Comments on: Evolution Diet – Selling Food with Fear and Lies http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/ A Vet Takes a Science-Based Look at Complementary and Alternative Medicine Wed, 16 May 2012 00:17:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: skeptvet http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-51916 skeptvet Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:55:44 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-51916 1. My name is both irrelevant and easy to find, as are my credentials. This is just your way of trying to distract people from the substance of my critique and your own unethical behavior. 2. This site, unlike yours, is a non-profit educational endeavor. 3. If you have any evidence that contradicts anything I have said, feel free to present it. Innuendo and rhetorical questions are not a convincing argument. Since you are the one profiting from making claims about your diet, the burden of proof is on you to provide evidence those claims are true. And since you are the one repeatedly in trouble with the law for unethical and unscrupulous behavior, it seems like you are the one who needs to be defending your position. 1. My name is both irrelevant and easy to find, as are my credentials. This is just your way of trying to distract people from the substance of my critique and your own unethical behavior.

2. This site, unlike yours, is a non-profit educational endeavor.

3. If you have any evidence that contradicts anything I have said, feel free to present it. Innuendo and rhetorical questions are not a convincing argument.

Since you are the one profiting from making claims about your diet, the burden of proof is on you to provide evidence those claims are true. And since you are the one repeatedly in trouble with the law for unethical and unscrupulous behavior, it seems like you are the one who needs to be defending your position.

]]> By: Eric Weisman http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-51909 Eric Weisman Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:06:34 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-51909 Mr. Skeptvet: If you are so credible, please tell your audience your real name, who pays you to run this website and what your real credentials are. Please tell me what tests you have done with Evolution Diet Pet Foods so our food so that you can up with these bizarre myths about the plant based ingredients Evolution Diet uses. Please tell your audience why the "good" diseased animal ingredients that are used by all pet grade meat, poultry and fish based pet foods made in the U.S. can be better then the plant based products Evolution Diet uses. I would like to Mr. Skeptvet: If you are so credible, please tell your audience your real name, who pays you to run this website and what your real credentials are.
Please tell me what tests you have done with Evolution Diet Pet Foods so our food so that you can up with these bizarre myths about the plant based ingredients Evolution Diet uses.
Please tell your audience why the “good” diseased animal ingredients that are used by all pet grade meat, poultry and fish based pet foods made in the U.S. can be better then the plant based products Evolution Diet uses.
I would like to

]]> By: skeptvet http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-50456 skeptvet Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:48:33 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-50456 All I see here are the same old claims without evidence. You claim that your foods are healthful, but surely you can understand why it isn't reasonable to expect anyone to take your word for it. Considering your documented and repeated failure to abide by reasonable laws and regulations governing medicine, and you complete lack of regard for science and evidence in the past, your credibility is low. And testimonials are not useful as evidence for health claims since there is nothing, no matter how absurd or useless, that one cannot find somebody to provide a testimonia for. You claim the government is preventing you from providing real scientific research data, but after decades of making this food you have never done so. Why is it that other companies can generate and publish scientific studies of their food and yet you cannot? All I see here are the same old claims without evidence. You claim that your foods are healthful, but surely you can understand why it isn’t reasonable to expect anyone to take your word for it. Considering your documented and repeated failure to abide by reasonable laws and regulations governing medicine, and you complete lack of regard for science and evidence in the past, your credibility is low. And testimonials are not useful as evidence for health claims since there is nothing, no matter how absurd or useless, that one cannot find somebody to provide a testimonia for.

You claim the government is preventing you from providing real scientific research data, but after decades of making this food you have never done so. Why is it that other companies can generate and publish scientific studies of their food and yet you cannot?

]]> By: Eric Weisman http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-50426 Eric Weisman Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:21:19 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-50426 There is much speculation but really no concrete data that skeptvet has regarding the feeding of Evolution Diet to Dogs, Cats and Ferrets. We have successfully fed all three types of animals Evolution Diet Gourmet Kibble Foods and Moist Canned Foods for 20 plus years. When I say "successfully" I mean that we have Dogs, Cats and Ferrets living at least as long and as healthfully as they do on the best Organic Meat Based and Human Grade Meat Based Dog, Cat and Ferret Foods. I can tell you this with absolute certainty because we have medical records and sworn statements from a number of our thousands of clients that have used and use our foods for as much as 10 - 20 years. All Evolution Diet Pet Foods will provide a life and health expectancy that meets y as the national averages. I would like to tell this your audience at this blog our actual findings, but the government does not allow us to do so until we publish in a national journal which will be coming up in a short period of time. We have found that Dgs, Cats and Ferrets do very well on both the Goumet Dry Kibble and Gormet Moist Canned Evolution Diet Foods. We add in the missing protiens Methionine, Lysine, Taurine, Carnitine, Choline in both the Dry and Moist Foods we manufacture. Regarding our scare tacticts about what how diseased animals really go into all Pet Foods not labeled "Vegan", "Vegetarian" and "Human Grade" , I urge people including "sceptvet" to look at website citations on the front page of petfoodshop.com. This will bring you to the Evolution Diet Front Page. There are a lot of organizations and journaisits that will tell you the facts about what really goes into pet foods. Sceptvet is entitled to his or her opinion and it is obvious that that this person wants to keep their identity concealed. The fact that virtually all meat based pet food companies use diseased animal ingredients can not be disputed. It is easy to verify this fact by asking any meat, poultry and/or fish based pet food company to send updated and previous USDA Grading Certiciates. If they do not have them, it means that the flesh in their foods has not been inspected and the only reason for non inspection of meat, poultry and fish is that it is too diseased to get the USDA Grading. Period...Non Lies, No dispute. Something happens to the billions of animals in the U.S. and Canada that are too sick for human consumption. Haven't you ever wordered why pet food is usally so much cheaper then human food? The cost of using diseased animals as pet food ingredients is only the cost of transportation and processing. The poor animals cost nothing . They are the most brutally treated of all animals that go to slaughter in the industry. There is much speculation but really no concrete data that skeptvet has regarding the feeding of Evolution Diet to Dogs, Cats and Ferrets. We have successfully fed all three types of animals Evolution Diet Gourmet Kibble Foods and Moist Canned Foods for 20 plus years. When I say “successfully” I mean that we have Dogs, Cats and Ferrets living at least as long and as healthfully as they do on the best Organic Meat Based and Human Grade Meat Based Dog, Cat and Ferret Foods. I can tell you this with absolute certainty because we have medical records and sworn statements from a number of our thousands of clients that have used and use our foods for as much as 10 – 20 years. All Evolution Diet Pet Foods will provide a life and health expectancy that meets y as the national averages. I would like to tell this your audience at this blog our actual findings, but the government does not allow us to do so until we publish in a national journal which will be coming up in a short period of time. We have found that Dgs, Cats and Ferrets do very well on both the Goumet Dry Kibble and Gormet Moist Canned Evolution Diet Foods. We add in the missing protiens Methionine, Lysine, Taurine, Carnitine, Choline in both the Dry and Moist Foods we manufacture. Regarding our scare tacticts about what how diseased animals really go into all Pet Foods not labeled “Vegan”, “Vegetarian” and “Human Grade” , I urge people including “sceptvet” to look at website citations on the front page of petfoodshop.com. This will bring you to the Evolution Diet Front Page. There are a lot of organizations and journaisits that will tell you the facts about what really goes into pet foods. Sceptvet is entitled to his or her opinion and it is obvious that that this person wants to keep their identity concealed.
The fact that virtually all meat based pet food companies use diseased animal ingredients can not be disputed. It is easy to verify this fact by asking any meat, poultry and/or fish based pet food company to send updated and previous USDA Grading Certiciates. If they do not have them, it means that the flesh in their foods has not been inspected and the only reason for non inspection of meat, poultry and fish is that it is too diseased to get the USDA Grading. Period…Non Lies, No dispute. Something happens to the billions of animals in the U.S. and Canada that are too sick for human consumption. Haven’t you ever wordered why pet food is usally so much cheaper then human food? The cost of using diseased animals as pet food ingredients is only the cost of transportation and processing. The poor animals cost nothing . They are the most brutally treated of all animals that go to slaughter in the industry.

]]> By: Sheri Fitzgerald http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-47233 Sheri Fitzgerald Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:10:50 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-47233 Thanks so much for your thoughtful input! Thanks so much for your thoughtful input!

]]> By: skeptvet http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-47210 skeptvet Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:29:52 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-47210 I appreciate your dilemma as I don't eat meat myself. Unfortunately, no one has ever successfully demonstrated than a diet with no animal protein can be safely fed to a cat long-term. A number that have appeared to be nutritionally balanced on paper led to heart disease when actually fed to cats. They are obligate carnivores and a number of essential nutrients simply don't occur in a useable form in plants. It might be theoretically possible using synthetic taurine and other such nutrients, but periodically I check with the nutrition specialists about this, and so far no one has succeeded. Some of the diets out there claim to be acceptable for cats, but then cases of cardiomyopathy and other deficiency diseases start showing up. For dogs, it is probably possible to feed a vegan diet, though sometimes these diets are still supplemented with amino acids or D vitamins from animal sources, so depending on how strict you wish to be you may have to check with the company. I would suggest contacting a veterinary nutritionist, such as the Clinical Nutrition Service at the UC Davis vet school or pediets.com for advice (or depending on where you are the nearest veterinary school will likely have a board-certified nutritionist). Also, you might want to check out this site: http://skepticalvegan.wordpress.com/ Good luck! I appreciate your dilemma as I don’t eat meat myself. Unfortunately, no one has ever successfully demonstrated than a diet with no animal protein can be safely fed to a cat long-term. A number that have appeared to be nutritionally balanced on paper led to heart disease when actually fed to cats. They are obligate carnivores and a number of essential nutrients simply don’t occur in a useable form in plants. It might be theoretically possible using synthetic taurine and other such nutrients, but periodically I check with the nutrition specialists about this, and so far no one has succeeded. Some of the diets out there claim to be acceptable for cats, but then cases of cardiomyopathy and other deficiency diseases start showing up.

For dogs, it is probably possible to feed a vegan diet, though sometimes these diets are still supplemented with amino acids or D vitamins from animal sources, so depending on how strict you wish to be you may have to check with the company. I would suggest contacting a veterinary nutritionist, such as the Clinical Nutrition Service at the UC Davis vet school or pediets.com for advice (or depending on where you are the nearest veterinary school will likely have a board-certified nutritionist).

Also, you might want to check out this site: http://skepticalvegan.wordpress.com/

Good luck!

]]> By: Sheri Fitzgerald http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-47192 Sheri Fitzgerald Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:57:09 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-47192 As a vegetarian myself, I've been torn about feeding my pets (German shepherd and shorthaired cat) meat. I know cats are carnivores, and I currently use Merrick's food for them because of the ingredient list. I'd been thinking of switching to the Evolution diet on the advice of a friend, but had not seen their website, and am glad I found this article! But I wonder--are there any vegetarian pet foods out there that can give pets, especially cats, the nutrition they need? (I ask this for ethical reasons, not because I think eating meat in organic products is "dangerous" for my animals.) As a vegetarian myself, I’ve been torn about feeding my pets (German shepherd and shorthaired cat) meat. I know cats are carnivores, and I currently use Merrick’s food for them because of the ingredient list. I’d been thinking of switching to the Evolution diet on the advice of a friend, but had not seen their website, and am glad I found this article! But I wonder–are there any vegetarian pet foods out there that can give pets, especially cats, the nutrition they need? (I ask this for ethical reasons, not because I think eating meat in organic products is “dangerous” for my animals.)

]]> By: skeptvet http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-43654 skeptvet Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:50:55 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-43654 I'm a vegetarian myself, so I don't care much for industrial meat production. That said, this food is marketed by fraud and misinformation from an individual who has made his career out of defaming others and violating the law (as you can see <a href="http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2011/05/evolution-diet-update-selling-foood-with-fraud/" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2011/06/mr-eric-weisman-promoter-of-evolution-diet-finally-prosecuted/" rel="nofollow">here</a>). Why on earth one could imagine it is somehow a healthier alternative to other commercial foods is hard to imagine. As for the implication that veterinarians might not be genuinely committed to pet health because they "make a fortune on sick animals," this is offensive nonsense, pure and simple. I’m a vegetarian myself, so I don’t care much for industrial meat production. That said, this food is marketed by fraud and misinformation from an individual who has made his career out of defaming others and violating the law (as you can see here and here). Why on earth one could imagine it is somehow a healthier alternative to other commercial foods is hard to imagine.

As for the implication that veterinarians might not be genuinely committed to pet health because they “make a fortune on sick animals,” this is offensive nonsense, pure and simple.

]]> By: Pat http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-43651 Pat Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:25:54 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-43651 I am currently considering Evolution Diet for my cat. Meat produced in factory farms is not fit for man or beast. I have been down the pet food road for a while and I felt this post was biased. There have been quite a few recalls on cat food; I know Authority nearly killed my cat. Lack of quality in people food is pandemic of course it's only going to be far worse for pets. Is it any wonder vets make a fortune on sick animals. I am currently considering Evolution Diet for my cat. Meat produced in factory farms is not fit for man or beast. I have been down the pet food road for a while and I felt this post was biased. There have been quite a few recalls on cat food; I know Authority nearly killed my cat. Lack of quality in people food is pandemic of course it’s only going to be far worse for pets. Is it any wonder vets make a fortune on sick animals.

]]> By: Paul Garding http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/08/evolution-diet-selling-food-with-fear-and-lies/comment-page-1/#comment-25811 Paul Garding Sat, 07 May 2011 13:22:33 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=129#comment-25811 Hey- I got an idea. Put this Mr Wise-man on a tea party republican ticket with our beloved Michelle Bachman. She is another one who never lets the truth get in the way of a good lie. They could make beautiful music together or at least a ---load of money which is really the main goal behind all their blabber. But, as they say, there is a sucker born every millesecond, and I'm afraid this blog is reaching very few of them. Sorry I can't be more "Minnesota Nice". Hey- I got an idea. Put this Mr Wise-man on a tea party republican ticket with our beloved Michelle Bachman. She is another one who never lets the truth get in the way of a good lie. They could make beautiful music together or at least a —load of money which is really the main goal behind all their blabber. But, as they say, there is a sucker born every millesecond, and I’m afraid this blog is reaching very few of them. Sorry I can’t be more “Minnesota Nice”.

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