Hello to all,

I have recently switched from Burns excellent food, which I do highly recommend - the only reason I wanted to switch was because Poppy just could not lose any weight while on this, she was down to a minimal amount and has plenty of exercise. I even tried Burns High Oats with no success. I then heard some good reports of James Wellbeloved food and decided to try that - with excellent results. The weight loss is coming and Poppy has maintained her lovely coat which she acquired while on the Burns food. I cannot fault the actual food. However I did a search on here for James Wellbeloved and read that they do animal testing. This horrified me as I will not support or buy from any company that does that. I sent them an email requesting confirmation or otherwise and this is their reply which I thought I would share with you. I would be interested to hear your comments and thoughts please. Thanks.
Best wishes to all,
Val and Poppy x :-) Please read email below:

Dear Valerie

Thank you for your email.

James Wellbeloved do no use any invasive methods of testing, the only testing we do is concerned with the palatability of our products. Please find below a copy of our company statement.

Company Statement
In view of recent stories in the press about cruel animal testing by pet food companies, James Wellbeloved would like to make the following statement:

1.        We undertake no testing on animals other than that which is concerned with the palatability of our foods. Much of our palatability testing takes place on pets owned by members of staff at home. Because the tests involve the animals concerned in trying a number of different and tasty foods, they normally enjoy the tests very much!
2.        No test interferes in any unnatural way with the physiology of the animal nor produces any distress in that animal.
3.        During the palatability tests, we take scientific measurements concerned with the quantities eaten and the speed and eagerness of eating. We also make subsequent analyses of naturally excreted stool and urine to ensure that our foods are as healthy as possible. These are the only scientific measurements that we undertake.
4.        We are a company of animal lovers and most of our staff have pets themselves. We view the welfare and happiness of pets as being of the greatest

importance. The thought of harming any pet for commercial reasons is therefore abhorrent to us and would be totally contrary to the ethic of the company.

I hope this has answered your queries and if we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again

Regards
Roxanne Dove
Customer Services
Nutritional Advisor

RDove@crownpetfoods.co.uk

A very useful reply. This is exactly the sort of 'animal testing' I would expect, indeed hope for, from a feed manufacturer. I certainly would never buy a food that hadn't been 'tested on animals' in this way.
:)

Yes they have a good reputation, it must be  why Pedigree have bought them
Up.Pedigree must have felt they where losing market share to the quality dog food manufactures so they bought them out.  This may be the reason they are not on the buav list 

I whole heartedly agree with both of the above and I applaud Poppygirl for contacting JWB and obtaining the information!

Pedigree must realise that alot of people are now feeding JWB which is why they have bought the company.  I would also expect testing for palatability and ease of digestion etc.
I have been feeding JWB for 4 years, having previously fed Beta.  I fed Beta for about 12 yrs and only changed because my older Flatcoat has pancreatits.  It is diet controled with the use of JWB and he is doing great on it.  He's 8 yrs old now.  I was so pleased with the food that I changed my other Flatcoats onto it too!!

While, I along with any animal lover, an totally against chemical animal testing,  I feel that we are too eager to delare to the world that a company tests on animals without gaining all the facts. This is the only place I have seen to say JWB is tested on animals, (Burns is a good food, but I think some people are a little blinkered about it).  I know alot of people in various breeds in the show world people who have never heard the rumour about animal testing & JWB. We all have our preference when it comes to feeding our dogs, but please be open minded to other peoples opitions and gain more facts before you go shouting about something.

I thought it was Royal Canin that bought JWB did somebody buy Royal Canin or did RC buy somebody else?  Don't suppose it matters - I'm just curious.  Averse to change

Currently trying JWB on my puppy and she seems to really like the taste (on bag 3 so that's a first - if you know what I mean :D) so a little worried they've been bought over in case ingredients change.

Teri

I thought it was RC who bought JW and then Pedigree, you hear so many rumours its hard to keep up.

just so there no dout about it extract from  European commission on take over/ mergers BRUSSELS - Feb 15/02 - STAT -- The European Commission gave conditional regulatory approval to sale of the French petfood company Royal Canin SA. to Masterfoods Holding, a French subsidiary of Mars Inc. of the United States.

Mars has undertaken to divest for the whole of Europe its businesses connected to five of the merged group's petfood brands, i.e. Advance, Premium, Royal Chien, Playdog and Brekkies, together with two major manufacturing plants in La Chappelle and Moulin, respectively in the centre (Loir-et-Cher) and south-east of France, as well as all other assets relating to the divested business. The merger cannot be implemented before the conditions have been fulfilled.

Mars is a privately-owned manufacturer of snack foods, ice cream, pet foods and various other products, with headquarters in Virginia (US). Masterfoods Holding is a wholly-owned French subsidiary created in 2000. Mars's pet foods brands include Pedigree, Advance, Cesar, Whiskas and Sheba, which are sold worldwide, and national/regional brands such as Canigou and Brekkies.

Royal Canin is a leading supplier of dry prepared pet food products headquartered in France and listed on the Paris stock exchange. Royal Canin has developed its branded business primarily through sales in specialist outlets throughout the European Union and royal canin OWNS tHE TRADE NAME JWB

hope valley
what makes you say this
("Burns is a good food, but I think some people are a little blinkered about it"). 
I am curious in what way are people blinkered? I have recently switched my lab to Burns from Eukanuba and was considering JWB but I why are people blinkered with regard to Burns?
Van

S why is JWB not included in the BUAV list then?  Just because the co itself does not carry out tests it does not mean the supply chain is free from such testing.

As for not losing weight on a particular food, that is easily resolved by lowering the input and increasing the output rather than a particular brand.

Still JWB has lots of beet pulp which is filler so making your dog full with fibre. :D

Has JWB always had sugar beet pulp in it? I must admit I haven't looked at the ingredients for about 2 years now (just have tho) and I could have sworn it didn't used to. I seem to remember thinking it only had rice, barley and lamb (in the case of lamb and rice of course!). Adding up the ingredients leaves 40% not lamb/rice/barley, the majority of which I assume must be sugar beet pulp. Surely if this is so then it should be the first ingredient on the list instead of 7th (behind gravy)

The adult maintenance diet is as follows.

INGREDIENTS: Rice, lamb meat meal, ground whole barley, lamb fat, whole linseed, lamb gravy, sugar beet pulp, alfalfa, natural seaweed, sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, D,L-methionine, lysine hydrochloride, threonine, zinc methionate.

Min 26% lamb, min 26% rice, min 14% barley.

Sorry, my calcs were for the senior/light variety, so they're slightly different. In Human food the ingredients need to be listed from greatest to least.. is this not the same for dog food?

I think that's the same in dog food too.
So the further down the list real meat is, means that the quantity is lesser.

I think a few of the 'Major' foods include some kind of beet pulp, sugar or other wise.
I still think JWB is hard to beat.  I have tried other foods for one reason or another, and still end up coming back to it! 
My 8yr old has been hospitalised with the vets 3 times (twice i nearly lost him) because of his pancreas, in the last 4 years & quite honestly, if it helps him stay fit & heathly, its fine by me.
His welfare is my main concern. I am quite happy to try new foods if it will benefit him, but so far nothing else seems to do the job that JWB can. I was instructed by my vet to keep him on Hill's prescription ID diest after the last episode (just 3 weeks ago), and that didn't suit him at all, just went straight though him! So he's back on JWB and will stay on it.
It's all about feeding what suits your dog.

I agree Hopevalley. Dogs suit different foods and it happens that JWB suits my oldest perfectly. The puppy didn't do so well on it, so I've switched her over to raw. I don't have a problem with JWB at all and will keep him on it indefinitely, I was just surprised that I didn't realise it had sugar beet pulp in it

Wow! Thank you ALL for your really helpful replies. I'm very grateful and have read every single comment.
Thanks so much:-) I am continuing with JWB although I also wondered about the ommision on 'the list'. I did contact them to enquire about this but haven't received a reply as yet. I did however also ask about the sugar beet pulp and received a reply to that which may be helpful to some, so I will copy it here. If I do hear back about the list ommision I will convey their comments to you.  By the way, I can't remember who mentioned this now, but I did cut right back on Poppy's previous food(Burns, and even tried the High Oats version), and she has a good walk in the park and woods morning and late afternoon, running freely some of the time, in safe areas, but the weight wouldn't budge. It does however seem to be improving with JWB so for the time being I am going to stay with it and hope that I've been told the truth from JWB.

Thank you again for all your helpful replies - so much appreciated :-)
Please see below, the reply regarding the sugar beet pulp.

Best wishes to all,
Val and Poppy :-)

Dear Val,

Sugar Beet Pulp is the material that remains after sugar has been extracted. We use unmollassed sugar beet pulp so the brown pigmentation has been removed.
The inclusion of Sugar Beet Pulp is that it provides a good source of Fructo-oligo-saccharides (FOS). This is a form of fibre which, when fermented in the intestine, releases volatile fatty acids. These help to acidify the intestine medium, line the walls of the large intestine and provide excellent nutrients for cell renewal/maintenance. The fermentation of sugar beet pulp also promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria (such as bifidus and lactobacillus) that can both inhibit the development of pathogenic bacteria in the gut and also improve digestion and nutrient absorption

I hope this has answered your query and if we can be of any further assistance please do to hesitate to contact us again.

Regards
Roxanne Dove
Customer Services
Nutritional Advisor

I have found JWB excellent for weight loss. When my bitch finished a season two summers ago, she had pilled the weight on as she had been in the kennel, with limited exercise.  She wasn't on JWB at the time, but switching her to the JWB Senior/Light for a couple of weeks soon sorted her out.  She is only 6, but like my 8yr old, is on JWB Senior/Light as she had a pyo last year and is now spayed.  They are absolutley thriving on it. 

Lovely to hear this; thanks very much for your reply. I haven't tried the light version yet. I wonder if that's ok for a 2 yr old Labrador. I will see how Poppy goes with the normal one, as I can see the difference already, but your info is interesting. Really pleased your two are thriving on JWB :-) Big cuddles to them both xx

Thanks again for your reply,

Best wishes,
Val and Poppy :-)

I think as a short term weight loss programme, the light\senior is fine, but if she is loosing weight on the normal adult, then great, but don't forget to level off the amount of food she has when she hits her 'target' weight or she will just keep losing. Mine have also enjoyed the JWB large breed as it is bigger pieces and, if she is losing weight on the normal adult, may help her to maintain her nice new figure.  If you have any doubts about which type to feed her after here weight loss, give them a ring, or see them at Crufts.

I haven't had any problem with senior/light and I put mine on it when he was 16 months. He wasn't overweight, but has a problem digesting protein and JWB senior/light was the lowest protein I could find. But obviously if she does well on the adult/maintenence then there should be no need to go to senior/light.

good luck with her   :-)

I used to feed JWB but switched because they test on animals. i now feed burns.  There was a similar reply from Iams when they were asked if they  tested on animals, but if u see the conditions these animals are kept in, i think u would find their reply unreliable.