly the most reliable source of info on the matter. And no, they test dog food on humans just like they test human food on dogs.

Answer 7

No, they do not force feed. But yes they do test their product on pets (which is not dangerous and is done under the watchfull eye of Vets). Sounds like PETA is trying to starve our pets now.

Answer 8

No. They test it on children.

PETA kills puppies and throws them in dumpsters. Don't listen to their vitriol.

I don't know about the force-feeding issue. I'd imagine that they feed their garbage to hungry dogs and then wait and see if the dogs have acute reactions to it. If most of the dogs do not, then it is a marketable formula.

Follow this link and read up:

http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1

Answer 9

What should they be testing their pet products on? :P
"good news, we think this dog food is safe and will help your pet age gracefully. we know this because a bag of it sitting on our shelf for 3 months did not spontaneously combust."

Answer 10

ALL ANIMAL FOOD IS TESTED ON THE ANIMALS THEY ARE MADE FOR!