Iams

I feed my cat Iams *dry* kitten food. And I have 2 questions.

1. Is Iams a good brand? I leave food down all the time for him, and he eats a healthy amount. His coat is shiny and he is really healthy.

2. How long should I keep him on Kitten food? The bag says up to 1 year. He is 7 months now, and they only sell little tiny bags of this kitten food. Its a pain. I feel like I buy food all the time. But, I'll keep doing it if thats what is most healthy for him!

Molly,

I don't feed Iams simply because of the controversy around their alleged treatment of their lab animals (subjects) that they use to develop their product. Is their product good? Yes, is the way they get this product *good,* ethical? That debate is still raging.

I agree with hissy on the ethical portion. Otherhwise IAMS is just fine and if your baby is thriving on it keep him on it. Yes, try to keep your baby on the kitten as long as possible because kittens still have a lot of growing to do at age 7 months and he will need the nutition privided by kitten food. At age 1 I would slowely start switching him to the adult. Take your time with the switch over there is no rush.

Thanks guys!

I personally will not feed any IAM'S products anymore, because of their animal "testing".
Over all, it is a decent food, there ARE many I feel are much better or equal to Iam's, and cost a lot less as well! Perhaps when you switch to an adult food (I normally do when they turn 1 year) you could think about switching to a more animal and money friendly food.

IAM'S has corn, I don't like to feed corn, the cats get nothing from it, it's just a filler, there are many foods you can find out there with just as many meat products and no corn for LESS money, it also contains fish meal, which can make for stinky stools. If your cat is doing great on IAM's right now, then I suppose you should keep him on it, but always know that there is something which could be better if you feel like experamenting.

Ingredients Iam's Kitten:

Chicken
Chicken By-Product Meal
Rice Flour
Corn Meal
Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid)
Dried Egg Product
Chicken Digest
Dried Beet Pulp
Fish Meal
Potassium Chloride

Just curious. What kind of "testing" does IAMS do? Does it harm the cats?

Thanks.

Originally posted by spacecat
Just curious. What kind of "testing" does IAMS do? Does it harm the cats?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

YES I feed my cat IAMS weight control and im curious on this testing to

I would caution you that some groups that print this information have their own agenda. All of it may or may not be true, it is up to you to make your own decision. Here are some links


uncaged


Co-op and animal testing


more sites

Oh My God! I didn't realize that Iams did testing on animals! I was always encouraged to buy that brand because it was so good...
Needless to say, I will not feed my animals this brand. It's so sad that all those animals were killed for stupid reasons....It's just so sad!

Oh my... we bought our first Iams food last weekend, and it will be our last. We made that decision before we saw these links though, because Casper and Kitty didn't want to have anything to do with the food .
This food subject sure can be so complicated, can't it?

The food subject used to be so complicated for me! I have read many books and have researched about cat nutrition. I understand everything, including ingredients and why they're bad or good!

I have never dared to feed my cats IAMS! The food smells so tasty but has corn and by-products in it. People are paying way to much for IAMS. I buy a 6.6 pound bag of Natural Balance, and with 7 cats, it lasts me 4 weeks! It is so much cheaper for better foods. I totally believe that IAMS did all of what the sites say. They just want to get rich by selling people what THEY think is the best food.

*Above is my personal opinion!*

I will bring this link on here, which is straight from P&G aka, IAM's.
A few years back P&G merged with IAM's, P&G does animal testing, IAM's itself didn't used to (least not of THAT kind, and not that I know of). IAM's also changed their food formula without informing the public first, didn't even mark it on the bag, and a lot of animals got sick from it, including 2 of my cats who were on the diet at the time. Put those together, with the over paid price for corn and by-products, and it's just not worth it in my mind!

This is straight from the P&G official website, and I will translate it for you. This statement basically says that now adays (after they have been harassed so much) they "TRY" to not use animals for all types of testing if possible. That does NOT mean they do not use animals at all, that means they WILL use animals if they don't have a better alternative. This includes food testing, and toxic material testing.

Quote:
"P&G does not use animal testing when safety information or non-animal research alternatives are available. We conduct only the minimal amount of animal testing on our non-drug and non-food products that is necessary to prove our products are safe or to comply with government regulations."
P&G Animal Testing

They used to use cats and dogs for their drug testings, but have now stopped (or so they claim, either party could be lieing... keep this in mind.)

My half empty bag of IAMS will go into the trash.

They may have even changed their formula again. Murphy has been turning his nose up at it lately. I've been slowly transitioning over to Royal Canin, which stopped his constipation after the second day he started on it.

Thanks for the links. They are very enlightening.

Iams did testing as far as I know long before they ever joing with P&G, although P&G is and has always been just about the biggest animal tester around in regular consumer products (excluding medical and science endeavors). However I also got a statement from the company that they are working to reduce the testing. http://www.iamskills.com

Aside from that, as mentioned, there are 'better' foods out there for less, with less by-products and fillers. My other concern as far as the ingredients go for Iams/Eukanuba (owned by P&G) and Purina/Pro Plan (Owned by Nestle-Ralston) is that both corporations make human products including foods like canned meats and grain products. Labeling does not tell us what sort of meat by-products and so on, and of course these companies are in to make a profit. I guess I just feel like their pet food lines make use of the scraps unfit for the human products.

About corn.....
Corn meal/ground corn is used in pet foods as a carbohydrate source just as rice, barley, wheat, oatmeal are. Since cats are not designed to digest plant material grains/vegetables are often poorly digested however, grinding/cooking (which is done in the manufacturing proces) greatly increases their digestibility. Corn is no more of a "filler" than any other carbohydrate source. I do avoid foods with corn gluten meal though because it is used as a protein source and I would rather see animal protein.
Just my 2 cents,
Vanessa

I could go into a BIG thing here, if everyone is really interested to give you my whole long shpeal on types of corn.

Corn is on the very LOW end for filler foods and often provide no nutrient at all depending on how it's cooked and what is cooked, when compaired to types of rice and barley etc, the others come out on top.
My real problem with corn in cat food is when they put it in the top 5 ingredients! When they include corn in a diet it makes up a large majority of the food. That would normally be replaced with a higher grade grain/veggie (a more usable one) or forms of meat.

We feed our cat royal canine, and sometimes science diet...
Are these good brands?
What's the best brand irrespective of the price?
Does anyone know?

Well I know some people who have a lot of sucess on both foods. I personally feel that both are over priced. But they are alright foods, they are not "bad".

Just curious when you say your feeding Royal Canin and SD, are they both dry food, or is one dry and one wet food?

Royal Canin (Adult) :
Chicken meal, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, chicken, corn, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)

SD (Adult) :
Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Brewers Rice, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA, Propyl Gallate and Citric Acid), Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Liver Digest

Chicken Meal is bettern then Chicken By-Product. Royal Canin has 2 meat products in this list, while SD only has one. But SD uses BHT and BHA for preservatives which I think is EVIL, and I hope they get taken out of cat and human food some day just like ethyoxyquine? (sp?)

From once sourced I looked at. Royal Canin Adult is 3.5lbs for $8.49
Science Diet comes in 4lbs for $8.99. So from there it's really a difference that makes no difference price wise.

Thanks.

Just curious... is there a 'best' cat food?
We don't mind swopping brands.
I really don't like the idea of my cats eating... filler food.
What are our options?
Any suggestions?

Well... I personally think a BARF/RAW diet is the best for animals such as cats and dogs. (But there is always exceptions to the rules.)

It's really something you have to experiment with, but slowly.

Foods like Innova, Wysong, Solid Gold...etc have some of the BEST and high grade ingredients (for kibble) around! So in therory, most cats will do great on it, and better then all other foods, but then again... like I said there will always be one (or a few) who won't thrive on a particular food.

I don't know your money situation. But I say start off as high as you can (with the best foods), take out any foods if they include ingredients that your cat might be allergic to. And work from there.

Just use these guidelines and do your own research as well. If you have any questions about a particular food you want the low down on feel free to ask.

1.) The first 5 ingredents are normally the most prominate and important (for protien). The more MEAT (not meat fat) products in the first 5 the better.
2.) Taurine, cats need this, make sure it's in the ingredients ( I think it HAS to be in all of them now.)
3.) No BHT, or BHA, I don't eat it and I wont feed it to my cats.
4.) Look for a food with a lower fat content. (specially if your cat has weight issues.)
5.) Look for foods higher in moister content.