Iams Proactive Health Cat Food Review
Lots of pet owners recommend Iams as a convenience food suitable for your carnivorous cat, but did you know it’s significantly made of corn, and manufactured by Mars?
In the spotlight for this review: Iams Proactive Health Healthy Adult With Chicken.
Yes, there are positives, but let me give you a clear picture and let you decide if this kibble is the best for your cat:
Iams Proactive Health review
What the marketing says
The marketing, of course, makes you believe Iams is a great option for your cat.
In the brand name you’ll find two marketing words to lure you in – “proactive” and “health”. We want our cats to be both of these things, but did you realize these words have no real meaning?
Next, in the recipe name we find the words “Healthy Adult”, so they’re really driving in this health stuff.
On the front of the bag you’ll find a slogan along the lines of “Supports vibrant whole-body health for adult cats”. I ask you to say those words out loud – “vibrant, whole-body, health”.
Aren’t they words you may find on a flier for a health and wellness center?
Do they really mean anything, or have any assurances?
I’ll end this section with an old cliché in pet food marketing – “#1 Ingredient is Chicken” – and I’ll tell you what that really means in the next section, so read on…
What the ingredients really say
Take a quick look at the ingredients (listed below for convenience). Yes, chicken is first and second on the ingredients panel, but then you have corn, corn, and – guess what – more corn.
Would that be 3 parts corn to 2 parts chicken?
Ground whole grain corn, corn grits, and corn gluten meal. Did they expect you to only read the first ingredient?
It puts a different spin on the “#1 ingredient is chicken” thing you found on the front of the bag when you realise how much this food is made of corn.
It may surprise you, but we’ve already covered the bulk of the recipe, which means this food for your pet carnivore is probably more corn than chicken.
So why corn?
Corn is cheaper than meat, and despite not being as optimal for your cat it results in a much larger profit for a big global conglomerate like Mars who are masters at taking your money off you.
But imagine if your butcher sold you chicken, for the premium price of chicken, but it was really chicken stuffed heavily with corn?
I’ve been fairly negative of Iams cat food until now, so let’s take a step back. Here’s the thing:
Most cat foods contain much more grain or plant than you think, and when it comes to cat nutrition you can possibly argue corn is a better alternative to wheat and other hard-to-digest cereal grains.
Pet food manufacturers like Mars undertake research which suggests ingredients like corn are okay to feed your cat (usually spun in a way which even makes it look beneficial).
A now-retired director of a multi-national pet food company worded this to me as “researching how much corn you can feed an animal without showing any adverse effects”. He actually said “without killing them”, but I paraphrased.
We find one more ingredient before chicken fat (fat is listed at 15%), and that’s beet pulp. Some refer to this as a cheap filler, but it’s found in many pet foods with the purpose of adding fiber and making your pet’s poos look nice.
We can expect everything after chicken fat to be a minor inclusion in the recipe.
If we take a look at the composition as a whole we find 32% protein (from chicken AND corn), 15% fat (what I consider a little on the low side), but I estimate around 35% carbohydrates (which for a kibble isn’t too bad).
After chicken fat you’ll find the ingredient natural flavor. Stop and think for a moment – what would that be, or why are they being so ambiguous?
Rendered animal digest?
Minor stuff like dried egg product should help your cat (eggs are wonderfully healthy, so a dried egg product should have some semblance of benefit), and fish oil should go some way to maintaining your cat’s heart health and perhaps offer them a shinier coat.
Let’s end there, as I’ve covered the main aspects of Iams Proactive Health cat food.
There are certainly worse cat foods, and there are definitely better cat foods, so what do you think?
Ingredients
Ingredients of Iams Proactive Health Cat Food (Healthy Adult With Chicken Recipe):
Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Corn Grits, Corn Gluten Meal, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, Brewers Dried Yeast, Fish Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Fructooligosaccharides, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Taurine, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium lodide), L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract
Guaranteed Analysis
The guaranteed analysis of Iams Proactive Health Cat Food (Healthy Adult With Chicken Recipe):
| Protein | (min) 32% |
| Fat | (min) 15% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 9.5% |
| Carbohydrates * | Estimated 35% |
* May be estimated. Read how to calculate carbohydrates in a pet food.
