Ethical/sustainable/organic animal food

Londonwriter

Has anyone tried to feed a dog, cat or other animal (e.g. budgie) ethically?

I'm thinking of vegetarian (I know cats can't be veggie?), to have fewer nutrition/additives, Fair Trade/organic, etc.? If so, what did you do?

For example, I'm planning to feed our new puppy Nature's Best, but don't know whether there's anything else I could do if I was concerned about ethical issues. I also don't know if Nature's Best is the best food.

[Out of curiosity, what do you do with your cat if you're veggie? And is there such a thing as ethical budgie/hamster food? I've never seen such a thing in a pet shop and, when my mum had a budgie, it just got 'seed']

lowis

i have switched mine to Applaws, it is natural and additive free, the chicken based food is from free range sources and the fish based foods are from sustainable sources and dolphin friendly.

Humphrey10

I'm vegetarian, and I wouldn't even consider forcing an omnivore (eg a human!) to be vegetarian, let alone a carnivore like a cat or dog. I really don't think it's right to stop a carnivore eating meat.
I can't stand wet dog food though, the smell etc, we feed our dog dry stuff.

I've seen quite a few dog treats marketed as sustainable/ethical etc, eg fish4dogs, so there is quite a bit of choice there, also some dogs will eat anything so carrots etc will do!

Londonwriter

Humphrey10 wrote: »

I can't stand wet dog food though, the smell etc, we feed our dog dry stuff.
!

I don't like the smell, etc. either. A vet friend said a complete, dry puppy food was fine, although I read dry food is less tasty for the dog (?) so was a bit worried.

We're picking up the puppy on Saturday. Hubbie loves animals so I expect we'll add to our menagerie over time (I'm a bird girl, hubbie likes cats...)

Anyone else apart from Applaws?

Fire_Fox

Londonwriter wrote: »

Has anyone tried to feed a dog, cat or other animal (e.g. budgie) ethically?

I'm thinking of vegetarian (I know cats can't be veggie?), to have fewer nutrition/additives, Fair Trade/organic, etc.? If so, what did you do?

For example, I'm planning to feed our new puppy Nature's Best, but don't know whether there's anything else I could do if I was concerned about ethical issues. I also don't know if Nature's Best is the best food.

[Out of curiosity, what do you do with your cat if you're veggie? And is there such a thing as ethical budgie/hamster food? I've never seen such a thing in a pet shop and, when my mum had a budgie, it just got 'seed']

I posted a query into ethical issues in cat food and litter on the Green board here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1965805 . Natures Best is a Hills Science brand I think? In which case it's parent company is Colgate-Palmolive, so not overly ethical! Still better than all the Purina brands which are Nestle; James Wellbeloved and Royal Canin have Mars as their parent.

The Burns website is pretty impressive:
http://www.burnspet.co.uk/cat/environment.asp
Both Arden Grange and Trophy have ethical policies too:
http://www.ardengrange.com/arden-grange-philosophy-ethics.asp
http://www.trophypetfoods.co.uk/news/10.html

If you are looking for organic pet food there is Pero Organic, Organipets, Yarrah and some of the Hi-Life products: Pets at Home have an own brand called Purely that is free of additives and reasonably priced or you could try Co-op supermarket own brands. Some people do feed their cats vegetarian and even vegan food but these need a lot of additives to make them complete, and there is evidence cats cannot digest plant-based proteins as well as those from meat.

Humphrey10

Londonwriter wrote: »

A vet friend said a complete, dry puppy food was fine, although I read dry food is less tasty for the dog (?) so was a bit worried.

We put gravy on the dry food sometimes to make it more tasty, and mix in leftovers too. If we give her wet food she eats it really fast, plain dry food can hang around for hours and hours so I think it is less tasty for her.
But the dogs I've walked that were fed wet food were often fat, and very often had odd poos (liquid, or very soft, that sort of thing, sorry to mention it but it is something you notice when walking dogs!), that never happens with our dog, so I'm sure the dry food is good for her (it's Autarky).

MrsTinks

I'd put my vote for Arden Grange - that's what all 3 of my furs are on

If you are worried about it being "dull" then take half the dogs portion aside and pour over boiling water. Leave to cool down and turn to mush - now add the rest of the portion back in and there will be a variety of texture and the water mush will smell far more than just dry on it's own

Our hound gets leftovers like rice, pasta and potatos mixed in as a bulker once in a while but she loves her Arden Grange Shop around online and you'll find it can be pretty cheap if you bulk buy...

If need be you can put gravy on but use home made gravy - the granules are VERY high in salt...