ORIGINAL CUSTOMER QUESTION:
I am very interested in using your products Call of the Wild and Wild Things for a hybrid cat. I was referred by other pet owners to Wysong and Apperon. In reading the Apperon site I came across the following statements, which raised some concerns as we were really set on selecting Wysong. May you please have someone address these statements for us so that we may make the most informed decision for our pet?

WYSONG RESPONSE:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond. In general you are faced with the following choice. Should you believe and follow those who advocate that they know all there is to know about nutrition, and that you should purchase their products because they know how to precisely formulate them (Apperon)? Or should you believe those who argue that nature knows best and contains secrets not even imagined by humans, and who then teach you how to apply this understanding so that you can make your own informed health and food decisions (Wysong)?
This contrast will be apparent in the following debate and is further made apparent by comparing the written materials from the two companies.

APPERON INTERNET PUBLICATION:
I just recently discovered a product manufactured by a company called Wysong that is trademarked Call of the Wild. I've been told by breeders that Call of the Wild is superior because it has "all natural" ingredients and that Apperon Oasis is outdated. I question whether these breeders have their own personal agendas. Dr. Gary, can you please help me better understand what's in Call of the Wild versus your Oasis?

APPERON RESPONSE:
All of our products are developed for the health and happiness of exotic animals. That is our core focus. Wysong is a company that develops products for both companion pets, horses and humans. Oasis Felidai is a specie specific formula intended for exotic cats. Call of the Wild is categorized as a companion cat supplement.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Apperon provides no proof that different species of cats require different nutrition. Wysong follows the archetypal model that clearly demonstrates that all cats in the wild eat essentially the same diet. Wysong foods and supplements try to emulate this natural model as closely as possible and we coach people how to use a variety of foods to accomplish this, including fresh foods not produced or sold by Wysong.

APPERON:
Careful review of Call of the Wild's "controversial" ingredient statement raises critical red flags for the safety of exotic cats. Please appreciate that my opinion is based on the limited information from Wysong.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
This "limited information" does not deter from the use of words like: "controversial," "critical," "red flags" and "safety"--all words of certainty and obviously intended to scare you into purchasing their products. You need good information to make decisions and Wysong certainly does not provide "limited" amounts of that. The educational materials of Wysong are unmatched anywhere in the industry. The ingredients and our feeding philosophy are clearly outlined as well. In contrast, we could not find any list of ingredients on the Oasis site. If you wish to provide those to us we will comment on them.

APPERON:
However as a board certified animal nutritionist with over 25 years of experience,

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Degrees and certification are not necessary to understand feed labels. Nomenclature is precisely defined by feed regulators and defined by the AAFCO regulatory handbook. Any layperson can obtain and read this information. What is the "experience" that uniquely qualifies this individual to decide the precise nutrient requirements of every species of cat? We can find nowhere in the scientific literature such documentation let alone on this company's website.

APPERON:
I can tell a lot from an ingredient statement and the first ingredient listed is poultry and then poultry liver. The poultry and poultry liver are probably derived from "spent hens", chickens that have finished their useful life and that are usually full of all kinds of antibiotics and feed additives, with many of them being totally unhealthy. As the first ingredient in Call of the Wild, why would anyone want to derive a supplement from spent hens?

WYSONG COMMENTS:
The credentials mentioned above do not include psychic abilities, but that is what would be required to make the conclusions made. Wysong does not contain "spent hens." Even if Wysong were to contain them, the level of chicken meat in our supplements (used as a natural palatability carrier for the micronutrients) would be so small and the recommended usage level so small that the potential for harm (assuming the "full of" statement is even correct) would be negligible. In any event, "spent hens" are egg laying chickens that produce eggs for human consumption. They are only "spent" with respect to egg laying productivity. This would not mean they were of no, or even low nutritional value. Some "spent" hens are factory farmed, some are organic. So the sweeping condemnation of them is not appropriate. Incidentally, what do cats prey on in the wild? The strongest, swiftest and healthiest, or the sick, disabled, diseased, dying...and spent?

APPERON:
The fifth listed ingredient in Call of the Wild is ground bone and having worked as a health consultant for the livestock industry for so long you need to be aware of the issues associated with ground bone. These issues relate to mad cattle disease, zoonotic diseases, and heavy metal contamination.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Wysong bone is not from cattle with mad cow disease, nor is it an agent of zoonotic diseases, nor is it laced with heavy metals. These Apperon comments are a scare tactic to convince you to purchase products, they do not reflect responsible and informed information. By the logic presented, all cattle would be condemned.

APPERON:
The barley grass powder and wheat grass powder listed also gave me great concerns over possible allergic reactions at the gut level in exotic cats.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Cats in the wild will consume viscera of prey containing grasses and do not develop "allergic reactions." We are professional veterinarians and PhDs and have surveyed the scientific literature for decades. We know of no reported case of "gut level allergic reactions" to grass in cats. For more informed and impartial information on the merits of unjointed barley and wheat grass please do a search on the Internet. The merits of unjointed barley and wheat grass are well documented.

APPERON:
Since this product contained kelp and seaweed, I have concerns over mercury and other heavy metals.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
The science of toxicology teaches that "the dose makes the poison." Anything can be toxic if fed in high enough dosage...including every ingredient in Oasis products. Kelp and seaweed are used in Wysong foods because they are excellent sources of natural trace minerals. They are not contaminated by toxic levels of heavy metals. Nor would the tens of thousands of animals fed these ingredients in Wysong products over the past 25 years have thrived as they have. Again, do a search on the Internet to learn the extraordinary nutritional merits of these ingredients.

APPERON:
Additional review of the Wysong website indicated to me that Call of the Wild looked like a relabeled human product or a variation of.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Since humans and cats eat many of the same foods, this argument could be made no matter how the product was formulated. Call of the Wild is not a relabeled human product as can clearly be seen from the label. Even if it were, this argument would be as relevant as saying that steak and chicken from the grocer should not be fed to cats because they are labeled for humans.

APPERON:
As noted above, Wysong formulates products for people, pets and horses. It's generally easier and much more cost effective to slightly modify a formula than to develop one that is specie specific.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Wysong does not do things because they are easy or cheap. We have a clear health philosophy and make products accordingly. We would argue that the "specie specific" claim is marketing, not science or logic.

APPERON:
I also observed that Call of the wild contains Vitamin E supplement with no indication if the form is the correct one for exotic cats.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
This is the only vitamin E nomenclature permitted by regulation. Wysong products contain a variety of Vitamin E epimers to both preserve the food and give metabolic antioxidant benefits. Incidentally, the correct form of Vitamin E is the mixed tocopherols found in the natural prey diet.

APPERON:
This is a huge problem!

WYSONG COMMENTS:
More unsubstantiated scary hyperbole.

APPERON:
The web site also claims that it contains innumerable micronutrients in the levels and proportions found in natural prey. I would like to know all the natural prey that has all the same components. In fact I would like to know the natural prey that contains seaweed, kelp, poultry liver, sesame seeds, calcite, whey and garlic all in the same place.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Since natural ingredients are used in Wysong foods, not a potpourri of synthetic vitamins and minerals, they are in the proportions an animal would find them in nature. The varied prey diet of the feline could contain all of the ingredients Wysong uses. The point of Wysong supplements is ignored: The mainstay the owner would be feeding is fresh meats, organs, bones and the like; the Wysong supplements are just that, supplements meant to augment the main course. We do not suggest that people feed our supplements as an exclusive food as Apperon is suggesting.

APPERON:
Perhaps they are feeding rats that dine in the garbage of a NY city Chinese diner.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
It is surprising what will be said at times to make a sale. That aside, which do you think any feline would choose, a bottle of Oasis or a pudgy scraggly NY city rat?

APPERON:
As far as I know calcite is another name for calcium carbonate Ca CO3 but of a lower grade and quality, why they chose to put it on the ingredient list is beyond me.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
Since these Wysong products are designed to supplement a raw meat diet which can be deficient in calcium, we have used the very best and varied sources of calcium: bone, calcite, coral calcium, egg shell, milk calcium or carrot calcium (all in Call of the Wild). Apperon does not state what special natural source of calcium they use.

APPERON: Calcite cannot contain less than 33 % calcium while the calcium we use in Oasis contains a minimum of 38% calcium and it is monitored for heavy metals.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
We cannot comment on the Oasis ingredients because we could not find them on the website. Calcium is 100% calcium and not 33% nor 38%. If the reference is to % calcium in an ingredient, that is irrelevant to the final product. If the implication is that because Oasis contains an ingredient that is 38% calcium that it is better, then all a consumer need do is shop for % calcium. If that is so, one could buy pure 100% calcium and Oasis would be out of business.

APPERON: In conclusion, I encourage you not to take my word as being final. Read some of the testimonials listed on apperon.com and take a look at each exotic cat picture featured throughout the site. Every single picture represents an Oasis cat and thank goodness, they can't lie like some people can.

WYSONG COMMENTS:
We would also invite you to peruse the hundreds of Wysong testimonials listed on our website. These people and animals (a 25 year history through generations of thousands of animals) don't lie either.

Please let us know if we can be of further help.

Please take some time to review the Optimal Health Program. Dr. Wysong's book, the "Truth About Pet Food," and the CD, "The Master Key to Health.” You will see that Wysong is not about just selling products but giving good and responsible information. A critical key to health is variety. Don't feed any single food consistently no matter what the claims of purveyors who argue such things as "100% complete," or perfect foods for specific breeds, species, ages, lifestages or the like.