Despite assurances in the Iams research policy that no animal would ever be killed, our investigator documented the destruction of 27 out of 60 dogs who underwent an invasive procedure that involved having huge chunks of muscle cut out of their legs. Two more of those dogs were found dead in their cages after the surgery; one had been suffering for 11 days prior to her death. When our investigator reported that Humbug, an Iams dog, was limping, she was told by a vet tech that the laboratory had an x-ray machine that dated back to the 1960s but no film for it and that the director of the laboratory preferred to kill, rather than treat, animals with broken bones. In addition, Fifi and the other dogs used in Iams’ metabolic studies were bled by the laboratory in order to sell their blood to other companies even though the studies do not call for blood draws.
Iams dogs dumped on cold concrete flooring after having huge chunks of muscle cut out of their thighs
dogs and cats gone stir-crazy from confinement; dogs and cats in windowless, dungeon-like buildings
a coworker who instructed her to hit the dogs on the chest if they quit breathing; another coworker who talked about an Iams dog found dead in his cage, bleeding from his mouth
a dog who limped in pain from Lyme disease
cruel studies done by Iams involving sticking tubes down dogs’ throats to force them to ingest vegetable oil
Iams dogs with such severe tartar buildup on their teeth that it was painful for them to eat
vet technicians with inadequate training and experience performing invasive procedures
coworkers who talked about a live kitten who was washed down a drain
coworkers who talked about how they had to go home because the ammonia fumes in the animal trailers were so overpowering that it made their eyes burn (try being one of the animals in those cages!)
cats kept in a cinderblock room with crude wooden “resting” boards that had nails sticking out of them; one of the boards fell on a cat, crushing her to death, while our investigator was there yet the lab director did not remove the boards when the cat was crushed—he removed them when he was told that the lab was going to be inspected because he knew they were illegal