I have been feeding my pups Iams for years, now that's been recalled, they almost refuse to eat. Suggestions?

Hi there… Save yourself the hassle of trying to keep up with a list that may or may not be complete. Avoid any food that has Wheat Gluten listed as an ingredient.

It's time for pet owners to wake up and take responsibility for what they feed their animals and quit trusting what those great big money hungry companies tell you. Research for yourself, learn, read the ingredients and make an informed decision for the health and safety of your beloved pet.

With the recall, wheat gluten is the big suspect in cat food that everyone is trying to avoid, and it SHOULD be avoided. It should have been avoided all along. It’s nothing more than a cheap protein source used as a binding agent by pet food companies.

Corn should always be avoided as well. It’s a huge filler worth NOTHING. Corn as an ingredient in pet food is a joke. Ever seen a starving cat or dog chewing on a corn cob in a field? No, you haven’t.

As you search for your new pet food, be aware that there are three Categories of Pet Foods:

-"Grocery store" foods – (Generic Brands and cheap name brands) Those foods found in grocery stores and mass-market retailers are made with lower-quality, less-digestible, inexpensive ingredients and are therefore a cheaper alternative. While easy on the pocketbook, "grocery store" foods normally do not provide your pet with the healthiest, most nutrient-dense ingredients.

-Premium foods – (Iams/Eukanuba, Purina One, Hills Science Diet, Nutro and such) Foods often found in grocery stores, pet stores, and veterinarian offices that contain higher-grade ingredients, but still include many elements of "grocery store" food, such as artificial colors, artificial flavors, chemical preservatives, and "filler" ingredients such as corn and wheat products, by-products and even animal digest. Yuck! Premium foods are usually more expensive than "grocery store" foods because their ingredients are sometimes of a higher quality, and are therefore somewhat more beneficial and digestible. But don’t be fooled, some of those same so called Premium brands are sometimes worse than grocery store foods, but they charge prices like they are better. They aren’t!

-Healthy foods – (Wellness, Eagle Pack, Drs Foster and Smith) The newest addition to the pet food market - provide pets with the highest quality, healthiest, and most nutritious ingredients. They are typically available for purchase online or direct from the manufacturer. Some better retailers are starting to carry them now. Complete Petmart carries a few healthy brand foods. Foods in the Healthy class - contain nutrient-rich ingredients. Formulated to provide optimum health benefits for pets, these foods often use real meat as the primary protein source, carbohydrate-rich whole grains like brown rice and barley and whole, fresh fruits and vegetables. They should not contain artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors. They will almost always be fortified with additional vitamins and minerals, and will use the best natural sources for fatty acids to help build healthy skin and a beautiful coat. Because healthy foods use high quality ingredients, you should expect to pay a little more than you would for other types of pet food. Remember, though, with healthy foods you can feed less since healthy foods are more nutrient-dense than other types of food so it often evens out or cost’s les than feeding foods filled with cheap non-nutritional by-products fillers.

With all that information in mind, when you are choosing a new food, study the ingredients. All ingredients on pet food labels are listed by weight. Meaning whatever ingredients are listed first on the list, there is more in there. The first ingredients listed should be whole meat ingredients, protein sources, such as Chicken or Turkey. NOT just the word “meat”! Who the heck knows what that is? The word Chicken Meal is ok, but it should be a secondary ingredient, not first. Meal is the meat dehydrated and ground into a powder.

The ingredients also should NOT include any by-products or animal digest whatsoever. Those are disgusting left over animal parts that are scraped off the filthy floors of meat and poultry plants. They should just go into the trash but they put them into pet food instead. EW!!!!

Also make sure there are no artificial colors or flavors. And make sure there is no BHA and BHT used preservatives. These preservatives have been shown to cause cancer in both cats and dogs. Bad Bad stuff and it’s in almost every pet treat on the market. :(

So, in summery of the ingredients… if you see the words by-products, Animal Digest, the word “meat” alone, Corn, Corn Gluten, Wheat Gluten, or BHA or BHT… stop reading, put down that bag and move on to the next.

Be aware that when switching to a Healthy, Holistic or Organic food, you will pay for what you get. Good foods are not cheap. They are pricey and will cost you on a per bag basis much more. Just like steak costs more than hotdogs. But again, you will be feeding a better food and improving the over all health of your pet. Which in turn leads to less vet visits for illness now and more importantly later in life in their Geriatric years. You will also feed less of this food on a per animal basis because a smaller amount of food contains what your pet needs. Overall healthy foods are well worth it, if only for the piece of mind that the ingredients are safer.

What are some good foods I recommend? I feed my cats Drs. Foster and Smith Holistic Adult Lite Dry cat food along with a mix of Wellness Dry. I also feed Merrick Canned.

I purchase Drs. Foster and Smith online and have it automatically delivered to my door so I never run out and never have to go get it. It’s one of the best foods on the market and has no “fillers” in it. It is also very reasonably priced compared to other holistic foods. And when you’re feeding as many cats as I am, price is as important as ingredients. If you can't afford it, you can't feed it. So buy the highest quality you can and feel good that you are doing the absolute best you can for your pet.

If you want to buy in a store, Complete Petmart is a good store and carries quite a few natural, organic, and holistic blends. Also check with your local feed stores. Old Mother Hubbard Wellness Brand is a great holistic food I feed. As is Eagle Pack Dry Cat food. Merrick canned is also a great source of nutrition and they will be coming out with a dry line this summer.

I highly recommend people take the time to research for themselves, but the information I have given should get you off to a good start. Good luck choosing a new food for your cats!

********IMPORTANT******* Don’t forget to switch your Pets food slowly over a period of 10 to 14 days, if you can. Mixing 25% new to 75% old. Then 50/50… then 75% new to 25% old. And finally switch over to 100% new. Take it slow as not to upset their digestive system.

Side note… Please don’t feed Iams / Eukanuba. It’s ALL fillers, byproducts, animal digest and CRAP. Read the ingredients! There is nothing good for your cat in that food. Not to mention they conduct the most appalling animal testing you have ever seen. http://www.iamscruelty.com/ to see the terror they create.

Foods I recommend based on personal experience -

Dry - Drs. F&S Food Link - http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

Dry - Wellness Food Link - http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/

Dry - Eagle Pack Holistic Select - http://www.eaglepack.com/

Merrick Foods: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/

You can find more great foods at http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/

I was feeding my dog Iams also. After doing some research, (which I wish I had done before feeding him the Iams in the first place), I bought Innova--wet and dry--as I feed him a mix . He is a very finicky little guy, but he loved it from the first bowl. (He's eating Innova Senior, but they have others and I have heard good things about the EVO.) It cost a little bit--okay a lot bit--more, but I feel it's safe and really it is better food recall or no recall.

were you feeding the wet or dry food ? what you can try is to get the dry food most like the wet and take hot water and get it alittle wet. because the food that was recalled was canned and packes of gravey food. like the other person said just put the food out and give them about 5 min to finish if they do not pick it up and feed it again at dinner time. do this for a couple of day and the dogs will learn the the food will not be there all the time.

They have as a precaution recalled all food and treats that contain wheat gluten made or imported by menu foods a few days ago.

You should leave the food out, when hungry enough your dogs will eat, if you do not want to do that cook up an egg or two and mix it in. Most dogs love eggs and they are actually good for them.

Are you talking about wet or dry food? If dry, there are a lot of great dog food brands, I recommend: Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, Fromm's, Life Abundance, Wellness, Premium Edge, Canidae, Nutro Ultra, Nature's Variety to name a few. I personally do not think if you can buy a dog food in the grocery store, not a pet store, it is not good enough to feed your dog. If your dogs doesn't like the food, you can try putting something that tastes good on their food, such as a little salmon oil, cod liver oil, plain yogurt or cottage cheese.

If you are feeding dry food there is no need to switch-that is not recalled however if you feed the canned or pouch food then as long as your ids on the cans dont match with the ones they have recalled you are still okay to feed it--dont worry they will eat when they get hungry enough

I am so glad you asked. So many so called "name-brands" are highly dangerous to your pet. Why? Here is a great link that contains a list of dangerous toxins, preservatives and by products that are in most pet foods except for Life's Abundance, Blue Food, Ultra, Wysong, Newmans Own:

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/P...

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Try giving them table food.

Don't believe the hype about it not being healthy, your healthy and your alive. You made a mistake feeding them always the same dog food. Do you always eat at McDonald as opposed to Burger king.

I having a business degree myself and having studied with these normal physicians who bring their baggage of beliefs to the profession.You should be more weary of the animals needs,and judge the situations by looking for signs they are not eating, happy, always sleeping, scared(sometimes of kids).

Conclusion:Buy some steak! and bring your pup to the vet!

Love.

freedom.

food.

water.

shade(summer) or heat(winter).

Toys.

all the things a human needs including junk food,diversity.

I'm not saying your not doing it all but i am saying you need to look into it again.

Just decided to cut my meat consumption dramatically too, energy is just transformed no lost.

Just read it on my whippet list. The owner had 2 litters of Scotties get sick and testing did not reveal the problem. "Off to the Vet with pups. They tested for everything.. .all came Back negative. Pups literally faded away and 6/died! They were Necropsied and the livers/kidneys sent to the lab for toxicology Testing. Came back today, found leasions on the livers, and Also Aflotoxin poisoning. My friend found the last can in her Garbage can And had that tested also - came back Aflotoxin. " Iams/Eukanuba and the FDA were informed.

I would suggest you get some chicken and boil it and boil an egg to the hard boiled stage and cut up the chicken into small pieces and mix it with the boiled egg. my chihuahua is very picky and he eats that and I know it is safe. with the pet food recall it is scary.

Not all country's around the world feed their pets with manufactured food. They feed regular food that human's eat, like chicken, rice, meat bones....etc.

Good Luck...