# Is Iams Smart Puppy for Large Breed Dogs a good choice?



## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

I do not like IAMS it has alot of fillers and the vet says it's the reason for Moxies gas/bad breath and general upset tumminess. It does NOT work for her. She will be on Eagle pack senior as soon as I finish this bag.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Iams is a perfectly good food for the price. If your dog is happy and healthy on it, you shouldn't feel guilty.

Most people on the forum will advise more expensive foods with fewer, simpler ingredients, and they have a good point, but Iams is certainly a nutritionally solid food of good quality.


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

spen5151 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I have been doing a lot of research regarding commercial dog food and am very concerned with what I have came up with. I am finding a ton of information on how poorly commercial dog food is produced. Finding info that shows that euthanized animals is actually recycled into many commercial dog foods. So what does everyone think about this?
> 
> Thank you


The theory that euthanized dogs and cats end up in dog food has been debunked. Euthanized horses and cows...very possible. But since Iam's has a named meat...chicken or lamb..that is not a concern.

Sometimes its good to research the research before a person comes to any strong conclusions.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I fed Iams several years ago and my dogs had horrible gas on it. My mom was feeding it up until a couple of months ago, and her dog had terrible gas, too.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

I feed raw, so I know what's in their bowls. Generally it's either things we get at the butcher shop, or patties with one ingredient in them (whole ground lamb for example). 

I found when I fed kibble I was spending a lot of time and money running to the vet for sick dogs, and cleaning up a lot of 'digestive upsets'. 

Lana


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## spen5151 (Jan 19, 2009)

Excellent info, I was nervous that the research was true. I can understand if you are feeding a cheap, discount dog food, but Iams is a premium brand food. To be honest with you, Roxy loves Iams large breed puppy food. She has no gas, she does not have diarrhea and still has "good" breath. Basically we have not seen any medical issues with feeding her Iams, she has been on it for 1.5 weeks now and we will continue to monitor. In fact when we switched from the kibble the breeder gave us (royal canine) we noticed she is pooping less and it is more solid. She has a "ton" of energy which is to be expected with any Golden puppy. It does seem like she is gaining weight quickly but she is very solid and not chubby at all. I also read about Golden puppies growing too fast and having bone issues as seniors. Our Vet. reccomended puppy food for large breed dogs to prevent her bones from growing too fast, he stated the puppy food for large breeds will control this issue. I was nervous that we were feeding her toxins that can affect her when she is older. Based on what many of you said it sounds like that is not the case. Thank you all again for your info... Any other info anyone can provide would be great...


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## spen5151 (Jan 19, 2009)

Well, I decided to switch to CANIDAE All Life Stages formula from IAMS Smart Puppy Large breed puppy food. I listened to all of your view points and found a great website @ www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ which has reviews of pretty much every dog food I think there is. CANIDAE received 5 stars and IAMS received 1 star. CANIDAE has much higher meat content with no by-products or fillers. Also, only natural preservatives. I am convinced, and it is not much more expensive then IAMS around $10 dollars more. Roxy is worth it!!! Now I have to go through the slow change over from IAMS to CANIDAE. Thanks again...


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## Bock (Jun 23, 2008)

Hope she does well with it.


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## Traz (Jan 19, 2009)

I have done a LOT of reading lately about commercial foods since I was planning for our new puppy. I used Iams in the past but in my research have found it doesn't have very good ratings. It received a 1 star out of possible 6. It has a lot of filler & one of the main ingrdients is corn which is not recommended for dogs. The second ingredient is by products which may or may not be a decent meat source. It is likely parts not used for humans. (no not dogs or carcass)
In my opinion there are a lot of other much better quality foods for about the same price.

When Iams was bought out & you started seeing it in Walmart & other stores in when it went downhill.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

Hope the food works out well... its great when you find a food that works well for them


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## Kohanagold (Nov 5, 2008)

My advice is if it works, stick with it. If it doesn't, switch.

I tried many different foods, including Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro, Canidae, Kirkland & ProPlan.... Sydney did fine on all EXCEPT the Canidae. Paige, so far, has done well on one food. Everytime I've tried something different, its come back to bite me. Hense the "if it works, stick with it". Some dogs dont do well on certain expensive "premium" foods and do fine on less expensive foods. Canidae is one of those expensive premium foods. Many dogs have done fabulous on it, just not Syd. And with Paige, it doesn't matter if its another premium food or a cheaper food, I always end up coming back to the same formula (Nutro Ultra Lg Breed). Good luck, BJ


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I have my two on Premium foods. Well, let me share this with you. My niece's GR stays with us often. He's going on four weeks with us now. He eats Iam's. He has a nicer coat, he's the same age as my two and looks much younger, and he's pretty darn healthy. He even managed to lose weight on Iam's just by cutting back. So...with such success, I'd say...Feed it if you want to. My Cocker Spaniel was on it and she lived to be 17!


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