Is iams really the best cat food out there..? or are there brands just as good but cheeper?

Answer 1

no, iams is garbage! there are way better foods that cost roughly the same as iams. blackwood for example. its a little more expensive than iams, but for a 10# cat you only need to feed 1/2 cup per day, so it actually last longer than iams and it is much better quality.

Answer 2

Feeding a cat a healthy diet is of the utmost importance for the good health of every cat.
Many people feel that dry is the best way to go. Vets feel it is the way to go. Why? Vets are taught very little about nutrition and they are taught what they know by the Pet Food Companies. The companies push dry as it is the very cheapest food in the world to make as they use fillers, vegetable protein and things that cats do not eat in normal life like veggies and fruits. Of course the veggies and fruits are NOT good for human consumption and thus they get it free or for pennies so the big suppliers can get rid of it.
Dry does not keep teeth clean. A cats jaw is made to grab, tear and shred. They have no chewing action. When a cat barfs he throws up the chunks of food. Sometimes the dry shatters but that doesn't rub on the teeth either. A vet told me that she had an elderly cat around 20 who had had wet food her whole life and never had a problem with her teeth, but she had a 7 month old kitten who had to have every tooth pulled since they were so bad he was sick.
Dry food causes diabetes, UTI's, Kidney problems and the list is to long to continue.
The proper food is a diet for an obligate carnivore. Remember you have never seen a lion chasing a biscuit. Your cat needs wet food of good quality. It should be high in protein and under 10% carb. You should not feed your cat fish or seafood more than 1 or 2 meals a week if that much as they become addicted to it and it is high in phosphorous and low in nutritional value.
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfo...
Here is a chart of most wet foods. The good and the bad. Look for one that is high in protein and low in carbs. Fancy feast is a good middle of the road one, and the cheaper brands but still following the rule are much better than any dry ever could be. Wellness is on the higher end with higher cost. But you have good food.
It is cheaper to feed a cat the wet as they are filled up faster. Think if you are hungry and eat a bag of potato chips you are soon hungry but if you have a nice piece of chicken you are filled up longer. The same for a cat. I began adding small amount of water and mixing it in good for the meals and now add 1/4 cup water to 1/3 cup wet food. It is now like soup. It keeps the food from drying out and Cessan eats when she wants. She is a grazer and I let her be happy. She gained the weight she needed and then the weight gain stopped. If your cat is over weight he will lose weight on a wet diet.
Here is a link explaining very clearly cat nutrition and care. It is excellent and I think every new cat owner should have to read it first.
http://catinfo.org/ Good luck to you and your sweet kitty.

Answer 3

You have opened a can of worms, as there are passionate opinions about almost any particular brand, and IAMS sets off some rabid critics. For the cruelty issue, that has been posted often, I have posted a link to the other side of the issue. Remember, often those who strongly attack a product have an agenda behind it. And yes the linked site comes from the IAMS company, but then they are defending the charges so who else would do it?

Any food that meets the requirements of the AAFCO will allow your cat to thrive. Many who decry animal by-products simply to not know what they are talking about. Animal by-products? Well, if your cat catches a mouse, he will probably eat most of it. And a lot of what he eats would be known as 'animal by-products'. A cat has a short digestive system, and the enzymes they get from eating a whole critter helps them digest their food.

I lost my oldest at to complications of thyroid disease, and she was 15 1/2, but looked many years younger, and had terrific fur. She hardly had a day of illness in her life, and she was an indoor cat. She only had IAMS dry food, with a tidbit of wet food at night. The oldest cat I now have is approaching 13, and is in fine health. She is also an IAMS eater.

Is IAMS the best? Perhaps not, but it suits my cats well.

My quarrel with IAMS is in their 'original' recipe. It has chicken as the first ingredient, but some of their other varieties do not have chicken as the first ingredient, so I always check the bag.

Answer 4

Quite frankly, I think that Iams and some of the others (Science Diet, etc.) are totally over-blown. First, it doesn't matter how much money you spend on the food if your cat won't eat it---and, many won't. Next, Iams & Science Diet (perhaps a few others) started out by being available only from your vet. This tells me that--why, of course, your vet is going to recommend it---they're getting a "kick-back" from the company to promote it. Now, that is only MY OPINION, and it may not be true, but I believe it is. And, finally, when I adopted my cat (over 9 years ago) from our local animal shelter--this poor thing was the biggest mess you ever saw! He was filthy, covered in grease from being under cars & trucks, hair all matted, had a huge abcess on his head, totally flea/worm infested, teeth were yellow, and was due to be put down the next day. He was sick, scared, and very sad looking. My son thought I'd completely lost my mind when I said I was taking this cat home. Well, after a 2-day ordeal at the vet (including surgery on the abcess), I began feeding this guy Friskies Dental Diet and Friskies (canned) "Special Diet". It only took about 6 months (or less) for his teeth to become as pure white as his coat is. Yes, under all of the dirt, grease, matted hair, etc., we un-covered a beautiful Turkish Angora. He is in exceptionally good health and still plays like a kitten to this day--and this guy is about 11 years old now. For my money (and yours), you do NOT have to buy the most expensive food on the market for your cat to get the proper nutrition. READ THE LABELS. If the first product in the ingredients is corn meal, this is junk food. You don't want to feed the grocery store or Wal-Mart brands, but one of many of the "in-between" brands such as Friskies, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, and numerous others can be just as good (perhaps better) than Iams, and less expensive.

Answer 5

Do not buy iams, they do animal testing for all their products on poor cats and dogs. It is brutal what they do with no regard to the animals. You can google it and find out for yourself, so I do not support iams at all. I give my cats whiska's, they both are happy kitties, shiny coats and active. Pretty much anything you buy in a grocery store is not going to be one the same level with the stuff you can get in the pet store but if you take the time to read the labels you will be able to find the one with the least amount of filler and more of the better ingredients up at the top of the ingredient list.

Answer 6

Iams is o.k. food but you won't find better cheaper. The old saying you get what you pay for. I have found a lot better quality food for around the same price, it's called Natural Ultramix by Castor and Pollux. You can check in out on-line at Petco web sight, will tell you the ingredients\s. I just switch to it from Royal Canine and my cats love it. No fillers or by products so I love it.

Answer 7

I mix half urinary tract health formula, and half indoor cat formula- both grocery store brands ( I believe made by purina) It doesn't break my budget and my cats do well on it. People (a lot of them) are off the wall on here when it comes to pet food- my animals live long happy lives and I've never fed them Iams or any other outragously priced pet foods. I do admit that one of my 10 yr old cats has diabetes, but I also know that people who feed their cats high priced foods often get this problem too. He happens to be the only pet I've ever owned to develop a chronic illness.

Answer 8

Sorry, my opinion is that you get what you pay for. If you want a healthy animal, then you have to spend a little extra. My cat eats Prescription Diet, you can get it only at the vet. My cat was diagnosed with the worst kind of cancer and was given months maybe a yr. That was 5yrs ago, yes he had tumors, that so far do not bother him. He is spry and has energy and plays like a kitten. He turned 19 this month. That is past grandfather in cat yrs. I believe nutrition is key, why should it be any different for your cat or any living thing.

Answer 9

Do you want a cheap food or a good food?

IAMS is a horrible food full of indigestible fillers and ingredients known to cause allergies. However, if you're going to be cheap, I'm not sure you could do much better, since all of the "cheap" foods are generally very much the same. Anything with "corn" or "corn gluten" or corn ANYTHING in the ingredients is automatically garbage.

If I were going to go with a good-quality cat food, I'd go with Felidea. It will be a few dollars more than the cheap stuff, but it is so much healthier.

Answer 10

IAMS isn't all that great.

There's a comparison site here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_canned.htm
They've got a slight problem today when you try to get into the dry foods URL, but the board should be fixed by tomorrow. It's an extremely useful page comparing levels of different cat foods against each other.