Have you seen the new advertising from Iams? It seems Iams is trying to re-brand themselves calling their pet food “Iams So Good”. Here’s some of what Iams is saying about their food and some mud slinging (kibble slinging) being done against the competition.
You may have seen some of the new advertising from Iams. Television commercials that pose questions about pet food – what scary ingredients might be in your pet’s food bowl, then direct the consumer to a website for more information. On the What’s Really in Your Bowl website, the consumer learns Iams is the pet food being advertised. And the website confirms what the commercial warned us about “Some leading dog food brands add sugar, dyes, and artificial preservatives, but Iams SO GOOD! is made with wholesome ingredients and nothing else.” www.WhatsReallyInYourBowl.com
Visitors to this website can mouse over different pet food bowls and compare Iams SO GOOD! to Beneful, Pedigree, Dog Chow, Kibbles ‘N Bits. With each mouse pass, the website visitor learns Beneful, Pedigree, Dog Chow and Kibbles ‘N Bits contain some less than wholesome ingredients such as dyes, chemical preservatives, and sugars. The Iams website refers to their pet food as “Tail-Waggin’, Tummy-Lovin’ Nutrition”.
Lets look at the statement from Iams “Iams SO GOOD! is made with wholesome ingredients and nothing else.”
TheFreeDictionary.com defines “wholesome” as: “Conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being.”
Let’s see… “Iams SO GOOD! is made with wholesome ingredients and nothing else”…under “Learn More” “Nutritional Information” we can take a look at the first five ingredients (majority of the pet food) in Iams SO GOOD! with Savory Chicken dog food…
Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Chicken….
Now let’s compare the first five ingredients of the four other pet foods that Iams claims contains less than “wholesome” ingredients…
The only significant difference in all of these pet foods is the Iams SO GOOD! Chicken dog food contains the ingredient “chicken“. (However because the AAFCO definition of ‘chicken’ is not clearly defined, this ingredient may or may not include any meat.)
The Iams SO GOOD! press release and website stated: “a tasty food that includes protein-packed chicken, veggies, fruit and crunchy kibbles.” Hmmm…”and crunchy kibbles”? This statement seems to imply (to an unknowing consumer) the pet food contains chicken, veggies, fruit AND kibbles – instead of chicken, veggies, fruit (ground to a fine pulp and cooked) IN kibbles.
Me personally I would ONLY consider “wholesome” ingredients as USDA inspected and approved (meat and vegetable ingredients). Iams has not provided pet food consumers with that guarantee (if ingredients are USDA inspected and approved) – and neither has Beneful, Pedigree, Purina, or Kibbles N’ Bits. Pet food pot calling the pet food kettle black.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
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Kathleen Phillips-Hellman
July 8, 2013 at 4:18 pm
IAMS CANNED PATE CAT FOOD POISONED THREE OF MY FOUR CATS more than FIVE (5) MONTHS AGO. One cat returned home after three months at m vet. One cat returned home at the same time and had been back to the vet three more times. The third cat is still at the vet. ALL THREE SUFFERED FROM HORRIBLE LESIONS IN AND ON THEIR MUCUS MEMBRANES. One is now blind and the one still at the vet may or may not recover fully because the lesions damaged the nerves which control her ability to swallow. IAMS IS OWNED BY PROCTOR & GAMBLE AND THEY DO NOT CARE ONE BIT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR PETS!
Diane M
July 8, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Oh, where do I start? The minute I saw the commercial for this “wholesome” food”, the first thing I noticed was the corn pictured on the bag. Corn, you know the thing that many mammals cannot digest? The vegetable loaded with sugar and carbs? They are bragging about this??? They have essentially come down to Beneful’s level, becoming the McDonald’s of the dog food world. Shame not many other people know this. The ingredient list is a bunch of crap. Keep on educating people! Marketing is a very powerful tool!
Sandra P.
July 8, 2013 at 5:17 pm
What do you expect from a pet food company such as Iams that continues to torture animals (dogs in general) in the testing of their dog food. Iams could care less about animals or what they put in their pet food.
Robin Roderick
July 8, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Not only is the corn indigestible, it most probably is GMO corn, which adds glyphosate to your pet’s diet. A nice serving of Round-Up for your feline and canine friends? I don’t think so . . .
Peter
July 9, 2013 at 5:14 pm
This is a well written essay. I’d like to post it at the supermarket.
But I also laughed, when I saw the so-called “inferior” brands P&G chose to compare their own to: crud compared to cruddier isn’t saying much, is it?
ellie
July 9, 2013 at 8:35 pm
One thing you never find on a kibble producers website is a description of the process of making their product. Anyone who read the true process of kibble production would likely never buy the product again.
Rose
July 9, 2013 at 10:38 pm
What an insult to pet owners intelligence. Do they think we cannot read the label? When I saw it sitting on the grocers shelf I looked at the first ingredient, corn, and thought about how many pet owners would fall for their slick misleading ads along with the new wording of “So Good” on the new packaging. It was definitely was an insult to my intelligence.
Carrie
August 16, 2017 at 4:13 pm
Iams is the only do food my husky can tolerate. Everything else causes diarreah. She has 5 puppues. They roo can only tolerate iams. Its not that it is a supeeior product, some animals are more sensitive than other animals.