# Change in TOTW



## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

I have been feeding Taste of the Wild for the past four years without issue. Love it for it's value and all life stages flexibility. I opened a new bag of food a couple of weeks ago at the lake. All of a sudden, all of our dogs had diarrhea and our red lab was vomiting. I thought maybe they got into too much lake water. I came home and all was fine until I opened a new bag of TOTW last Wednesday. Same thing - diarrhea for all and vomiting for Meg. Meg had gotten into the cookie jar so I thought perhaps that was why she was ill. My dad stayed with our dogs all weekend. He cleaned each and every kennel each and every day he was at my house. Again - diarrhea for all and vomiting for Meg. I made a vet appointment but in the mean time realized that both bags of TOTW were bought after they have been heavily advertising the addition of the prebiotics. (maybe pro?) 

Last night I went to our local pet center where I buy our dog food and as I walked in, another lady walked in with the same situation, same variety. Ironically, she had the same number of dogs too. Crazy lady!  

I have now switched them to Canidae - cold turkey - since it is obvious to me that the change in recipe is causing the distress. I woke up this morning to no kennel messes and no diarrhea. Meg hasn't vomited for a day. I am hopeful. 

Has anybody else had any trouble with the new formula?


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

haha "crazy lady"

yes that does seem a bit odd for all at the same time.
How many dogs do you have?


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Trevor - you must promise not to judge. LOL! We have four labs and a vizsla. My great aunt is also staying with us and she has a schnauzer. It's a bit of a zoo at our house at the moment.


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

Sorry, I Judged.
"Crazy Lady"
hehe 8)


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

It's the schnauzer that put it over the edge, right?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

MeandMy3 said:


> Trevor - you must promise not to judge. LOL! We have four labs and a vizsla. My great aunt is also staying with us and she has a schnauzer. It's a bit of a zoo at our house at the moment.


I never judge.
My sister has 2 dogs, and her husband has 5.

I had to start counting on my fingers, and saying the dogs names to figure out how many dogs my nephew owns.
Three rescues, 2 1 1/2 year old pups, 2 pups under 1 year old, 4 older dogs, and he also has 2 dogs that belong to a friend, that live with him full time.

As long as the dogs are being well cared for its just a personal choice.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

when anyone finds the perfect pup or adult food - send me some lottery #'s - i have a better chance of winning - some things R simple - when they recall a product - never go back !!!!!!!!!


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

I haven't bought any TOTW for Willie in quite a while. However, I do remember that a couple of years ago I tried giving him probiotic supplements, and they gave him bad diarrhea. I threw them out.


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

I am happy to report that there has been no vomiting in my house or backyard for 36 hours. The diarrhea is clearing up too. If I had the stomach and budget for it, I would consider raw, but my stomach is more of an issue than my budget. 

TR - I think some day I may need to get in touch with your nephew. He breeds labs, right? Our dogs are 4 (lab), almost 3 (lab), 1 1/2 (vizsla) and the two pups (labs) are 5 months tomorrow. The schnauzer, well - he is just too young at 6 1/2. He is a product of poor breeding and a bad start in life, but that's another story. No matter how much training, time, love, and attention we have put into that dog, he is nasty and spiteful. Just when you think he is settling in to cuddle, he will growl and snarl. 

I got a great compliment the other day when I was at the dog food store. I had our male lab pup with. He has been good as gold since the day he was born, very laid back and personable. Sits when you stop walking, never pulls on the leash, etc... (his sister is the exact opposite!). Anyway, a lady complimented me on his behavior and I thanked her. The worker at the store said, "I've met all of her dogs and they are amazing!" The worker also is an instructor where we go for puppy kindergarten. It made me all proud. With that said, there are some days that I know I am that crazy lady - being drug around by my pack of dogs.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I wouldn't call him a breeder, as he might have one litter a year.
Most of his pups are sold to performance homes only, and start competing for UKC titles at 3 1/2 months old, then move to AKC titles at 6 months.
Its so cute to see a little pup retrieving a duck that's half the pups size.

Here's a picture of Pistol, with his first retriever ribbon.


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Such a handsome dog! Thank you for sharing.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

Oh, rats! I've been feeding them TOTW "High Prairie" and I'm about to need more. Chewy.com will be doing an autoship, but it's sure to be the new formulation and I don't know if my guys will be good with it. I checked the ingredients and it is different from what they are eating now.

I guess that I'll pick up a small bag locally, as a trial, and have Chewy postpone my shipment.

Thanks for the "heads up". I don't want to have to find another food, but I don't want 60 pounds of TOTW showing up if it's going to give my guys diarrhea.

Bob


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Just a follow up on this - When I dropped Bristol at the trainer's yesterday, I told him we had switched food and the situation with TOTW. He had another client who's dog got violently ill about the same time my dogs did. He took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong with her - just vomiting and diarrhea, but no cause. He was feeding her the same food - TOTW High Prairie. 

Bob - did you start a new bag? 

Our pack is doing ok with the switch so far. They all seem to be eating a bit more than they were.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

MeandMy3 said:


> ...
> Bob - did you start a new bag? ...


I went to the nearest dealer of TOTW, they had just gotten a delivery, and it was the old formulation! I'll be trying other stores (there are 20 stores with TOTW within 10 miles of us!).


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

Follow up:

I didn't find small (5#) bags of the new formulation after trying a few stores. I had an online "chat" with Chewy.com customer support and he said that they were selling the old formulation. But I decided that I wasn't going to trust that he would know. So I'm going to buy the 30# size locally, where I can verify that it's the old formula, until I can buy 5# of the new, to test. It costs about $10 more, per 30#, but that's better than getting stuck with 30# of food that I can't use.

BTW - the new formula has "Bifidobacterium lactis", where the old did not. I'm assuming that this is the distinguishing difference.

Bob


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

I also saw on the TOTW Facebook site that they also added beef to the high prairie formula. I don't think this is what the problem was, but interesting to know.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

MeandMy3 said:


> I also saw on the TOTW Facebook site that they also added beef to the high prairie formula. I don't think this is what the problem was, but interesting to know.


I noticed that when I was comparing old & new formulations. About 9 or 10 ingredients down the list "roasted bison" was replaced with "beef". A pretty small amount (less even than "egg products"). Bison is still 1st on the list, but no more roasted bison.

Curiously, when I was searching for a small bag of the new stuff, I came across a bag that didn't have beef, but did have bifidobacterium lactis. Or vice versa.

Bob


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I think we're going to make the switch back to Acana for now  Dexter has been looking great on TOTW, but I'm not sure if our first/last/only bag of TOTW was the old formula or the new one. I bought a bag of the new puppy formula for our new pup to try and she threw up her breakfast after eating (it was the first time she'd had the new kibble mixed in with her old kibble - but it wasn't even 1/4 of new food and she's always eating Dexter's adult food and doing fine with that). Dex got a few pieces of her kibble on accident and threw up about 15 minutes later too. Could be totally unrelated, something viral, or something else they ate (they were digging in the dirt this morning) but it was strange. 

I read through some posts on TOTW's FB page and it looked like a LOT of people are having problems with the new formula. So I think just to be safe I'm going to put them back on Acana until TOTW gets everything sorted out. Even if it has nothing to do with the food, there's enough posts on their FB to make you wonder if there's a recall coming in the future.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Also, the puppy food was the High Prairie formula (which seems to be causing the most issues) and Dexter has been on the Sierra Mountain formula.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

dextersmom said:


> ...So I think just to be safe I'm going to put them back on Acana until TOTW gets everything sorted out. ...


That sounds like a prudent course. One that I would take if my guys weren't doing well on the old TOTW and I don't want to switch until I know that the new TOTW is going to be a problem.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I know, I do hate to switch  Dex's coat has never looked better (dark and shiny) but I'd rather be safe than sorry. We've been mixing in canned TOTW food in his kongs, so maybe that's partially why his coat looks so nice. I'll try adding in canned food along with Acana and see if I notice a difference there. The pup's had a lot of digestive upset so far though, so I don't want to take any unnecessary chances of unsettling her tummy again for a while.


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## Drew231 (Dec 19, 2013)

So we opened a new bag of TOTW (Pacific Stream Puppy) on Saturday and our pup, Chewy has been incredibly sick since then (vomiting, restless, bowing, etc.) At first I thought it may have been something else and then I stumbled across this post and am pretty confident it is the new bag...


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Drew - sorry to hear this. Have you found a different food to switch him to? We are still doing ok on Canidae. A couple of little issues, but nothing like it was.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Drew231 said:


> So we opened a new bag of TOTW (Pacific Stream Puppy) on Saturday and our pup, Chewy has been incredibly sick since then (vomiting, restless, bowing, etc.) At first I thought it may have been something else and then I stumbled across this post and am pretty confident it is the new bag...


If my dog was bowing, I would run him to the vet.
Bowing in a sick dog, is a sign of pain.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

I never did find a 5# bag of the new stuff to try. Instead, I got an email from Chewy.com saying that 2 (!) 30# bags "had shipped". I thought that I had suspended the autoship, but apparently not. It was the new formulation and with some trepidation I transitioned them onto it. No problems!!! What a relief!

Bob


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