RateItAll: The Opinion Network

I got a bunch of high quality dog food samples from Whole Pets and set them out for my pick papillon puppy. He had been eating Spot's Stew dry food, but he started losing hair on his belly and developed a rash (may not have been food related but I wanted to be safe). I switched him back to the Royal Canin his breeder had been feeding him, but didn't feel good about the ingredients there so I went out on a search for the best food available.

Unfortunately, I was limited to samples that came in small-bite-size pieces (my dog only weighs 5 lbs and still has his baby teeth). Nature's Balance Duck and Potato, Nature's Balance Chicken, Solid Gold Wee Bits, Taste of the Wild Wetlands and Taste of the Wild High Prairie. TOTW comes in medium-sized (not small) discs, but their think enough to be manageable in my little dog's mouth. I set all the foods down in dishes along with my puppy's old foods. He sniffed and rejected them one by one but when he got to TOTW Wetlands, he started devouring it. After eating quite a bit, he gave TOTW High Prairie a try. Loved that too, although not as much as the wetlands. He then went and tried the Solid Gold. He put a piece in his mouth, spit it out and backed up away from it as though he were afraid of it. Spit out both Nature's Balance foods as well and then went back to eating TOTW. I have never seen him eat so much at one time, almost 1/2 cup! He is the pickiest dog ever. I never thought I would have to worry about him overeating, but I will have to wacth him with this one. I am so glad to have found something he likes with ingredients that I approve of.

We'll see in the morning how well he digests it. That will be the final test then we're gonna go buy a big (well, 5lb. big) bag of it.

I feed my Border Collies TOTW Salmon formula in a feeding rotation. It is a good quality food. Two of my boys loved it, although one of them was a bit more gassy than usual. Not terribly so though. My little girl....eh. She is a bit picky and would leave most of her food one out of the two feedings per day. But she is like that anyway. The food isn't terribly expensive and the caloric value is lower than Wellness Core so I fed it this spring while getting the gang in shape and taking off any 'winter weight'. The gang looked GREAT by late spring. I like this food and will continue to use it. I will try a different variety to see if my girl likes it better.

I am happy with this food

Before we bought our Chihuahua puppy, we researched the internet for over three weeks (20+ hours) on the health and well being of our new-to-be adopted family member. We wanted to make certain she had the best food with a high protein base as dogs are carnivores with meat eating teeth and intestinal tracts with no grains as they do not have the intestinal systems to break down these types of food. This diet would enable our new puppy to have a good foundation in life with regard to her bones, teeth, organs, skin and temperament. In addition, we wanted to try to keep vet visits to a minimum. After a truly exhaustive study and the blessing of meeting an amazing man at a Women's Show in Seattle whom happens to be a biology major (and can hold a candle to any Naturopathic Vet or Doctor) with an emphasis in nutrition and almost twenty years in the pet food industry, we made the decision to let our puppy test our top three choices in three bowls side by side: Taste of the Wild (Roasted Bison and Venison Blend), Innova EVO (chicken blend) and Innova Puppy Formula. She absolutely loves the Taste of the Wild and EVO close second. I believe she may like the type of meat better in the Taste of the Wild, so we will try the red meat blend of the EVO as the gentleman stated above raved about the human grade quality of meat in the EVO food and the fact that his dogs are on it. BTW, Wellness is a take off of this product, but not as high of quality meat or protein. She was weaned on Pedigree and when we tried to give her a sample a week later she wouldn't even go near it!!!

Our puppy's health and disposition are amazing with her coat looking better and better each day and her droppings having less odor! We hope her breeder reads this website and makes a healthy change for their Moms and Pops, as well as their pups. I highly recommend both Taste of the Wild and EVO for the health and longevity of your pet - give your dog the test and your fears a rest!!!

P.S. It is well worth the extra money to invest in a high quality pet food for your pet(s) and it may even save you money in vet bills and possibly the life of your pet. I have found that the local feed stores that appreciate and stock high quality pet foods are the most reasonably priced (ie. Issaquah Feed Store, Issaquah, WA. Best of luck!!!

I feed 9 Bostons, 2 Yorkies and 3 Westies TOTW. I rotate with Evo, Wellness Core and Orijen. Rotated with the other grain free foods it give my dogs beautiful coats, good stools and energy. While it does have some fillers, it is an ok food. Not all dogs do good on grain free foods, but most do. When it comes to food for all my dogs, the price does not matter. But the quailty does. In my opinion a breeder should use the best food, no matter what it costs. Just this breeders opinion :)

Update: TOTW did well with my dogs, but I did however notice their stools were huge for a grain free food. Changed to Natura.

Good ingredients but my two dogs did not like it much. They waited until the very end of the day to eat when they were very fungry only. They did well enough on it, no scratch or dry fur. It is a grain free food but it seems our dogs prefer some grain. I will be trying canidae and artemis mix both have rice and named meats. I would tell anyone to try it for their beloved fur family members. E-mail them for some samples. It did not go to well with mine but may work out great for someone else. Good luck.

Looks like a great food. Have been gone for4 months "Africa". Just got back, and checked my local pet shop. Saw the High prairie formula and the ingredients look real balanced. I put my dogs on a simple diet while I'm gone "Cal Natural Lamb meal & rice", so I'm sure they are looking forward to some additional flavor mixed in their food. This food is high in meat content, med/high protein "32 %", no grains, fruits and veg's, and only one or two ? ingred's "egg product and tomato pomace". Overall I think it has many good ingredients and have mixed some with my dogs Cal Natural Lamb meal & rice. Will give update in a few weeks.

Update: Bria, my finicky lab does not like it that much, but Reba, my pointer enjoys it. Will finish off bag "mixed with CN", and then stick with brands that both my dogs enjoy. Still believe it is a good food though.

Updated update: Don't understand it... But now my pointer is not eating it, and my lab threw up some yellow/green bile.
She has not done that for almost a year now (not since the bad old days of Nutro).
Luckily I only bought a 5# bag to try mixed with CN, since I'm going to have to dispose of this mix.
Still believe? it is a good food, but not right for my dogs. Good luck.