Hello all,

Jake has been with me for about 2 weeks now. He is a 14 week old chocolate lab and so far he has been great. My question is this. I do not know what the people that I got him from were feeding him, but I am feeding him Iams LB puppy. His stools seem firm and his coat looks nice (though his skin is a little flakey and he itches a lot). I have read in a few placs that Iams food is not as good for them as it once was. Is this true? What are your opions on Iams food? Should I consider switching him to Nutro or Diamond? Or should I just keep him on the Iams and toss in a little olive oil to help with the dry skin?

-John & Jake.

I've always used Iams. I have found it to be a good product and you can get more common blends almost anywhere.

In the past I have used supplements or oils for coat maintenance, and to be quite honest, I really don't think it made much of a difference.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jakespop
I have read in a few placs that Iams food is not as good for them as it once was. Is this true? What are your opions on Iams food? Should I consider switching him to Nutro or Diamond? Or should I just keep him on the Iams and toss in a little olive oil to help with the dry skin?

Hi John and Jake, and Welcome :).

It is true that Iams being a poorer quality kibble. When I do a search on Iams on this board, this is what I found: (Pages of pro and cons (mostly cons)

http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=130320&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

His dry skin and itching is more likely caused by the Iams itself. This is mentioned several times in the link shown.

Certainly isn't a bad idea to switch to a different kibble. What treats are you feeding Jake?

For treats I have been giving him the Iams puppy biscuits, some apple, and some peanut butter in his puppy kong.

-John

When I first got Max from the breeder he was eating IAM's...he had VERY dry, flaky skin also - I did some "food research" and decided to go with the Wellness brand and I LOVE IT!! (So does he!) His skin is no longer flaky and his fur is soft and shiny!

I know there are a lot of good puppy food choices. So if Iams is not what it once was, can you please recommend a few brands of puppy kibble that are considered top teir.

Thanks,

-John

Max was on Wellness Puppy (Super5Mix) and I just switched him to Wellness Adult - chicken. Other than Wellness I can't really comment on other foods since I've never used them. There's a TON on the board that talks about all different foods - try doing a food search.....

Good luck!

Well I went and looked at the pet store on my lunch break today and bought a bag of Wellness puppy for Jake to try. The clerk tried to recommend Royal Cannin LB Puppy, but I did not much like how close corn meal was to the top of the list of ingredience. I also like the fact that Wellness has a lot of fish in it. It seems to me that fish is probably a large part of a Labs natural diet. So I guess we will see what Jake (and Jakes dry skin) think of the Wellness Puppy.


-John

Excellent! Good luck.....let me know how it works for Jake! I have to warn you, Max's stool was very loose for a few weeks until he finally got used to the new food. Are you slowly doing the switch from IAMS to Wellness???

Yes, my plan is to slowly switch over a couple of weeks. Hopefully we can do a switch without upsetting his tummy too much.

-John

I hope so too :) - Max had a bit of a tough time, but now he's doing FABULOUS on Wellness! Good Luck!!!