As some of you already know, our little Gigi passed last summer from natural age issues, and I waited until about two months before bringing home two more dogs. I’ll type a separate post later on how that came about, but it happened while the family was away. I was kind of supposed to only get one dog, yet somehow brought home two. Oops–I guess my husband should have responded sooner to my texts 🙂

This post is mainly about Maisy, a miniature schnauzer who was around two years old last summer. She was covered in dirt and had a large scab on her back when I got her. Terrified and needing a major haircut, I just couldn’t let her go back home with the man selling her. After I got her, I drove an hour away and bought Maggie, a spoiled, black cocker spaniel, who was about nine months old at the time.

Both the sellers told me they used Iams Naturals, so when I took the dogs to Petsmart that evening, I purchased a bag of Iams’ highest grade food called Iams Naturistics, grain free. I started Maisy on the new bag of food, while I fed Maggie from the bag her seller gave me. It was the next level down in Iams Naturistics, and it was for puppies.

I quickly learned Maisy had some health concerns. Not only did she suffer from extreme anxiety, but she also had worms and needed spaying. We easily cleared the worms and scheduled a date for the spaying. However, we had to postpone the surgery when she developed extreme (I do mean extreme) diarrhea.

At first, I thought her stomach problems resulted from me going on a family vacation for a week. My older niece lived with us at the time, and she cared for the dogs while I was away. She kept the house quiet, and she knew my routine–perfect for an anxious dog.

Shortly after I returned home, Maisy’s stomach couldn’t handle her food, and the vet put her on medication as I began to feed her chicken and rice. During this time, I searched online for the best dog food to help with a sensitive stomach, and I chose Taste of the Wild. While waiting for the order to come in, I put Maisy back on the bag of Iams, and I began to feed it to Maggie since she ran out of her bag of food.

That’s when I realized it wasn’t just Maisy’s anxiety. It was the food. Maggie’s stools began to get runny and turned the same brown color (matching mucous and all). Maisy’s stomach had settled by then, but the troubles began again when she started eating the Iams. After a Google search, I soon learned MANY people had the same issues with Iams. I read many people’s reviews describing the same exact color and mucous poops on Consumer Reports–not only from regular dog owners, but breeders as well! Dogs have died because of Iams!

I’m not saying their food kills every dog, or even makes them sick. However, it’s clear to me that their brand does have a negative–and even fatal–effect on some dogs. With my own experience, I saw it in both dogs. Thankfully, Chewy’s order came in quickly, and I started the girls on their new food. Things immediately cleared up, and I’m happy to say they’ve been great ever since.

As a dog walker and pooper scooper, I can honestly say that Taste of the Wild gives a healthy, firm texture every time. (I can’t believe I’m typing this, but the consistency does make things easier.) I know what to expect, and there’s no surprises from the food.

I also found another negative on Iams while doing my research, and even if the brand didn’t make dogs sick, I’d advise against using it after seeing the video on how they treat their testing dogs. I’m not going to link that video, because I watched another video of a high qualified vet explaining what was truly being shown by the undercover PETA agent. She explained it in a more positive way, and she said Iams is trying to do better for their testing animals.

My advice is that you should thoroughly research dog food before making a decision. Don’t just go into a store and randomly select what you’ll be feeding your dog. A great online resource is Dog Food Advisor. That’s a place to start. I also read blogs and a lot of reviews before making my decision. Although that sounds like a lot of work, I don’t even have to go to the store to buy their food anymore. It’s automatically shipped, and it’s not something I have to deal with now that I’ve found the right brand.

I hope this helps someone. Stay tuned for a post on how I got my two little ones when I write about the joys of a rescue dog. Every little thing is a big achievement with an abused dog.