I have fed my cats Iams for years now.  I don't notice them farting any more
or less than before.  About the only time I KNOW they are, is when you
sometimes pick them up the wrong way and you squeeze their stomach too much.
The one thing I DO notice, however, is my female cat is getting REALLY
rancid when she uses the litter box.  I mean, I seriously need to leave the
room.  Come back later with all kinds of air freshener, before I end up
getting sick.  I am not being melodramatic, either.  To me, it smells like
when someone has made a mess (diaherria) somewhere and left it.  It makes me
want to throw up.  My other cat does not seem to have this problem, however.
I cannot say their water intake is any different, either.  I give them the
hairball formula of Active Maturity and something else.  Both dry and
canned.  I will be switching them to the Indoor Formula soon, however.

I don't remember what my vet said about Iams because it has been about 17
years since I was feeding it to my cats.  The result was that my male cat
ended up with severe blockage and some other problem that I no longer
recall.  The vet made it known that the food was the problem.  I never used
it again.  My vet did not try to sell me on the food that the clinic sold
for their benefit.  I used to work there, and was offered the food at cost,
so went back to Hills Veterinary Diets.  I believe the only reason I stopped
using C/D was because SweetPea loved it so much he became a real plump
piggy.

I do know that Iams does needless and senseless painful testing on animals
for it's products that PETA has continuously tried to get them to
discontinue.  I received a lovely doublespeak letter in reponse to a letter
that I recently sent Iams about their animal testing.  A lovely
"mailmerge-type of letter".  Why bother addressing each consumers concerns
when they are all so much alike.

In the end, the best foods may cost more, but it is just like any other
food - - - if you are paying more for it, it is usually better.  Lean
hamburger as opposed to regular with all that fat in it.  Better cuts of
meat as opposed to cheap ones. Being vegetarian, I eat a lot of vegetables
and fruit.  One of my friends is aghast at the cost.  I am also a lot
healthier than she.  She stocks up on cheap corn dogs, pre-packaged burgers,
battered fish, stuff with all the nutrition sucked out of it.

Get the best food possible for your cat, as advised by your vet (and perhaps
even contact another vet by phone, see what they think, it can't hurt), and
you will have a healthy, loving companion whose innards with thank you!

Melody