Is Anyone Else Out There Having Issues With Taste Of The Wild?

[krissn333]

After hearing today that another Greytalker's pup has been having issues on TOTW, I'm wondering if there are more of us out there.

 

**Warning: gratuitous poop discussion follows**

 

I've been feeding the Pacific Stream for years. It's always worked well for us. Clarice has been here since December and has had amazing, as a friend of a friend puts it, "museum quality" poop A few months ago I noticed that the kibble pieces had changed in size and slightly in color. I know with manufacturing that there are sometimes variations. The food seemed fine, smelled fine though, so, we just carried on.

 

I'd say about halfway through the last bag I opened prior to the one I have open now, I started to notice Clarice's poops being not as "museum quality" *snicker*. Not bad, per se, but not awesome. I attributed it to too many treats or just the general ups and downs of life. At the time Ozzie was having diarrhea issues because he'd been put on Doxy and wasn't tolerating it well (we took him off of it). Once we got him normalized, his stools never returned to their former glory, either. Like I said, not awful, but not as good as they had been previously.

 

As of late I've seen a decline in the quality of their poop and started looking into other foods. Because Ozzie had an ongoing urinary/possible but not probable kidney issue, we did not want to switch food and add another variable to the mix - he'd been on antibiotics (we switched him to Zeniquin after he had issues on Doxy), and urine check had gone well when he was almost out of meds but still on them. Our veterinarian had wanted to then recheck two weeks after stopping the Zeniquin. That was this Monday. When his UA came back great, we spoke more about switching foods. She recommended sticking with a fish protein source since they'd previously been fine with that (and not wanting to get too drastic/not knowing how well they tolerate chicken or turkey, I was fine with trying that first).

 

I settled on American Natural Premium's grain free Whitefish and Potato formula. It's made in Wisconsin and my folks' boys have been eating this company's Buffalo recipe with success for several months now after their original boy started not doing well on the TOTW (he is more of a picky eater, and now that I am thinking about it, he may have been on to something, but because my two are chow hounds, they'll eat just about anything).

 

My mom picked up a bag for me while I was at work on Wednesday so I could feed it that night. She dropped it off at my house in the afternoon while I was still at work and called me to tell me she'd let Clarice out and her stool was VERY runny. Why I didn't just feed her straight new food instead of mixing in TOTW that night, I don't know. My philosophy has always been that if a food is causing a dog to have diarrhea, doing a straight cold switch probably can't make it much worse, so why not just go for it? I just wasn't thinking very clearly, so I fed them mostly TOTW with about 1/4 cup of the new stuff mixed in. Well overnight Clarice and Ozzie both had diarrhea in the house. The next morning I chose not to feed them, gave them both some Pepcid. While I was at work, Clarice had liquid diarrhea and it was EVERYWHERE - in her pen (she stays in a big ex pen when I am at work), on her bed, in her blankets, on the wall, on the floor, on her BODY...poor baby. She even got let out mid-day.

 

I decided for dinner to feed them 100% new food and see what happened (mind you they've both been acting like they feel fine - if they'd been feeling sickly I may have done something different). This morning their poop was not "museum quality" but it was MUCH better than it has been in the last week or so. It actually looked like poop instead of a pile of mush. Late last night I did boil some beef and cook some macaroni for them, so, they had that for breakfast this morning and for dinner tonight. We'll see what the outputs are like. My plan at this point is to get their guts settled down a little bit and then just go back to the new food and see how it goes.

 

Oh - I dropped off a stool sample from Clarice this morning just to rule out worms, and everything was just fine, no cause for concern.

 

So...this has been a very long post I'm really just curious if anyone else has had this issue.

[Gryffenne]

Sammi went off TOTW Pacific a few months ago. It might be something up with the formula.

 

Another idea, tho.... how hot has it been there this past week? I know Sammi will go from normal poop to big D if it stays hot & muggy for too long.

Edited June 28, 2014 by Gryffenne

[NevadasMom]

No problems here. Great pooh!

[cleptogrey]

how about calling the manufacturer's customer service #. i did that with Nutro and yes they did change their recipe. Nothing was on the bag, no new/improved wording what so ever. that and the results of the stool sample will solve the mysterious poop situation. hopefully "museum quality" poops will return- i love the term!

[Rustyroo]

Franny has not had any issues either.

[heartdogs]

Neither Noelle nor Laura's new GSD has had problems but we don't feed the fish one. Noelle gets lamb & Bandit loves his bison. Maybe try something other than the fish.

[krissn333]

We would, but, I only have one that can tolerate lamb...and he's the one that eats the bison/venison/lamb formula. He's not wanted to eat it for about a week now but he will eventually eat. And now he just vomited up a bunch of grass.

[Guest Gemma]

No problems with TOTW Prairie here.

[RaineysMom]

We would, but, I only have one that can tolerate lamb...and he's the one that eats the bison/venison/lamb formula. He's not wanted to eat it for about a week now but he will eventually eat. And now he just vomited up a bunch of grass.

have you thought about Kirkland's lamb and rice formula? our 2 do well on it and seem to like it. Hope your pups are doing better!

[Guest lilyray]

Had a lot trouble finding a kibble that my Cody could tolerate, vet&I think he has a protein allergy. He did great on one of the Dick VanPatten varieties, but way to pricey. Through this forum we found Taste of the Wild Pacific stream, it had kept his bm "museum quality" (liked that term). However, like several of you are noticing it has changed and the runny loose stools are back. I came to the forum again because both of my dogs have had very dry skin with a constant year round mega shedding problem and was going to look into a supplement. Now I am wondering if I should switch food again as Cody`s lose stools are back and with the dry shedding fur, maybe Taste of Wild is not the best for them. Darn, hate to go looking for new food again.

[krissn333]

have you thought about Kirkland's lamb and rice formula? our 2 do well on it and seem to like it. Hope your pups are doing better!

Kim, we don't have a Costco here

 

Sage eats grain-free too. He has a hard time with rice.

 

I let him try the new fish-based food and the first day, he ate it, but now he is being picky again. Bland diet for him for a couple of days. A few months ago he decided he didn't want Pacific Stream anymore, so that's when I switched him to the High Prairie. He'd been eating that with gusto but has now stopped wanting it. I may try him on the Buffalo recipe or the Duck recipe of the American Natural Premium.

[Guest lilyray]

I just posted/emailed to Taste of the Wild to see if they changed their Pacific Stream. I will let everyone know when I hear from them. Their site said it could be up to 5 days.

[GeorgeofNE]

George eats TOTW Pacific Stream, and his poops have not changed.

[llm51807]

Hmmm....we feed TOTW High Prairie as well and I've been having problems with one of ours. He has a history of tummy troubles and he spent 3 days at the greyhound boarding kennel a few weeks ago. I figured someone slipped him a few milkbones (for him, that's all it takes). But in the back of my mind, I have been suspicious of the TOTW. We had just opened a new bag the very day we took them to the kennel and I distinctly remember it was a different color. Our other boy has super-consistent "museum quality" (that's cracking me up!) poop and nothing has changed for him on that same bag of TOTW in almost 4 weeks. Meanwhile, my other guy has been on boiled rice and beef for weeks. I thought we had a breakthrough, but as soon as I added some calcium and a multivitamin to his bland food we went back to pudding poop - not the liquid he started out with, but he certainly is not ready to transition back to the high protein kibble. I bought a bag of Iams in the green bag since that seems to be approaching legendary poop-firming status on this board. Don't love the idea, but even the bland diet doesn't seem to be firming things all the way up. We're transitioning to the green bag and things are about the same. Not sure if TOTW was the original culprit, but makes you wonder. Keep us posted on their response if you can and good luck!

[Guest lilyray]

I RECEIVED A REPLY BACK FROM TOTW mfg. Diamond Pet Foods, THE FACT THAT THEY REPLYED SO PROMPTLY RESTORES MY FAITH IN COMPANIES THAT CARE. HERE IS THEIR REPLY:

Thank you for contacting Taste of the Wild. I am sorry to hear your dog has been having some gastrointestinal upset. How are they doing currently? We recently replaced the probiotics in Taste of the Wild with proprietary probiotics. These probiotics were developed by Diamond Pet Foods, manufacturer of Taste of the Wild. Probiotics help pets digest food more efficiently and promote a healthy immune system. Through extensive research and proprietary technology, Diamond Pet Foods developed K9 Strain Probiotics for dogs and Viables Probiotics for cats. Like humans, dogs and cats have both “good” and “bad” bacteria in their digestive systems. Probiotics, or “good” bacteria, help maintain a healthy balance. The change to the probiotics will gradually be made to each formula as retailers reorder the product. We have made no protein changes.

We are committed to continually developing new products to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers and their pets. Often probiotic supplements are a cocktail of bacteria from various species, which are not guaranteed to survive in the canine GI tract. However, probiotic strains, like the K9 Strain Probiotics used in Taste of the Wild, developed from the canine GI tract are proven to survive in the digestive system of other canines. K9 Strain Probiotics are the only species-specific probiotics available that are developed from bacteria strains naturally found in the canine GI tract.

Also, for maximum benefit, the bacteria in a probiotic must be viable, or alive and able to multiply. Often, probiotics are added prior to the cooking process where the cultures are killed and no longer active. Probiotics are added after the cooking process in Taste of the Wild formulas. We now guarantee that for every kilogram of food, 220 million live active cultures make it into your pet’s system.

Do you still have the bag? If you could locate the product code and best by on the bag, this information will allow us to further document the concern as well as further investigate that particular batch.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

A. Bradley, DVM

Taste of the Wild Pet Foods

THANKFULLY CODY'S STOOLS ARE BACK TO "MUSEUM QUALITY. I THINK THAT I WILL STAY WITH TOTW PACIFIC STREAM, HOPING THAT IT JUST TOOK A LITTLE TIME FOR HIS SYSTEM TO ADJUST TO THE NEW PROBIOTIC. I AM GOING TO ADD 'MISSING LINK'-A POWDER SUPPLEMENT TO HELP WITH MY DOGS DRY SKIN/COAT. HOPEFULLY THAT WONT UPSET THE STOOLS.

 

[llm51807]

Wow, great response and very encouraging in general. Cecil is on VetriScience BD which also contains a probiotic, so I wonder if there was some kind of overload when added to the change in the food. Thanks so much for sharing this information. Glad to hear Cody's poop is back to perfect! We're still battling over here but we've seen some improvement as I work in the Iams green bag with the rice and beef. Not happy about the Iams, but it it works and we can get him stable, we'll think about transitioning to something else...maybe. Thx again!

[krissn333]

My kids are back to good poops on the American Natural Premium

 

Whatever this new probiotic is, it didn't agree with my kiddos

[Guest Bhamgreyt]

Ive been using the TOTW High Prairie for 4 years and have not had any issues. Opened a new bag about a week ago, a little nervously after reading this email I might add, and all is still good!

[krissn333]

I guess my kids are more sensitive to the change

 

Even my iggies, who generally will eat ANYTHING, would not eat the TOTW anymore.

 

Everyone is happily eating the American Natural Premium Buffalo formula with good output!

[Guest normaandburrell]

Wow, that response from TOTW is impressive! If I have problems on my dog's current food, I might consider theirs.

[Gryffenne]

I guess my kids are more sensitive to the change

 

Even my iggies, who generally will eat ANYTHING, would not eat the TOTW anymore.

 

Everyone is happily eating the American Natural Premium Buffalo formula with good output!

Sammi was as well. She- and now River & Lynni- are all happy on IAMS green bag adult chunks.

[Fruitycake]

Monty has had no negative changes over the past couple of months, and we've had multiple bags of TOTW Pacific Stream in that time. In fact, at this point, I've noticed that his most recent poops are almost crumbly. Not rock hard, but nice and firm and nothing at all like pudding!

[GreytNut]

No problems with Riley, who has been eating the High Prairie formula. Foster boy Jasper got switched abruptly to TOTW High Prairie from whatever he was eating at the prison (I think it was Pedigree) with no issues, which surprised me. Tummies are happy with no gas or diarrhea.

[Sundrop]

Interesting that you post this - we used to use TOTW Pacific Stream and had to switch a couple months back because the pups, both of them, starting refusing to eat. We thought, at first, that'd we'd gotten a "bad bag" - so we threw it away, washed the container we use and purchased a new bag, only to have them turn their noses up at that, as well. I just gave up and switched to a different brand altogether.

 

Our boy is getting older (9) and is a bit pickier, so if it had just been him I could've attributed it to his changing palate; however, our 6-year-old girl is the definition of a chow-hound, so when she didn't want it anymore - I knew something was up with that food!

Edited August 28, 2014 by Sundrop

[quarrystepper]

Brooks and Kali are 7 and 6 respectively. We switched from Verus chicken/rice to TOTW pacific stream about 8 months ago. Gradually shifted from pacific to high prairie about a month ago to give them some variety. Even in the transition, their poops have held up beautifully! I'll probably move them back to pacific stream before the end of the year, because their toots on prairie are VIOLENT.