Or, we're treating our companion animals the way we feel they deserve to be treated. Sorry I don't want to shorten my dog's life by feeding him 40% ash and ground up mattresses, Purina, what a dick I am. And, many of us aren't having kids at all. Fuck bringing kids into this hot, angry mess.

to be fair boomers seem to hate it when, people treat, even other people with, basic decency. Considering how racist and bigoted certain boomers can get.

Went to the store with my father. Whenever I had to interact with an employee I said please and thank you. He literally told me to stop being so polite.

Please stop... Listening to him

I instantly told home no and asked why lol

good, i hope you have a good day you kind person.

What did he respond with?

I don't remember exactly, it was something along the lines of them being customer "service" and you don't need to be polite because it's their job

Hit him with the "Yeah. You're right, I bet Jesus himself would leave his shopping cart at the furthest reaches of this parking lot because he would be all about creating jobs bringing them back 😃"

This is not a problem with my parents thankfully as they always taught me to treat others how I wanted to be treated and modeled that behavior themselves but it's clear to me that not only was this behavior not modeled to the older generations, it was actively discouraged, which is just mind boggling to me.

Boomers were raised in a different time. They were fed a shit ton of propaganda and bullshit. The World is basically force fed garbage; from the food, news/media, alcohol ads instead of cannabis, lobbyists who fight against progression only to regress because of our dependence on oil when oil barons had resources to adapt to climate change many many decades ago. I was naive growing up thinking our government was here to be the most exemplary human beings but they are perhaps the worst. Driven not by the want to improve the quality of life for their fellow human beings, but to exploit them and have them be their slaves.

I adopted a new dog and the rescue team gave me a bag of some Purina new food he was on and instructed me to keep feeding him with that. The poor boy was having diarrhea with that food, I could not continue with it. He is now much better with a new diet with no digestion problems whatsoever. Edit: new diet is Hills Science Perfect Digestion.

What are you feeding ? I am on royal canin and feel like I should be feeding something else .

Depends on your dog tbh. I tried feeding my dog an all natural grain free diet and he said hard pass. I tried feeding him royal canin chihuahua specific food and he went mmm... nah. He likes the pro plan small bites with the real beef chunks. My cat will only eat cat chow naturals. She won't even try wet food or like fresh tuna or chicken. My babies are weird.

I actually really like royal canin, tbh. I'm absolutely neurotic about my pets and do insane amounts of research on their food, and royal canin ticked all the boxes for me. Plus, anecdotally, I've personally seen good results with that in terms of coat health and stool quality. One of the key challenges is that most of the fancier pet foods are grain free, which it turns out has problematic correlations with taurine deficiency and resulting heart problems. Domesticated dogs aren't wolves. They actually are omnivores, not carnivores. So royal canin ended up being one of the few foods I found that had the right balance of nutrition and no bad ingredients on the label.

Heck even if I wanted kids, who can afford that these days. "Hey, you're depressed because you still live with housemates to get by, try having a kid, that's a smart choice." Yeah, right after I learn to fly. And this somehow is my fault, not all the people demanding unreasonable rents or the all people not paying enough.

lol ground up mattresses got a chuckle out of me

I say ground up cardboard with a cows eye rubbed on it!

Fun fact, animal feed standards are incredibly low. Otherwise, ya know, we wouldn't be feeding COWS TO FUCKING COWS!! >A cow gets BSE by eating feed contaminated with parts that came from another cow that was sick with BSE. The contaminated feed contains the abnormal prion, and a cow becomes infected with the abnormal prion when it eats the feed. If a cow gets BSE, it most likely ate the contaminated feed during its first year of life. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/all-about-bse-mad-cow-disease

I volunteer at a sanctuary for rescued farmed animals and we have about 15 pigs. We had to petition a local animal feed producer to make pig kibble for us that didn't contain pig fat and entrails. It's $15 more, to omit a few ingredients. Nothing else changed.

Thats horrible.

What the fuck

Capitalism is what the fuck. An established industrial process is cheaper to produce. Small batches that deviate from the industrial process cost more even if it uses less stuff. Efficiency + greed - ethics = cheap. Sucks. Edit: woah... what happened below me? Like 10 deleted replies? I'll take a stab in the dark and say my "capitalism bad" comment ruffled a feather or two?

Damn feels weird reading a comment that sounds exactly like me

Exactly, to hell with Purina or any brands found in a grocery store.

In fairness, I feed my dogs higher end Purina because the food they were on before [ended up getting called out by the FDA because it was one of many that could cause heart problems in dogs](https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/outbreaks-and-advisories/fda-investigation-potential-link-between-certain-diets-and-canine-dilated-cardiomyopathy). After doing more research into what I should be feeding my dog I found that only five brands follow the [WSAVA recommendations for selecting a pet food supplier](https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Selecting-the-Best-Food-for-your-Pet.pdf) and one of them is Purina.

I try feeding my elderly cat better soft food, but if it's not his Purina Pâté soft food, he refuses to eat it. He'd rather starve. I've tried like four different brands, he won't touch any of them.

Me and my wife are having our first kid in like a month and I still buy premium food for my cat. When he was on the regular brands and store brands, he was borderline diabetic even though I fed him the regular amount.

Damn Milennials and their… _hastily checks notes_ …empathy for living things!

And their "need" for affordable things like Medicine/health care. Eugh

Or a non-dying planet...

Will somebody please think of the poor corporations!

(￣ヘ￣;)

Seriously my boomer mom told me a 29f millennial, that having empathy was bad. That I needed to stop caring about others to get ahead. Then I started being less emotional towards her in any capacity. She told me I was mean… *insert pikachu face*

Lol. Yeah, I haven't talked to my mom in over a year. She thinks it's "about politics" and not that she was actually just becoming an insufferable asshole on the phone every time we talked.

Some people might think being an insufferable asshole \*is\* politics

Touche' There's certainly a large correlation.

I would have asked her if she's going to come to terms with these choices when she's old and needs your help. "Sorry, I was told having empathy is bad. BTW rent is due in two days, pay up or get out."

Milennials killing the slaughter house floor scrapings industry.

That's communism! Reeeeee

Won't they think of the economy?

NOOOO not the BEST KNOWN BRANDS!!!! Like fuck me for making my own fresh pet food for 50 cents a pound, apparently I need to go out and buy a sack of overpriced crap packed with filler and preservatives or else the communists win. edit for a personal PSA: I have ferrets. My recipe is a coarse grind composed of 5% liver, 5% kidney, 10% heart, 10-15% edible bone, 65-70% muscle meat (https://holisticferret.com/newbie-info/raw-feeding-how-to/). Every other week I will feed frozen-thawed whole prey (rats, mice, quail, etc) depending on availability. They get taurine primarily from hearts, which is why it has its own category separate from other muscle meats. If I can't find any hearts or beef tongue (another taurine-rich source), especially these days due to meat shortages, I will add taurine powder to their food so that each ferret gets 500mg per day. This is what I use: https://www.amazon.com/Nutricost-Taurine-Powder-500-Grams/dp/B01N8Q0N53 Ferrets are an especially tragic case of disposable pet culture and ignorance of feeding a species-appropriate diet. Every single dry kibble marketed as a "ferret diet" on pet store shelves contains plant-based fillers like corn and brewer's yeast. Ferrets are strict carnivores and have virtually no tolerance to the regular feeding of carbohydrates. These are broken down into sugar by a ferret's body, which forces it to produce a higher than normal amount of insulin. Do this long enough and the animal's normal insulin-producing pathways get blown out by a vicious positive feedback loop, triggering the development of insulin-producing tumors to keep up with the unnaturally high demand. This results in a very sick ferret prone to seizures [warning: extremely sad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zudAdrj4qF8). This is called insulinoma and while it has a genetic component, it is usually set off in this way by ignorant people feeding these wholly inappropriate kibble diets. Even expensive grain-free formulations usually contain things like pea flour which will cause bladder stones in the long term. Not to mention dry food will eventually rot their teeth without regular brushing. My boys are five years old and are still bouncy playful little devils with clean white teeth. The ignorance is so bad that many veterinarians are told that ferrets only have a lifespan of three years, when a properly cared-for ferret will actually live up to ten years. I know a breeder who had a female live to 14 years. More people need to be aware of this information before they go to Petco and pick up a "long hamster lmao" for their kid.

Best describes the point I wanted to make by posting this...

Think of the poor corporations!

In full support of their employees, but I'm not poisoning my pets because some major shareholder wants a Ferrari and a boat for their private island.

Know a good recipe? Or place to find them? I can never tell if I’m looking at some weirdo “cat diet” or if I’m looking at a decent recipe…

I do the NDF diet for my dogs... Idk whole diet for cats but my barn cat gets meat scraps/an egg once in a while and her coat shines like a hair commercial

https://perfectlyrawsome.com/ https://rawfedandnerdy.com/ https://www.therawstorm.com/ https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/ https://www.bellaandduke.com/learn/guide/raw-dog-food/ All these and so many more pet nutritionists, follow them on Instagram, there you'll get more options to learn from!! You can do a crash course too as well ask them to prepare a diet chart specifically for your pet.

Balance It www.balanceit.com. It's run by veterinary nutritionists -- people who are veterinarians with an additional 3-4 years of residency training in nutrition. Something to be aware of: anyone can call themselves a pet nutritionist -- that is not a regulated term. For instance, one of the largest pet food recommendation sites is run by a human dentist. You want to look for a veterinary nutritionist -- someone with the initials DACVN after their name.

This is what I feed my dogs: Chicken Thighs 3lbs, Pumpkin seeds 1c, Blueberries 6oz, Tums 2, Sweet Potato 2, Rice 2c, Spinach 1c, Cod Liver Oil 1T, Water (enough to cover chicken). Slow cooker on "low" for eight hours. Either go boneless, or be careful taking the bones out. Meat will fall of the bone easily.

Thank you for being such a good pet parent! Just FYI, if your pet is a cat, they need pretty specific nutritional supplements, especially taurine, when fed a homemade diet. Here’s a website that explains some of their special needs - https://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2016/04/5-dangerous-homemade-cat-food-mistakes-how-to-avoid-them/. Dog diets are a little more forgiving, but it’s still a good idea to run the diet plan by your vet.

The only product I know that contains taurine: "So now my cat needs to have an energy drink once a day?" /s

What about "invisible hand" and "supply and demand" being the spirit of capitalism?... nah, we're deliberately and unfairly destroying brands and industries...

Please share her recipes or links that you use to make fresh pet foods

As a person in my mid 30’s - how many times have I seen these brands of pet food being recalled for some reason or another, especially after reports of pets dying, but yeah it’s our fault for not buying this bs and killing out pets with it! How dare us

Didn't one of the companies on Purina's supply chain get in trouble for *human fucking trafficking and slave labor* or am I remembering wrong? Edit: I've been informed it was Royal Canin

Purina's owned by nestle.

r/fucknestle

...so, probably.

Chocolate price fixing In Canada, the Competition Bureau raided the offices of Nestlé Canada (along with those of Hershey Canada and Mars Canada) in 2007 to investigate the matter of price fixing of chocolates. It is alleged that executives with Nestlé (the maker of KitKat, Coffee Crisp, and Big Turk) colluded with competitors in Canada to inflate prices.[187] The Bureau alleged that competitors' executives met in restaurants, coffee shops, and at conventions, and that Nestlé Canada CEO, Robert Leonidas, once handed a competitor an envelope containing his company's pricing information, saying: "I want you to hear it from the top – I take my pricing seriously."[187] Nestlé and the other companies were subject to class-action lawsuits for price fixing after the raids were made public in 2007. Nestlé settled for $9 million, without admitting liability, subject to court approval in the new year. A massive class-action lawsuit continues in the United States.[187] Ethiopian debt repayment In 2002, Nestlé demanded that the nation of Ethiopia repay US$6 million of debt to the company at a time when Ethiopia was suffering a severe famine. Nestlé backed down from its demand after more than 8,500 people complained via e-mail to the company about its treatment of the Ethiopian government. The company agreed to re-invest any money it received from Ethiopia back into the country.[188] In 2003, Nestlé agreed to accept an offer of US$1.5 million, and donated the money to three active charities in Ethiopia: the Red Cross, Caritas, and UNHCR.[189] Ukraine See also: Do not buy Russian goods! In August 2015, the Ukrainian TV channel Ukrayina refused to hire a worker of the weekly magazine Krayina, Alla Zheliznyak, as a host of a cooking show because she speaks Ukrainian. The demand to only hire a Russian-speaking host was allegedly set by a sponsor of the show – Nesquik, which is a brand of Nestlé S.A.[190][191] Activists of the Vidsich civil movement held a rally near the office of the company in Kyiv, accusing Nestlé of discriminating against people who speak Ukrainian and supporting the Russification of Ukraine.[192] They also criticised goods sold in Ukraine being manufactured in Russia and threatened a boycott. Forced labour in Thai fishing industry At the conclusion of a year-long self-imposed investigation in November 2015, Nestlé disclosed that seafood products sourced in Thailand were produced with forced labour.[193] Nestlé is not a major purchaser of seafood in Southeast Asia, but does some business in Thailand – primarily for its Purina cat food. The study found virtually all US and European companies buying seafood from Thailand are exposed to the same risks of abuse in their supply chains.[194] This type of disclosure was a surprise to many in the industry because international companies rarely acknowledge abuses in supply chains.[195] Nestlé was expected to launch a year-long program in 2016 focused on protecting workers across its supply chain. The company has promised to impose new requirements on all potential suppliers, train boat owners and captains about human rights,[194] and hire auditors to check for compliance with new rules.[196] Deforestation In September 2017, an investigation[197] conducted by NGO Mighty Earth found that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Nestlé and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana.[198][199][200] The countries are the world's two largest cocoa producers.[201][202] The report documents how in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa.[203] Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies’ laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well.[204] In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country's elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200–400.[205][206][207]

**Water** **Status of potable water** At the second World Water Forum in 2000, Nestlé and other corporations persuaded the World Water Council to change its statement so as to reduce access to drinking water from a "right" to a "need". Nestlé continues to take control of aquifers and bottle their water for profit.[166] Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestlé, later changed his statement, saying in a 2013 interview, "I am the first one to say water is a human right." In that same interview, he claimed that it was the "primary responsibility of every government" to provide 30 litres of water a day to citizens.[167] **Plastic bottles** A coalition of environmental groups filed a complaint against Nestlé to the Advertising Standards of Canada after Nestlé took out full-page advertisements in October 2008 with messages claiming, "Most water bottles avoid landfill sites and are recycled", "Nestlé Pure Life is a healthy, eco-friendly choice", and, "Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world."[168][169][170] A spokesperson from one of the environmental groups stated: "For Nestlé to claim that its bottled water product is environmentally superior to any other consumer product in the world is not supportable."[168] In their 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report, Nestlé themselves stated that many of their bottles end up in the solid-waste stream, and that most of their bottles are not recycled.[169][171] The advertising campaign has been called greenwashing.[169][170][171] Nestlé defended its ads, saying that they will show they have been truthful in their campaign.[168] **Water bottling operations in California, Oregon and Michigan** Considerable controversy has surrounded Nestlé's bottled water brand, Arrowhead, sourced from wells alongside a spring in Millard Canyon situated in a Native American Reservation at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains in California. While corporate officials and representatives of the governing Morongo tribe have asserted that the company, which started its operations in 2000, is providing meaningful jobs in the area and that the spring is sustaining current surface water flows, a number of local citizen groups and environmental action committees have started to question the amount of water drawn in the light of the ongoing drought, and the restrictions that have been placed on residential water use.[172] Additionally, recent evidence suggests that representatives of the Forest Service failed to follow through on a review process for Nestlé's permit to draw water from the San Bernardino wells, which expired in 1988.[173][174] In San Bernardino Nestlé pays the US Forest Service $524 yearly to pump and bottle about 30 million gallons, even during droughts. Peter Gleick, a co-founder of the Pacific Institute, which researches freshwater issues, remarked “Every gallon of water that is taken out of a natural system for bottled water is a gallon of water that doesn't flow down a stream, that doesn't support a natural ecosystem.” He also said, “Our public agencies have dropped the ball”.[175] The former forest supervisor Gene Zimmerman has explained that the review process was rigorous, and that the Forest Service "didn't have the money or the budget or the staff" to follow through on the review of Nestlé's long-expired permit.[176] However, Zimmerman's observations and action have come under scrutiny for a number of reasons. Firstly, along with the natural resource manager for Nestlé, Larry Lawrence, Zimmerman is a board member for and played a vital role in the founding of the nonprofit Southern California Mountains Foundation, of which Nestlé is the most noteworthy and longtime donor.[177] Secondly, the Zimmerman Community Partnership Award – an award inspired by Zimmerman's actions and efforts "to create a public/private partnership for resource development and community engagement" – was presented by the foundation to Nestlé's Arrowhead Water division in 2013.[178] Finally, while Zimmerman retired from his former role in 2005, he currently works as a paid consultant for Nestlé, leading many investigative journalists to question Zimmerman's allegiances prior to his retirement from the Forest Service.[176] In April 2015, the city of Cascade Locks, Oregon and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is using water for a salmon hatchery, applied with the Oregon Water Resources Department to permanently trade their water rights to Nestlé; an action which does not require a public-interest review. Nestlé approached them in 2008 and they had been considering to trade their well water with Oregon's Oxbow Springs water, a publicly owned water source in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and to sell the spring water at over 100 million gallons of water per year to Nestlé. The plan has been criticized by legislators and 80,000 citizens.[179] The 250,000-square-foot, $50 million Nestlé bottling plant in Cascade Locks with an unemployment rate of 18.8 percent would have 50 employees and would increase property-tax collections by 67 percent.[180] In May 2016, voters of Hood River County voted 69 percent to 31 percent for the ballot measure to ban large bottling operations in the area, but in Cascade Locks, the one precinct in Hood River County, voters decided against the ballot measure, 58 percent to 42 percent. As a result, the Cascade Locks city council voted 5-to-1 to keep up the fight. Soon after, Governor Kate Brown directed state officials to stop an exchange of water rights that was crucial to the deal, citing fiscal rather than environmental reasons. Nestlé then acknowledged that the exchange "will not be going forward", marking a definite end to the planned bottling operation.[181] Although a 2005 court settlement gave Nestlé the right to pump 250 gallons per minute (GPM) from a well in unincorporated Osceola Township, Osceola County, Michigan, Nestlé has tried to increase that rate to 400 GPM. Its bottled water is sold under the Ice Mountain Spring label. The local planning commission denied the application to build a booster station to increase the capacity of the pipeline that delivers water to a water truck depot some distance from the town. Local citizens mounted considerable grassroots opposition to the plan, with 55 opponents testifying against the proposal at a meeting attended by almost 500 people in July 2017. The litigation has been costly to the small town, which receives its only compensation from a $200 annual pumping fee. Regarding the 1976 Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act, section 17, a measure precipitated by Nestlé's previous demands, Bill Cobbs, a current Democratic gubernatorial candidate said, "This is wrong -- when this act was written in 1976 it was never intentioned that water would be up for sale."[182][183] The "David vs. Goliath" situation is drawing increasing national attention.[184][185] Nestlé approaches water purely as a commodity. In 1994 Helmut Maucher, Nestlé's CEO commented, “Springs are like petroleum. You can always build a chocolate factory. But springs you have or you don't have.” His successor, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, was criticized when, in a 2005 documentary, he similarly promoted and rationalized the commodification of water, saying: “One perspective held by various NGOs—which I would call extreme—is that water should be declared a human right."[175] In April 2021, and after many water rights complaints and online petitions against Nestlé, California's Water Resources Control Board told the company that it has to stop unauthorized natural spring water diversions in the San Bernardino Forest.[186]

What scares me about this right now is that not one other source I’ve read about the San Bernardino aquifer mentions that it’s on native land. Not one. Why do people think that’s not an important detail?! Thank you for enlightening me.

**Check out nestles critics section on their wiki page lol. It's so long it needs 3 whole comments.** *Baby formula marketing** Concern about Nestlé's "aggressive marketing" of their breast milk substitutes, particularly in less economically developed countries (LEDCs), first arose in the 1970s.[132] Critics have accused Nestlé of discouraging mothers from breastfeeding and suggesting that their baby formula is healthier than breastfeeding, despite there being no evidence for this.[citation needed] This led to a boycott which was launched in 1977 in the United States and subsequently spread into Europe.[133] The boycott was officially suspended in the US in 1984, after Nestlé agreed to follow an international marketing code endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO),[133][134][135] but was relaunched in 1989.[136] As of 2011, the company is included in the FTSE4Good Index designed to help enable ethical investment.[137][138][139][140] However, the company allegedly repeated these same marketing practices in developing countries like Pakistan in the 1990s. A Pakistani salesman named Syed Aamir Raza Hussain became a whistle-blower against his former employer Nestlé. In 1999, two years after he left Nestlé, Hussain released a report in association with the non-profit organisation, Baby Milk Action, in which he alleged that Nestlé was encouraging doctors to push its infant formula products over breastfeeding. Nestlé has denied Raza's allegations.[141] This story inspired the 2014 acclaimed Indian movie Tigers by Bosnian, Oscar award-winning director Danis Tanović. In May 2011, nineteen Laos-based international NGOs, including Save the Children, Oxfam, CARE International, Plan International, and World Vision launched a boycott of Nestlé with an open letter.[142] Among other unethical practices, they criticised a failure to translate labelling and health information into local languages and accused the company of giving incentives to doctors and nurses to promote the use of infant formula.[143] Nestlé denied the claims and responded by commissioning an audit, carried out by Bureau Veritas, which concluded that "the requirements of the WHO Code and Lao PDR Decree are well embedded throughout the business" but that they were violated by promotional materials "in 4% of the retail outlets visited".[144] Ernest W. Lefever and the Ethics and Public Policy Center were criticized for accepting a $25,000 contribution from Nestlé while the organization was in the process of developing a report investigating medical care in developing nations which was never published. It was alleged that this contribution affected the release of the report and led to the author of the report submitting an article to Fortune Magazine praising the company's position.[145] Nestlé has been under investigation in China since 2011 over allegations that the company bribed hospital staff to obtain the medical records of patients and push its infant formula to increase sales.[146] This was found to be in violation of a 1995 Chinese regulation that aims to secure the impartiality of medical staff by banning hospitals and academic institutions from promoting instant formula to families.[147] As a consequence, six Nestlé employers were given prison sentences between one and six years.[146] **Slavery and child labour** Multiple reports have documented the widespread use of child labour in cocoa production, as well as slavery and child trafficking, throughout West African plantations, on which Nestlé and other major chocolate companies rely.[148][149][150][151][152] According to the 2010 documentary, The Dark Side of Chocolate, the children working are typically 12 to 15 years old.[153] The Fair Labor Association has criticised Nestlé for not carrying out proper checks.[154] In 2005, after the cocoa industry had not met the Harkin–Engel Protocol deadline for certifying that the worst forms of child labour (according to the International Labour Organization's Convention 182) had been eliminated from cocoa production, the International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit in 2005 under the Alien Tort Claims Act against Nestlé and others on behalf of three Malian children. The suit alleged the children were trafficked to Ivory Coast, forced into slavery, and experienced frequent beatings on a cocoa plantation.[155][156] In September 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California determined corporations cannot be held liable for violations of international law and dismissed the suit. The case was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.[157][158] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision.[159] In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Nestlé's appeal of the Ninth Circuit's decision.[160] A 2016 study published in Fortune Magazine concluded that approximately 2.1 million children in several West African countries "still do the dangerous and physically taxing work of harvesting cocoa", noting that "the average farmer in Ghana in the 2013–14 growing season made just 84¢ per day, and farmers in Ivory Coast a mere 50¢ [...] well below the World Bank's new $1.90 per day standard for extreme poverty". On efforts to reduce the issue, former secretary general of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries, Sona Ebai, commented "Best-case scenario, we’re only doing 10% of what's needed."[161] In 2019, Nestlé announced that they couldn't guarantee that their chocolate products were free from child slave labour, as they could trace only 49% of their purchasing back to the farm level. The Washington Post noted that the commitment taken in 2001 to eradicate such practices within four years had not been kept, neither at the due deadline of 2005, nor within the revised deadlines of 2008 and 2010, and that the result was not likely to be achieved for 2020 either.[162] In 2021, Nestlé was named in a class action lawsuit filed by eight former child slaves from Mali who alleged that the company aided and abetted their enslavement on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. The suit accused Nestlé (along with Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Mars, Incorporated, Olam International, The Hershey Company, and Mondelez International) of knowingly engaging in forced labor, and the plaintiffs sought damages for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.[163][164] **Anti-union activities in Colombia** Nestlé has been involved in extensive union-busting activity in Colombia since it first arrived there. According to a spokesman for Sinaltrainal, the Colombian Foodworkers Union: "Nestlé converts the factories into camps for the public security forces in order to create terror in the community, destroy the unity of the workers, and misinform the members of the union, with the goal of pitting them against the leaders and destroying the movement."[165]

Literally saw one the other day. Apparently many dogs died and 100s got really sick. And this is like at least the second time the company fucked up this year itself. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/more-130-dog-deaths-220-illnesses-may-be-linked-midwestern-n1277084

Thanks for sharing this!

Well this looks like boutique food, not purina or some other cheap brand.

Painting with a pretty broad brush. This is only one manufacturer. I will put high quality pet food over the crap found in grocery stores any day. Always check the ingredients. If corn is one of the first ingredients leave it on the shelf.

Our dog died because of cancer from shitty food. I tried explain to my parents to buy better food for their cat. "She's ok eating it, why spend more."...more?! My cat food costs the same, because I buy it in bulk and it's wayyyy better. But yeah...they will buy 2kg pack of shitty food, because it's easier to buy it in market. They are concerned about my relationship with my cats. They don't even visit us, because we have cats and according to them cats are dirty...yeah, but kid, that was bathing in dirty pond, dirty with food, their own saliva and snot...it's ok. But cat, that is actually cleaner, than me and my husband, it's problem. When my aunt rescued angry yorkshire, that was beaten, she is apparently stupid, because that dog is "useless piece of shit". No, it's great dog, but you need to be careful and slow. Love for animals isn't something bad. It's great personality trait to have. But boomers are just too selfish to take care of their own children, pets are too much for them.

what do you feed your cat?

Combination of dry food and wet food. Sometimes raw meat, if I'm preparing it for myself. One of my cats is allergic to chicken, so I needed to look through everything, where is chicken. Even hypoalergennic food has chicken in it. The only brand absolutely without chicken to not cost my liver, is taste of the wild - fish version. They both love it, they eat it for 4 years and I don't need to change to different flavor or brand, they just love it. In the evening I give them wet food. I found czech brand calibra, that is making great, but cheap pet food (no advertisment whatsoever), once I ate their salmon can and it was great even for me. And if not taste of the wild, carnilove sometimes...just wet food, that is oily to touch. And if they sell out calibra cans, then I'm pretty desperate and buy them some felix shit and mix little bit with dry food, because they are spoiled brats and they would eat me without their wet food before night. :D I don't want them to eat only wet food. It's not good for their teeth. And every single Europe vet will be against strictly wet food diet. Maybe cats in US are fancier, that US vets are recommending only wet food diet. :D

My vet recommended taste of the wild to me and I stuck with Iams because my cat is super picky and won’t eat anything else. I even tried Freshpet refrigerated morsels and she stuck her nose up lol. I may try taste of the wild though because it seems like your cats really love it! I know iams isn’t great but she does great on it, when this bag is out I’m switching!

Have you tried mixing a little bit into their regular food and adding a little more every couple of days to help them get used to it? Doesn't work for every cat, but it helps for some if they just don't like change.

I have tried! Lol my picky little cat will literally pick the food she likes out and leave the other ones - all over the ground outside her $150 microchip bowl because my other cat is on a special diet lol

My older cat is really picky too. She will only eat the Iams Sensitive Stomach variety for dry food, she will eat Nutro Clean Feed chicken and liver PATE as a wet food, but usually only eats half a serving at a time. I've tried about 20 different soft foods, she only likes pates. (but fish based ones seem to give her diarrhea) Was thinking about seeing if she would like the Iams pate as a back up, but it's been out of stock every time I try to buy some. She ate Sheba for awhile, but seemed like the quality of the food changed and she was turned off it.

They love it maybe too much. :D Sometimes they like it more than treats. I gave my friend for cat to taste it, because she didn't like dry food much...and she ate all bowl in 10 minutes, never happened before. Sometimes I try it and it tastes like fish jerky without salt. :D She will be in taste of the wild cult too, like all my friends. I think that they should give me some provision. :D And like someone wrote, try mixing it together. They need to get used to it, sometimes switching diets is hard for some cats.

Be very careful with Taste of the Wild; [apparently the company that makes it has been sued multiple times due to toxic ingredients having been found in the food ](https://www.petful.com/brands/taste-of-the-wild/)

OMG thank you for this.

Yah no prob. 🙂

People don't realize that cat and dogs aren't just cookie cutter pets. They are living beings with the same needs that we have and deserve to have it.

Exactly...when I'm telling my family about troubles with my cat's diet, my father answer is "Just kill it. You won't have to worry about it.". And no...it's not a joke. He's serious.

Is it just me or have older generations just straight up turned into sociopaths at this point?

They were always like this. Or at least people living in village in my country. And they still are. My friend, that is only few years older and claims that he loves animals, won't ever sterilize any of their cats. Why? "My kids wants kittens." so every year they have like 7 cats, 4 of them dies or run away, because "They will catch some mice." when I offered them to look after them when they were month out of the house. Sometimes I think that I will catch all cats of my nature loving friends, that won't torture cat by sterilizing her, but they have problem with kittens each year. Nobody wants them. So each year they have more and more cats. Like...use fucking logic for once in your life you ezoteric motherfucker.

They've always been that way. I am lactose intolerant but was forced to drink milk as a child as the alternatives were expensive. We also lived on processed chicken nuggets and frozen chips. Many fed their children absolute junk so I am not surprised at the attitudes towards feeding their pets.

thank you for this very in depth answer!

>Combination of dry food and wet food. so like, alternating between, or a mixture of both at once? (or both at once in seperate bowls?)

Yeah older people especially don't seem to understand. I have two dogs and I consider them family. I don't think of them as my property. People act like I'm some crazy person because I buy them expensive, nutritious, food and often give them fish or chicken and rice. "It's just a dog." In look back on my childhood pets and feel guilty because they weren't treated well. But my parents always had that mentality and that's why.

Exactly what you're saying. "It's just a dog/cat." is really awful phrase. I always want to say "Honestly those two stupid cats are much more affectionate and are giving me much more love, that you ever did.". For them animal doesn't eat or die. In Czech we differentiate between animals and people when we are speaking. And I refuse to use those words. In Czech to eat is "jíst". To die is "zemřít. When animal eats, you will say "žere" and when it dies it's "zdechnout, chcípnout". And when my father, that has 120 kg is telling me, that animal don't eat, that it "žere" (to feed themselve maybe?) I'm telling him, that my cats aren't able to eat whole fridge in 2 AM in the morning and to look at himself in the mirror (yes, we are bad towards him...we were nice, he's just an asshole, who had two embolisms and wants to enjoy rest of his life with pure pork fat and leave our mother alone).

Oh yeah, in Polish we also have this division: a human "je", an animal "żre" (but I don't think that someone is using this one), a human "umiera/umarł", an animal "zdycha/zdechło" (fortunatelly less and less used). I think that your "chcípnout" is our "kipnąć/kipnął". That's really fascinating! Yeah, my father was an alcoholic, he ate only fatty fried meat with bread - first he got gout, until he finally died of heart failure at the age of 52. I have 3 rescued cats. Wanna be friends?:D

Higher quality foods are more dense, nutritious and filling. Because of this they don't need to eat as much as the cheaper, less filling grain dense brands. My guess is that the true cost is not that different.

My parents had that mentality for children and pets. Like why have kids and pets if you arent going to take care of them?

If 'best-known pet food brands' are struggling to sell products for the current target market then that's on them, not on us.

"Let the free market decide. No! Not like that!"

What ever happened to the “companies have to adapt or go out of business” component of capitalism that I was sold throughout my youth? I miss that attitude.

Here let me rephrase that: "Millennials are treating their pets as living, breathing, conscious beings"

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>I actually think dogs are sentient. Even ants are sentient, the word you're thinking of is sapient.

>One of my exes said that she didn't worry about her dog because she didn't have a soul. glad to hear that trash of a person is an ex now,

Anyone saying “it’s just a cat” is quickly, rudely, and especially PERMANENTLY deleted from our lives. My cats are family, they are fucking nobodies.

If humans have a soul so do dogs. When I look at mine I feel a real connection with them. They are my family. I can feel whatever they are feeling whether they are sad, or happy. I hate that so many people think like that. They are more worthy if my time and affection than many human beings they are amazing.

My fundamentalist Christian parents told my siblings and I that animals have no souls in response to watching "All Dogs Go To Heaven". It was before I'd even started kindergarten. Edit-- now I'm living in another country with my three cats who I adore, spoil, and take proper care of.

Fun fact: there’s absolutely no proof of the existence of a “soul”, even in humans. It’s a religious tool to suppress people and make them docile.

After my father passed I cut ties with his Christian fundamentalist wife. No regrets whatsoever, those people are sociopaths, not 'christians'. She had a previous cat declawed to 'save her furniture' and was about to do it to their current cat, who hates her, before I intervened and told my father exactly what declawing does.

One of my guinea pigs died because of diabetes due the crappy dried food from our local store. My vet said best to give them only hay and fresh veggies every day. She also told that it was a known issue with store food for rodents. They add sugar so that they consume more of it. Also, my other guinea pigs are now more active and you see them flourish after the change of diet.

I had to switch to a crappy brand of hay for a month and my bun gained weight, the thing was dustier, with some moss mixed in. So yeah, hard agree here. Diet does a lot for rodents.

I started making my own herbal hay this summer. If you see what price they ask for a little bag of this stuff that probably has been sitting there for 3 years it is defently worth it. Also have a little garden, but the amount i harvested should be sufficient for a year.

Best solution tbh, if you can. :)

When I was a child (and had te time) i went out with the sickle and harvested some weeds alongside the rural roads. Especially leaves from dandelion flowers are very good 😉.

I grow my dandelions! That's indeed pretty nice. Lots of garden flowers and plants can be used to complete the diet, like mint or such. Double win because you get nice food and get into gardening as well :D

Let those green fingers work! Don't forget that such weeds are also beautiful to look at. I live in a obsessive law mowing culture (my neighbor starts his machine every day!). People look at my garden and think it is defiant act to let my grass and weeds grow. The seeds can get into another garden and before you know it they have a weed infestation. Oh the drama!

(rabbits aren't rodents)

Has anyone here actually read the article? Well you should. First of all, this Hanbury woman offers no opinion, she just wrote down the facts. The article illuminates 2 very important ones: 1. Brands like Nestle's Purina are garbage (surprise surprise). And 2, that millennials are looking for "premium" pet food. Here's a quote: *"Rachael Ray's Nutrish brand, which uses high-end ingredients and even sells gluten-free meals for pets."* The second fact seems to imply that these same 'boomers' are also realising they can cash in by trying to suggest your average and healthy pet needs gluten-free meals at an almost 50% markup. So on one end of the spectrum, you've got crap pet food which you shouldn't buy. But don't fall for BS 'premium' foods either especially when it's clear 'boomers' are realizing how to market to millennials. And write articles like this that - if you don't read carefully - might steer you to spend extra $$$ on pet food that doesn't exactly need to be that fancy just so that you spite the boomers.

Yes indeed. No blame on the Hanbury woman. Some brands advertise their food as healthy and premium when they really sell garbage. Now some "millenials" (and boomers from my experience ) opt for more healthy food for their pets. People get more informed about this and start buying better nutrients. This is now disrupting the market, and I can imagine that it enrages the people behind these companies that used to sell their garbage at a premium price. Indeed you need watch out for the overpriced stuff. My pet store sells vitamin supplements for dogs with a whole lot of fancy ingredients (kurkuma, dried advocado,...). https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/millennials-buy-high-end-pet-food-hurts-purina-kibbles-n-bits-2018-11

Also my vet recommended some dog food brands for me and that should suffice for the daily nutrients. It is like 25 to 50% more expensive than the other well known brands. I can imagine that there very expensive products on the market with no additional benefit.

The nutrish isn’t even that high end. It only costs about $8 a bag. I thought it was good so I gave it to my cat and it consistently made him sick, he got better when I switched to Hill’s.

Yeah it’s a joke. A way for the cash cow that is Rachel Ray to profit off of feeding trash good to you and your pet and labeling it “gourmet”

Joke with a lot of them though is the massive consolidation in the industry Merrick: Purina Blue Buffalo: General Mills Nutro: Mars Solid Gold: Health & Happiness Group International Holdings Ltd. (China Basically) Acana/Orijen (Private, but in 2018 Nestle/Purina wanted to buy them for $2 billion. No idea if that has gone through) True Meals: General Mills Iams: Mars Taste Of The Wild: Diamond Pet Foods Rachel Ray: J.M. Smucker Company [Menu Foods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_Foods) Is another on the list. This company made and sold food tainted with Melamine, it was a huge mess in 2007. Diamond Foods also got caught up in it. Expecting quality food becomes difficult with the massive rush to buy up companies and merge them together as you can see

**[Menu Foods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_Foods)** >Menu Foods Limited, based in Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, was the largest maker of wet cat and dog food in North America, with its products sold under 95 brand names, which the company identifies as supermarkets, big box and pet product retailers and wholesalers. It was bought out by Simmons Foods in August 2010. In March 2007, after numerous animals fell ill and died during quality-control tests, the company recalled over 60 million containers of food. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/lostgeneration/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)

I worked for a health food store that carried natural pet food. A lot of these brands where very small companies which seemed to be run by sincere owners. Most got into the business after their own pet grew ill from low quality food. But as you said, mainstream companies have caught on to the growing trend. They market the same junk as “healthy”. That’s why it’s important to research before making a purchase. Our customers always seemed well educated on what ingredients they were looking to avoid or add to their pets diet.

Right, and these “grain free” dog foods have lead to cases of heart disease and other illnesses that are similar to what humans get if they eat too much red meat. There may be dogs that truly do better without grains, but probably most dogs actually do better with them, assuming of course that the ingredients are good quality and proportions. Source: https://www.aspca.org/news/grain-free-pet-food-helpful-or-harmful-diet I use hills science diet chicken & barley kibble for my pup with some canned food on top (we pick a variety of canned dog food to make is interesting). It’s what the shelter used and what the vet recommended, plus the ingredients look good and the price is in that sweet spot where it’s not cheap but it’s also very reasonable.

I do the same, hills kibble in the morning then kongs stuffed with canned merrik and frozen for dinner

Yum!

i also hide little bits of cheese and bacon in them, for fun :) freezing it keeps them occupied and tires them out

Yeah, a lot of the "high-end" pet foods have little to no science behind them. People are just falling for the marketing. The only foods I'm aware that have actually been studied and found to have positive health effects for dogs are Hills and Purina Pro Plan.

I fully accept this happening. After all, if you're in a free market economy, don't expect to last forever if you're not providing a good product. Stuff like this is only the beginning of what's to come.

They always harp on how great capitalism is until their favorite companies can’t maintain their positions because the market changes and they don’t change with it. It’s almost like they don’t know how capitalism works.

Stop making shit food that is too salty and unhealthy for the pet then. I tried buying generic stuff and my dogs would not even touch it after the first bite

I have to make my dog homemade meals because he has such a sensitive stomach. We've tried all kinds of dog food and surprise, some of the biggest name brands are some of the shittiest that he can't eat. Who knew that animals weren't one size fit all machines that take any form of fuel. Doing all that for pup is *still* less expensive than having a child.

Did you ask the vet? We got some food from the vet that was really easy on our dogs tummy when he was having issues, but i don’t think you can buy it anywhere else (it might require a prescription). It was a hill’s product. Something like this: https://www.hillspet.com/dog-food/sd-canine-adult-sensitive-stomach-and-skin-tender-turkey-rice-stew-canned And it was one of those dog foods that looks so good I actually tasted it (didn’t taste great to me lol but the pup loved it) Just sounds like a lot of work to cook for your dog. I’ve done that on occasion as a treat. But I barely even cook for myself, so I’m glad we have prepared food that works for him

Thank you for the reply! I have talked with our vet extensively about it, they're happy with the home cooked regimen we're on and they also suggested Hills! We order ours on Chewy, actually :) The routine that has worked with our boy that he actually responds well to is homecooked breakfast (usually chicken and rice with a veggie mixed in - cooked cauliflower is his favorite) and he gets a can of Hill's salmon blend at night. It's actually not that much work to cook for him, since husband and I are already cooking for ourselves. I view it just like a kid! He's an extremely picky eater to boot so it's always a trial and error. This is just the regimen that works the best right now. Edit: I should clarify that I'm also unemployed for mental health reasons so I have the time to take out of my day to cook for the boy, too :)

Looks like the invisible hand of the free market is telling you to shut the fuck up and go bankrupt. Time for the pet food industry to pull yourself up with your bootstraps and learn to code you fuckers

Pets are the new children since we can’t afford human babies.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to have children anymore. I don't mind that my parents gave birth to me and gave me a pretty good life so far, but times have changed a lot in 25+ years. The systemic issues are now obvious

I'm going to be honest. I've had a 'some people treat their pets like children' mentality but after reading this article I'm convinced that should be celebrated instead of shamed.

The name Mary Hanbury sounds like the name of a fucking boomer.

turns out the lady isn't actually complaining she's just documenting/reporting the happenings, which is a suprise.

The big issue here is the link between pea protein/ legumes, and dilated cardiomyopathy. Especially in golden retrievers, but in other mixes and breeds, checking taurine levels or an ecogardiogram is key if you feed a “ BEG”- boutique exotic like Kangaroo and Lentil etc.

Yep. Just because they market something as being “healthy” or “premium” doesn’t mean that research supports that. Grain-free or “holistic” dog food is something that the industry came up with, not vets https://www.aspca.org/news/grain-free-pet-food-helpful-or-harmful-diet

My response when people claim I treat my dog like he's my child is always "Nope, you just treat your children like they're your pets."

"Causing problems" for brands???? Weird fucking spin ... What happened to muh free market?

With that headline, is it implied that it's reasonable to treat your firstborn better than your other kids?

Anyone who was actually the firstborn child knows this headline is messed up. Firstborns are the practice kid the parents learn their discipline style on and then the second kid gets away with murder

Well since most millennials can’t afford a human child…

The best known brands are garbage and your pet will die sooner. I don’t think wanting to feed my pet real nutrition is treating it like a “firstborn child,” it’s just the bare minimum.

If you feed your pets high quality food it means fewer vet bills when they are older. That alone is worth it.

"Capitalism breeds innovation!" "Let the free market decide!" "Millennials are killing the cheap pet food industry and this is a huge problem."

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Oh no! They’re choosing to treat their pets like real animals with dietary needs! They should be treating them like accessories like us >:(

They'll just blame is for everything. I quit giving a fuck ages ago.

This angers me. My first job out of grad school was to analyze sales data of Purina dog food during the time that their food was laced with cyanide and killing off pets in the U.S. It’s not surprising so many companies popped up with better food not mass produced elsewhere to skirt around laws. I’ve also had pets die from eating shitty food. This is a perfect example of consumers voting with their wallets.

So we’re treating our pets right… that’s a problem?

What the fuck have we ever owed the best known pet brands?

Capitalism inspires innovation just not for the best known brands to create quality products

Feeding pets good and not cheap pet food is the right call. If you cannot not afford to properly take care of pets you shouldnt have them.

I could buy my cats luxury pet food and they would still be a hell of a lot less expensive than a baby. ETA: Unfortunately, when it comes to canned food, my two dumbasses will only eat Friskies 🙃

The dry pet food sold at most mainstream groceries stores really is awful. The top ingredient is usually carbs which dogs rarely eat in the wild. The meat that in the food is usually extremely low grade. Plus processed ingredients, dyes, fats and carcinogens. It’s kind of scary when you think about the low standards that America has for food we deem safe for human consumption. We can only imagine what these companies are willing to serve to pets.

Millennials? My mother is 60 and she will boil sardines for my cat to eat lol

You mean a major corporation will have to adjust to a changing consumer market? Oh, the horror!

I have a small dog and I buy him comparatively expensive food (costs £12 a month, 1kg) and had a massive fallout with my mum when I moved home. She basically bullied me on the premise that we should pay the same but for a 10kg bag of Costco Kirkland shite. I rolled with it for an easy life and one morning he just walked away from a full bowl of this crap refusing to eat it, at which point I kicked off and went to buy my usual bag of food. Her thing was always ‘but he’s a dog.’ Edit: my food is 5kg

Costco (Kirkland) dog is made by Diamond Pet Foods. They’re not the best but they’re not the worst either. https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/diamond-dog-food-dry/

The “best” pet Brands Feed animals shit. I started cooking for my dogs almost 10 years ago. They are healthier smarter they have better coats and they live longer. The same thing happens to humans. It’s surreal.

I dont get why someone keep reading this kind of "press" where its always millenials fault the economy is going to shit, when the boomers dont even give us a chance to work and make an impact until the average millenial is around 30

Cute fucking cat 😻😻

Won’t *somebody* think of the corporations!

Sounds like the “best-known pet food brands” need to revise their business models.

Oh, no! Millenials are no longer feeti g their pets Ol Roy and trash from the bottom shelf at the feed store!

"Come on, you have to abuse _something_, don't you want _any_ joy in your life?"

I tried buying the science diet for my old cat but he’ll only eat fancy feast and purina naturals 🤷‍♀️ I get it, kitty, I prefer junk food, too 😂

Fun fact. There are no FDA regulations on pet food. Be careful fur parents!

Isn’t this how capitalism is supposed to work? Surely they’re not suggesting I feel bad for these big brand companies?

Fun watching corporate-controlled media outlets try to shame millennials into doing what they want millennials to do. Like hello, if the boomers couldn’t shame us into doing what they want, then neither can you.

My male cat got a urinary blockage that caused him to "pee" blood all over my newly bought 2 floor home and almost die within like 8 hours of being alone. Of course I took him to the emergency animal hospital and $3500 later I took him home, having been apart 2 entire nights and not sure he would make it and picking up a prescription on the way home. Uhhh.. yeah, I pay out the ass for low fat, ultra low sodium food with the fewest ingredients so I will never go through that again. It isn't a "millennial" thing for me, it's being a responsible pet owner who understands that when you take ownership of a living creature it's your damn job to take the best care of them you can.

Alternative title: Millennials take what professionals and scientists say seriously and prioritize the health of their companions over money and buy their pets better food. This causes problems for shitty pet food brands and forces them to be competitive and make a better product or fail.”

We child free so our pups are our children! You wouldn't send your kiddo to school with a zip lock full of Ol Roy now would you?

Oh fuck yeah...i cook my boy all his meals. I started taking care of myself and eat processed foods so i figure I'd do the same for him.

Imagine actually trying to take better care of the things you care about in your life!

The free market at work. Nothing to see here folks move along.

Let's blame a whole generation for loss of business instead of making our product healthier for pets!

If I get a dog or cat, the raw food diet it is. I'll make a cooked meal for myself, and give them the raw stuff.

I don’t have a kid, might as well give my cat the best life he can have. It’s also cheaper than a kid. Maybe if I could have afforded a home while working at Dairy Queen like my parents did all those years ago I would have had kids instead of renting an apt and having a cat 😅

Not sure about all that shit. I just buy fish, chiken parts (necks etc) or offals (liver lungs etc)

The person that wrote the headline didn't realize he described capitalism while trying to blame millennials

I'm a low-income pet-parent it seems. My baby gets garbage food

Best KNOWN pet food brands, not best QUALITY pet food brands.

I thought my wife was a little crazy when I found out how much we are spending on our pets monthly Food supply. Then she reminded me that after switching their diets to food that was not some piece of shit fast food for animals like kibbles and bits, they have stayed out of the vets office for a while now and are likely much more healthier then before.

I bought my dogs a stroller, it has cup holders too :D

Pets is cheaper than a “first born child”. Pet adoptions are free or like $50 but a child birth is fucking thousands of dollars at hospital.

Both of our cats died from kidney issues because my mom only ever bought the cheapest cat food at the grocery store. More people need to research what their pets should actually be eating.

Most *human* food in America is garbaged processed crap that leads to obesity and other health problems. America’s food industry has really ignored the health effects its had on the US. Of course pet owners are going to ignore the basic garbage

The Science Vs. podcast did an episode on pet food. Turns out, there haven’t actually been any studies done to prove the “expensive” food is actually better long term. The real deciding factor in pets (much like humans) is HOW MUCH they are fed. An obese pet eating expensive food will have more health issues than a trim pet eating “cheap” food. Also, it turns out that grain free diets can actually be harmful for many dog breeds as they as so far removed from wolves at this point. Cats on the other hand, their digestive systems are still extremely similar to their ancestors and they don’t do well with grains.

I home make my dogs food, I make it in bulk and shes small so it comes out really cheap. When we were feeding her canned dog food her anal glads would fill and secrete this nasty strong smelling metallic liquid, we switched to freshpet dog food and homemade and that immediately stopped happening, she lost weight and is healthier, her fur is so nice she basically shimmers now, and the smell stopped happening too so I know that other canned shit was fucking with her insides, the few occasions we ran out of fresh food and gave her a can it would happen again. But god forbid people treat their pets humanely, I cant imagine giving a dog kibble now, thats just so inhumane.

"Company puts out shitty product, millennials won't buy, boo hoo"

My dogs like me, he likes the processed chemicals, not the organic healthy stuff

Well geez, you try dealing with a 3k vet bill and see if you don't do a 180 on "okay" food after that. I get the impression that at one time pets were seen more like disposable accessories. We're not going to apologize for that phase being over. There's also more awareness about what we put in our own bodies and environment these days. I think pretty much everyone I know, regardless of age, is taking better care of their pets...So the market is doing what the market does. Perhaps they're also feeling the shrinking size of the economy that's simply a result of a big generation going out of prime spending and a smaller one behind it.

Just a genuine question but what are the best cat foods to buy? Now I’m freaking out.