Oh, the injustice! Oh, the inhumanity!

I’m overcome with shock, confusion, and grief. Animal food tested on animals? How can this be?? Why?? This insanity has to end.

This terrible revelation happened tonight. As I was feeding my cat, a thought crossed my mind. “Is pet food animal tested? Surely not.” Oh, but how wrong I was.

I’ve recently taken in a big, black cat named Willie, who was suffering from untreated diabetes. He had become very ill and almost died 5 months ago. But I was able to nurse him back health with insulin shots and a change in diet. Now he is off of insulin and in remission! That’s the great news.

The bad news is that his new prescription diet, which has greatly contributed to his recovery, is animal tested. WTF?? It’s a special brand of weight management food that I buy from my veterinarian. There are a couple of different brands I’ve used (Hills and Purina), but both of these and many of the other major pet food brands are animal tested. Whose brilliant idea was this? Jerks.

So now what? I already feed my other cats (Marley and Lilu) a special brand of pet food called Merrick, which I hope is not animal tested. I don’t see it listed on the safe list, so I’ll have to do some investigating. But I know that if they turn out to be an unreliable brand, I have other options, like Weruva.

But poor Willie is on a prescription diet, so I can’t just pick up his food at any pet store. I’m praying that there are cruelty-free options for his food, too. If not, what are we going to do? I need to contact my vet first thing!

More to come…

For more info on which pet food companies do and don’t animal test, see this blog: http://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/pets/cruelty-free-pet-food/

What I discovered about the animal testing issue is that it is not a simple answer to one question. Big cosmetic companies would like us to believe it is, though. There are three questions that we must ask:

1. Are any of the products, including the ingredients used to make the products, animal tested? (This is how many of them get away with claiming they are not animal tested. Lancome, I’m talking about you.)
2. Is the company owned by a parent company that does animal testing?
3. Do they sell products in mainland China, which requires animal testing? (Boo to China!)

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then they are not animal-cruelty free. Often times, companies print “not animal tested” directly on the labels, which is completely false. You can’t rely on their marketing because marketing is intended to sell products, not share the truth.

I hope that sharing my journey will inspire you to join me in going 100% animal cruelty-free. My goal is to provide information and guidance to those of you on your own journeys. It’s going to be a process, though, because I use a lot of toiletries.

Thanks for stopping by and please spread the word, for the sake of animals.

#goanimalcruelty-free

Maybe it was a conversation. Maybe a post on social media. Maybe a sentence in a petition I had signed. Something triggered a thought: “Are Lancome products really not animal tested? Or did they mislead me? And was I a fool for so easily buying into it?” Literally buying into it. I don’t even want to think about how much money I’ve given them over the years.

So back to the internet, I went. This time there was even more information. I found a wealth of true information, including an incredible site all about animal cruelty-free cosmetics. It’s called: crueltyfreekitty.com.

The wondeful host, Suzi, has done exhaustive research on cosmetics and toiletries. She identifies the good guys, the bad guys, and reviews all of the products on her site. The information is quite up-to-date and is an excellent resource. I highly recommend her blog.

I’ve always been an animal lover. Always. I’ve volunteered. Rescued suffering animals. I’ve loved them, provided a home for them. I’ve nursed them back to health. I’ve advocated for them. I’ve made donations. I’ve marched for animal rights. (Okay, I did one march for elephants and rhinos to oppose poaching and promote awareness. But that counts, right?)

The bottom line is that I’m passionate about animal welfare. So as an animal advocate, it is important for me to ensure that I consider animal wellbeing in all aspects of my life. There I was living and breathing animal rights, when something happened.

At first, I didn’t fully understand the implications of what animal testing is. The idea that a company might do such a thing as inject products into an animal’s eyeball wasn’t even on my radar. Denial? Silly me. I guess it took some growing up and experience for it to sink in.

And then it was a matter of selfishness. “But I like these products and they work so well! I can’t help that they’re animal tested.” I tried not to think about it. How nice for me in my sheltered little world. I’m sad to admit that this stage lasted a while. What a jerk.

Finally, I decided to investigate. Where to start? My online research was…well…confusing. I thought, maybe I should try PETA. Isn’t their goal for the ethical treatment of animals and all? So I went to the website, which started out great. But as I read further, it got more convoluted and it said that the only way to truly protect animals was to become a vegan. But that would never work for me. I just don’t like vegetables that much, so I might seriously starve. This is so overwhelming. Sigh. But, wait, I was inquiring about animal testing on cosmetics.

Moving on. Next, I did a search on my biggest indulgence – Lancome. I’d been told that they were one of the biggest offenders, so surely there would be information on the web. There was. A lot. But it was conflicting. Some sites said they do animal test. Others said they do not. The official Lancome site had a statement that said that their products (confirm) are not tested on animals. There it was, straight from the source. They said they don’t animal test. And they could be sued for false advertising, right? So it must be true. That was enough proof for me. So convenient. We believe what we want to believe.

I continued in my little bubble of misinformed denial for as long as it was convenient. When I finally stopped traveling so much for work and had some time to reflect on my decisions, my attitude began to change.

Today my journey begins. I am on a mission to switch to non-animal tested (cruelty-free) cosmetics and toiletries. Because animals should not have to suffer for me to look pretty.

Although this is not a new initiative, it’s one that I am passionate about. Yes, yes, I know I’m late to the party. But I’m finally here, so that’s something. And I feel very naive because I’ve allowed myself to be misled by the offenders in the beauty industry.