Category Archives: Iams

Vote For Your Favorite Iams Ad & Enter To Win An Iams Gift Basket

 

How do you welcome your people home? The unconditional love we give our people is obvious with just one glance.

Iams knows that us pets play a very important role in our people’s lives; we’re truly part of the family AND because of that, Iams is asking YOU to choose the stories that speak to you the most!

There are 5 new TV ads that are all featured on the Iams Facebook page and are inspired by real stories of unconditional love.

Here’s where you come in.  Vote for your favorite new Iams ad on their Facebook page through November 29th.  I know that’s tomorrow  so jump on this quickly.  The winning ads will begin running on national TV in early December.

I have an Iams gift basket to give away to one lucky reader.  To enter leave a comment on this post telling me how you greet your people when they come home.  I howl my brains out when my people come home because I’m just so excited to see them, even if they’ve only been gone a little while.

Tell me what you do to greet your people by midnight EST on 11/29 to be eligible to win an Iams gift basket filled with goodies customized for either a cat or dog.  One comment will be selected at random to win.

Open to US residents only.

Interview with Lola An Iams Home 4 The Holidays Candidate

As part of the Iams Home 4 The Holidays I get the pleasure of interviewing some pawsome pets who really need a hero to come into their lives and adopt them.

Meet Lola:

 

Oskar:  Lola, welcome to The Daily Oskar, I’m so excited to learn more about you.

Lola:  Thanks for this opportunity Oskar, what would you like to know?

Oskar: I imagine it was awfully scary wandering around the streets alone.  You must be a very brave girl.  Were you happy when the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services found you & took you in?

Lola:  I was pretty shy and scared when they took me off the streets.  There was a lot of hustle and bustle when I arrived and lots of new people and pets to get used to.  It only took me a few days to realize that these people were my friends and now I am a lover.

Oskar:  I hear that you are in a foster home, what’s that like?

Lola: Oh Oskar, my foster family is wonderful, but I long for a real forever home that I can call my own.  I’ve been told that I’m very affectionate and gentle & I love to be right by my persons side.  I know the perfect family is out there for me!

I hope all of your readers will check out the Iams Home 4 The Holidays Digital Dish Drive to help earn bowls of food for needy animals across the country.

Oskar: Besides clicking over to the Iams Home 4 The Holidays site, what can my readers do to help animals in need?

Lola: I’m glad you asked, because for every comment left on this post Iams will donate 10 bowls of food to animals in need.  Just leave comments and you can help Lola and pets like her.

Oskar: Please leave lots of comments on this post and the other posts that will be coming this week to earn lots of food for these pawsome homeless pets!

Lola: I make my debut on Iams Facebook on 11/14…come see me!

 

Meet Iams Play Young Stay Young Honorable Mention Winner Chief

My good friends at Iams are celebrating their new Iams Senior Plus diets with a contest

Here is the story of Chief, who has earned the “Honorable Mention” title in the “Play Young, Stay Young” contest because he’s a dog that refuses to act his age.

Isn’t he adorable?  Chief, who is 11 years old, lives in Columbia, MO with his mom Amanda.

“My dog Chief is 11 & ½ years old and has just as much spunk as when I got him at 2 years old! He’s a black-colored mutt with not a bit of white/graying around his face or anywhere on his body. He still wakes me up at 6am to go out for his morning outing to run around hunting birds and squirrels. He loves chasing my cat around the house and never seems to get tired. He hasn’t slowed down a bit since the day I got him and has never had any health problems. He acts like a puppy!”

If you’re interested, each week until June 3rd, the team at Iams will select one dog and one cat 11 years of age or older (9 years of age or older if your dog is a large breed) that refuses to act their age. Just submit a current picture of your cat or dog and tell Iams how or why they refuse to act their age.  

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Meet Elvis Iams Senior Plus Honorable Mention Winner

My good friends at Iams are celebrating their new Iams Senior Plus diets with a contest

Here is the story of Elvis, who has earned the “Honorable Mention” title in the contest because he’s a dog that refuses to act his age.

“Elvis is a Vizsla, a breed that needs a lot of exercise. For many years he was my husband’s mountain bike riding companion and now he is my hiking companion. Even though he is now gray in the face, people still remark about how he acts like a puppy – running ahead on the trail, getting excited when meeting new dogs, and spontaneously jumping into a stream to get a stick. He is a true part of our family and a joy to be around.”

And in case you’re interested, each week, the team at Iams will select one dog and one cat 11 years of age or older (9 years of age or older if your dog is a large breed) that refuses to act their age. Just submit a current picture of your cat or dog and tell us how or why they refuse to act their age.  

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Blog the Change

Today is post number 501 for me (woot) and I wanted to use it to Blog the Change.

The economy has gotten the animal adpotion shelters full of unwanted animals who sit in cages day after day, wondering what happened to the people who were supposed to take care of them.

I have one really easy way that you can help.  Click here to go to Pet Blogs United and ask a question of Mike Arms, president of the Helen Woodward Animal Center in California and all around orphaned animal angel.

Mike has agreed to answer reader questions left on this post and Iams has agreed to donate 10 bowls of food for each question asked.

I have to tell you that I’m a little dissapointed, the post on PBU has had almost 100 views, but only 3 questions asked so far.  This is a guaranteed way to help homeless animals, 1 question = 10 bowls of Iams food to help those who might go hungry.

I usually keep it pretty lighthearted here in my little corner of Blogville, but today I am imploring you to click over to PBU and leave Mike a question.  Let’s get some of those hungry little tummies full!

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Just 1 Blog Post Can Fill 100 Empty Food Bowls!

When You Show Your Support by Joining the Iams Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop Iams will Donate 100 Meals!

Did you read that?  100 meals for orphaned pets just for writing a little blog post & joining the blog hop.
Here’s all you need to do to show your support for the Iams Home 4 the Holidays Blogging for Bowls Blog Hop:

•Link up your blog name and URL using the Linky Tool below, where it says Click Here To Enter. You only need to add your link once to be seen on all the Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop Linky Tools.

Additional ways to show your support of the Iams Home 4 the Holidays kickoff:

•Grab the code and write a post on your blog to show your added support for the Blogging for Bowls Blog Hop.

•Stop by the blog hop co-hosts,The Tiniest Tiger, Fidose of Reality, Pets News and Views, Pets Weekly, Dogtipper, and Preston Speaks , to say hello.

•Visit other blogs that are supporting the Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop. Make new friends and/or reconnect with old friends.

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An Exclusive Sneak Peek at Spike

Spike is the new spokesdog for Iams Naturals dog food & he sent me a behind the scenes sneak peek of the filming of his latest commercial to share with all of you!

I eat both the new Simple & Natural and the original Healthy Naturals varities.  We switch them up, so it always seems like I’m getting a new food.  My mom person says that I’m getting awesome nutrition from a great company.

Here’s some info on the new Iams Naturals.
– New IAMS Sensitive Naturals – ideal for dogs with ingredient sensitivities.
– New IAMS Simple & Natural – simply made for dogs and contains our highest quality ingredients from nature.

Each of the IAMS Naturals products have higher levels of antioxidants like vitamin E for a healthy immune system, more Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil for healthy skin and coat, real chicken, fish or lamb meal for building strong, lean muscles and natural prebiotics for healthy digestion.

– None of the IAMS Naturals recipes contain fillers or artificial preservatives, artificial colors or artificial flavors.
– All of our IAMS Naturals recipes are available at pet specialty stores, mass retailers and grocers.

My mom person has been lucky enough to get to know many people behind the Iams & Eukanuba brands & we are proud to say that I am a Iams dog!

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Iams & Eukanuba’s Pet Care & Nutrition Center

Proctor and Gamble, Iams & Eukanubas parent company, operate an amazing Pet Care & Nutrition Center near Dayton.

*All images were provided to us from Proctor and Gamble.  We bloggers understood the need to protect their processes and inventions, but allowing a few picture with some of the puppies, etc., would allow for a little more transparency.  This was some of the feeback we gave to the heads of the brands when we spoke to them.

The Pet Care & Nutrition Center, and in fact the whole Behind The Paw event was about transparency and I was very impressed with how much they shared.  Walking through the facility it seemed that nothing was off limits for us to see or ask about.

Here is just some of what P&G has to say:
“P&G Pet Care is proud to have the Pet Health & Nutrition Center (PH&NC) at the Lewisburg Innovation Center in Ohio as the base of its animal feeding studies. We have gone to great lengths to create a pet-friendly environment that includes pair-housed dogs and group-housed cats. This is the only facility where P&G Pet Care feeding studies take place other than the in-home studies with volunteer pet–owning families and studies that occur in places where populations of dogs or cats already exist, such as a group that raises puppies for assistance dog training.”

One thing that impressed me most was the fact that each dog that is bought by P&G, from reputable breeders, has a life plan mapped out for it from day one.  The goal for each dog (& cat, which they breed themsleves) is to be a healthy, happy, well-trained member of a household when their time at the PC&NC is done.  There is a waiting list to adopt these pets and all applicants are vigorously screened by the people who have known and loved the animals all of their lives.

The other thing that really blew me away was that every pet gets one on one play time every day with people in stimulating play areas.  Look at some of the amazing cat areas:

That last picture shows that cats heading out to one of the amazing fenced in catios built for maximum stimulation & fun!

We saw labs in their beautiful kennels, long and short haired doxies playing with people in a huge play area and more dogs & cats being played with everywhere we looked.

We met black labs & some puppies that were either yellow labs or goldens with 2 baby black poodle poofballs thrown in for fun.  More than one blogger had to resist the urge to stuff a wiggling bundle into their purse!

They also have a room that simulates “home” with carpet steps & couches, babies toys, microwaves popping popcorn, a tv showing movies (Babe was playing while we were there).  This is so no dog goes into a home unfamiliar with the sights, sounds, smell and feel of what a home is really like.

Proctor & Gamble really make sure that their pets are ready to be great community members one they leave the center.

I also wanted to share with you the other bloggers that were on this tour with me so you could check out their opinions of things.

Jennifer Costello – My Brown Newfies
John Bigley & Paris Permenter – Dogtipper and Cattipper
Susi Szeremy – KnobNotes
Jacque Newman – Dogs, Dogs, Dogs
Lynette Robinson – My Wee View
Dr. Jessica Vogelsang – Pawcurious
Amy Urquhart – Hearts Into Home
Jaime Lynn Smith – Thoughts Fur Paws
Joanne McGonagle – The Tiniest Tiger
Rachel Phelps – Preston Speaks

I met some great people while I was there and look forward to seeing them again at events like BlogPaws & hopefully BarkWorld!

Photobucket and his mom person, Pam

All Right, I Give In!

Yesterday it stopped raining here in Michigan and got hot!  Oskar’s with long hair do poorly in the hot.

I’m also tired of being told I’m smelly, messy & that I look like a “ragamuffin” whatever the dog that is.

I’ll go for my grooming tomorrow, like a manly dog…

But that doesn’t mean that I have to look at her!

Stay tuned, she’ll be talking about the Iams/Eukanuba Research & Development Center in our next post.

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Iams Loves Their Pets

Hello friends, Oskar’s mom person Pam here.  I let you know that I was going to the Iams & Eukanuba Behind The Paw Influencer Summit these past few days and I have to tell you that I had a wonderful time and met so many amazing people.

I think the first thing I have to address is the PETA video that is out there from 2002.  PETA has pasted together some horrible footage from an outside facility that Proctor & Gamble, Iams parent company, used for a period of time for a small portion of their animal testing.  This facility did testing on many animals from many different sources

Iams felt that the feedback they were getting about their animals at this facility, was not very good.  What they decided to do was hire a person themselves to oversee the care of their animals at this lab.  Iams wanted to ensure that their animals got proper care, stimulation and were being treated well.  The person that Iams ended up hiring was an undercover PETA operative, who took inflammatory video, mostly of dogs that were not Iams animals and swung the power of PETA against “big corporate America” for sympathy and to raise money for their cause.

At the end of this PETA video it asks for you to contribute to Fifi, an IAMS pet.  What PETA does not tell you is that Fifi was removed from the facility and adopted out to a loving family through the Iams adoption program.  Any money given to PETA for “Fifi” is not being used to help her.

I met and spent almost 3 days with Proctor & Gambles Iams/Eukanuba team including Jason Taylor, who is in charge of external relations.  What I want you to know more than anything is that the entire Iams family is deeply hurt by the lies that have been spread about them.  I met everyone from the president of Iams Eukanuba North America to the employees that work at the production plant and these people love animals as much as I do. 

Did Iams pay for me to Dayton to convince me that the PETA accusations are untrue?  In part, yes they did.  Were they successful in doing so?  Absolutely.  Do I want a fight with PETA on my Oskar’s little corner of blogland?  Absolutely not, but what I do want is our friends to know are my honest opinions. 

Iams research & development dogs are happy, exceptionally well treated, well trained dogs who are bought from reputable breeders, are AKC registered and adopted out to loving families at the end of their time with Iams.

I’ve got a lot more to tell you about my trip & I will in the coming days.  This will be the only post in which I address the PETA video.  I welcome your comments, but if their not respectful then they will be deleted.

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