Iams Dishes Out Pain and Suffering
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - PETA
December 12, 2005
By Heather Moore
Iams pet food company may put forth a wholesome animal-loving image, but it pays contract laboratories to conduct cruel nutritional tests on animals for research and product development. For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, an investigator from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) went undercover in an Iams contract laboratory and found that extreme cruelty is the hidden ingredient in every can of Iams dog and cat food.
Iams dogs and cats were confined in barren cement cages or small stainless-steel boxes, many for as long as six years. Dogs were often trapped and/or injured because they were forced to navigate and sleep on slatted flooring for years at a time.
There were no windows in any of the facilities and temperatures in the buildings housing dogs dipped to 30?F in the winter and soared above 90?F in the summer. The ammonia fumes in the animal trailers were so overpowering that employees sometimes had to go home because their eyes burned so bad. The animals never got to leave.
One building was so dark and dungeon-like that the investigator had to leave the door open just to see the dogs, some of whom screamed for attention, while others walked in non-stop circles in their cages. None of the animals were given exercise or anything to enrich their miserable lives.
Sixty dogs had chunks of muscle cut out of their thighs and many were piled together on a filthy, paint-chipped concrete floor, violating government regulations requiring sterile surgical conditions. Two of the dogs were later found dead in their cages. One of them had been suffering intensely for at least 11 days prior to her death.
Laboratory employees stuck tubes down dogs? throats and forced them to ingest vegetable oil. One employee found an Iams dog dead in his cage, bleeding from his mouth. Many dogs had such severe tartar buildup on their teeth that it was painful for them to eat.
Cats were kept in a cinderblock room with crude wooden ?resting? boards that had nails sticking out of them. One of the boards fell on a cat, crushing her to death. The lab director did not remove the boards when the cat was crushed?only when he was told the lab was going to be inspected.
According to a laboratory employee, one Iams cat had not eaten for three days and died, apparently without having received any veterinary care whatsoever. Kittens used in a growth study were sometimes doubled up in cages, another violation of government standards.
Iams Officials Turn a Blind Eye to Animal Abuse
Shortly before PETA?s investigator left, the lab director instructed the vet techs to debark all the Iams dogs, as he was being disturbed by their desperate cries for attention. The investigator e-mailed Iams representatives with this information?as Iams had claimed that it would not surgically alter its animals?but Iams did nothing and the painful procedures were performed anyway.
In fact, Iams officials continuously pretended not to notice the abysmal conditions in the laboratory. PETA?s investigator videotaped Iams representatives touring the facility. They saw the sad, distressed dogs. They felt the sweltering heat and humidity in the kennels. Then they walked out.
An Iams ?behaviorist? saw dogs spinning in their cages out of madness and yet said nothing. An Iams veterinarian inspected a group of dogs purchased for testing and saw that one of the dogs had given birth in a cement kennel and had not been provided with anything to rest on while nursing her puppies. The vet did nothing.
Caring Activists Take Iams Off The Menu
PETA is calling on the Iams company to stop conducting cruel nutritional experiments, and, instead, rely on laboratory analysis of formulas for nutritional composition, in-home taste tests using dogs and cats whose human companions have volunteered them, and collaborative studies with veterinary clinics that have patients who have diseases or conditions of interest to Iams.
More than thirty companies, such as Evolution Diet, Inc., Harbingers of a New Age, Natural Life Pet Products, Inc., Petguard, Veterinary Nutritional Formula, and Wysong Professional Diets, conduct humane testing.
The dogs and cats used in Iams? tests are just as special as our dogs and cats at home and deserve companionship, comfortable beds, toys, and humane treatment. Iams is deceiving customers by promoting an ethical image while conducting cruel tests on animals and should be boycotted. To find out what else you can do to stop Iams' cruel tests, please visit IamsCruelty.com.
Iams pet food company may put forth a wholesome animal-loving image, but it pays contract laboratories to conduct cruel nutritional tests on animals for research and product development. For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, an investigator from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) went undercover in an Iams contract laboratory and found that extreme cruelty is the hidden ingredient in every can of Iams dog and cat food.
Iams dogs and cats were confined in barren cement cages or small stainless-steel boxes, many for as long as six years. Dogs were often trapped and/or injured because they were forced to navigate and sleep on slatted flooring for years at a time.
There were no windows in any of the facilities and temperatures in the buildings housing dogs dipped to 30?F in the winter and soared above 90?F in the summer. The ammonia fumes in the animal trailers were so overpowering that employees sometimes had to go home because their eyes burned so bad. The animals never got to leave.
One building was so dark and dungeon-like that the investigator had to leave the door open just to see the dogs, some of whom screamed for attention, while others walked in non-stop circles in their cages. None of the animals were given exercise or anything to enrich their miserable lives.
Sixty dogs had chunks of muscle cut out of their thighs and many were piled together on a filthy, paint-chipped concrete floor, violating government regulations requiring sterile surgical conditions. Two of the dogs were later found dead in their cages. One of them had been suffering intensely for at least 11 days prior to her death.
Laboratory employees stuck tubes down dogs? throats and forced them to ingest vegetable oil. One employee found an Iams dog dead in his cage, bleeding from his mouth. Many dogs had such severe tartar buildup on their teeth that it was painful for them to eat.
Cats were kept in a cinderblock room with crude wooden ?resting? boards that had nails sticking out of them. One of the boards fell on a cat, crushing her to death. The lab director did not remove the boards when the cat was crushed?only when he was told the lab was going to be inspected.
According to a laboratory employee, one Iams cat had not eaten for three days and died, apparently without having received any veterinary care whatsoever. Kittens used in a growth study were sometimes doubled up in cages, another violation of government standards.
Iams Officials Turn a Blind Eye to Animal Abuse
Shortly before PETA?s investigator left, the lab director instructed the vet techs to debark all the Iams dogs, as he was being disturbed by their desperate cries for attention. The investigator e-mailed Iams representatives with this information?as Iams had claimed that it would not surgically alter its animals?but Iams did nothing and the painful procedures were performed anyway.
In fact, Iams officials continuously pretended not to notice the abysmal conditions in the laboratory. PETA?s investigator videotaped Iams representatives touring the facility. They saw the sad, distressed dogs. They felt the sweltering heat and humidity in the kennels. Then they walked out.
An Iams ?behaviorist? saw dogs spinning in their cages out of madness and yet said nothing. An Iams veterinarian inspected a group of dogs purchased for testing and saw that one of the dogs had given birth in a cement kennel and had not been provided with anything to rest on while nursing her puppies. The vet did nothing.
Caring Activists Take Iams Off The Menu
PETA is calling on the Iams company to stop conducting cruel nutritional experiments, and, instead, rely on laboratory analysis of formulas for nutritional composition, in-home taste tests using dogs and cats whose human companions have volunteered them, and collaborative studies with veterinary clinics that have patients who have diseases or conditions of interest to Iams.
More than thirty companies, such as Evolution Diet, Inc., Harbingers of a New Age, Natural Life Pet Products, Inc., Petguard, Veterinary Nutritional Formula, and Wysong Professional Diets, conduct humane testing.
The dogs and cats used in Iams? tests are just as special as our dogs and cats at home and deserve companionship, comfortable beds, toys, and humane treatment. Iams is deceiving customers by promoting an ethical image while conducting cruel tests on animals and should be boycotted. To find out what else you can do to stop Iams' cruel tests, please visit IamsCruelty.com.
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