Chewy, the dog supply giant, made similar headlines when it would not divulge who made its house brand dog food 'American Journey'.

Unfortunately this is true of a lot of private-label pet foods (or other foods). Several supermarkets do this all the time.

Trader Joe's has this equivalent with a lot of their suppliers, too.

I'm leery about a lot of brands, even if not private-label... I had just gotten two kittens born in back late 2006 and was told to buy the high-class Eukanuba brand for them for their health. Right after that so many brands of canned pet were having issues because of poisonous additives, in that case, the plastic melamine. Even these high-end brands were sourcing their canned food from China, and many were getting sick and dying. Fortunately I'd gotten them the dry food -- and while feeding dry is not overall optimal, this stuff didn't get sourced from a supply of melamine. I tossed out their moist snacks, and have not bought Eukanuba since (even though it was only their canned food affected). General principle. (Purina, I believe, turned out to be not affected... In many cases, undoubtedly not all, Purina does provide the food for private label pet food.)

Just trying to note it isn't simply Amazon doing this... and also noting that some of the high-class brands of food aren't all that pure either, if you do some serious searching.

EDIT: these two cats still remain healthy members of my household! (They now eat grain-free...)

Making headlines where?

Is that person one with real technical qualifications or is she just a gadfly?

The website you linked to is very evasive about who or what is behind it. That's usually a red flag. The internet gives anyone who wants it a microphone connected to a loudspeaker. There's a lot of bogus "information" to be found, it's important to know whose words you're reading and whether they themselves are informed enough to be considered a valid source.

Truth About Pet Food is a legit site. It's terrible that we can't really trust pet food companies even if we buy very expensive food. I know that I should try to switch my cats to raw food, but making it myself seems like a big hassle, and buying it prepackaged is pretty expensive.

Great, thanks in advance for finding something I couldn't.

Who's behind the website, what are their credentials and what constitutes their professional background? Or, is it like it appears, they don't have any?

This isn't about me, or you. It's about the information you offer as being legit. I question that and am asking for some background .

Elmer J Fudd, I don't remember off the top of my head and I don't have the time to look for it. Why don't you contact them and ask?

I didn't cite this apparently bogus source.

People who work hard to earn real credentials mention them proudly, most especially when a technical subject is discussed. The absence of a credential/expertise cite usually suggests the source has none.

DogFoodAdvisor is a legit third party website. It's free, but with a paying version (access to Editor's Choice). When I became aware of the need, I paid for 1 yr. Here are the owner's credentials. There is also a forum.

If you stick to 4 to 5 star, you're buying the best for your dog. I have cats also, but no CatFoodAdvisor. I decided if a company made well rated dog food, their cat food was probably also good.

fwiw, I don't care how good your vet, do not take their advice on pet food. They are not taught about dog food in vet school, or afterwards, by anyone other than a salesman or company. Like vaccines, it's a money maker for them (if you want to learn more about vaccines, search for Dr Ronald Schultz vaccine protocol.)

I also use dogfoodadvisor for their ratings. (Free version)

Most if not all of the brands sold by vets are rated very poorly.

The site also will track down sources for ingredients as well so you can make the most informed decision. They also keep track when companies are sold and when they begin to substitute cheaper ingredients as well.

Dogfoodadvisor appears to do no testing at all and merely lists ingredients from labels. THat's hardly original information. As with the other site mentioned above, it is similarly evasive about who owns it and where the information comes from. This may be the site I recall that is owned by a human dentist.

As a measure of its integrity, each food page has a Buying Tip. If you click on it, you're taken to a site where the particular product can be purchased. Whether you do that for what they think are the worst foods or the best, they're happy to collect a click-through commission from the receiving site all the same. That's how sites like this make money.

As before, it's important to know where info you read on the internet comes from and what's authoritative and what's not. This site is the latter kind.

Those who provide the double-four-letter-word of "bull ... shil" advice ...

... seldom advertise that as one of their facts: doesn't add to one's image..

o j

Well, I don't know about you, Fudd, but having so many dog food products evaluated on a single website is easier than going to a dozen+ company websites. It also goes into lengthy details of the ingredients and lists any recalls. Company websites don't provide this information. fwiw, I've never clicked on "where to buy" links. I tend to ignore ads on most websites or have them blocked.

The products aren't evaluated. The ingredients are listed and speculative and unsupported comments are made about those ingredients. Help me if I missed something.

Ingredient data is always on each package so there are no insights nor value added info provided. If you consider that to be useful, then you're welcome to be fooled by this pretense and the baseless rankings.