Taste of the Wild?

9055 Views 38 Replies 19 Participants Last post by Lilah+Jasper, Sep 20, 2011

PoodleUp

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2008

Has anyone tried this food?

1 - 20 of 39 Posts

Kela

· #2 · Sep 17, 2008

Yes! I liked it actually. I got it one day when my store ran out of Innova Evo. I did switch back to Evo once they restocked but I would consider feeding this again if necessary. I did feel that it was slightly greasy feeling and my dogs poop wasn't quite as firm and he was a tad more gassy with this than the Evo.

The only downside I've read is the people who make the food aren't always the most forthcoming with information. I'd still go with Evo or Orijen if those are options for you but its a worthy backup imo.

Pamela

· #3 · Sep 17, 2008

I am using IAM's mini chunks for dry and Pedigreed can - we give half a can and 1 1/2 cups dry - Teddy is very gassy - does anyone use these brands? tHANKS!

rmillstein

· #4 · Sep 17, 2008

Marley eats the IAMS dry, but not the Pedigree... he's hardly at all gassy. We give him as much as he wants, and he's still skinny!

Pamela

· #5 · Sep 17, 2008

wow that's great - just like Gabie - she is just right but was skinny for so long. But Cassie eats the same thing and is fat. It's weird.

T o d d

· #6 · Sep 17, 2008

Moose downs his food so fast and seems to be always hungry. If we give him more he has diarrhea... should we let him eat until he is full? He throws up sometimes if he eats to fast or drinks to fast too

rmillstein

· #7 · Sep 18, 2008

Some dogs self-regulate and some don't -- the latter is why we see fat dogs. Some dogs will just eat-eat-eat. If Moose gets diarrhea when he eats too much, that sounds like a reason to control his portions to me!

Kela

· #8 · Sep 18, 2008

I personally wouldn't recommend Iams or Pedigree. You can find some higher quality foods for the same price roughly and a good food can really do wonders for a dogs health, energy, coat and more.

When I go shopping for food, I flip the bag over and look at ingredients. I avoid anything that has animal by-products on the label or has a lot of corn or other cereal grain in it. You also want to see a good strong meat as the first ingredient, and preferably a few meats in the first 4 or 5 ingredients listed. The ingredients are roughly listed in order of how much they are in the product. Why do I avoid by products? These are meats that are considered too low grade for human consumption. This means taco bell makes these look good!

Here is a pretty neat website that reviews almost all dog foods out there and tells you why they like or don't like all of them: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Todd - You definitely want to regulate the food in my opinion. Tribble will eat everything in front of him at all times...he would quickly become a big fattie if I let him eat as he wanted!

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rmillstein

· #9 · Sep 18, 2008

Kela said:
I personally wouldn't recommend Iams or Pedigree. You can find some higher quality foods for the same price roughly and a good food can really do wonders for a dogs health, energy, coat and more.!

You know, I hesitated to chime in because I know many people believe this very strongly. But then I thought, better to have the conversation and see what we all can learn.

I have no doubt that there's a lot of truth to what you say. But here is what I know: Marley was fed IAMS by his previous owner and we were trying to keep things the same as much as possible. He is now 4. He's never sick. His coat is beautifully soft. He has a ton of energy -- we do our best to tire him out, but never quite manage. Most of the other dogs he plays with tire out long before he does. He is quite "regular" and his poops are firm and normal looking. And plenty of dogs live to ripe old ages eating these sorts of foods.

So, what's the answer here? Maybe it's just that a strong dog, like a strong person, can get away with eating things that others can't. *shrug* But my thought is that if something isn't broken, I won't try to fix it. There are too many other things to worry about.

And the reason we didn't try to regulate Marley's diet is because we didn't want to make him totally food focused. I see a lot of dogs like that. Of course, if the dog won't self-regulate, you have no choice.

I respect other people's food choices, and I am always interested to hear what people are feeding their dogs. Things can always change.

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CurlyDog

· #10 · Sep 18, 2008

Foods

I noticed that a lot of people feed Evo. Right now Max is on Veterinarian Formula Holistic and I'm still searching for what might be best. What I don't like about this one is that it isn't listed on the ratings sites that I've seen. Evo was listed in the highest category. I think Taste of the Wild was as well. Vets always preach no people food but I imagine that is to avoid junk. Does anyone out there feed a homemade raw diet? I doubt I'd have the time. I've tried to get Max to eat raw veggies but no luck.

Purple Poodle

· #11 · Sep 18, 2008

Just because its not broken does not mean it could not be better

My Aunt and Uncle had two Golden mixes who lived on Ol'Roy for 13 and 14 years, they dogs were healthy and happy and had plenty of energy. Would I feed my own dogs Ol' Roy? Hell no. Its like you said some people can eat junk food and chips all day and not gain a pound and still look and feel healthy and have nice hair etc. but that does not mean they have good cholesterol, even blood pressure, or level blood sugar levels. *shrug*

Looks can be deceiving, I have currently been feeding Pedigree to all of my dogs and because I free feed I saw a MAJOR difference in how much they eat and poop. When I was feeding a better quality of food they ate less and pooped less. I have been researching dog foods for over a year now and have yet to find one I love. Yes, every dog is different as is every dog food and some foods may not be good for some dogs but to me, what my animals eat matters and just because they CAN live on it dose not mean they SHOULD.

Anyway...

I have heard of Taste of the Wild but have not fed it myself.

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Kela

· #12 · Sep 18, 2008 (Edited)

You know what your dog acts like, what his poop looks like, and what his coat feels like from feeding Iams. Have you given a premium dog food a try just to compare? Even if you think he is at the peak of health 100% I think it still is worth a try. If you see no results and no change in anything after a few weeks to a month, I really would be very surprised. Worst case scenario, you just go back to Iams after the trial, no harm done.

I really hope I'm not sounding pushy or anything of that nature, I would hate to think that I've upset someone or anything like that. This is just one of those subjects that I'm truly passionate about. I've "converted" quite a few friends and coworkers over to high quality foods for their pets and I've honestly had nothing but surprise at how much better the switch was. They didn't even expect to see results at all, but I haven't met a single person who was disappointed with a premium food who went back to another brand.

Anyone reading though should keep in mind that it is best to do food changes of ANY kind slowly. Immediate changes to most animals diets will likely cause diarrhea for a few days.

*Edit* Here is a good website about ingredients - http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

While this list is LONG and you may have a hard time finding a food that doesn't contain any of them, it is still an interesting read (in my opinion..but I'm a nerd!)

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Kela

· #13 · Sep 18, 2008

Chris Abbott said:
I noticed that a lot of people feed Evo. Right now Max is on Veterinarian Formula Holistic and I'm still searching for what might be best. What I don't like about this one is that it isn't listed on the ratings sites that I've seen.

Is that the full name of it? Veterinarian Formula Holistic? I haven't heard of that one either. Do you know who manufactures it?

T o d d

· #14 · Sep 18, 2008

rmillstein said:
You know, I hesitated to chime in because I know many people believe this very strongly. But then I thought, better to have the conversation and see what we all can learn.

I have no doubt that there's a lot of truth to what you say. But here is what I know: Marley was fed IAMS by his previous owner and we were trying to keep things the same as much as possible. He is now 4. He's never sick. His coat is beautifully soft. He has a ton of energy -- we do our best to tire him out, but never quite manage. Most of the other dogs he plays with tire out long before he does. He is quite "regular" and his poops are firm and normal looking. And plenty of dogs live to ripe old ages eating these sorts of foods.

So, what's the answer here? Maybe it's just that a strong dog, like a strong person, can get away with eating things that others can't. *shrug* But my thought is that if something isn't broken, I won't try to fix it. There are too many other things to worry about.

And the reason we didn't try to regulate Marley's diet is because we didn't want to make him totally food focused. I see a lot of dogs like that. Of course, if the dog won't self-regulate, you have no choice.

I respect other people's food choices, and I am always interested to hear what people are feeding their dogs. Things can always change.

I agree, if it's not wrong fix it.
Just like people food some ingredients are better than others but it doesn't mean you can't survive / be fine with one or the other.

What's good for one person may not be good for another just like people.

If it works it works if not change it.

If the ingredients are "bad" that's a fact, but if your dog likes them and does ok that's fine too

That's my thought on the whole thing at least.

CurlyDog

· #15 · Sep 18, 2008

It's called VF Complete Holistic Adult Formula, and made by Arkat. I tried it because the kennel/training center we use sells it. I figured that would be a good place to start while I consider others.

http://www.arkat.com/VFcomplete.html

Kela

· #16 · Sep 18, 2008

Looks like pretty good stuff!

Pamela

· #17 · Sep 26, 2008

My dogs are healthy also - and full of energy. My vet told me to use Eukabana or Iams and Iams is what the local store carries so that's what we use. The Pedigree is just to wet the dry becuase, unfortunately, ginger could see that is what the minis eat and wouldn't eat dry alone. The minis wouldn't eat the dry alone either - they were actually given cat food by their breeder - weird huh?

SECRETO

· #18 · Sep 27, 2008

Here is good site to determine which foods are best. This list's all the dog foods by 5 stars, 4 stars so forth.

I only feed premium food to our dogs. We have been on Health Wise made from California Natural and love the food. It may be pricier than Pedigree but the ingredients are better, they eat less and they poop less. My Pitbull has very sensitive skin and almost everything makes her loose hair. (big blotches)
There are only a few that she is ok on like; Taste of the Wild, Solid Gold, and California Natural. I myself like the better foods and wouldn't feed anything less to my crew.

Here is the site:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Kela

· #19 · Sep 27, 2008

Pamela said:
My dogs are healthy also - and full of energy. My vet told me to use Eukabana or Iams and Iams is what the local store carries so that's what we use. The Pedigree is just to wet the dry becuase, unfortunately, ginger could see that is what the minis eat and wouldn't eat dry alone. The minis wouldn't eat the dry alone either - they were actually given cat food by their breeder - weird huh?

Eukanuba has a new food out that (while it isn't the best) is far better than the regular stuff. It comes in three flavors and it is pretty cheap at PetsMart while they are trying to get the word out about it. I think it is called Naturally something. It was 6.99 for the little bag.

Something to remember is that many vets are paid to endorse certain products. This doesn't mean that your dog won't be fine eating those products, but they may not be optimal. Some of these companies also fund research and other ventures with veterinary schools, so these are the only products that some of them might know about. In my pre-veterinary program, we had a nutrition course that covered nothing more than the basics. It was about how to formulate food and how much % protein a food should have, but nothing about what individual ingredients might be optimum or not.

CurlyDog

· #20 · Sep 27, 2008

Re: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

This is a good site. I recently found that the food we're using is NOT recommended despite the fact that it is considered to be a premium brand. I'm thinking of switching to Orijen. Still reading up on these... It seems to be that grain free is considered best.

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