My previous dog that (she died at age 11 of liver failure) was fed Iams her whole life. I didn't know food made a difference at that time, plus I thought Iams was one of the better foods. She had ear infections, itchy skin, terrible teeth, and dandruff her whole life. I wish I had known food could be a cause. Currently, Im using either canidae when I can get to a feed store or Sensible choice by Royal Canin. I think both are good foods.

I used to feed purina puppy and adult for years. My Aussies loved it and had no problems. However, my Rottweiler began losing his hair,,not a pretty sight,, when I came on this board, I received soo much info regarding dog foods it flooded my head. But in the end, I decided on Exceed Chicken from Sam's, Yes, I know, Wal-Mart + Sam's , but it's affordable, my dogs love it, there is no need to add anything to the dry, and there is no longer hair loss. I have been feeding Exceed for a few months now and have noticed significant changes in my dogs. Their coats are shinier, healthy, and soft. Their teeth are cleaner, (we also give meaty bone treats, helps with the tartar)and the energy level is great. They seem happier, and overall healthier. At our last vet visit, our vet pointed out the differences to us and he was amazed also. Everyone will feed the food of their choice, all we can do is give our opinions and experiences. Also, alot of the other breeders I know feed the Exceed Chicken, and have show dogs, so like I said , to each their own,,,, Good Luck!!

Thank you all for great posts. I am looking at Royal Canin and the Dick Patten Natural Balance. Both seem to be much better on the ingredients than the Iams is. Cost is not much more and both are at my Local Pet Co. I respect the people who can go the extra mile and feed raw but I cant juggle the time to be effective. I am considering supplimenting with chicken meat. How do you prepare it ? Does raw mean raw meat? or do you cook it? I could boil up a bunch of chicken necks once a week without much trouble and gring them up bones and all. would this be a good suppliment? Kingfisher

After a lot of study we decided that Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance was the best Food available to us in our town. I would feed Innova if it were closer than 20 miles to get it. I used the Comparison feature at Nuturapet.com recommended by Mordanna from the Dogfood project site. We feel that the Chicken, Lamb meal and Duck meal in the top 6 items makes for a great balance in protiens. No corn or preservatives. It has whole potatoes and carrots with Ground brown rice. We stacked it right next to Innova and it holds up pretty well. I would rate it one of the top 5 dog foods out there in my book. Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. We looked at all of them. Diamond looked pretty good as well. Anyone that is looking for better foods just go to www.naturapet.com and use the comparison on the homepage. You can compare ingredient lists side by side. It helped us a ton. Take care everyone , Mike and Michelle King. www.kingfisherbichons.com

i am currently feeding nutro natural choice lamb and rice with glucosamine and chondroitin but am looking into changing to canidae because of some skin conditions. i didn't see glucosamine and chondroitin on the ingredient list from natura pets. am i just missing it or is it not important? i just had to have my shepherd put down because of her hips and don't want to take a chance on our lab. my shepherd was 15 though, so maybe old age and not lack of these ingredients was the cause.

Kingfisher, you have no idea why foods like Innova and Flint River are so much better. All of the low grade foods (Alpo, Kibbles 'N Bits, Beneful, Dog Chow, Pedigree, etc...) and medium grade foods (Authority, Bil-Jac, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Pro Plan, etc...) contain fillers, by-products, and chemical preservatives, which are all bad for your pet. It's like the equivalency of constantly feeding your child McDonald's. If you love your children and want what's best for them then you certainly wouldn't be feeding them junk food all the time. So, if you love your pet in the same way you do your children and want what's best for your pet babies too then why be constantly feeding them junk food?

The best foods are the holistic foods like Innova and Flint River because they don't contain fillers, by-products, or chemical preservatives.

So with that said, here's a COMPLETE list of high quality, holistic foods I'd be looking at:

Artemis || AvoDerm || Back to Basics || Blue Buffalo || California Natural || Canidae || Canine Caviar || Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul || Eagle Pack || Flint River Ranch || Fromm Family Foods || Great Life || Innova || Karma Organic || Life's Abundance || Merrick || Natural Balance || Natural Life || Nature's Recipe || Nature's Variety || Newman's Own Organics || NutriSource || O&M Pet Products || Pet Promise || PHD Products|| Pinnacle || Premium Edge || PRO PAC || Royal Canin || Sensible Choice|| Sojos || Solid Gold || Sportsman's Pride || Timberwolf Organics || Triumph || Ultra Holistic || Wellness || Wysong

If you want something comparible to Iams that's better and affordable for your pocketbook then I'd look at PRO PAC, Blue Buffalo, and Wellness. I know the LBS of bags are smaller than they are with the Iams, but because your pet can disgest holistic food a lot better that means they don't have to eat as much of it. Therefore, you're actually buying less frequently. And by buying less frequently, you're actually saving.

I wouldn't even start with Nutro either. Nutro was on the Menu Foods re-call list. As for Diamond, Diamond had a re-call 2 years ago because one of it's fillers (a corn filler) was actually contamined during the processing of its food. Unfortunately, many people think these are holistic foods, but they're not.

Holistic foods are NEVER on any re-call list in terms of contamination because they don't have all of the fillers and by-products in them that get easily contaminated to begin with.

Sorry, I didn't read far enough before my previous post to this thread.

Natural Balance is a very good food and am glad you've decided to switch to Dick's food.

Mordanna's Dog Food Project is an excellent site! I highly recommend it.

Everybody needs to do their own research and decide what's best for their dog. I don't feed any of those kibbles. I feed raw and feel that it's the best choice. Don't let someone make such an important decision for you. Make your own choice, based on your own research.

Originally posted by gbroxon:
"Everybody needs to do their own research and decide what's best for their dog. I don't feed any of those kibbles. I feed raw and feel that it's the best choice. Don't let someone make such an important decision for you. Make your own choice, based on your own research."

I agree. Everyone SHOULD do their own research and the best place for anyone to start is Mordanna's Dog Food Project site ( http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ ).

There's nothing wrong with raw either. However, I suggest one learns how to do it right BEFORE they begin a BARF diet for their pet.

So far just over a week into feeding Natural Balance. The stuff even smells better and my Bichons are loving it. I even got the Natural Balance Lamb treats. The last of the IAMS IS GONE now and I am Glad. They moved the comparison chart at Nutrapet.com to a different page marked tools. Its still there. Ill be watching for better teeth and smaller stools from my dogs. Just getting them to crap less would be a joy:) Kingfisher

Hello and good morning to everybody. I have had dogs for years. More recently I have been giving more attention to a preticular breed, pitbulls. I had got a pitbulls for dummies book and it says stay away from dog foods that are not approved by AAFCO. It was a shock that Iams, the second best food for dogs, was not approved by this company. Eukenuba isn't approved either and at that time this dog food was recommended number one. I have a list on what is approved. Nutro, blue buffalo, newman's own organics, royal canine, and many more. If you go to your local Petsmart, they can print you a list of approved dog foods. AAFCO (The Association of American Feed Control Officials.

For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, a PETA investigator worked
undercover at Sinclair Research Center, a laboratory hired by Iams, and
discovered a dark and sordid secret beneath the wholesome image of the
dog- and cat-food manufacturer. Dogs had gone crazy because they were
confined to barren steel cages and cement cells, dogs were left piled on a
filthy paint-chipped floor after chunks of muscle had been hacked from
their thighs, dogs were surgically debarked, and horribly sick dogs and
cats were neglected and left in cages to suffer without any veterinary
care.

Footage shows that Iams representatives toured the facility and witnessed
dogs who were circling in their cells and sweltering in the summer
heat. Iams knew the truth yet did nothing to protect the animals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated PETA's complaint and
agreed that the laboratory had failed to provide veterinary care and pain
relief to suffering animals, failed to provide animals with adequate
space, and failed to train employees—along with nearly 40 other violations
of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Sinclair Research Center paid a penalty
of $33,000 for its violations.

After intense pressure from PETA and its supporters, Iams agreed to make
the following significant changes in its testing program:
Iams bowed to pressure and severed its ties with Sinclair Research Center.
Iams ended all invasive and terminal experiments on dogs and cats.
Iams agreed to begin conducting humane in-home tests for palatability
studies.
According to Iams, about 70 percent of the animals now in its tests reside
at home with their families. In these studies, people volunteer their
companion animals to participate in food and nutrition experiments from
the comfort of their own homes. The human guardians can easily be trained
to feed the animals and properly collect fecal and urine samples for
laboratory analysis to determine the quality of the animal's food.
"In-home" studies have been shown to work and have strong scientific
support, as shown by the successful PetSci program, which was developed by
Dr. Charles Abramson and Dr. Timothy Bowser of Oklahoma State University.

Even so, Iams still keeps up to 700 dogs and cats in its Dayton, Ohio,
laboratory for non-invasive nutritional studies. They claim that this
laboratory provides a decent environment for the animals, but they refuse
to allow a PETA representative to see inside. Iams claims that some
studies are too complex for in-home programs, but PETA urges Iams to
collaborate with veterinary clinics for studies such as these. Veterinary
clinics regularly see patients who suffer from ailments that a particular
dog or cat food might help alleviate.

Iams has also refused to end invasive experiments on species other than
dogs and cats. For one study, Iams gave Purdue University nearly $200,000
to conduct a two-year study in which experimenters taped the tails of mice
to the tops of cages to keep their hind legs suspended in the air. This
was done to cause muscular atrophy—the wasting away of muscle tissue. When
PETA protested, the experiment was cut short.

Iams has also fought the release of information from a public university
that had conducted a study funded by the company in which a painful
disease was induced in dogs. What was Iams hiding?

Iams has made progress, but as an industry leader, it must send an even
clearer message: No animal deserves the fate of those who remain in their
laboratories. Safe, healthy cat and dog food does not require harming cats
and dogs.

PETA continues to press Iams to ban conducting and funding invasive or
terminal experiments on all species and to adopt 100 percent humane,
non-invasive, and cage-free "in-home" testing, as many of Iams'
compassionate competitors have done.

Until Iams agrees, we urge consumers to purchase dog and cat food from
companies that do not test on animals. In the meantime, read about some
other ways you can help the millions of animals every year who are abused
and inadequately cared for?all in the name of research.


Go to www.IamsCruelty.com now to learn more.

Please reply,

Elska

Thank you for taking the time to read this!