UPDATE: So I finally had a chance to put together a letter. Apparently the brother of the original Dr. Foster and the original Dr. Smith still run the company.

Here it is:

Foster and Smith, Inc.

2253 Air Park Road

P.O. Box 100

Rhinelander, WI 54501

April 15, 2013

Re: Signature Series Premium Adult Pet Rabbit Food

Dear Dr. Race Foster & Dr. Martin Smith:

I am writing to you regarding some concerns I have about your new “Signature Series Premium Adult Pet Rabbit Food”. This is a product that bears both your names by having the “Dr. Foster & Smith Signature Series Premium Food” green seal on it.

I am the proud owner of two Holland Lop rabbits who I love dearly. Ever since I adopted them two years ago, I have been a customer of yours. Overall I do like your store as I find it is one of the most convenient ways to shop for my rabbits online.

I am also a member of bunspace.com, a community of over 20,000 rabbit owners. I have posted my concerns on bunspace and will be sharing what response, if any, I receive.

Before getting my rabbits and as a rabbit owner, I have done a huge amount of research on rabbit care and especially nutrition – both online and by going to the library. That’s why I was so unpleasantly surprised to see what kind of rabbit food you have started marketing and selling as your own signature, vet formulated product.

According to Dr. Dana Krempels of H.A.R.E. (Houserabbit Adoption Rescue and Education Rabbit Rescue) [http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html]:

“A good quality rabbit pellet DOES NOT contain dried fruit, seeds, nuts, colored crunchy things or other things that are attractive to our human eyes, but very unhealthy to a rabbit. Rabbits are strict herbivores, and in nature they rarely get fruit, nuts or other such fatty, starchy foods. The complex flora of the cecum can quickly become dangerously imbalanced if too much simple, digestible carbohydrate is consumed--especially if the diet is generally low in fiber. The result is often "poopy butt syndrome," in which mushy fecal matter cakes onto the rabbit's behind. This a sign of cecal dysbiosis, which can foment much more serious health problems.

A good quality rabbit pellet should have at least 22% crude fiber, no more than approximately 14% protein, about 1% fat and about 1.0% calcium. Check the label on the rabbit pellets before you buy. Most commercial pellets are alfalfa-based, which means they're higher in calories and lower in fiber than timothy-based pellets.”

Your “Signature Series Premium Adult Pet Rabbit Food” contains dried fruit as well colorful crunchy things. The guaranteed analysis states that the formula contains 14% protein as a minimum amount rather than a maximum. The analysis also states that the formula has 19% minimum crude fiber and 24% maximum crude fiber. This is clearly not an ideal pellet to feed rabbits.

I have enclosed printed copies of two web pages – both from your website. One contains information for your “Signature Series Premium Adult Pet Rabbit Food”; the other contains information for the Oxbow BenneTerra Organic Rabbit food. If you compare the two as I did, you will see some stark differences.

Oxbow’s product guaranteed analysis states 12% as the minimum protein level and 23% - 25% crude fiber.

What disturbed me most, however, is that your “Signature Series Premium Adult Pet Rabbit Food” has many ingredients that are at best unnecessary filler and at worst unhealthy or even potentially harmful to a rabbit’s health. You will notice that these ingredients are not present in Oxbow’s product. Specifically I am referring to: Soybean Hulls, Ground Corn, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Wheat Middlings, Flaked Peas, Cane Molasses, Dehydrated Papaya, Flaked Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Red 40 and Titanium Dioxide.

Of those ingredients, a few stand out as particularly problematic. First and foremost, why did you include corn in a formula for rabbits? Rabbits are unable to digest corn and certainly gain no benefit from it. In a worst case scenario, corn can cause intestinal problems that could prove fatal in a rabbit. Molasses is nothing but sugar which can cause obesity and an imbalance in intestinal flora. Last but certainly not least, you have put artificial food coloring in this product. Artificial food coloring has been shown to cause cancer in rats, and there is no reason to think it would not have similar effects in relatively small pets like rabbits.

Which veterinarian formulated this product? It is clear that is not healthy for rabbits. One can only conclude that ingredients were chosen based on cost, and that it was formulated to appeal to rabbit owners who don’t know any better – not to increase the health and wellbeing of their herbivorous little friends. The way you are marketing this product is misleading and unethical.

I respectfully ask that you reformulate or stop selling this shameful product. At the very least, you owe it to consumers to state which veterinarian you are referring to when you state that the product is veterinarian formulated. When people read that a pet product is veterinarian formulated, they trust that ingredient decisions were made based on what is best for their pets. They trust you. In this case that trust has been violated.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I would very much appreciate a response.

Sincerely,

[Cookie & Muffin's Mom]