"A recent PETA undercover investigation revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams contract laboratory. At least 27 dogs were killed, while others died of illnesses that went untreated, despite assurances from Iams that no animal in any Iams test would ever be deliberately killed."
Apparently, Iams does their testing in numerous contract labs, and at one of the labs PETA investigated, they found that the dogs were tightly confined in steel cages, sometimes force-fed through tubes, often not treated for illnesses, and had their vocal cords cut. The details are available at http://www.iamscruelty.com . If you would like to contact Iams and encourage them to stop laboratory animal testing, you can call them at 1-800-675-3849 or email them via this form.
There is a list of pet food companies that do not do laboratory animal testing here. Out of curiosity, I googled online to see whether Hill's, the company that sells our pet food, do animal testing. Gah. Apparently, they like torturing puppies and kittens.
While I appreciate the need to do research to develop new foods, I would think that it could be done far more humanely than in tightly confined labs. It seems to me that this kind of testing environment is more a matter of "doing things on the cheap", than anything else. If there are no ethical guidelines for the treatment of these animals, it is likely to be for financial reasons. While such stinginess and lack of concern may be acceptable for animals that are being bred to be slaughtered, it just doesn't cut it when you are dealing with pet owners.
For obvious reasons, I don't want to feed our pets predicated upon the pain of others. Given a choice, other options are sounding a *LOT* more attractive right now.
