menagerie Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 After watching Hugh and thinking more about the issues recently, I've decided I need to stop feeding my cats cheap cat food (which probably contains minced battery hens and worse). Can anyone recommend a brand which only contains free range chickens? My cats are not fussy, and I am not made of money but don't mind paying extra if I can guarantee they won't be eating intensively farmed chicken. I've been veggie for 18 years so hadn't really considered the meat aspect, only the egg aspect in the past. Suggestions welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Funny you should say that, because exactly the same thought crossed my mind while watching the programme (I think it was when that lady said she bought two chickens for £5 and gave one to the dog!) Afraid I can't help with any suggestions because I'm in the same situation as you, but I will watch this thread with interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooner.girl Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I've been thinking a lot about this too. Both Cat and dog food... I tend to buy the fish flavoured cat food mostly cos i don't like the idea of the chicken ones (but then i don't like feeding them the duck or rabbit ones either...) I know whiskas do an organic cat food in pouches which would mean the chicken is free range but it's twice the price of their normal pouch food pretty much so i haven't been brave enough to put my money where my mouth is and convert yet... Perhaps after watching the rest of the channel 4 programmes this week i will feel more compelled to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisnrob Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I think that the best you'll be able to do is Burns Pet Nutrition (see http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/cat_food.htm for details) Their chicken comes from non-caged birds. They only do dry food though, not tinned. That said, ours have eaten only dry food for almost all of their adult life! Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooner.girl Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Yeah - my dog has dry food from Burns - its very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 I covered this is the last BHWT newsletter, if you have it. BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 We changed from Burns to Pero for Jazz - I don't know if Pero do cat food, I think they do. All our cats are outdoor cats - semi-feral - and we had to start feeding them because wehn we inherited them, three of them were pregnant. We do buy cheap food for them , but always fish based and not chicken, turkey or duck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 We changed from Burns to Pero for Jazz - I don't know if Pero do cat food, I think they do. They do...I googled it last night! See **here** Watch the video....it is so bad it is bound to become a classic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Spooky - I emailed Wiskas yesterday asking if any of their products use free range meat. Wiskas is the only one Chilli will contemplate eating, & he is off fish at the moment Will let you know if & when I get a reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Spooky - I emailed Wiskas yesterday asking if any of their products use free range meat.Wiskas is the only one Chilli will contemplate eating, & he is off fish at the moment Will let you know if & when I get a reply. I've got some Whiskas organic for my hens. It says on the box (of pouches) Whiskas organic contains highly nutritious ingredients from organic farms and The independent organisation for control and certification "AustriaBio garantie" guarantees with its sign that the agricultural ingredients of Whiskas Organic are grown and processed according to the strictest guidelines of organic farming All very impressive....but in fact tells you very little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowsong Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Hi I'm afraid 'Organic' does not mean free range! it simply means the chickens have been fed on organic food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 HiI'm afraid 'Organic' does not mean free range! it simply means the chickens have been fed on organic food. Yes...thats right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 It's odd, there is another post on here at the moment about chicken stock, where the idea seems to be that anything described as 'organic' has to be organic chicken, rather than chicken fed on organic feed... This here seems to suggest the opposite... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 I just went to Pets at Home,where,true to form,they were utterly useless & didn't know anything about free range chicken cat food I may contact H/O as the member of staff was quite dismissive & actually sniggered at me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 I just went to Pets at Home,where,true to form,they were utterly useless & didn't know anything about free range chicken cat food I may contact H/O as the member of staff was quite dismissive & actually sniggered at me Cheeky beggar. Make a fuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 HiI'm afraid 'Organic' does not mean free range! it simply means the chickens have been fed on organic food. In my research that's not the case. The hen meat is actually laying hens (organic) that are spent. So it is free range and organic. BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowsong Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 The term 'organic 'can be very misleading. Organic chickens raised to the Soil Association standards will have indeed been allowed to free range. However birds can be sold and labeled as organic without keeping to these standards. Here is a quote from the Soil Association website: In contrast, non-Soil Association chickens reared to the current EU rules often live in huge flocks – with as many as 9,000 birds in a single shed – and are then sold as organic.In larger flocks, the sheer volume of birds means that some chickens won't even see or be able to get to the pop holes leading to the range area and so will never go outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Just had this response from Wiskas - it looks like a stock email to me. I am going to get back to them & ask if the same is true about their Organic food, & if that can be classed as free Range or not. Good Morning, Thank you for contacting us regarding Whiskas products. All the meat used in our pet food products are sourced from the human food chain, so we are unable to specify if they are free range or not. If you need any further information or advice please contact our Consumer Careline on the telephone number below and one of our Consumer Care Advisors will be more than happy to help you. Kind regards. Lorraine Hines Consumer Care Team 0800 738 800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 cop out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Interesting thread. My dog was a Pedigree Chum only girl for many years, then she got ill and stopped eating altogether, I went crazy trying out many different brands to find something she liked the only thing she will now eat is Butcher's and it has to be the tripe version it smells vile I just looked on the tin...ingredients 85% meat or animal derivatives..... doesn't sound too good to me but in order to keep her alive (she is 16) I guess I'm stuck with it Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Note the way they say 'meat' in the email as animal derivatives are not classed as meat so long as there is a sliver of meat from the human chain in the product it can be really dodgy bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 well I suppose that Whiskas response confirms what I'd thought, that whatever is used for pet-food is probably a by-product of what is produced for humans - in other words, these are the bits they can't use even in chicken nuggets . So by buying it, we are probably not promoting the production of non-organic livestock, just using up the waste. That doesn't make me feel much better, but my cat is so fussy that like Tessa, when you find a brand they will eat I tend to stick with it. He turns up his nose at free-range organic chicken sometimes, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menagerie Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 hi thanks for the useful replies. tho it still seems pretty unclear. I think I may try the burns stuff, the website does say they don't use caged birds (so hopefully freerange??? or barn???) and it's not so much more expensive than the dried stuff I give Tabitha. Sorry to disillusion the people that feed 'fish' flavour catfood - this is probably also mainly dodgy 'meat' (including minced up ex-batt) with a small proportion of the fish as on the label. Likewise only part of a tin of ctafood labelled chicken flavour actually needs to be chicken. This may not be true if you're buying v expensive catfood but is certainly true of the bog standard tinned stuff I buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Just had a bit of a thought. M&S only have free range chicken,don't they? And they do cat food Might be making a phone call to them later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...