IAMS controversy...is it really true?
Anyways I'm curious about this because we normally feed our cats Nutro, but occasionally I've given them IAMS. I don't want to support a company that treats animals like this behind closed doors. Is it all blown out of propotion or is there truth in this...anybody know some facts??? One food company always basts another one, and I'm so confused. Remy doesn't get IAMS. |
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| Hi Daisie,
Yes, Iams was targeted by PETA for their bad practise of keeping their animals in small cages. My good friend whom is a member of PETA showed me the article in the magazine the last time I went to visit her. Thousands of people sent in their pet food receipts with the announcement that this is how much money they will now be spending on another company. This summer at our fair some people picketed the Iams Booth and the story was on the news. The Iams people responded that they have made drastic measures and even hired an animal ethics person and other persons this past year. I'm ashamed to say I was using Iams which is the reason my friend gave me the article . I have been wanting to contact Iams myself to see what their response was. I am really torn over this as all 8 of my animals were eating Iams - 4 dogs, 4 cats and my food bill is quite substantial. Walmart has a 20 pound bag of Iams for 19 dollars. I prefer Solid Gold but the stores only carry it in small bags and I was forever running to the store. I will let you know and other members if Iams responds to my questions. Marianne |
| This topic has come up before, if you use the search feature you will find several links and many more responses. I myself still use Iams. I remember when all that was happening, and at the time did a photography assignment for Iams. I have been in through one of their research facilities, and all I saw were happy, healthy cats and dogs who had nice sized cages, that they were not locked in all the time. They had blankets, toys, clean environment and people hired to play with them and spend time with them. Many of the staff were very bonded to the animals. Also, many of the animals in these facilities would otherwise have been put down, they often rescue out of shelters.
No, living in a cage most of the time is not an ideal life, I agree. However, these pets could have done worse. Some shelters I have seen are no where near as clean and don't have time to spend with the animals, let alone hours of play and petting and walks. That being said,I'm also aware that I may have purposely been shown the best of the best... |
| That's good to hear. I feed the cat Iams. (Dog has a special l/d diet so she's got no choice in brands, but if she wasn't sick ....it would be Iams. She throws up bile when eating Nutro. Sad because I love that brand.) |
| I've been listening to stuff like this at the catforum for a while - while it is interesting - I can never tell if it is true or not.
I keep thinking to myself: This is PETA we are talking about here - not that they are all bad - but they have done some low and horrible things before. Even though I would hate to think of animals being tested on the way PETA reports it... I just can't bring myself to believe them... not all the way. I don't feed iams - but that is only because I found a higher quality food. However, if I ever found that I couldn't afford the catfood I wanted to give - it would probably be iams that I would turn to. |
| That's what makes it so hard, is you know IAMS will say they are doing great, animals are well looked after etc etc etc.
Do they have secret shopper kinda people go in, work undercover...is this how the story broke. I have nothing against the product, my cats like it. Now we can afford a higher quality food. I never want to support any abuse, so now that I've learned about it...I have to question. At the same time this is a huge company, I'm sure they are now under a microscope, and I'd like to think they are in a postion to really help animals...like was said from rescue shelters. If they are now clean, and behaving properly, and all animals are treated with respect...I would purchase the food again. Sometimes it is our fall back food...if we can't affford the top at the time, we never go lower than IAMS. I really like Solid Gold too, they have it at the daycare in lg bags. I use to feed that to the boxer, but it got expensive. So with Remy she gets a middle/top grade food. Is their a website that let everyone in on all food companies. A rating system per say...qualityof product, facilites it's made in etc, do dogs actually like it...from an owners point of view. |
| Iams was purchased by Procter & Gamble a few years back. Since then they have changed the formula according to the folks I've spoken with. So was PETA upset with Iams prior to the sale or after?
Up. |
| Hi,
I wish I could find the magazine but here goes from memory as to what the story was about. Iams is a pet food company and more than any other company should respect an animals well being. I say more so than say perhaps a perfume company or..well you get the picture. In the article and the photo taken by an unknown person it showed a dog being held in a tiny cage. I quess it had the shock value it was intended to have. At the time of the article the animals it stated did not have the excercise they required - it appears since the storm began they have rectified all the controversy. I'm still using Iams although I had stopped using it for some time, so I'm praying that I'm not allowing the abuse to continue. In the same magazine was a story of how maltreated pigs were, and one was a full blown pic of a little piglet crammed in a truck with hundreds of others. The fear on his face is something I can't get out of my mind and since June I haven't been able to purchase any pork products. Yes, Peta goes in for shock value but they do get people to listen and make changes. KFC is no longer cutting the beaks of their chickens due to the outcry from the Peta tell all. I've never considered myself a rebel but have to give them credit for sticking their necks out and letting people see when animals have been treated inhumanely. While they do promote a vegan lifestyle (which I'm not) they also let meat eaters know they have a choice as to which products to purchase in which case the animals where treated humanely. Range free eggs for example - whereas the chickens are allowed to roam free and not crammed into a home with thousands of others and their short lives are stressed. If you should ever get the chance to try a range free egg the yolks are bright orange unlike the yellow ones. The taste is so incredible and much better that it's worth the extra $. Since hearing about range free eggs I've never purchased the other ones and yes my contribution is small but over a lifetime I will support the companies that have range free chickens. Marianne I can't remember which famous person said this but the quote goes: You can tell how civilized a society is by the treatment of it's animals. |
| I just had to comment, I am not a member of your forum, however I am a vet tech and it is always amazing to me how many people believe that Iams is a good dog food. As dog owners some of you may be aware that feeding an animal anything that has by-products as one of it's first ingredients is not the way to go. By-products are fillers and are not readily digested by the dog's GI system. Fillers (by-products) are things such as corn, or chicken beaks/legs. By-products are not healthy, and are one of Iams favorite ingredients. I am not here to "scold" anyone on feeding their animals, I just wanted to make you all aware that regardless of whether or not they use questionable practices (hopefully they don't but how can we believe anything PETA says after recent events?) Iams is NOT recommended by all veterinarians and is not the bright, shining above-all choice they like to advertise themselves to be. Also to be aware of, Iams is owned by corporate giant P&G (Proctor & Gamble). They also own Kraft Foods and a million other companies you purchase from on a daily basis. You may or may not be aware that P&G is one of the only manufacturer's left in the country that still test is cosmetic products on animals. Products such as Pantene Pro-V, Crest and Gillette are being tested on animals before they are massly produced and shipped off to stores. So, in short, just keep in mind when you are standing there looking at your choices at the grocery store or pet store that Iams/Eukanuba isn't the greatest food in more ways then one. Look into foods such as Eagle Pack or Canidae, and for price cuts on them check out your local livestock feed suppliers as you can typically by higher quality foods for less. Most feed stores won't even stock Iams... so that should tell the consumer something. We have 4 vets in our clinic, all with different beliefs in ways to practice and how to treat things, but when it comes to recommending food Iams never makes the list. Do yourselves a favor and research the "holistic" or natural foods, you might be surprised at what you learn. And one more thing, changes food on you pups is not good for them, either. They need a stable diet to prevent GI upset. If you plan on changing foods you should be mixing the current food with the new food to acclimate them to the change. They are not like people and their GI can not handle sudden changes in many cases. Again, I'm not here to bash anyone, I just wanted to put that info out there. |
Guest wrote: I just had to comment, I am not a member of your forum, however I am a vet tech and it is always amazing to me how many people believe that Iams is a good dog food. As dog owners some of you may be aware that feeding an animal anything that has by-products as one of it's first ingredients is not the way to go. By-products are fillers and are not readily digested by the dog's GI system. Fillers (by-products) are things such as corn, or chicken beaks/legs. By-products are not healthy, and are one of Iams favorite ingredients. I am not here to "scold" anyone on feeding their animals, I just wanted to make you all aware that regardless of whether or not they use questionable practices (hopefully they don't but how can we believe anything PETA says after recent events?) Iams is NOT recommended by all veterinarians and is not the bright, shining above-all choice they like to advertise themselves to be. Also to be aware of, Iams is owned by corporate giant P&G (Proctor & Gamble). They also own Kraft Foods and a million other companies you purchase from on a daily basis. You may or may not be aware that P&G is one of the only manufacturer's left in the country that still test is cosmetic products on animals. Products such as Pantene Pro-V, Crest and Gillette are being tested on animals before they are massly produced and shipped off to stores. So, in short, just keep in mind when you are standing there looking at your choices at the grocery store or pet store that Iams/Eukanuba isn't the greatest food in more ways then one. Look into foods such as Eagle Pack or Canidae, and for price cuts on them check out your local livestock feed suppliers as you can typically by higher quality foods for less. Most feed stores won't even stock Iams... so that should tell the consumer something. We have 4 vets in our clinic, all with different beliefs in ways to practice and how to treat things, but when it comes to recommending food Iams never makes the list. Do yourselves a favor and research the "holistic" or natural foods, you might be surprised at what you learn. And one more thing, changes food on you pups is not good for them, either. They need a stable diet to prevent GI upset. If you plan on changing foods you should be mixing the current food with the new food to acclimate them to the change. They are not like people and their GI can not handle sudden changes in many cases. Again, I'm not here to bash anyone, I just wanted to put that info out there.
Dog food and food quality are regular topics that come up in the Medical and Nutrition section of the forum. You'll see that a lot of us do a large amount of research on what to feed our dogs! |
| This might have been originally posted in the wrong forum, but I think the "guest" made a nice post. The topics of PETA, animal testing, etc can be touchy subjects and I don't think this was over the top preachy.
Though I think this set a record for thread resurrection. Almost 3 years! I don't even remember 2004! |
El Gato wrote: This might have been originally posted in the wrong forum, but I think the "guest" made a nice post.
I stopped reading about one third down....Lack of paragraphs made it very difficult for me to follow. But what I read was alright. |
| I wasn't disagreeing, either. Just wanted her to know that it is topic that comes up a lot here, just not in the area she may have been looking. I suspect that she did an IAMS search or something and clicked right to that particular thread. |
El Gato wrote: This might have been originally posted in the wrong forum, but I think the "guest" made a nice post. The topics of PETA, animal testing, etc can be touchy subjects and I don't think this was over the top preachy.
I agree. |
Guest wrote: You may or may not be aware that P&G is one of the only manufacturer's left in the country that still test is cosmetic products on animals.
Actually there are A LOT of companies that do cosmetic testing on animals, but yes P&G is definitely among the biggest and baddest! Check out www.navs.org and order a copy of the "personal care for people who care" to find companies (including dog food manufacturers) that do not test on animals. (sidenote- I am an intern for one of their programs and I can assure you that the NAVS is a trustworthy source!) |
| Hi,
When that post came out aprox 3 years ago I wrote to Iams Customer Service and asked them about the controversy. I recieved a lengthy letter back from one of their representatives. She stated that the current testing (which was testing tartar on dogs teeth) only required dogs have a few stitches in their mouths for 3 months and the dogs were well looked after in foster homes. I dunno about you guys but just having her admit that they still do test was shocking to me. I kept a copy of the letter in my documents file. (it's in my old computer so one day would like that data to be transferred to this current computer as I wanted to share it with you.) I guess as consumers we have to take some responsibility too. Marianne |
| There are two very different issues here....1. Is IAMS a good dog food and 2. are they guilty of cruelty to animals.
SInce the purpose of this post is #2 I'll ignore #1 (everyone needs to make their own decision on what to feed their dog). If you GOOGLE "IAMS cruelty rumor" you will come up with lots of information about this rumor that has been going around for year. I call it a "rumor" because basically PETA (a terrorist organization) took a thread of fact and blew it up to huge porportions. My understanding after reading a number of articles is that the original films which were published by PETA showing mistreatment at an IAMS test facility did occur at the facility BUT NOT WHILE IAMS WAS A TENANT. The actions were done by an unrelated firm. As a result of the investigation some testing issues at IAMS were identified and changed. I believe that IAMS made every effort to improve their research and developement. PETA, on the other hand, has one goal and only one... DESTRUCTION of reputation, animals, and property with no regard to human life. Their connection to ALF and ELF has been proved (both organizations have been found guilty of arson and terroristic tactics to support their cause). So again, GOOGLE IT. I am not defending IAMS but rather saying DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT PETA SAY!!!! My suspicion is that any dog food company , if investigated closely, would be found over the years to have engaged in practices now thought to be inappropriate. I don't use IAMS now (I did at one time) but feel they have made every effort to improve their standards. |
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