I've done hours and hours of homework on high quality, grain-free dog foods. From product analysis, kcal analysis, ingredients, customer reviews, professional reviews, company recalls - all of it... I have become a mini-expert in the field.
I was pushed into becoming an expert because my yellow Lab kept having seizures and I couldn't figure out the source. I finally learned it was her food, which was the most expensive store bought brand my local Sams Warehouse carries. I thought I was giving her the best, it looked fresh and rich, but it turns out it was just absolutely terrible food. My black Lab also had terrible skin allergies, to the point where I would get a small rash on my skin if he laid next to me on the couch for more than 5 minutes at a time. I had no clue it was because of the food. But it was!
Since having that epiphany and learning so much about dog food, I've always made sure to feed them the highest quality grain free food I can buy. This Taste of the Wild (TOTW) fits the bill very nicely, and they love it. Since switching to a grain free diet, the yellow lab has not had any more seizures in over a year, and the black lab has the silkiest coat you've ever seen and his skin allergies are completely gone.
They are on 2/3rds dry and 1/3rd wet combination. Contrary to what I had previously been raised to believe, a wet diet is not bad for dogs but in fact is superior! I use the combination to save money while providing them the best I can.
Before deciding on TOTW, I had also tried Blue Buffalo, Wellness Core, and Orijen. Briefly: they are all good foods, but my labs were happiest on TOTW and my wallet is also happiest on TOTW. I also believe TOTW has a better formulation for them and their life style (some of the products, like Orijen, are simply too rich for the average household dog, despite being made of the best ingredients available).
Enter TOTW. The dry food is dark and rich, with no sign of crumbling. The kibble is a good average size. The wet food has nice chunks of meat and the right amount of gravy. I use the wet food as a topper to mix the 2/3rd dry and 1/3rd wet together for their meals. I use one whole can of wet per meal with my pack, which is convinient so I don't have to store it in the refrigerator - btw, never store canned dog food in the fridge in the original aluminum container!
I still wish I could find a less expensive product with the same quality, but in the mean time, TOTW is the best choice for my pack.
Lamb, lamb broth, beef broth, vegetable broth, pork liver, dried egg whites, potatoes, peas, dried egg product, potato starch, guar gum, natural flavor, tricalcium phosphate, sweet potatoes, sunflower oil, sodium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, inulin, tomato, blueberry, raspberry, taurine, choline chloride, magnesium sulfate, zinc amino acid chelate, yucca schidigera extract, iron amino acid chelate, menhaden fish oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), xanthan gum, natural roasted flavor, vitamin E supplement, copper amino acid chelate, cobalt amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, sodium selenite, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin A supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, potassium iodide, folic acid.
