# How Does Everyone Feel about Iams?



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

It's not great. I wouldn't feed it. I also have ethical problems with IAMS company. 

Fresh fruits and veggies are perfectly okay, though avoid grapes and onions. Also, dogs can't really digest most veggies, but they're not dangerous.

Carrots are a good treat!


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

I'm actually going to change to Iams. I'm pretty impressed with the research they put out on an ongoing bases...concerning their formulas and general dog/health issues. It gives me confidence.


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## Leo's Mom (Feb 27, 2006)

I swear by Nutro. I have all 4 dogs now on large breed adult. You can get this food at any "dog store" such as Pet Supply Plus or any feed store like Tractor Supply.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Lucky's Mom - what do you currently feed?


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

currently I feed Purina Dog Chow, but want to step up to something...either Iams or Eukanuba


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## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

I use Nutro also. I used Eukanuba at first which is the Iams premium food. I didn't have a probem with it but thought I could maybe do better. Switched to Nutro which is a little cheaper adn Tinkerbell loved it. And my daughter that has to clean the yard loves it also. She used to have to clean the yard every other day :yuck: now it's once a week. 

I also feed lots of veggies. Tinkerbell sticks her nose up at her dinner if there are no veggies mixed in. Her favorite is broccoli but she also likes carrots, green beans, and cauliflower. Those I normally just buy frozen. She also loves fresh veggies like sweet potatoes and squash.


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## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

Oh and somethign wlse that helps...I signed up at the Eukanuba website for coupns and stuff. And I've only received like 3 in 5 months. And only 1 was for food the others were for treats. Signed up at the Nutro site, I got a whole booklet that has a coupons for food and treats. And it hasd like 7 or 8 of each I believe. Plus at least once a month they send me another coupon for food or treats. And they buy your 11th bag for you.


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

I got a 12 oz bag of Purina Pro Plan in the mail today. I don't even use Pro Plan, so I don't know why I got it.


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## Princess Bella (Oct 17, 2006)

I swear by NUTRO!! but I've never had purina... if I ever try it I'll let you know...


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## njb (Oct 5, 2006)

I mentioned in another thread somewhere about actually reading the labels on the food bags--I was shocked at which brand DID not have corn listed at the fist ingredient. 

It was Purina Pro--go figure


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

I know Lucky has eaten Iams in the past. When I thought he had food allergies I bought the premiums with the few ingredients ....he hated them...and that is so demoralizing to buy something way over what your budget says and he hates it.

Loves that dog chow though. But...I ran across a study from Iams that ran 12 months comparing premium (the Eukanuba type premium) against the non-premiums (Alpo for example) and the coat and skin was much better on the higher grades. It wasn't just hype...but a real study. So that moves me up one at least.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

marshab1 said:


> I use Nutro also. I used Eukanuba at first which is the Iams premium food. I didn't have a probem with it but thought I could maybe do better. Switched to Nutro which is a little cheaper adn Tinkerbell loved it. And my daughter that has to clean the yard loves it also. She used to have to clean the yard every other day :yuck: now it's once a week.
> 
> I also feed lots of veggies. Tinkerbell sticks her nose up at her dinner if there are no veggies mixed in. Her favorite is broccoli but she also likes carrots, green beans, and cauliflower. Those I normally just buy frozen. She also loves fresh veggies like sweet potatoes and squash.


I have to say that the opposite happened to me (or Lucky I should say). When I used Nutro, that dog seemed to have twice as many bowel movenments. It really bothered me....I couldn't figure out what he was digesting. It seemed that the whole bag was ending up in my yard.


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## JimS (Jan 2, 2007)

We've tried a lot of foods, and keep going back to Eukanuba Performance from Iams. We've also had good luck with Chicken Soup and Flint River, although with Flint River, the portions were so small to maintain her weight that she was always starving.


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## Princess Bella (Oct 17, 2006)

Lucky's mom said:


> I have to say that the opposite happened to me (or Lucky I should say). When I used Nutro, that dog seemed to have twice as many bowel movenments. It really bothered me....I couldn't figure out what he was digesting. It seemed that the whole bag was ending up in my yard.


*HMMM.... OK Bella sometimes drops 5 a day!!! ?? no wonder why... so its the food she's eating.. you should see my yard!!*


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Iams would certainly be an improvement over Purina, but you can do vastly better than either, ie if it is full of corn, it's NOT a premium food.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Five a day would be seen as a problem IMO... my dogs mostly go once a day- sometimes twice.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

Princess Bella said:


> *HMMM.... OK Bella sometimes drops 5 a day!!! ?? no wonder why... so its the food she's eating.. you should see my yard!!*


well, I am trying to remember...I think puppies do a lot of pooping anyway. But Lucky was around a year and past that. It just may have not been the right food for him.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Important to note that every dog is different. Some dogs really do thrive on the regular brands of kibble. Some don't. Goldens, however, are so prone to skin problems that I am fairly wacky about what I'll feed.


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## Princess Bella (Oct 17, 2006)

How funny I guess I should start a thread on that lol


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## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

Lucky's mom said:


> well, I am trying to remember...I think puppies do a lot of pooping anyway. But Lucky was around a year and past that. It just may have not been the right food for him.


Yep every dog is different. You've got to find what works for them AND what works for your budget. Tinkerbell goes twice a day.


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## Booker (Nov 14, 2006)

Booker is on Iams smart puppy large breed, so far so good. He was on that from the breeder.


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

Where is Monomer? 

................


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## DelmarvaGold (Mar 7, 2006)

I don't care for Iams....it's full of fillers :yuck: I think there are better quality foods that you can easily find at places like PetCo or PetSmart that may even cost less. But a lot of dogs eat it and seem to do well.


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## Katiesmommy (Sep 10, 2006)

If IAMS wasent soo darn expensive..I would have Katie on it.


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## Denali and Gretzky's Mom (Jun 26, 2006)

When we first brought Denali home, we had him on Iams, because it was what we fed the cat and the cat food always worked well for him. After awhile and after I joined the forum, we switched to Nutro. We looked at the ingredients, and Nutro just seemed to be of better quality. After we switched we noticed a big difference in the quality of his coat and the amount of poop in the yard.

Gretzky supposedly was on Iams before we got him, but he has done really well on Nutro too. His coat is soft and fluffy. He poops more often than Denali, but genrally smaller. (TMI??)

We also have switched the cat to Nutro - weight management and it's working!

However - my husband's first golden, Brandy, lived to be 16 and never ate anything but Purina Dog Chow for her whole life. All dogs are different, you just have to find the one that you think will be the best and go with it.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

Boy, would a bunch of you get bashed if you belonged to this one all breed forum i belong to. According to most of them, if you are not feeding Timber Wolf or Eagle Pack, etc, you do not love your dog, you are killing your dog buy feding it "Pukanuba", Science "Death", etc.Purina, Iams, Eukanumba, Sci3nce Diet and even Nutro gets bashed as "crap in, crap out", etc. 

We who are told this (mine get Purina One senior for Buck, Purina One Weight management for the girls) are told we JUST "THINK our dogs look good, WE JUST "THINK" our dogs are healthy despite perfect blood panels and physicals"We are told vets know zilch about nutrition and recommend SD because they get a kick back (one attending vet school & one vet says this is not true.)

I was told that IF I had had Hunter on "decent food" he probably would not h ave developed AIHA and liver damage--even tho it was brought on by the drug Proheart6. I was told if I had had my 12 1/2 year old irish Setter on something other than "crap', he probably would not have developed bone cancer in his rear leg.

Recently we had couple of polls on that board--what is your age and very few of u s were over 30, me being the oldest that replied at age 61 come June. About 3/4 of them were 24 or under. Another poll wanted to know what dogs foods you have used on all the dogs you have owned. Many--this was their first dog. They know more having owned l dog in their young life than I know having owned numerous dogs over the past 51 years--got my first dog for my 11th birhtday, an English Setter puppy. According to some of them, i don't know a decent looking coat when I see one, much less a beautiful coat. I can't tell if my dog is healthy or not--despite most of my dogs having lived to or past their maximum life expectancy.

Well, enough said.


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## njb (Oct 5, 2006)

3 goldens said:


> Boy, would a bunch of you get bashed if you belonged to this one all breed forum i belong to. According to most of them, if you are not feeding Timber Wolf or Eagle Pack, etc, you do not love your dog, you are killing your dog buy feding it "Pukanuba", Science "Death", etc.Purina, Iams, Eukanumba, Sci3nce Diet and even Nutro gets bashed as "crap in, crap out", etc.
> 
> We who are told this (mine get Purina One senior for Buck, Purina One Weight management for the girls) are told we JUST "THINK our dogs look good, WE JUST "THINK" our dogs are healthy despite perfect blood panels and physicals"We are told vets know zilch about nutrition and recommend SD because they get a kick back (one attending vet school & one vet says this is not true.)
> 
> ...


What was that Twain said about youth being wasted on the young?


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

3 goldens said:


> Boy, would a bunch of you get bashed if you belonged to this one all breed forum i belong to. According to most of them, if you are not feeding Timber Wolf or Eagle Pack, etc, you do not love your dog, you are killing your dog buy feding it "Pukanuba", Science "Death", etc.Purina, Iams, Eukanumba, Sci3nce Diet and even Nutro gets bashed as "crap in, crap out", etc.
> 
> .


Message boards are funny places. There's kind of a group mentality... a few true "bashers" who think they know best and are superior to everyone else, and the "hanger-ons" who are so afraid of being bashed that they will side with the bashers. So it might seems like EVERYONE is feeding their dog "Dr. Scientist's Super Premium Elite Dog food," but in reality one is doing it and 50 are lying about it. You also have to remember that bashers target people who they know are going to be unnerved by their attacks--they don't dare try it with people who are going to fight back or laugh at them.


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## mblondetoo (Jan 9, 2006)

Tabitha was fed Eukanuba and Iams when we first got her from the rescue. She had a lot of problems vomting, itching skin/ears and huge piles. We have been using Canidae and mixing with fruits and vegetables and both dogs are doing great now.

Magic was an Iams nutritional testing dog from Alabama. He had been adopted by a P&G employee but not loved enough and turned in to the rescue where we found him.


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## Lil_Sandy (Oct 31, 2006)

I know from past threads that food can be a very touchy subject. With that said we feed Sandy Natural Balance. She loves it. Her coat looks great and her poops are not as numerous as when she was on other brands.


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## Gldiebr (Oct 10, 2006)

We had fed Bailey Eukanuba Puppy, as it's what the breeder fed/recommended. When she hit 9 months (and 74 pounds!) we decided to put her on an adult food, switiching to Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. She LOVES it, and has much more energy and stamina. (She's a calm, slug-dog, so this isn't a bad thing.) Even picky Moose scarfs it down! I'd been soooo tired of keeping Bailey out of his 3/4 full bowl. Now he empties it.


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## KerryandMolly'smum (Jan 17, 2007)

I used to feed Kerry on Eukanuba then changed to James Wellbeloved (as didn't like Companies policies) which she did thrive on.

When I started fostering they asked for dogs to be fed on Burns dry food or naturediet. To save hassle I changed Kerry on to Burns and haven't looked back. Both dogs are doing really well on it.


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## MarleyLove (Sep 2, 2006)

I love natural balance. It's a good food, and plus it's for all life stages. I like that if I get another puppy in the future, or a smaller dog I won't have to worry about trying to feed them separate things.


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## njb (Oct 5, 2006)

I do advise--I know your sick of me saying this--the read the label carefully. 

It is amazing how price is not reflective of quality.


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## KerryandMolly'smum (Jan 17, 2007)

This is the food I feed my dogs

Burns Pet Nutrition - Natural dog food, cat and rabbit food


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

I think everyone should fed their dog what it does best on. Once i did try a better food for Buck, but he threw up both meals every day for 4 days and i said enough is enough and put him back on Purina. This also h appened with a couple of others on that forum. Our dogs just do better on a "lesser" food. I have been told numerous times that my dogs have to stink eating purina. The girls sleep in the bed with me & hubby when he is home, and they do not stink. I often wake with my face agasint one of them. But when some tells me their dog stinks if they eat one of the "lesser" foods, i believe it. Not all dog foods are for every dog. 

Someone posted that a few will use the top brands and bash others and some are scared to admit they use the Pedigree, purina, Iam, Euk, ewtc. I didn't post for a long time what I fed--i didn't even post in the nutrition section. Then I saw a girl taking a beating over feeding her chow Science Diet for stomach/digest problems. Some were telling her she didn't try X brand long enough (didn't matter he dog ended up in the hospital when se tried it on the dog), etc, and I stepped in and tld about using Purina. I took a bashing as i said, and I was questioned why i didn't try X or Y brand, etc and I stuck by my guns that my dogs are healthy, get great physicals & blood work, so why should i put them thru "tests" to see if something else will work as well. I also do the home cooking (they get about 1/4 to 1/3 homne cooked every day) plus i do give some sups. Well, some was quick to jump on the fact that i do give sups and home cooking, which i wouldn't have to do if I fed them properly. But them some came around and reminded those one that even tho they feed the Timber Wolf, etc, THEY also give some sups such as fish oil, Vit. E and C, ad probotics to the food, etc, exactly the same thing I am doing. And many also do some cooking. 

Well, after I stuck to my guns, some of the others admited they used Purina, Iams, SD, etc. Some that had never posted before posted. I always tell that the day my6 dogs do not do great on purina, that is the day i will be looking for another dog food.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

I know a lot of dogs do well on lower quality diets. I thought mine were doing well too, when they were eating Eukanuba. I did a little research and switched them to Wellness, and could not believe the improvement. They are now on Innova EVO, and I rotate California Natural and regular Innova. They look fabulous, I can practically see myself in my beagle mix's coat. 
Even if you dog is doing fine, blood comes back good, everything seems fine, all you have to do is read the ingredients and see that you could definitely be feeding better. Corn is a pointless filler, and don't get me started on by-products. And I don't spend any more now that I did back when I fed Eukanuba or Purina. On Purina, it was recommended that my larger dog eat 5cups a day!! She now eats 2.5 and is perfectly healthy, so the money evens out.


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## Bailey & Bentley (Feb 25, 2007)

I don't think Iams is bad, I think it is better than some other brands out there. I actually switched Bailey off Iams to Natural Balance Venison and Brown rice once I started researching that whole "natural food" thing. He has been on it ever since and he is growing strong and his coat is beautiful. I guess it depends what your reason is for giving him Iams. I think that if there are no by products in it then sure why not.


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## Ella's Mom (Feb 25, 2007)

Personally not a fan of Iams. I feed Timberwolf organics. Ella has allergies so I have done quite a bit of research re allergies premium foods supplements etc. I used to feed sciernce diet, and soon learned of my error in not being educated about dog foods. But honestly it all boils down to what foods work for your dogs. Not all dogs are react the same way to foods.


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## lovestofly (Feb 25, 2007)

Putz has been eating Iam's since he was a baby. Iam's large breed puppy formula. It's what the breeder had him on and he has no problems at all so I see no need to switch him. I just did switch him over to adult food 2 weeks ago and all is well. Of course, this dog can eat ANYTHING and he never has a problem, except for when he eats carpeting and such! LOL!


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

I was told it wasn't the best food but who knows!!
I feel my dogs Canidae(lamb&rice),Innova Evo or Bark at the Moon from Solid Gold and both dogs love all three.
Hope this helps.L


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