Hi there. I'm new to joining the board but have been silently visiting & reading your posts for a while.

In September, we adopted a 9 week old Lab mix puppy (mostly lab per the vets opinion) from a rescue AND we adopted a 12 yr old lhasa/shizu mix who's owner had died. The vet says that the older dog needs no special food and can eat the adult version of whatever we are feeding our puppy - so that they can be on the same adult food once the puppy is grown. (very cost effective - yay!)

My family has decided to buy a "good" brand of dog food. By this I mean, not the overly expensive, but not the cheapest food either. In our house we do not eat filet mignon every night, nor do we eat fast food - so - we took this into consideration with our dogs. We decided to feed Rutger (the puppy) Iams Natural puppy and we placed Smokey (older) onto the Iams natural adult formula. They seem to be doing "OK" but now I've had more time to keep going through all the boards and reading updates, and opinons etc.... I'm just not sure.

Can anyone tell me their opinion of this food? I like the fact that the food is available almost anywhere, including the petstores and Target. because I'm new, I can't post the link for the food but it's found on the iams website...

Please help! UGH. I really thought we did the right thing. Thanks so much for reading and I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

Hi there. I'm new to joining the board but have been silently visiting & reading your posts for a while.

In September, we adopted a 9 week old Lab mix puppy (mostly lab per the vets opinion) from a rescue AND we adopted a 12 yr old lhasa/shizu mix who's owner had died. The vet says that the older dog needs no special food and can eat the adult version of whatever we are feeding our puppy - so that they can be on the same adult food once the puppy is grown. (very cost effective - yay!)

My family has decided to buy a "good" brand of dog food. By this I mean, not the overly expensive, but not the cheapest food either. In our house we do not eat filet mignon every night, nor do we eat fast food - so - we took this into consideration with our dogs. We decided to feed Rutger (the puppy) Iams Natural puppy and we placed Smokey (older) onto the Iams natural adult formula. They seem to be doing "OK" but now I've had more time to keep going through all the boards and reading updates, and opinons etc.... I'm just not sure.

Can anyone tell me their opinion of this food? I like the fact that the food is available almost anywhere, including the petstores and Target. because I'm new, I can't post the link for the food but it's found on the iams website...

Please help! UGH. I really thought we did the right thing. Thanks so much for reading and I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

In all honesty I wouldn't feed it, but if it works for you, then stick with it. As long as your dogs have good stools and aren't showing signs of allergies, I don't see why you should change. :2cents:

BTW, welcome from a fellow Jersey member!! :D

What brands would you recommend?

The only change I would make is start working in the adult chow with the puppy chow as soon as you run low until after a week it is all adult. Switching to an adult chow for the larger breeds at 4 months, slows growth and helps develop sturdier joints.

For the same reason, keep him lean. Your dog definitely should be narrower at the waist than the hips and chest. You should be able to easily feel the ribs, but not see them. Each dog is different. Standard recommendations are a good place to start, but each dog must have its food and exercise adjusted to its individual needs. Here is a link to a good illustrated guide, http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx

I am not as familiar with Iams or their natural line as I am with some other common brands. Watch the calcium. The actual, not minimum, should be 1.5% or less. A couple of year ago I was having trouble finding the yellow bag Iams Smart Puppy, and changed Holly over to the adult at about 4 months. She did fine, with nice, full hip sockets on her X-Rays at a year old. Of course, the results with any one dog actually mean very little. I know many large, professionally managed programs feed Iams with excellent results, but can't say how early they switch to adult chow. I know other similar programs switch at 4 months with other brands. My Golden, Tux, was on adult Purina 1 when I got him at 9 weeks.

Here are some foods from the top of my head that in my opinion are very good foods: Innova, California Natural, Eagle Pack Holistics, Wellness. This may also help you www.dogfoodanalysis.com (http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com) it ranks a ton of foods from a 6 star to a 1 star. For the puppy be sure calcium is under 1.5% in whatever food you choose.

In all honesty I wouldn't feed it, but if it works for you, then stick with it. As long as your dogs have good stools and aren't showing signs of allergies, I don't see why you should change. :2cents:


Thanks Amanda! Ditto.

If you really don't want to feed them Iams there are tons of other options depending on your budget range.

I didn't know Iams had a "natural" dog food until I just looked it up on their site. What about not feeding the natural stuff but just feeding regular Iams? Mya has been on it since she was with the breeder and she's done great on it. Just a thought...