I'd like to try a shed-monster someday!
Btw, Sarah, IAMS is one of the alltime WORST crappy dog foods available, and it is not cheap, either.
sorry to tell you, but it is. I wished
someone had told
me back when i fed similar dog foods, unaware of what IS in that bag.
I mean, who the heck knew what these words on the ingredient list even meant, right?? PLus,
even vets smile and say, "Iams is fine" or whatever crappy brand you ask them about.--Purina, Science Diet, Eukanuba, all these popular brands, are lousy dog foods.
I was once just like you, i used to feed dog foods one can buy in a grocery store, too. I had no idea ppl could package up such crap,
and put it in a pretty bag, and say
whatever they wanted to about what's in the bag.
rule of thumb (in USA anyway) is usually, if you can buy your brand of dog food in a grocery store, it's a 90% chance it is crap.
Iams is mostly corn, (as the items are listed by WEIGHT, and the chicken is not yet dehydrated when weighed and listed............ so once it is dehydrated,
it is much lighter,
and nowhere NEAR the top ingredient.
So the top ingredients in IAMS, after the chicken is now dehydrated light powder form and NOW that dehydrated chicken now falls wayyyyyyy down the list, are----
----CORN, (undigestible to dogs, it's a filler)
---------BYPRODUCTS (that is like, meatfree hooves and beaks, slaughterhouse refuse) ------------and SORGHUM, (another starchy carb like corn)
Dogs need meat,and Iams has almost no meat in the whole bag, .
Here is a review of Iams:
http://www.petfoodratings.net/dogs.html#Iams
(their
puppy food looks slightly less horrible than their adult dog food)
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/iams-proactive-health-smart-puppy/
here's another review of Iams:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1770&cat=all
Here is a real simple site, it rates dog foods
by scoop, like 5 scoops is best. At first, i thought they did not rate Iams, at all, but then i realized, they have a "No scoop" rating for Iams:
http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/bad-dog-food-list.html
YOur dog's coat might improve to even better than he is now, and he might scratch less, and shed a LOT less, once he is well nourished with proper nutrients.
He might shed a lot less.
See, if a dog eats stuff he is allergic to, they get skin and coat problems, not runny noses like we do. It's not impossible, with all the crappy ingredients in Iams, that your dog
*might* be getting stuff he is slightly allergic to,
or being slightly malnourished of proper nutrients.
Does he scratch a lot?
to pick out better dog food----->HERE is one of my favorite of all dog food comparison charts,
http://www.petfoodratings.net/dogtable.html
as besides rating the nutrition in the dog foods-----------
it indicate the price, too (i am on a budget, so price matters to me, and most dog food rating sites, you must run to
other sites to get an idea if it is expensive or not expensive, but that one sort of helps sort them by price, as well)
If you do decide you want to move away from Iams, you would want to do so, slowly, swapping out only a few of the kibbles at a time, gradually swapping it out, like over a week or two, so your dog wont' get diarrhea or upset stomach.
don't feel bad, i did exact same thing, sure did, and i LOVED that dog, and i just had no idea. My old dog food cost a lot, too. My vet said it was okay, so i believed him.
back then, i did not realize corn was undigestible filler and bad for dogs, i did not understand "by-products" means hooves and beaks, had no idea about toxic preservatives used in dog foods, did not know that "animal digest" means actual poop, and cellulose was cardboard, and i had to learn a lot to decide on a better dog food that i COULD afford.
So i settled on "chicken soup for the dog lovers soul", it's only about $1 a pound, lists
4 meats on top, no corn, no byproducts, no cellulose, no soy, no wheat, no poisonous preservatives, has pro-biotics and omega 3s, is made in america, and doesn't get recalled, and it has
no horrible stuff in it. You can't buy it in a grocery store, (GOOD SIGN) but several pet stores sell it, but, it's only once a month trip, and your pup can go in there WITH you, so it's fun!!
no matter what dog food you decide on, do Call ahead, as
our local Petsmart doesn't carry it, but Pawmart does, as does PetSuppliesPlus, etc. NOt all pet supply stores carry all brands, i mean, so call ahead.
Shivon must look so cute
