Why is Iams bad?

[simplymisty]

I've always been told by breeders, show dog parents, vets, etc. that Iams is one of the best foods.

We did switch to a food that was in a shiny silver bag and it was great but it was 10 times the cost of Iams for a much smaller bag.

I've seen where people have posted that it's bad but I'm wondering why?

I have 3 dogs and if it's a bad food I'd like to switch them off it. I have a 5 year old German Shepherd, 3 year old Golden and 2 year old mix of Shepherd and Golden.

These guys are my "kids" and I want them to have the best within reason (on a single mom budget), I just can't afford 10 times the price for a 10 pound bag vs. a 40 pound bag.

I live in IL so I'm hoping I can find a place that's local that carries the food that is the best.

Thanks!!

[vanillasugar]

Please tell me you're exaggerating on the price! I've never known of a food nearly that much more expensive than a grocery store food. That's a crazy price-per-bag difference! lol

Basically the best way to explain why Iams is bad is to break down the ingredients:
Iams Chunks
Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (Sugar Removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Fish Meal, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Flax Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fish Oil (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (Source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract

Okay, so anything before your fat source (in this case, Chicken Fat) is a primary ingredient in the food. Of those, only ONE is a quality ingredient. Yes, Chicken is the first ingredient, but when supported by garbage, it doesn't matter much.

Corn meal is a very low quality protein, and a poor quality filler. Corn has very low digestability.

Ground Whole Grain Sorghum: I don't even know what this IS... and I've read a LOT of ingredients labels...

and Chicken By-product Meal is... well, whatever is left over after the chicken meat is removed is rendered down (with chemicals and other gross stuff) and companies like this have the audacity to consider it a protein source.

So that's my run down

[showpug]

Iams Chunks ingredients:
Ingredients
Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (Sugar Removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Fish Meal, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Flax Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fish Oil (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (Source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract

I put in bold the ingredients that I try to stay away from in a dog food and here is why:

Corn Meal is a low quality ingredient most of the time and when listed as the second ingredient it makes up a lot of what this food is made of. Dogs aren't chickens. They are carnivores and need meat, not grain as a high source of protein in their diet. Corn is also a very common allergen in dogs.

Ground Whole Grain Sorghum is another lower quality ingredient and yet another grain.

Chicken By-Product Meal is yet another poor quality product made up of all the left over pieces of the chicken. All the parts we humans wouldn't eat.

Fish Meal while generally a healthy ingredient it is a generic ingredient. What type of fish are we talking about? Salmon, herring, white fish?? The food once again doesn't tell you. I believe some fish meals are also preserved with either BHT or BHA which is a potentially harmful preservative. You want to look for a food where the actual source is named, not just the species! This applies to the fish oil as well.

For more information on how to select a dog food, you may want to read these pages off of Mordy's site:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....badingredients
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....betterproducts
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....e=labelinfo101

I should also mention that Canidae is VERY reasonably priced and much better quality than Iams! You may want to give it a try. It may even cost less.

www.canidae.com

[vanillasugar]

LOL showpug, we were typing up our posts at the same time I guess At least we said almost exactly the same thing, which means we know *exaclty* what's wrong with the food!

[showpug]

Originally Posted by vanillasugar

LOL showpug, we were typing up our posts at the same time I guess At least we said almost exactly the same thing, which means we know *exaclty* what's wrong with the food!

Rolf, I know...we are so brilliant. Good team work

[juliefurry]

I would DEFINETELY reccomend Canidae! We buy a 33 lb bag and it's $27. We feed our 60 lb lab about 2-2 and 1/2 cups a day depending on her activity. Plus they have a frequent buyer program where if you buy 12 bags you get the 13th bag for free. My dogs love the chicken and rice formula. The 33 lb bag will last us about a month feeding two dogs (well one adult dog and then a puppy who eats about the same as the adult dog).

Also maybe look into going to wal-mart they have a food called Natural Life and it is similar to Canidae and you feed the same amount as Canidae. A 20 lb bag costed me $20. Also if you have a Costco membership you could look into the Kirkland brand chicken meal and rice formula that's only like $17 for a 40 lb bag but you still see great results.

[lvmommy]

If your really strapped for cash, Maxximum nutrition recently changed their formula and isn't a "horrible" food, it would be a step up from Iams; you can get it at Wal-Mart. It is just under $7.00 for a 8 pound bag..

canidae and eagle pack is a great choice if you can get it close to you

[~Jessie~]

I'm sure that there are more grains in Iams than there is actual meat. The thing is, yes, the first ingredient is chicken but chicken contains mostly water. Since it is the heaviest in its original state, it ends up first on the list of ingredients. Once it's cooked down, it is a much smaller size. Now, if chicken meal were at the top of the list, there would be more meat than there is with just chicken.

Also, when you feed a high quality food, you actually feed much less of it. I saw a grid once; Canidae ended up being cheaper than low quality foods in the longrun.

If you are looking for a cheaper holistic food, I would go with Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, or Costco's brand (Kirkland). All of these are much much better than Iams.

[Luvntzus]

I agree, Maxximum nutrition (at Walmart) is definitely a step up from Iams!

Canidae and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul are the most inexpensive foods with holistic ingredients. Chicken Soup is $29.99 for 35 lb. Canidae has several different formulas, and I think it averages about $25 for 33 lb. Both of those are usually available in small pet stores and also "feed n seed" farmer supply stores.

http://www.chickensoupforthepetlover.../dogs/dry_food

http://www.canidae.com/

As far as why vets usually recommend Iams- it's a heavily marketed food and a lot of vets know very little about nutrition. The vets that are more educated do NOT recommend Iams. Breeders feed foods like Iams, again because it's a heavily marketed food, fairly cheap, free puppy kits and recommended by uninformed vets.

[Mutt Luv]

I agree with everything everyone else said, there are more fillers then meat. Also Iams spends more money on adversizing then on what goes in their food.

I really recommend Nutro foods, they are good and not that expensive if you want good, a food that is OK, not as bad a Iams look at Royal Canin, there food is OK and is cheeper then Nutro. If you REALLY want the best look at Wellness(great food) Calfornia Natural, Innova, Eagle Pack Holistic and Soild Gold.