Response from "Taste of the Wild" company

[kayboxer]

Okay, here is a question I e-mailed Taste of the Wild about their food:

"My dogs love this formula and it seems to be a great product. Myquestion is regarding the ocean fish meal. Is your source aethoxyquin-free ingredient? I really appreciate your taking the time toread and respond to my e-mail. Thank you!"

This is my response from them:

"The preservation systems used by our vendors are considered proprietary information, however, we know that the heat used in our pet food manufacturing process will destroy antioxidants used in the ingredients that we purchase. After the heat process (extrusion and drying), we apply naturaltocopherols (Vitamins A and E) in order to carry the shelf life of the food. Let me know if you have additional questions."

I am not quite sure what they are saying here. What does everyone make of this?

 

[gmacleod]

They're saying that they won't say if there's ethoxyquin there or not. But if there is (and there probably is, or else they'd be happy to tell you that there isn't), they claim that it is destroyed by their cooking/extrusion process.

I guess all manufacuters could make that claim And most who don't use ethoxyquin-free sources do exactly that...

Btw: You might note that TOTW is manufactured by Diamond (makers of Chicken Soup and other brands). After a lot of fuss about ethoxyquin in CS products, they did guarantee the use of ethoxyquin-free protein sources for that product - but not for any of their other ranges.

 

[kayboxer]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still not sure what to make of their company. I do like their food, my dogs love it. I would love to switch to Orijen, but I don't want to have to buy two different formulas and I don't know if Buster (almost 7 months) is old enough to handle all the protein in the adult food. What do you think? The protein content in TOTW is 35% and in Orijen Adult I think it is 42 or 45% (can't remember off of the top of my head). Would it be okay to switch now or should I wait until he is about a year or done growing skeletally? He is a big boy to begin with. He already weighs 58 lbs. and I'm afraid adding more protein will affect him.

 

[gmacleod]

LOL - it's difficult to answer that question without heading a bit far into potentially paranoiac territory I would say, however, that for a variety of reasons (mostly associated with the CS product), it would not be my personal inclination to feed a food made by that company. I may be excesively distrustful though

As for whether or not Orijen may have to much protein. Well, the jury is still out on that one. Some say it's a problem for growing pups, some say not. In my own mind, I suspect it is not a problem (but that's nothing more than opinion - it is not based on research, just on observation that this problem doesn't seem to apply to anything else but dry food, which suggests to me that it's not the protein but carbs or overfeeding that is the issue). I'd also note that the 35% protein of the TOTW is 50% above that of traditional kibble also. I might be inclined to give the Orijen a go, being sure not to overfeed and keeping a very close eye on the dog for any sign that he may be growing too quickly.

 

[kayboxer]

Thank you for your opinion, it is valued. I think I will try Orijen and see how it goes. It will be tough to see if my pup grows too quickly, as he has grown quickly anyway. He is already bigger than my female and he is only close to 7 months. He weighs 58 lbs. His father was 85 lbs and his mother was 65 so I think he is going to be a big boy. Is there a way to tell if they are having problems from growing too fast at this age or does that usually show up later? What usually happens when they do grow too fast? Again, thank you for your insight.