Another petition heavy on emotion and light on facts.
Who was responsible?
What was wrong with the food?
Who is the vet who will testify this happened?
In what way will legislation prevent this from happening?
What is wrong with current standards?
What should this legislation do to correct them?
How am I supposed to support a campaign if I don’t know what it is to do or how it will do it?
Check ur facts - the entire point is -
‘There r NO standards !!!’
Au contraire!
There is at least one standard and a voluntary code of practice. That’s the view of the RSPCA.
Further,
Isn’t the issue one of “Regulation”?
If this was a reply to my list of questions that included what is wrong with current standards fair enough.
However the context was a list of questions about the lack of substance in the petition. It would have been handy if the writers of the petition had made the point that you are making: they didn’t.
If you seriously want change you have to explain what is wrong with the current situation not just pull on the heart strings.
Cat breeders r EXTREMELY sensitive about disclosing what is happening across Australia - so u will have to base my comments on trust. For the last 25 years of my working life - I was the person assessing every aspect of ethical compliance with local, national and international legal standards, and I have nothing to gain from this.
1.Cats of all breeds are developing issues with their ability to conceive.
2. Cats are resorbing their babies so the owner thinks they r pregnant but they r not.
3. Invariably the mummified babies have to be ‘scraped out’ by a vet.
4. Pregnancies which do happen often result in small litters and/or kittens which are weak, undersized and/or deformed.
5. The kittens are often so weak that they cannot ‘latch on’ to the mother’s nipple and do not get the colostrum necessary for immunity.
6. During the first 2 weeks many kittens fade and die.
7. Kittens which survive are often weak and sickly and prone to disease.
Cats cannot make their own taurine - they MUST receive sufficient in their diet. Lack of folate in women can cause major deformities - so too with cats. Fatty acids r also essential. Knowing what is added before the food is ‘processed’ is a waste of time - consumers need to know the levels present AFTER processing - what they r actually purchasing. - and at the moment that information is NOT available to consumers.
Sorry @SusanCL, but I don’t take my advice on what to feed my cats based on ‘trust me’.
I take my advice from sources like RSPCA, vets, and Choice.
I would not trust a cat breeder on this issue any further than I could throw a bus.
The best advice is for a balanced diet of fresh and good tinned meat, and quality dry food.
OK cats do need certain ingredients in their food. Cat breeders know this. Prepared cat foods too often do not certify the content to the level that you would be comfortable that they are adequate, it’s a lucky dip to some extent. It does seem reasonable to require the necessary data to be made available in this case. Perhaps if more facts like that were part of the petition and the scope of those facts covered dogs (a dog was the poster child) I would be more tempted to support it.
But back to your specific example, until a standard is enforced why do cat breeders not vote with their feet and refuse to buy such uncertain products? This is taking responsibility and using purchasing power to get a desired result.
I’ll put my two bobs worth in here with another consideration regarding breeders of cats, and their claimed problems as provided by @SusanCL.
Presumably breeders are not in the business of producing tabbies, or tortise shells or generic black or white, or ginger cats. Gone are the days of selling kittens in pet shops.
They produce specific breeds like orientals, rexes, foulds, Russian blues, etc.
Maybe they are just breeding in genetic abnormalities that contribute to health problems.
Maybe the food they get is not really the problem.
As an aside, I have spent time in the RSPCA catterys (and kennels) and see just what foods we give for breakfast, dinner, and treats. Freely available to the public. Perhaps that makes me more aware than most.
My cat is indoors only so I give her a choice of Aldi cachet tins…and pellets Leaps and bounds is the name. Australian made and owned. If you know of better please share…but my cat loves it. Fresh water a must.
It’s been several years since conversations about pet food regulation were last happening. Yet incidents are still potentially occurring without investigation. Are the public still concerned, or has self regulation been sufficient?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-25/lack-of-regulation-in-the-pet-food-industry/103609836
More needs to be done.
It is about time people demanded that the Pet Food Industry take responsibility for the pets they are meant to care about, and owners demanded to know EXACTLY what was in the food that they are buying for their pets. Self regulation is inefficient and not trustworthy.
Ha ha. “self-regulation”. A synonym for “self-regulation” is “legal compliance”. You self-regulate when you choose whether to pay or not when carrying items out of a shop. You self-regulate when you get dressed before leaving the house. You self-regulate when you choose which side of the road and at what speed you drive a car.
Luckily, we don’t rely on “self-regulation” in those instances, and pay for enforcement services. When we rely on “self-regulation” without enforcement services, we are more reliant on whistleblowers and accept a much higher degree of risk and level of damage and injury. eg Financial Services Royal Commission 2017 - 2019.
From the enforcement standpoint, “self-regulation” means “no regulation”, and you should always be suspicious when you hear the words.
