Draft letter to Your Cat magazine re dry food - input please?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Ta.  I will send it as it is - maybe add Christine's suggeston at the end.  Although I am anti dry food in many ways (Mosi is eating some royal canin dry as I type!  ), what really got my goat was that they are making health claims for dry food without substantiating those claims.  That is very naughty imo.  If they're going to say that cats fed a particular type of food have better teeth and gums, they need to have the evidence to back it up. 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Sounds fine to me Susanne, would be interested in the answer too.  I'm not as anti dry as you are but it does annoy me when it's recommended as a 100% dry diet as in my opinion that's just not natural.

Apologies for going completely off topic here - but I'm rather chuffed that my two boys Milo and Remy made it into the November  issue of Your Cat (in the 'living with' bit of the Singapura article). So I'm one very proud mum!

They're famous   

[Kucinta]

ooh I saw them, very cute!

Thank you! They're three years old now, so a bit more grown up, but still very kittenish in their behaviour. They just have to look at me with those big eyes of theirs, and I'm putty in their paws...

[Dawn F]

ooh I saw them, very cute!

[Kucinta]

Apologies for going completely off topic here - but I'm rather chuffed that my two boys Milo and Remy made it into the November  issue of Your Cat (in the 'living with' bit of the Singapura article). So I'm one very proud mum!

[em1209]

I think it sounds really good, short and sweet.

I do like the bit you put in your original post as well though .....

I should point out that I'm not contacting them just to be awkward or to go on an anti dry food mission - I am genuinely interested in keeping abreast of this kind of research, and want to know if they have access to new studies that do demonstrate dry food to be good for teeth. 

Let us know if you get a reply from them

[Christine (Blip)]

I think it reads just fine and isn't confrontational at all.  If you feel it ends rather abrubtly, you could add - chattily - to the end of the final sentence 'so that I can have a look at them myself.'

[Mojo]

I think that is fine - I always have to grumble at at least one part of that magazine though, there was the collar article which irritated me

I would definately agree with that Desley- There was an article in the magazine showing the damage elasticated collars could do, then a few pages later they were advertising them! That really p*****d me of!!! 

[Dawn F]

OMG I've got a draft email ready for them asking them to promote neutering more, I am so fed up of people being interviewed (including so called celebrities who would definitely have the money to neuter) being surprised when the cat has kittens - I won't hijack your thread Susanne, yours seems fine - but I'd like to know if others who read the magazine think I have a point????

[Ela]

I too think it fine. As you possibly  know over almost 20 years and dealing and hearing  with up to 1000 cats a year we find there are just as many cats with dentals problems that are  fed on dried food only as  on  wet and also a mixed diet.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I think that is fine - I always have to grumble at at least one part of that magazine though, there was the collar article which irritated me

[Janeyk]

Ta

I'm just wary of it coming across as an "I think dry food is bad therefore I'm angry that you have claimed a benefit without citing your sources" email, since I suspect such an email would be ignored.

I don't think so, but tbh they should really cite their evidence so you're right in asking

[Janeyk]

It's not confrontational at all you're just asking, I'd get it sent     

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Ta

I'm just wary of it coming across as an "I think dry food is bad therefore I'm angry that you have claimed a benefit without citing your sources" email, since I suspect such an email would be ignored.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

I don't think it sounds confrontational Susanne. I think it reads fine, since you started it well.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I'm about to email Your Cat magazine re a statement they made in an article in November's issue.  The article is about dental care for cats and in it they state that it has been shown that dry food is beneficial to dental health.  I'm emailing to ask what sources they are using to claim this.  I don't want to be confrontational and do want to come across as someone who is generally interested in research on this subject (which I am).  I've ran off a quick draft but would appreciate input from anyone who is better with words than moi.  I feel it ends rather abruptly and needs another sentence to make them feel warm and cosy and not under attack 

I should point out that I'm not contacting them just to be awkward or to go on an anti dry food mission - I am genuinely interested in keeping abreast of this kind of research, and want to know if they have access to new studies that do demonstrate dry food to be good for teeth.  If they can't cite any studies then I will be mad, because I don't think anyone should make those sort of claims without evidence to back them up.  In fact, I think it's downright irresponsible because it could cause people to switch from wet to dry food because they think it is good for their cat's teeth.

Here's the first draft of my email

Hi

I'm contacting you regarding November's issue of Your Cat magazine.  First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on the magazine.  I have been a Your Cat reader for many years and have always found it to be an informative and interesting read.  I am particularly interested in feline health and nutrition so, naturally, the article on dental care for cats in November's issue caught my eye.  In this article you state "It has been shown that dry diets have a significant beneficial effect upon dental health, with cats fed exclusively on these foods having healthier teeth and gums".  I've struggled over the past year or so to find any research that shows dry food to have a beneficial (or detrimental) effect on dental health.  I would be very grateful, therefore, if you can let me know which studies you refer to in this article.

regards
[my name]