# Iams Veterinary Formula



## moon (Jul 15, 2010)

A friend's English Setter (10 yrs old) has been having stomach issues. She was feeding Alpo, I recommended she change his food, but she took him to the vet. The vet couldn't find anything wrong but has put him on IAMS Veterinary Formula Intestinal Low Residue canned at $4.00 per can:

Chicken Broth, Chicken, Whitefish, Brewers Rice, Corn Grits, Chicken Liver, Beef By-Products, Chicken By-Products, Fish Meal, Dried Egg Product, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Fish Oil (preserved with Ethoxyquin), Fructooligosaccharides, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Monosodium Phosphate, Salt, Mannanoligosaccharides, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Dicalcium Phosphate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Zinc Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Biotin, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate. 

This looks horrible to me! It's only got 7% protien and 2.8% fat...

The dog is very thin - as some English Setters are. And now he's acting very lethargic. 

Do you guys have any suggestions for an older dog with stomach issues that I could pass along?


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

$4 a can  It costs me less to feed raw...the only thing I can suggest is Natures Variety, worked on my friends dog whos 15 years old and has stomach issues. She could also try adding a pro/pre biotic in a form of a pill....


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

That is just about the WORST looking dog food I've ever seen in my LIFE!!!! 

All those meat ingredients up front are water inclusive, meaning they're more like tenth or lower in the ingredients, so fish meal would be the first actual meat ingredient, and that's NINTH!!! No wonder it's only 7% meat. That's HORRIBLE!!! XO And corn is the second ingredient.

Let's not mention the fact that it blatantly states on there that it's preserved with Ethoxyquin. 

I can't imagine ANY dog would do good on that!


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

Aww, poor thing. Lots of options beat the canned stuff prescribed by the vet. 
One would be cooking the dogs food, not that difficult, but you need to do your research and really make sure you are offering a complete diet with plenty of variety. Definitely an undertaking until you get it down right and have a system.

If not going raw but the kibble route a couple of kibbles with limited ingredients could be considered. Blue Buffalo Basics(2 formulas), California Natural(but then there is the whole P & G takeover to monitor closely), our local k9 police use Holistic Select Duck Formula and the Anchovy/Salmon/Sardine formulas and the dogs with sensitivity issues do very well. Fish and sweet potato formulas sometimes work well.

I agree also with the prebiotics/probiotics added to foods. While trying to figure out what works best for the dog I would use the pre and probiotics and then continue them once finding a rotation of kibble that works. Eventually perhaps some canned of good quality can be added too....Merrick BG, Evangers there are many coices here that do not cost $4/can. 

Also, has consideration been given to this dog having a sensitivity to grains in general? In which case there are tons of grain free options.

Just my babbling two cents worth. 

Wishing your friend good luck, hopefully they will hit on something that works for ther dog soon.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

xxshaelxx said:


> All those meat ingredients up front are water inclusive, meaning they're more like tenth or lower in the ingredients, so fish meal would be the first actual meat ingredient, and that's NINTH!!! No wonder it's only 7% meat. That's HORRIBLE!!! XO And corn is the second ingredient.


For the record, since canned food still has a ton of moisture in it, the meat content isn't actually _that_ off, and keep in mind that "protein" and "meat" content are not the same thing, I'm sure some of that tiny percentage is coming from the corn as well. Also you have to keep in mind that the percentages are always lower in canned food since they're like 80% moisture anyway. 

Having said that, yes it is a terrible food, I'd recommend CA Natural as well.


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## moon (Jul 15, 2010)

Thanks everyone, she's in her 80's so I don't think she'd be up to cooking her own dog food, but I'm going to pick up some CA Natural for her to try. 

Her dog is what's keeping her going.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Also for the record....All RX diets that the vets try and push are garbage. They do have research behind them, and sometimes "work" but not in really addressing the issue, but covering it up for a while. Eventually the animal will regress further and further into whatever disease they were put on the food for.


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

My mother put her cats on Prescription Diet CD, because the one cat had urinary tract infections, and she refuses to believe me when I tell her that it's all the crap fillers they put in normal cat foods that are sold at the grocery stores. The other cat has an allergy to beef (supposedly), and bleeds out her bum every time she eats it, and she has all kinds of allergies and crap, and gets allergy shots every three weeks to keep her alive, and she's completely miserable. My parents refuse to believe me that a better diet would help.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

k9capture_16 said:


> $4 a can  It costs me less to feed raw...the only thing I can suggest is Natures Variety, worked on my friends dog whos 15 years old and has stomach issues. She could also try adding a pro/pre biotic in a form of a pill....


that's kind of what i'm thinking...not ideal but certainly better than most....easy for her to prepare, too....and better than what her dog is getting now...


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

Might suggest putting the dog on white rice and chicken breast cooked food to see if that helps. If so the owner might go from there. I just used 1 cup of raw rice and a pound of chicken breast for 2 days of food for Sassy. Add in 1/2 tsp of powdered egg shell for calcium and read up on balancing the diet from there. $4 a can? At worst it would cost $3-4 a day to feed home cooking. I don't know about this canned food but Sassy would have needed 2 cans of her kidney script stuff if I put her on it.


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## josh83 (Oct 24, 2010)

Be careful because I believe there has been a recent recall on that food because of having Salmonella. Some who I know was feeding her dog that food can't even get it anymore from her vet and ended up switching to Acana which is much better then Iams.


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## Higgins (Nov 1, 2010)

Hi,

The best advice I can offer is to look into the books and websites by Drs Martin Goldstein and Michael W. Fox, both renowned Veterinarians who have both been speaking up about proper nutrition and overall health for our furry friends. Please google them, their credentials. They have recipes and Dr Fox also lists recipes and approved commercial foods on his website as (I believe) does Dr. Goldstein. 



xxshaelxx said:


> My mother put her cats on Prescription Diet CD, because the one cat had urinary tract infections, and she refuses to believe me .... My parents refuse to believe me that a better diet would help.


Dear xxshaelxx,

I joined to respond to this post and could list so many reasons why that vet should be sued for malpractice, not to mention, fraud (junk food sold under the pretense of "medicine" for $$$ to boot) but more importantly to say that the proof is right in front of your mother to see for herself.

Not sure if the food your mom has is wet or dry, but since many vets do sell dry kibble also under this pretense, consider this: 

-if she looks at her cats, and into their mouths, she will see that their teeth are shaped to shear and tear, like scissors. She will SEE NO teeth anywhere in there which are capable of grinding -- anything!
(And we wonder why cats vomiting is considered such a normal cat thing?) 

-she will also notice when these cats eat that they can NOT chew anyway, for their jaws do not rotate. 

While she can find the fact that cats are the strictest of all carnivorous mammals in any Encyclopedic entry regarding them, she may not have one handy. So if she does NOT believe what is right before her eyes and would rather take the word of a true, renowned Veterinarian such as Dr Michael W Fox and is not near an Enc., you could show her this letter he wrote to the Veterinary Associations.
Conflicts Of Interest In The Veterinary Profession And The Origin Of ?MAN- MADE? Dog And Cat Diseases

I assure you that the vets profiting from her cats' chronic sickness, in the pockets of Big Pet Food, have credentials not 1/10 of those of Dr. Fox. 

How and why veterinarians continue to practice with such a conflict of interest legally is beyond me. How many people know that the veterinary universities receive generous funding from pet food conglomerates?

All nutritional "research" is backed by you-know-who.

We can try to warn our families and friends till we're blue in the face but what good will it do when "veterinarians" are legally allowed to do this, because we (general we) refuse to confront-second-guess them due to us needing so desperately to "trust the professional" because our animals can't tell us what's wrong themselves? 
We are scared, it's not like we can say for them "hey, it hurts here", and "boy I'm too thirsty these days; my stomach really hurts" We are at their mercy, desperately (<---literally) NEED for them to tell us what's wrong with our pets and to do their best to make it better. 

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I put my own through needless preventable pain and death due to the blind trust, ignoring logic because I was used to trusting whatever somebody "professional" sold me; scared out of my mind when mine couldn't tell me what hurt. Too vulnerable and too late learned.


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## lexisdad (Nov 1, 2010)

Higgins:
You correct when it comes to just blindly following advice. Do reserach please. Learn how to read the label of food it HAS TO tell you what is in there. It also has to tell you what they put in there - HOWEVER there are many tricks they can and will use. 
First don't ever use pet food that has CORN, WHEAT or SOY in it. Watch the by-products they can be really nasty. Perservatives can be just as bad. 
There are some very good foods out there do some research and ask questions. You will find them out. 
There are only a couple of companies out there that have not been part of a recall so make sure you pay attention to that. Also check where they are made and where do they get the ingredients they put in. Is it imported - is it manufactured at a faciltiy that can pass USDA inspection or not?
All good questions and there are answers out there. If you need help drop me a note I will show you where to look.


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