Iams Bad??

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gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
Sadly, I'm currently in London. I try to get out as often as possible though LOL

Generally speaking, with a raw diet you feed a selection of RMBs (raw meaty bones) - so that's how bone gets included in the diet, it is quite simply eaten by the dog. Of course, we're talking about relatively small or soft bones here - not great big beef cannon bones. Most raw feeders will choose to base the diet on something like ckicken necks/wings/frames (the latter being the frame of the chicken after most of the meat is removed) since chicken is easily accessible, fairly priced and those particular parts provide an excellent meat/calcium/phosphorous ratio. Other good options include the soft cuts of beef such as brisket (sternum) or lamb/pig flaps since there's not too much meat and the bones are consumable.

I note that the retailer you're looking at is selling pretty close to the same thing - chopped up chicken wings and necks :) Actually though, you don't even need them chopped up. A boxer is easily capable of coping with whole chicken necks or wings and getting some great teeth cleaning work in the process ;) Anyway - I'd pass on the minced meat and either source your own chicken parts or else buy their chopped necks and wings.

So that sort of thing generally forms the basis of the diet. From there one would feed some variety in terms of meat protein sources - some beef, rabbit, venison, lamb, turkey... whatever you can get your hands on really. And a reasonable proportion of the diet (around 15%) needs to be offal. I do see that your retailer sells that too, in the form of tripe (you want the 'green' (ie. unbleached) stuff), chicken livers and heart. Again though, this is stuff you can source from your own butcher, along with liver, kidneys and the same organs of other animals than chickens too ;)

Lastly, there is fruit and vegetable matter. Opinions do vary on how much of this a dog needs - ranging from zero to about 10% of the diet. The best way to feed those is raw and finely processed (since dogs don't digest vegetable matter that easily). You'd probably find it is easiest to persuade a dog to eat veges if it is mixed with offal.

So that's the basis of raw feeding. One would also feed the occassional fish meal, and add in things like eggs, flaxseed or olive oil, yoghurt and cottage cheese. Some people supplement further.

Anyway - although I haven't looked at all at the prices, it would seem that a lot of what your retailer is selling is fine. I would strongly suggest that you do a bit of research on raw feeding though, so that you can ensure that your dog is getting a balanced diet. I'd also choose primarily the chopped meat parts that do contain bone rather than the minced meat (though they say some of their mince includes bone, I can't see anywhere that tells you which ones LOL). I think you'd also find over time that you could probably provide your dog with the same food at a much better price directly from your butcher, but starting out with pre-made stuff certainly wouldn't hurt.

I do have to reiterate one last time that research is key. Raw diets aren't complicated or difficult to feed, but you do need to understand what constitutes a balanced diet and, over time, ensure that your dog is getting that variety. Feel free to check out the Barf forum here, and to ask any further questions there. There are quite a few raw feeders on this forum and plenty of good advice to be had :)
 

cibula11

Boxer Buddy
Bella is 6 mos. I started her out with Royal Canin Maxi. She seemed to like it, but I changed to Natural Blend. Its still made by Royal Canin, but it's an all natural, holistic kibble. My parents switched to it with their boxer. They said that it made her coat more shinny and she shed less. I have noticed similar results and she poops less too. Oh, and she loves the stuff.
 

samsonite

Boxer Pal
Samson was eating Iams for several months, I tried to switch him but he was picky and always chose the Iams. I thought I did well switching him from Science Diet to Iams, but thank the Lord for this site, now I know better! I never really connected his kibble to his eye boogers and bad coat. He is suffering from mild demodex, so I just blamed his problems on that. Well, we switched to Nutro last week, and I'm already seeing improvement - esp. with the eye boogers! I'm also going to try a partial-BARF diet. He got his first chicken back tonight! :)
 

stoc1stboxer

Boxer Pal
iams bad

Thanks for the good info. We have switched to chicken soup, puppy formula for about 2 weeks now. However, she still has eye boogers and poops slightly more now. I am happy with feeding her a more quality diet, but is there any recommendations for another brand that might help with these issues? Thanks.
 

boxer

Boxer Insane
I'd personally stick with the Chicken Soup for just a little longer before switching. Partly that's so she doesn't get too many food changes too soon, but it's also because some dogs do initially get goopy eyes and large stools when you switch from a low qulaity brand to a premium one, but very often it resolves after a few weeks and the dog starts looking better than before ;)

Still, if you do want to switch (either now or in a month or so) there are plenty of good foods out there to choose from. One easy way to choose a dog food is to start with the quality foods list put out by the Whole Dog Journal. Their selection criteria is posted inthis thread, below the current list itself http://boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66384

Possibly something like Innova, Wellness or California Natural would be a good choice for your dog :)
 

Jacqueline T

Boxer Buddy
IAMS Bad

Well after reading the following threads i am at lost. I to have a 3 month old boxer and i to have been feeding her IAMS. The major problem i am having in switching her feed is that i am currently residing in an Outport village in Newfoundland and the nearest pet store to me is 500km away. I work 6 days a week so to make the drive is impossible. I did try to order Innova online and the cost to ship it was more than the cost to buy it. $90 us for the dog food and $110 to ship it. CRAZY. So in other words i have no selection to choose from.

any suggestions????
 

boxer

Boxer Insane
Where do you currently buy your pet food? Possibly they would order something in for you, if you're going to be buying it on a regular basis :)

Another alternative is trying a natural raw diet :)
 
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