Other "Pet Food" Companies: Menu Foods
Pain and Suffering, All in a Day’s Work
 Many
of the animals used in Menu Foods studies were in constant pain. Although
the U.S. federal Animal Welfare Act prohibits the use of slatted flooring
that endangers animals’ health and well-being, PETA’s investigator
saw numerous dogs with their legs caught between the bars of slatted
cage floors. Many of the dogs had swollen and inflamed paw pads from
walking on the slatted steel for months on end. Most of their toenails
were so long that they could hardly walk without slipping. Our investigator
videotaped one dog who had such severe injuries from the slatted flooring
that both her hind legs were cut to the bone. This miserable dog, identified
only as (H)8J483, was left to suffer for seven days without any painkillers
until the veterinary technicians finally killed her. Her body parts
were sold to other companies.
Inexcusable Neglect
 Many
animals also desperately needed their teeth cleaned because they were
not allowed to chew on anything hard—all they got to eat was canned
food. When PETA’s investigator inquired about teeth cleanings,
she was told that the researcher at Menu Foods would not let the animals
“take a break” from the studies in order to undergo this basic
procedure.
When one dog stopped eating, the veterinary technicians agreed to examine
her at our investigator’s request. Initially, the apathetic technicians
could not figure out what was wrong, but after several examinations,
they realized that the dog’s teeth were brown with tartar buildup
and her gums were red and swollen. After five months of suffering this
way, the vet techs finally cleaned her teeth.
PETA’s investigator also found that many cats were lacking proper
veterinary care. A kitten was even killed while having her blood drawn;
the director of the laboratory believed that the kitten may have died
because she was squeezed too tightly. Another cat had discharge coming
from his eyes (a common problem—it was suspected that chlamydia
was spreading around the laboratory), and the veterinary technicians
missed several of his treatments, causing the cat to suffer even more.
A cat used in a Menu Foods study whom PETA’s investigator had befriended
had a large cut on his chin. The vet techs told our investigator that
this unfortunate cat was “evil,” and instead of treating the
cat humanely, they put betadine in a spray bottle and tried to spray
the cat in the face from outside the cage, squirting him in the mouth
and causing him to salivate profusely. Later, the technicians indicated
that the “problem was resolved,” yet the investigator saw
that the cut looked much worse and informed the lab’s director
of the cat’s condition. Although the vet techs were told to euthanize
the cat immediately, he suffered for five more days before the vet techs
finally got around to destroying him.
A shy, sweet dog used in another Menu Foods experiment, identified as
HJDMFT, had both a rash on her inside thigh and a purple mass on her
abdomen. Our investigator had to submit several veterinary request cards
to staff before the dog was seen. She was diagnosed as having a mammary
tumor and folliculitis (a bacterial infection of the hair follicles),
and she cried when handled because the tumor had become inflamed and
hot to the touch by the time she was seen by a vet on August 21, 2002.
The suffering dog was not treated, and her condition steadily worsened
until finally, on September 26, she was killed. HJDMFT, who looked as
if she could be the dog next door, had spent 42 days in hell before
her death.
Oversight Overlooked
During the nine months that PETA’s investigator worked in the laboratory, she never saw a Menu Foods
representative come to observe the conditions that the animals were forced to endure, nor was she asked for
any records on the animals. Shortly before our investigator quit her job at the lab, the lab director ordered
the vet techs to debark all the dogs because he was being disturbed by their desperate cries for attention.
A vet tech told our investigator that a researcher in Menu Foods’ New Jersey office gave permission
for the dogs’ vocal chords to be cut out.
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