Something wrong with Iams wet cat food? In one can?

Question

I opened up a can of Adult Gourmet Chicken Premium Pate Iams Cat Food today for my cats and part was wet and brown (normal) and part was dried up and white/yellow. I didn't feed it and got another can this time Tender Beef and it was normal. Was it okay or not? I'm worried!!!

Please help!!!

Thank you!!!

Answer 1

Sounds like it was bad, but you didn't feed it so you're fine. I'd take it back to where you bought it and complain. I would also recommend switching to a higher quality cat food.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Diets high in grain have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, and Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

Now the question is, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/  (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

More:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. It's for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

Answer 2

Sounds like it was spoiled to me. Did it smell bad? If it is bad take back to where you bought it. If did not give to cat don't worry about it and be glad you checked it out instead of just giving to cat. could be some of ingredients settled and dried out but sounds like it went bad. Could have been a puncture to can that made it dry out and go bad. I always say whenever in doubt throw out nothing is worth the risk.

Answer 3

If you didn't feed it to your cat then you have nothing to worry about! (:

There are a couple of different factors when it comes to what could've been wrong with it (exposed to air, bacteria, etc). If you come across another can trust your instincts.

Answer 4

If you have ANY question about the safety of canned food, don't feed it to the cat.

The pet food companies have websites--email them the number on the can, tell them exactly what type of food it was, the size of the can in ounces, and anything else that they need to check up on to see if this is a problem in the manufacturing process.

By giving them all the data including the state you're in, the store you bought it at, the date you got it (if you remember), they'll backtrack to see if there were any other complaints. If you can send a digital picture, that's good too.

At worst, they'll send you a coupon for another can.

If you still have it, put it into the freezer in case they want you to send it to them. I've reported several food items to the companies in the past and always got a response.