You have NO IDEA the warm and fuzzy feeling I have after reading your post — I’m SO GLAD there are people out there in the world like you, who are torn by the complex decisions that have to be made to help animals. I feel your pain — for years I used to buy Science Diet because my veterinarian sold it to me. I didn’t even think about it — Iams made a mint off of me, and now I feel manipulated and betrayed by Iams.

So anyway, I’ve been thinking about your problem, and I’ve been trying to come up with a solution. It would make me feel sick to take that food and accept its inherent promotion of Science Diet to people who take in shelter animals. Hmm. So, the only real semi-solution I could come up with was that there is a list of PETA-approved cruelty-free pet foods out there —

http://www.iamscruelty.com/notTested.asp

(I think I’ve seen these ones in stores:
Natural Balance Pet Foods
Natural Life Pet Products
Newman’s Own Organics
http://www.newmansownorganics.com
Though I could be wrong about the Natural ones — I get them confused with all the other Natural pet foods out there. Since I make homemade food for my dog, I’m not very aware of commercial pet foods any more.)

Maybe you could find a pet food you like on the cruelty-free list and start recommending it to customers at the shelter? Or just your fellow volunteers at the shelter? I wouldn’t recommend badgering customers about the details of animal testing since most of them just won’t understand (though your fellow volunteers might be more understanding), but if someone asked you specifically you could say you’d really recommend Cruelty-Free-Pet-Food-X even though it may require an adjustment period from Science Diet, and they should slowly mix Science Diet with the new pet food over a week’s time.

Or you could maybe mention that the shelter recommends Science Diet, but you personally don’t, for ethical reasons. And if questioned further, you could explain that Iams tests on animals and you don’t want to support that. I think that would be very professional — as long as you make it clear it’s your personal belief, and don’t go into the gory details — tell people they can go to that iamscruelty website if they don’t believe you, but don’t describe the horrors of animal testing. Also, be sure not to cross the line of proclaiming that customers absolutely must buy some pet food brand, or claim that cruelty-free-pet-food-brand-x has any scientific evidence of being better, or that the shelter supports your views in any way. Personally, whenever I take my dog to the veterinarian, the veterinary technicians are always recommending all kinds of foods/practices/etc. to me, and it’s quite clear to me it’s their personal opinion, and the manager/owner always finds this a little annoying, but won’t argue against it as long as the techs make it clear it’s their personal opinions, and not the recommendation of the hospital.

Gosh, well that was kind of a rambly response on my part, but I was so excited to hear from another anti-Iams person — thanks again for writing in! I think I may devote a post to this in the future.

Regards,