[Britster]

I totally admit-- when I first joined this forum... I was totally of the idea "it doesn't matter! dogs are dogs! all dog food is the same!" I thought people were way too in depth about their dogs food. Well, fast forward 2 years and my thoughts have changed a lot, mainly because I've seen my own eyes what good food as done for dogs around me, such as my dad's dogs who ate crappy food their whole life and how they began to get better energy, lose weight, firm stools, shinier coats, etc, from eating better food. Now, because of financial hard times, my stepmom bought Iams again for the last two bags. They do nothing but sleep, they're itchy, they've been puking more, had runny stools, etc, etc. And I've seen it time and time again with other dogs (I'm a dogsitter so I'm around dogs and can compare the ones fed good food vs. "bad food").

I just can look at Iams ingredient list full of corn, by-product, dried beet bulp, and all those ingredients nobody can pronounce or even know what they are... and compare it to Acana/Orijen, for example, which is filled with real chicken, lamb meal, fresh bison and boar, and the things dogs bodies are designed to eat. They are taxonomically the same species as wolves, and physiologically and anatomically the same and actually share 99.8percent of the same DNA. Size and appearance are in the less than .2percent differences. And a wolf would not be eating corn and by products and whatever other chemicals are thrown into a food.

Also, with better quality foods you are feeding less... as there is more calories. So Jackson, for example may have to eat 1 cups or more per day to feel full on Iams, but on Acana he eats 1/2 cup per day and he is 15lbs and very active. So a huge cause of stomach issues is usually caused by over-feeding. People feel they are not getting enough food when they truly are.