# Taste of the Wild Opinions?



## Striker2807 (May 27, 2008)

In case you haven't read my other threads I think my puppy may have a food allergy to something in the food she is on, which the Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice Recipe formula. So my vet put her on Science Diet i/d and she has been eating that for almost a week now and doing well I guess you could say. Though I can tell this food isn't filling her up like the Blue Buffalo and it even looks like she has put on a few pounds, now I know she is a puppy, but she is starting to look fat since she has started on this.

So I have been looking at foods to try and I was debating between Fromm's Surf and Turf Formula and Taste of the Wild. Well I decided on TOTW: High Prairie Canine Formula and I was wondering if anyone has used this food before and if this would be a good choice. Also I was comparing the ingredients of TOTW to the Blue Buffalo I was feeding and they don't have anything in common, but Chicken Meal. If she does has a food allergy should I use this food because it has Chicken Meal in it just like the Blue Buffalo and it's possible that is what her allergy could be from.


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## RenaRose (Mar 22, 2007)

This food is pretty heavy on the starch. It seems they've substituted grains with potatoes. I believe its also manufactured by Diamond, which in my opinion, is not a very trustworthy company. But from reviews I've read many dogs do well on it and I would consider TOTW to be a step up from Blue buffalo or Science Diet, I don't know about Fromm's.


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## shawneo (May 27, 2008)

TOTW is not a dog food that I have heard rave reviews about. It is not necessarily bad but it is not the best, it is in the middle in my opinion. However, your choice to switch off of Science Diet was excellent. This food is comprised mainly of corn and fillers and Vets sell it because they make a commission on it, or get paid in some way for it. My vet was pushing it very hard so I started researching dog food a little.

This is what I found. The best food for a dog is something natural. That they would eat if they were in the wild. Dogs are meat eaters/carnivores. They need protein and a lot of it. The vegetables and other things they would naturally eat would be mainly digested greens out of other animals stomachs. Dogs naturally would eat other smaller animals and they would eat the meaty parts of the animals, the stomachs of their prey and many of the smaller bones.

That being said search for a dog food that similates a more natural/wild diet. High proteins and meats, low starches if any and low grains/vegs if any. 

The food I have had my dogs on for sometime now is Bil-Jac Select. They have very good protein/meat centered dog food and the way they process the food makes it much healthier for you dog. You can google search them and read some of their website for more info. Bil-Jac can usually be found at Petsmart. 

What ever you do make sure you check the protein and meat content of your dog foods. Filler foods are what dogs are allergic to, not meat. Good Luck.


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## pugs2 (Jun 17, 2008)

I have two senior Pugs on this food, going on three months now, and they doing wonderful. They have been on the fish one, and just finished the Bison one. Only thing with the Bison bag, it was very oily when I got near the end of the food, and I had to throw away about 2 cups, sort of drenched in oil! The fish bags never had that problem. I have been feeding them the Surf and Turf by Fromm the last week, so far they are doing good on it, but will probably rotate with TOTW salmon based one.


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## Striker2807 (May 27, 2008)

shawneo said:


> This is what I found. The best food for a dog is something natural. That they would eat if they were in the wild. Dogs are meat eaters/carnivores. They need protein and a lot of it. The vegetables and other things they would naturally eat would be mainly digested greens out of other animals stomachs. Dogs naturally would eat other smaller animals and they would eat the meaty parts of the animals, the stomachs of their prey and many of the smaller bones.
> 
> That being said search for a dog food that similates a more natural/wild diet. High proteins and meats, low starches if any and low grains/vegs if any.


That is exactly what I am looking for and I can't find a single food that really makes me jump up and down with excitement anymore. Blue Buffalo did until I learned a little bit more about foods and don't get me wrong it still is a decent food just a little heavy on the grains, which dogs don't need anyway, so I am looking for a grain free food and one that has lots of meats, no fillers, and high quality ingredients. Price is not a factor at all for me, but still I just can't seem to find that one food that I really get excited for except Orijen which seems to be a great quality food and I would love more then anything to see how my puppy does on it. It's just that having a puppy a large breed one especially makes Orijen not possible from everything I have read because of the high protein %, which I believe is 40%+ in all their foods.

So for weeks I have been searching and searching all the dog food brands I can, but I have yet to find one, except Orijen, that I get excited to try. I know someone will recommend raw, but it just isn't possible for me to do that.

So I don't know I just want to scream! I know my vet is going to recommend she be put on Science Diet the Z/D food and I will not put her on that at all I don't even like her being on I/D right now in fact I hate it, but I am dealing with it for the time being, but once she goes back to the vet or she runs out of the 20 lbs bag I bought her I am done with Science Diet.


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

My dogs are doing great on Taste of the Wild
Dog Food analysis gave it a 6 star rating too I believe


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## TomN (Jul 1, 2007)

I feed TOTW. I have used the Pacific Stream formula (Salmon based), and Prairie formula. Seems like a good feed, no issues.

That being said.... If you truly believe you have a food allergy on your hands, simply switching to another brand or protein source is not the way to determine it. Say what you will about the prescription diets such as Z/D and others, but they are designed with a Hydrolyzed protein source. In a nutshell, what this means is that the protein is broken down to the point that there will be nothing to cause a reaction. so if your animal gets better after doing a 10 week trial on this food then you can be certain that it is food. The problem then becomes (what ingredient or ingredients) are causing the reaction. It's a long and tedious ordeal which involves adding one ingredient back to their diet at a time and looking for a reaction. 

Most commercial diets regardless of protein source still use similar ingredients, even if in small quantities, and could throw off any kind of food trial. 

FWIW


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## Roscosmom (Nov 24, 2007)

My two dogs have been eating TOTW for several months now. Most recently (6 weeks or so?) the Pacific Stream variety. They have no complaints and neither do I. I was wary about them being from the Diamond company but overall I'm trusting them to not fudge up again.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

TomN said:


> If you truly believe you have a food allergy on your hands, simply switching to another brand or protein source is not the way to determine it. Say what you will about the prescription diets such as Z/D and others, but they are designed with a Hydrolyzed protein source. In a nutshell, what this means is that the protein is broken down to the point that there will be nothing to cause a reaction. so if your animal gets better after doing a 10 week trial on this food then you can be certain that it is food. The problem then becomes (what ingredient or ingredients are causing the reaction). It's a long and tedious ordeal which involves adding one ingredient back to their diet at a time and looking for a reaction.
> 
> Most commercial diets regardless of protein source still use similar ingredients, even if in small quantities, and could throw off any kind of food trial.


Good post and thanks for sharing. Most don't understand the reason behind *prescription* diets.


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## Striker2807 (May 27, 2008)

Patt said:


> Good post and thanks for sharing. Most don't understand the reason behind *prescription* diets.


I may not understand the details behind them, but I do understand that they are designed to help that is why I am feeding it to my puppy. I just find it hard to believe that you can't do this using better quality ingredients. I mean what if you were to have a dog with a corn allergy? The first ingredient in Science Diet's I/D formula is Corn Meal, then you have some Corn Gluten Meal (hard to digest and harsh on digestive system), some chicken by-products, and powered cellulose, which according to one site that I will include below can cause irritable bowel problems. These are just a few ingredients that are red flags to me so sorry if I am a little worried about feeding this to my puppy and in fact she threw up for the second time on it today so I am going to talk to my vet once again and see what they recommend.

Here is the link:

http://www.naturalnews.com/Report_pet_food_ingredients_0.html


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## TomN (Jul 1, 2007)

Striker2807 said:


> I may not understand the details behind them, but I do understand that they are designed to help that is why I am feeding it to my puppy. I just find it hard to believe that you can't do this using better quality ingredients. I mean what if you were to have a dog with a corn allergy? The first ingredient in Science Diet's I/D formula is Corn Meal, then you have some Corn Gluten Meal (hard to digest and harsh on digestive system), some chicken by-products, and powered cellulose, which according to one site that I will include below can cause irritable bowel problems. These are just a few ingredients that are red flags to me so sorry if I am a little worried about feeding this to my puppy and in fact she threw up for the second time on it today so I am going to talk to my vet once again and see what they recommend.
> 
> Here is the link:
> 
> http://www.naturalnews.com/Report_pet_food_ingredients_0.html


Well, first of all I/D is not a diet normally prescribed for suspected allergy cases, Z/D would be the choice here. Z/D contains only one carbohydrate source and that is rice concentrate. Rice is a very low allergen source of grain. If your on I/D your on it for other reasons, gastrointestinal issues I believe. 

All that aside, there would be no reason to be on these special diets unless your vet absolutely recommended them. Regardless of how you feel about them they are designed for a specific purpose.


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## Striker2807 (May 27, 2008)

TomN said:


> Well, first of all I/D is not a diet normally prescribed for suspected allergy cases, Z/D would be the choice here. Z/D contains only one carbohydrate source and that is rice concentrate. Rice is a very low allergen source of grain. If your on I/D your on it for other reasons, gastrointestinal issues I believe.
> 
> All that aside, there would be no reason to be on these special diets unless your vet absolutely recommended them. Regardless of how you feel about them they are designed for a specific purpose.


I am not trying to argue here I know she has to be on it or I wouldn't be feeding it to her, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Oh and she is on it not because of the food allergy she is on it because the vet diagnosed her with an inflammation of the intestines. I think it was called entertitis.


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## TomN (Jul 1, 2007)

Roscosmom said:


> I was wary about them being from the Diamond company but overall I'm trusting them to not fudge up again.


Rest assured they would rather not see any more issues as well.


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## Roscosmom (Nov 24, 2007)

TomN said:


> Rest assured they would rather not see any more issues as well.


That's pretty much how I feel about it,too. Surely their reputation can't handle it.


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## workingdog (Oct 19, 2006)

I had my pom on TOTW and it made him poop to much.


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## allab (Oct 6, 2007)

shawneo said:


> TOTW is not a dog food that I have heard rave reviews about. It is not necessarily bad but it is not the best, it is in the middle in my opinion. However, your choice to switch off of Science Diet was excellent. This food is comprised mainly of corn and fillers and Vets sell it because they make a commission on it, or get paid in some way for it. My vet was pushing it very hard so I started researching dog food a little.
> 
> This is what I found. The best food for a dog is something natural. That they would eat if they were in the wild. Dogs are meat eaters/carnivores. They need protein and a lot of it. The vegetables and other things they would naturally eat would be mainly digested greens out of other animals stomachs. Dogs naturally would eat other smaller animals and they would eat the meaty parts of the animals, the stomachs of their prey and many of the smaller bones.
> 
> ...


*Bil -Jac Select is not a good food at all!!* here is the link to the dogfoodanalysis website for Bil-Jac:http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=72&cat=7
And for the Taste of the Wild :
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1285&cat=8


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

If $$$ was no object I would feed either Orijen or Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, when their regular diet of raw is not possible. However due to the cost of both increasing drastically in our area I am currently having the dog sitter feed TOTW, wetlands flavor while we are away. Since I am on the other side of the country I don't know how they are doing, other than that the sitter says all is normal and fine. 
I chose the wetlands flavor because it has the highest protein, I think, of all the flavors available in my area. However, it still doesn't compare to SG, BATM. TOTW definitely has far more carbs than BATM. But it wasn't worth a $20/ 30 pound bag price difference for the amount of time they will be off raw.

I'll try to remember to post an update on stool amounts, coat quality, and overall health of the dogs when we get home in a few weeks.

So far...NV, AZ,NM,TX,OK,AR,TN,AL,MS,FL,GA, SC, NC,VA,DC,DE,NJ...and many more to come! Cheers! waving to all of you from the hwy ;-)


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

allab said:


> *Bil -Jac Select is not a good food at all!!* here is the link to the dogfoodanalysis website for Bil-Jac:[/QUOTE]
> According to another "Rate... dog(s) then you should
> continue to feed it.


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## yoosamiam (Oct 23, 2013)

That is not true. My dog cannot have chicken. I have tried all different kinds of foods and chicken seems to be the problem. She does fine with any other meat. And Taste of the Wild is high in protein. It is a good food.


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