"I read with interest your reviews of "premium" dry cat food. However, I found your use of quotes and several of your comments about "human grade" meats used in cats foods unsettling.
I may be misreading but you seem to be a bit skeptical about the use of "human grade" meats used in cat foods. Are you aware of the crap that passes as meat in cat foods? Like chicken beaks, diseased animals, ground feet, etc.?"
My Reply:
Thank you for writing, and for your goal of feeding your cats the best foods possible. Yes, I am fully aware of the crap that passes for cat food. You might want to read my review of the Book "Food Pets Die For," by Ann N. Martin.
Indeed, I have done research for several years on the subject of cat food and nutrition. Please do not judge me on the basis of "quotes" in one or two articles. There was a valid reason behind those quote marks, as I will explain below. And if I didn't consider those particular foods worthy of inclusion in my Top 10 list, I would have left them out. The point is that "human grade" was not my top reason for choosing them.
You might be interested in reading two other articles I have written on the subject of commercial cat foods:
As for "human grade," here is what I wrote about that subject in the first cited article:
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"Human Grade" and "Natural"
"Although you will occasionally see "Human Grade" listed on pet food labels, the AAFCO does not recognize nor presently address this form of labeling. However, because of the current trend toward "natural," as well as "organic" (in both human and pet food), the AAFCO is currently working to define at least the former description. In the meantime, caveat emptor with those phrases. If you lean toward cat foods with ingredients described as human grade or natural, make sure you completely understand what is meant by the terms.
In other words, "human grade" may mean one thing to one pet food manufacturer, and something entirely different to another. There are presently NO standards to define that phrase on pet food labels, so "caveat emptor" does indeed apply. Until the phrase is officially defined, I would neither attach nor take away any value to that kind of statement by a pet food manufacturer.
