Taste of the Wild dog food

[WarDance]

I switched my dog to Taste of the Wild 2 weeks ago since the store was out of Nature’s Variety Instinct. I do switch foods with him frequently because I think it helps make the dog less sensitive to foods. He’s always on grain free but I tend to switch proteins and brands pretty regularly.

So I bought this bag of TOTW because he has eaten it before and did fine. Now I’m noticing he’s throwing up about every 3 days. When he throws up it’s not just a little bit either…it’s a ton.

Could this be food related? He’s a Lab and really has a stomach of steel. I’ve heard that the TOTW company has had some recall issues in the past but this doesn’t seem to be totally bad dog food. The smell is a little strong but not like a rotten smell. It’s just odd that he is now throwing up literally every 3 days. Any thoughts?

[bort84]

Our dog has eaten TOTW since we got her a year ago. She actually does have a slightly irritable stomach, but never from TOTW (usually if she’s had a new treat or something). We use all of the different flavors (both higher protein and low), and she has had no issues.

However, it’s possible you got a bad bag, or your dog just can’t tolerate it. Some of the different formulas are pretty high protein. Might be worth trying another brand and seeing if the vomiting continues. Some dogs just don’t do well on certain brands.

Did your vet give you any ideas? Have you started feeding any new treats? Anything else new in the environment?

[WarDance]

He ate TOTW while he was at my parent’s house over the holidays for 3 weeks. He was fine there. He’s always been on an extremely high protein diet because he seems to do better on it. Nothing else in the environment has really changed so all I can think of is the food. I’ve gotten a bag of expired food before and I didn’t know it was expired. His symptoms were completely different that time.

[Simkie]

Well, if nothing else has changed, it’s likely it’s the food.

Instinct and TOTW are not roughly analogous foods and I would not use one as a substitute for the other–Instinct is higher protein, more meat, less non meat and higher calorie. The word on the street is also that TOTW sources their ingredients from lower quality sources than the higher quality premium brands.

If they’re out of Instinct again, I’d look for something with a similar protein content. I think it’s the easiest quick method to find something that’s relatively the same.

[SquishTheBunny]

My lab cant eat TOTW, its too high in protein for her. The other 2 dogs do well ona high proteindiet.

She vomits, and after a workup realized that her kidneys were not tolerating the protein. On a low protein diet, her creatine is in normal ranges. High protein, it goes up and she starts to vomit. She’s the only dog I know that does this.

[Simkie]

TOTW is in the mid 20’s to low 30’s, protein-wise. Instinct is high 20’s to low 40’s–only over lapping with the highest TOTW formulas in it’s LID formulas. If the dog can tolerate the protein level of the Instinct, it’s not reacting to the “high” protein in the TOTW

[tabula_rashah]

I tried it with my grain-allergy cat and she won’t even touch it (and hey, she eats plastic, so…)

[SquishTheBunny]

Simke - thats my dog…she needs to stay with low protein diets. Instinct would probably kill her! I think OP’s dog isnt vomiting because of kidneys…its probably something else going on. Has he had rads or an US? “Crappy” food shouldnt make a healthy dog vomit. Unless its allergy related (but if hes been on it before without vomiting its less likely).

[wendy]

TOTW isn’t analgous to Nature’s variety instinct at all- TOTW is a moderate-protein, low-caloric density, moderate-quality food made by Diamond, which doesn’t have a stellar track record as far as quality control goes. I’d suggest taking the bag of food to the vet and see if it needs to be tested for some toxic contaminant- you might save many dog’s lives if it does need to be recalled. Especially if you’ve fed it before with no problems.

Or it could just be a bad bag- is it past the expiry date? bought from a place with low turnover or perhaps poor-quality storage conditions?

I sure wouldn’t continue to feed it.

There’s also the possibility that the food is fine and your dog has something else going on causing the vomiting.

[IFG]

My dog tended to get indigestion on TOTW. He does well on Acana. He actually couldn’t tolerate the Instinct. There was some ingredient that aggravated his stomach.

[NRB]

well you can check out my thread, “Dog might have to have Stomach Surgery; foreign object” for full details. But to sum it up, in October my dog began vomiting 5 hrs after a meal every other day for 2 weeks. She was on TOTW Lamb, had been on it all summer, previously was on TOTW Fowl, and sometime fish. ANyways extremely long story short the dog got worse, I took her to a GI specialist, ran a ton of tests, and treated for helicobactor AND out her on a hypoallergenic foods. After the drug regime ended in Dec 18th she vomited 1x on Dec 19th and has been keeping her food down ever since… I am slowly taking her off of the HA foods, by adding salmon and sweet potato to her food at first and now subbing in Natural Balance LI Salmon/Sweet Potato kibble.

If it were me I’d take you dog off the TOTW immediately.

Is your dog vomiting? Dog sides heave, dog makes urt urt urt noises, dog looks very very uncomfortable and then tosses up food and or bile?

Or is your dog regurgitating? Dog eats food, food comes up immediatly, no bile present. Sometimes food is stuck in throat, so it comes out in a cylindrical shape.

Is your dog tossing up bile? Foam? food? IF food then does the food look undigested? Partially digested? Totally digested?

When you say throwing up a ton do you mean all of his food comes up in 1 attempt? Or multiple attempts? Can you tell if it’s all the food? Or only part of the food?

Good luck hope you don’t go through what I did.

[WarDance]

Well he’s spending the night at the vet. When I was in the barn tonight he kept coming over to the stall and whining. He knows not to come in but he usually just sits outside and waits until I get the horse put away. I thought he just wanted to play so I ignored him.

When we got home and I fed him he refused to eat. He’s a typical Lab so when he doesn’t eat it’s bad. I even tried to give him a treat and he wouldn’t take it. Then he went in the spare bedroom and laid on the bed. He was in there groaning like he was in pain.

I called the vet and brought him in. The vet says something has definitely irritated his stomach but I got him in before he really went horribly downhill. He took a film of his stomach and he said there’s nothing concerning. If he’s ok in the morning the plan will be to put him on an antibiotic and get him back on Nature’s Variety. I may call the food company about this too.

[jetsmom]

Do you feed Chicken Jerky treats? If so, they might be the problem. An alert was issued in Oct that the Chicken jerky treats made in China (Waggn Train/Milo’s Kitchen, to name 2) have been making many dogs very sick, and killing some. Dogs that have been eating even just a treat or 2 a day have been showing up with diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomitting, lethargy, increased water intake. Many are presenting with Fanconi-like symptoms ( high glucose in the urine). Some dogs have been eating these treats for years with no problem, some have a problem almost immediately. There are over 1000 instances of people stating that they have had that problem.

If you suspect this, stop feeding Chicken treats, and see a vet. Severe cases can have permanent kidney damage, kidney failure or even die.

NOTE- These Chicken treats say USA owned Company, or Product of USA, yet there is smaller print that says imported from China or made in China.

[WarDance]

No the only treats I give him are Old Mother Hubbard. But that’s a good thing to know! My mom buys those for her dog. I will be sure to tell her.

The vet just called to say he’s fine and I can come get him in an hour. He was anything but fine last night so I’m glad he bounced back.

[NRB]

Woot glad he is better. I hope this resolves itself easily with a food switch. But something made your dog sick. Could have been the TOTW or could have been something else he ate… Could be something else entirely… Fingers crossed for you.

[WarDance]

I just brought him home and the vet wants to try a 7 day dose of prilosec and a higher fiber diet. I bought him Core Wellness Super 5 and the vet wants me to add some pumpkin to his food.

I think I’m going to call the company on Monday and see if they will consider refunding me for the $50 bag of dog food.