Commercial Foods-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tell us what commercial foods have worked for you and which have caused problems; information, questions, warnings and advice on dog food companies, ingredients, brands, and switching foods.
(Recall information now in it's own discussion here in The Food Group)

[fergie11]

Just found this review about TOTW on that Rate-It site. But there were about 40 other GREAT reviews. I guess you can find a good and a bad review for every brand. All very confusing:


Terrible My dog became very sick and I almost lost her !!!! Check out this site

http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog-Foods- Dangerous_ and _Toxic- To-Dogs-Pet Food

Dog Foods Dangeroug and Toxic
--TASTE OF THE WILD rated right up there at 79 - 80%

Along with that that it stated there is no nutritional value. The ingrediants that are listed here are not listed on the bag. I was horrified...to say the least.

Cooking is not my favorite thing to do, but for her I'll do it! I am so grateful she's still here with me...I cherish each second of everyday I have with her.

Thanks for reading.....just had to share what happened with us ......I DON'T want anyone to go through what I have just been through... BEWARE is all I can say....I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS FOOD ...NEVER.........

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Cathy, I just read her reviews, and I can tell you that she has no idea what she's talking about. Some of the ingredients she says are bad are not only just the chemical names for some plain old vitamins and minerals, but some of them are absolutely essential for life. And then on the other hand, she gives high ratings to some of the Nutro foods, which we know contains ingredients that can kill your dog.
I wondered who this woman was, giving out such bad and inaccurate information, so i did a little snooping. She is a dog groomer with absolutely no formal education in nutrition of any kind. Here is one bit of info I found about Susan Peters:
"Sadly, I've read that Susan Peters is only a pet groomer and not qualified in pet nutrition. She's confusing a lot of people. If you read through enough posts you'll see this. She's earning money on this site as a "HubAuthor" by giving her opinions. I read about HubPages and learned that you only need an "interest" in a topic to "Author" Hub Pages (with your opinions). The money she earns is through all the ads placed on the pages "if" you and I click onto them."
Forget about Susan Peters, and don't read any more of her junk. Here's my favorite website for dog food reviews:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

[fergie11]

Thank you so much for that answer - Here I thought i really was doing a good thing with TOTW and then I found this. Thanks again.
I always want to go on that site but can't get on it. Somehow my computer just won't let me. Can you quickly tell me what they say about TOTW?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They had only three reviews on the TOTW kibbles, and they were from 2007; they rated it between 5 and 6 stars, which is pretty close to the highest rating they give. The only thing they questioned was that there is no packaging statement verifying the absence of ethoxyquin. This is not unusual, JD's foods didn't print that on the labels either. I solved the problem by emailing the companies and got a response verifying that they do not use ethoxyquin. I didn't check the TOTW website, they may say it there...if not, send them an email.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

You know I read somewhere, I don't remember where, that after the 2007 recalls commercial dogfood companies were hiring people to go on the Internet into forums and write reviews and comments about their food and put down other companies food. They were doing it that way because they wanted it to seem as though regular people not "experts" were bragging on their products. I wonder if this Susan Peters is one of those people.

[fergie11]

Just want anyone to know that was wondering: After deciding to go with Fromm and Taste of the Wild food for Fergie and Lucy I was checking out some ratings again. I found many comments on a Rate-It websit about Fromm food stating that it was made in China so I e-mailed Fromm and asked. They replied quickly --

Hi again Cathy,

Sorry for any confusion. All of our dry kibble recipes have always been made here in Wisconsin at our own plant since we started in 1948.

Three years ago when developing a human edible can food for pets, we did have to go Global and yes, we did find ourselves in a human food facility located in China. The last of that inventory was received in January 2008 and is selling out to zero on the retail shelves.

That is no longer the case as we have found and relocated our can manufacturing back to the United States. These recipes are due to launch soon. Please feel free to check back with us or watch the website for upcoming announcements.

If you have any other questions, please let us know.


So - that made me happy too.

Incidently if you e-mail them your address they will send you a "New Customer" coupon. I did that. I don't know how much it's worth but anything helps in these days.

This should help people in search of brands of kibble to use.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks for this info, Cathy. I found Fromm's customer service to be very quick to respond and very accommodating, too.
After starting Jack on the Fromm, my local Pet Supplies Plus notified us that Fromm had decided not to sell to them anymore because they mistakenly considered it a "large chain" store. I emailed Fromm to say that this was very inconvenient for me, as it left me with no location near my home, and also that they were mistaken about the nature of the store. I got a very prompt response, and then an email saying that they had talked to sales rep in my area, and he would continue to provide my store with the food. I consider that very good customer service.
However, I didn't get any coupons!

[Kyoko]

I didn't get a coupon, either! :) I should e~mail them again.... :)
HALO will send you a $5 coupon if you join their e~mail list.

[Bev and WILLY]

I'm thinking of switching Willy to Evangers Pheasant and Brown Rice Dry food. Human grade food, rated 5 stars.

Has anyone tried this?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, and Jack & I really like it. The only reason I'm not feeding it on a regular basis is the lack of availability in my area; the only place near me that sells it is a pet store that sells puppies. It's a very high quality food & Jack likes it a lot.

[Trang Timmerman]

Just wanted to let you know that you can order Evangers food directly from thier website since you say that it's not easily available in your area.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks for the info. My guy has some immune system issues, so I only buy locally in small quantities, but this is helpful info for others.
I am going to check their website for the closest location, though.