[petespoiled]

ive been feeding my dogs diamond extreme athelte,they have been doing well on it, i was thinking of switching them to totw roasted fowl.. the diamond gives them awful gas..lol. is anyone feeding totw?.. what are your thoughts.. i know there are better foods, but these are what readily avaliable

thank you

 

[motocross308]

ive been feeding my dogs diamond extreme athelte,they have been doing well on it, i was thinking of switching them to totw roasted fowl.. the diamond gives them awful gas..lol. is anyone feeding totw?.. what are your thoughts.. i know there are better foods, but these are what readily avaliable

thank you

I am .. its good food , but the gass isnt gonna go away. I think tis more a bulldog trait than anything ! No matter what i feed em i got the wonderful stink of " bulldog butt"

 

[petespoiled]

lol.. i know the feeling.

 

[NateDieselF4i]

I feed ToTW sierra mountain to Kane. He's been on it since 7 weeks (he's about 11 months now). Although I am about to change him to Orijen Regional Red and try that out for a while. Not that he's had any problems on ToTW I think its a great food, and highly recommend it to anyone.

The gas very well could go away with a different food. I fed Kane some "gooberlicious" real peanut butter treats one time. Was the most awful week and a half of my life.

I was using them as training treats because they were soft and easy to break into small pieces. Took me a little while to make the connection of what it was, but as soon as he stopped taking them the gas went away thank God.

 

[KMdogs]

TOTW is owned by Diamond foods, personally i'm not the biggest "fan" of Diamond products.. When i have more time i'll post why but in short the quality of their ingredients are low end and the factory here in SC is horrible.. Although TOTW is a step up from Diamond i personally wouldn't feed it, if your on a budget though its worth the shot.. All dogs are different when it comes to feeds and you may have a pretty good success rate.

Personally i recommend Evo or Orijen for working dogs, nonworking dogs Acana is normally what i recommend.. Kirkland is decent for the money as well, quality is fair and especially for the price range its a pretty good feed.. I would feed Kirkland over TOTW and the price is about the same.

 

[k8nkane]

I feed TOTW as do most of my friends and I've not heard of or had any issues with it. IMO, TOTW is comparable to Acana in quality.

Diamond has had issues in the past with their foods and recalls, but they also corrected those with new measures. Here's a basic rundown of what happened with the recalls:

Any dog food company that uses any grain in their kibble can end up with mycotoxin (alfatoxin is one of several) contamination in their food. The only way to prevent mycotoxin contaminated food from getting to the stores is to test the finished product as well as the incoming raw material (which Diamond does now). The reason for this is raw gains come in by the tractor trailer load and the moldy grain (certain molds produce the mycotoxins) will have come from a small section of the field and will therefore be confined to a small section of the load. Samples of the load are taken and tested, if the sampling method did not find the moldy section in the load then it will pass the incoming tests and the grain will be used in making the dog food. Testing the finished product as well as the raw materials is the result of recall and the realization that the incoming tests were insufficient. I wonder how many manufactures are testing their finished dog food. I don't believe Diamond had cross contamination of alfatoxin; I believe you are thinking about the Menu Foods adulterated gluten (melamine) recalls.

Dog food with no grain will be risk free for mycotoxin contamination.

Even though Diamond is the parent company, you can consider TOTW as a sort of subsidiary of them, as the TOTW is made in different factories from the other Diamond food. I've never been scared of the recalls for other Diamond products affecting TOTW and its quality. The thought of feeding Kane substandard food makes me cringe.

 

[stonerreakinhavok]

we currently also feed extreme athlete and luckily have no issue with gas unless our older dog gets into tinis bowl. but we used totw the high prairie formula and was more than happy with it just doesn't fit our current budget.

 

[rob32]

I feed my dogs whatever Kibble is on sale cheap and various table scraps.

 

[Sadie]

I feed grain free only six star premium feeds I have used EVO, Innova, and am now using Wilderness I have had excellent results with all of them. The wilderness is a little new but so far I have noticed no negative changes since weaning them over from EVO.

Here is a good site that reviews dog feeds and updates regularly you don't really want to go below a 5 star feed if you can help it. Raw would always be your best way to go however if you do not have the time to prepare meals and have not done your research than you want to go with a 5 star or better feed. Make sure you watch your dog closely some dog's do well on one feed while another may not. I have found that a high quality grain free feed is the BEST way to go which ever one you choose. Take a look through this site.

Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost

 

[KMdogs]

"Another way of looking at is if you are spending $30 on a 40lbs bag lets say, after we take out manufacture and company you bought it's profit, we are left with say $25. (which is a very low profit % considering) Now lets take out another $1 for the cost of materials of bag, print, etc. $24 dollars is whats left.

Now lets divide $24 and 40lbs, that is roughly $0.60 per 1lbs of dog food. That is not a high amount of money going into the quality of ingredients, which reality is far less impressive. When i worked at a local pet store we carried Diamond products, the cost per bag for the store was $18.00 per 40lbs bag of regular Diamond, Diamond naturals was around $22.00, the actual cost of these were around $28 to $34 dollars depending on what you got. Now of that lets say a middle ground of $20, you figure the the company is at very minimal making $2.00 off each bag, every company is in for profit. So we are left with $18 which in return leaves around .45 cents for ingredients per pound of dog food.

Now lets look into a higher quality just for comparison, lets just say $70 dollars for a 29.7lbs bag of Evo. Using the same % for all intensive purposes; $70 - $7 (for both manufacture and company profit, used $5 originally) we are left it $63 which equals $2.12. Now reality is that figure is probably much closer to $1.25 or so but you get the idea.

Some of the highest quality foods are going to be in your range of $1.75 per pound, which if you consider when mass produced the difference between a .50 cent per pound and a $1.20 per pound is HUGE."

The above is copy and pasted from another post i have made.. IMO TOTW is not on the same level as Acana, rather an in between lower quality and higher quality feeds.. Its decent on a budget but that is about it.. Also unless they changed it, TOTW used to be made in the same facility as Diamond just as Acana is made in the same factory as Orijen.. It wouldn't make sense for the two feeds owned by the same company to be made in different facilities but i may be wrong if they recently changed this.. Its not like it was a merger, TOTW has always been owned under Diamond.

 

[Sadie]

One thing you have to remember though is not all products from the same brand maker's are of the same quality. You have to look at each product individually and it's ingredients. You can't lump all TOTW formulas into the same category because each formula is different that is why some of them rank higher than others. If your going to feed Taste of the Wild I would go with their High Prairie Canine Formula which is also grain free.

 

[NateDieselF4i]

KM - you've posted your ingredient / profit comparison many times lately and while I see what you're getting at, it is quite misleading.

This basically says that the most expensive product out there will be the best. And while I think that in life you usually get what you pay for this sort of rating system is inherently flawed. Unless you have very specific knowledge of manufacturing costs, ingredient contracts, and profit allocation breakdown for each and every product your system is far too general.

Granted higher quality ingredients will raise the cost of manufacturing, thus the final price of goods produced, but you're totally ignoring things such as, marketing, packaging, what their actual gross margin is on each different bag or product.

I could take an exact replica of lets say ToTW formula give it a nice shiny impressive bag, an aggressive marketing campaign and charge $90 per 30pound bag and according to you I would now have the best product on the market. Obviously a grain free, quality protein source food is going to cost more than some filler filled product but I think this is about as far as you can get with the food costs more so its better rating system.

Please don't take that as an attack, there is a certain logic to your system, but I've seen this quoted and requoted and people shouldn't take it as an exact science.

 

[k8nkane]

After the food recalls, Diamond switched TOTW to factories where it was made exclusively, without the (slight) possibility of cross-contamination and maintain the quality of the food.

Out of curiosity, KM, why do you prefer Kirkland over TOTW? They're both made under the Diamond company name?

 

[KMdogs]

KM - you've posted your ingredient / profit comparison many times lately and while I see what you're getting at, it is quite misleading.

This basically says that the most expensive product out there will be the best. And while I think that in life you usually get what you pay for this sort of rating system is inherently flawed. Unless you have very specific knowledge of manufacturing costs, ingredient contracts, and profit allocation breakdown for each and every product your system is far too general.

Granted higher quality ingredients will raise the cost of manufacturing, thus the final price of goods produced, but you're totally ignoring things such as, marketing, packaging, what their actual gross margin is on each different bag or product.

I could take an exact replica of lets say ToTW formula give it a nice shiny impressive bag, an aggressive marketing campaign and charge $90 per 30pound bag and according to you I would now have the best product on the market. Obviously a grain free, quality protein source food is going to cost more than some filler filled product but I think this is about as far as you can get with the food costs more so its better rating system.

Please don't take that as an attack, there is a certain logic to your system, but I've seen this quoted and requoted and people shouldn't take it as an exact science.

Granted you are right there is quite a bit more to it however most people are not going to want to go into every single detail of marketing and manufacturing just to find a good kibble.. I used to work at a whole seller and dog food distributor for a few years so i know a bit more about it than most. Do i know everything about it? Probably not.

Generally as you have just said you get what you pay for, higher ingredients equals higher quality which turns over higher price.. Not always the case as mark ups, production cost, etc can take that $80 bag of food down to the level of a lesser quality. Generally i have found this happens often to those that are under your "pet store brands" meaning foods carried under PetSmart, PetCO, etc as the demand for supply and often ridiculous contracts can drive any product up in price when in the end that product is not worth the price you paid..In most cases.

My OP may not be exact science, and i do agree with you on that as there is quite a bit of information still unaccounted for.. It is put in a basic way for anyone to understand the point behind it and to make them think. No matter how you view it a $20 for 40lbs is not going to be any where near the quality of that $80 for 30lbs.. Granted that two extremes but it does show a basic point i think everyone should understand.

 

[petespoiled]

sadie, i checked out the web site you posted . i was surprised to see where some of the foods i thought were good ended up in the rating system. i know there are better foods that cost about the same, but i live in a small town, not alot of choices. im gonna try totw prairie formula.

thank you for the help

 

[petespoiled]

km, i understand your point a view, and what your trying to say.. i know there is better foods out there, but i have to find the best i can afford out what is available to me in my area. , but i do thank you for your response

 

[Harley D]

I like natural balance the best

though if your dog has gas give him some plain organic yogurt. Should help clean that nasty smell up

 

[Carriana]

I have been feeding TOTW High Prairie for several years now and have been happy with the results. If our budget allows in the future we will likely consider switching to Orijen but for the time being we have no desire to switch.

Feed the best feed your budget allows you to.

 

[KMdogs]

km, i understand your point a view, and what your trying to say.. i know there is better foods out there, but i have to find the best i can afford out what is available to me in my area. , but i do thank you for your response

Some of the more budget friendly dog foods out there would be TOTW ($36 here locally for 30lbs), Acana ($50ish here locally for 28.7lbs), Go Natural ($55 per 30lbs i believe).. There are more than that, for the quality and the price TOTW is probably the best bang for the buck, though personally i view the food as not up to par on the best food out there nor is it the worst.. Its a good mid ground for someone on a budget.

Theres nothing wrong with feeding a dog not the best of the best, all dogs react differently so what one may perceive as the best may not be the best for their dog or needs.

Even though i do try to educate on the subject in the end not all dogs can handle the same food. There are many variables, the biggest thing i try to do is to show people more of whats involved and how not all dog food is created equal, not to take food on the cover alone.. What may appear to be healthy isn't always the case.

 

[Mach0]

I need to move. Totw up here is 50 bucks for a 30 lb bag lol

[/B]

Some of the more budget friendly dog foods out there would be TOTW ($36 here locally for 30lbs), Acana ($50ish here locally for 28.7lbs), Go Natural ($55 per 30lbs i believe).. There are more than that, for the quality and the price TOTW is probably the best bang for the buck, though personally i view the food as not up to par on the best food out there nor is it the worst.. Its a good mid ground for someone on a budget.

Theres nothing wrong with feeding a dog not the best of the best, all dogs react differently so what one may perceive as the best may not be the best for their dog or needs.

Even though i do try to educate on the subject in the end not all dogs can handle the same food. There are many variables, the biggest thing i try to do is to show people more of whats involved and how not all dog food is created equal, not to take food on the cover alone.. What may appear to be healthy isn't always the case.