Saturday, May 19, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

An open letter to Halo Pet Foods

Dear Halo Pet Foods:  I’m writing you this open letter because you don’t have any contact email information on your website.  I’ve used many of your products (including Spot’s Stew, DreamCoat, and Vita-Mineral Mix), and I like them.  I recommend them to others when the opportunity arises.  I raved about “The Whole Pet Diet” book in a previous entry, and I just generally have a good feeling about your approach to pet care.  It was with great horror, therefore, that I stumbled into your Forums and found the most awful and dangerous pet care information being spouted by your moderators.  One forum poster was trying to convert her cat from dry kibble to Spot’s Stew, and the cat hadn’t eaten in four days.  Your moderator, “Binker”, replied “I haven’t heard of any cat starving itself when food has been present.” Another poster said her cats didn’t like the texture of Spot’s Stew, and moderator Warthog72 replied, “if you don’t offer them any other food - they will eat Spot’s Stew and be healthier for it.” Warthog72 told someone else, ”Remember, cats are creatures of habit and like what they ate yesterday. Sometimes you have to put your paw down and make them eat the healthier blend.” As if it needed to be said even more clearly, Warthog72 made another bold statement, ”Our motto is, “PUT YOUR PAW DOWN!” You aren’t helping your cats (or dogs) by continuing to feed them non-healthy food. You will do better by switching cold-turkey.”

I would suggest that both your forum moderators need to research the medical conditions of hepatic lipidosis, and feline anorexia.  I know all about hepatic lipidosis because I once tried to make a cat switch to a new diet, “cold turkey”, and she just stopped eating, period.  I didn’t know any better at the time, and when I finally realized she hadn’t touched any food in days, she was so sick that she required a $1200 feeding tube and nearly died.  Cats are stubborn about their food, yes, but you can’t outwit them by forcing them to eat something they don’t want.  Not all cats will eventually give in and eat.  Many cats will starve themselves, and liver problems can take as little as four days to set in.  It’s foolish and dangerous to be allowing your representatives to instruct cat owners to switch foods abruptly, because one day, a cat will die, and you’ll have a big problem on your hands.  The only good advice I saw from a moderator was when Binker instructed someone to mix “a little yogurt” into the Spot’s Stew if it would entice the cat to eat.  The best advice is to plan to transition any cat to a new food slowly and gradually, by serving the old food on top of the new food, or vice versa.  It’s just common sense.  Cats aren’t dog - dogs eat garbage, they eat shoes, they eat their own poop.  When’s the last time you saw a cat with such flexible taste buds?

I won’t get into the incorrect/dangerous statements I saw being made in the other forums for now, but I’ll close this email by suggesting that your moderators should stop repeatedly insisting that Spot’s Stew “is the healthiest pet food on the planet.” You don’t know this, and you can’t possibly prove it, and in the case of bird food, I think you’re flat-out wrong.  I think your dog and cat foods are great, but you’re just asking for some cranky consumer to take you to task for making claims you can’t support.  It sounds, silly, too.  You make a good product, and you can be proud of that.  There’s no need to brag excessively, because it starts to sound like crazed hyperbole.

I understand your goals in wanting to have a forum where you can interact with pet owners.  It’s a fine idea, but either ease off the medical advice, or get better-educated moderators.  Why not search for a licensed vet tech to be a moderator?  I’m sure you could find a tech who likes your products, and who also has the education to dole out advice about health and nutrition.  The forum arrangement you’ve got now is a pox on your website, and really, a blemish on your entire brand.

IMO.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/19 at 05:07 AM
The Litterbox • (3) Comments • Permalink
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