Gun Dog Forum

I'm a long time diamond HE user. My local farmers coop gave me a case of Taste of the wild to try out. Anyone have anything to say about it. It's double the price but I feed less. The nutrition seems better with less waste. Just wanna hear what others have to say before I make a switch

Have fed it and love it but its pricey. I am personally gluten intolerant so I buy a bag to dole out as treats when I am doing a lot of puppy work or obedience. Easier on me. You'll like it till you have to pay for it

TOTW is the most economical of the grain frees I sell. A lot of people like it.

Brackneykennels wrote:I'm a long time diamond HE user. My local farmers coop gave me a case of Taste of the wild to try out. Anyone have anything to say about it. It's double the price but I feed less. The nutrition seems better with less waste. Just wanna hear what others have to say before I make a switch

If you can buy TOTW for twice the price then you are getting a good deal. Diamond HE is 50 cents lb while TOTW is $1.5lb at my local store, so three times. However, TOTW is not much more per lb than Pro Plan.

Has about 70 less kcals per cup at 336 or 337 and diamond has 400.... If you really wanted to cut it in half I think the closest food would be EVO at 530+.

Ya ya EVO is more we all know that.

Brackneykennels wrote:I'm a long time diamond HE user. My local farmers coop gave me a case of Taste of the wild to try out. Anyone have anything to say about it. It's double the price but I feed less. The nutrition seems better with less waste. Just wanna hear what others have to say before I make a switch

Sounds like you want to switch while I doubt your dog does. Sounds like it is doing well. So it probably makes little difference what other people think. I will QUARANTEE YOU that the dog will do find on either and you will spend a lot more on feed if you switch. But you can chalk it off to chasing rainbows thinking there is always something better at the end.

Both are good feeds so if there really is a reason to switch, do it.

Ezzy

Cajun Casey wrote:TOTW is the most economical of the grain frees I sell. A lot of people like it.

A company called Hi-Tek Rations out of Dublin GA has a nice GF that is priced very aggressively here.

The company has a good looking feed store line too, called Intimidator.

ultracarry wrote:Has about 70 less kcals per cup at 336 or 337 and diamond has 400.... If you really wanted to cut it in half I think the closest food would be EVO at 530+.

Ya ya EVO is more we all know that.

Have you had any issues with EVO being too rich and dogs having runny stools? I mixed EVO with some other food with a lot less protein/fat and my boy was fine - EVO by itself would be about 50% runny stools. The good thing with EVO though, is that the fat % and protein % is so high you don't have to feed much - 3 cups total a day seems to do the trick during training season.

Two cups of EVO would be good for almost any dog.

Dog has not had any runny stools. Every day she gets a different amount of food unless she is with a trainer or the wife over feeds her (she is 50 lbs now).

ultracarry wrote:Two cups of EVO would be good for almost any dog.

Dog has not had any runny stools. Every day she gets a different amount of food unless she is with a trainer or the wife over feeds her (she is 50 lbs now).

If 2 cups does it, then it is one of the best values around.

If I'm not running her 5 days a week she is on 2 cups. After she runs hard she will get 3. Hunting multiple days in a row and maybe 3.5, just depends on how much I run her. But yea working her 3 days a week 1 in the am and 1 in the pm. That's with the measuring cup.

1000+ kcals.

I'm a Diamond customer. I find the High Energy formula to offer less calories per dollar than some of their other formulas. The Performance,Premium and the Extreme Athlete formulas all offer more calories per pound. I buy the Extreme Athlete for $31 per 40# and by my calculations, it offers the most calories per dollar.
I know many look at calories per cup, but I purchase feed by the pound, so I calculate how many calories there are per bag to determine cost per calorie. Extreme Athlete has few rivals in the 'premium' feeds.

You guys are crazy. Each one of my dogs get 2 cups every day of For Health Chicken and Rice or Performance. Buy it in bulk on sale from TSC.

Works for me. Bash it, i don't care. Dogs love it and do better on it than aything I have ever fed before, and I have tried a bunch.

Chasing rainbows? i think not. Not all dogs do well on the same old same old stuff.

I feed what works, not what is the cheapest. If that is what it happens to be, then so be it.

Buckeye,
I see you are a Diamond fan also then. 4-health, which is TSC's 'house brand' is a Diamond product. The Chicken n Rice formula you like is almost identical to Diamond's Chicken n Rice product. The 4-Health Performance appears to have even a higher calorie formula. Diamond saves their highest calorie formula for the 'Extreme Athlete'. This formula offers almost 20% more calories per pound than the 4-health Performance.
In this case, I think you can trust the difference in published analysis numbers between formulas, as they are all manufactured and analyzed in the same facility.

Buckeye_V wrote:You guys are crazy. Each one of my dogs get 2 cups every day of For Health Chicken and Rice or Performance. Buy it in bulk on sale from TSC.

Works for me. Bash it, i don't care. Dogs love it and do better on it than aything I have ever fed before, and I have tried a bunch.

Chasing rainbows? i think not. Not all dogs do well on the same old same old stuff.

I feed what works, not what is the cheapest. If that is what it happens to be, then so be it.

For Health is an interesting feed. I've take a look and used it for a short time. Priced a bit out of my range. Of course I haven't seen a sale price on it. They need to upssize the bags a bit and keep the price where it is and I'd be all on it. I'm feeding 10 dogs, so every penny per pound makes a difference.

Not to get too long winded about this, but I have listed below the amount of calories available per dollar of a few formulas of dog feed.

Diamond 'Premium' 3900 calories per $
Diamond 'Extreme Athlete' 2800 calories per $
4-health Chick & Rice 2000 calories per $
4-health 'Performance' 1800 calories per $
TOTW High Prairie 1450 calories per $

You can say it's the same formula, but it ain't. I tried it and the dogs do better on 4 Health. Go figure.

I am not saying its the best. I am saying that is what I have found to work for me and my dogs. I don't listen to economics. I listen to what the dogs tell me and what they show me.

Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

Cajun Casey wrote:Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

It is a good bet, but when the food has more calories from protein than a lower calorie food with less protein, the dog could have more calories available from the lower calorie food.

So good point.

Cajun Casey wrote:Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

I thought when calories were listed as metabolized calories, they are metabolized.
Who knows?
If we want to say that all the numbers, ingredient lists, and vitamin quantities are misleading and not worth the paper they are written on, I guess we go back to feeding the cheapest feed available, because everybody knows that dogs did fine for generations on feeds not nearly as sophisticated as feeds available today.

Ralph Ford wrote:

Cajun Casey wrote:Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

I thought when calories were listed as metabolized calories, they are metabolized.
Who knows?
If we want to say that all the numbers, ingredient lists, and vitamin quantities are misleading and not worth the paper they are written on, I guess we go back to feeding the cheapest feed available, because everybody knows that dogs did fine for generations on feeds not nearly as sophisticated as feeds available today.

Many people that have used high calorie, high protein foods see their dogs lose weight. Protein uses calories. They do look hard and muscled though that is for sure.

Ralph Ford wrote:

Cajun Casey wrote:Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

I thought when calories were listed as metabolized calories, they are metabolized.
Who knows?
If we want to say that all the numbers, ingredient lists, and vitamin quantities are misleading and not worth the paper they are written on, I guess we go back to feeding the cheapest feed available, because everybody knows that dogs did fine for generations on feeds not nearly as sophisticated as feeds available today.

The ability to derive those calories is subjective. Some dogs do better on different ingredients, whether grains, meats or fats are being considered. As far as dogs doing better in the past, commercial dog food and the feeding thereof is a fairly recent phenomenom in the world of dogs, particularly working dogs.

Ralph Ford wrote:

Cajun Casey wrote:Just because a food produces "x" calories when burned doesn't mean those calories are available as fed to a given animal.

I thought when calories were listed as metabolized calories, they are metabolized.
Who knows?
If we want to say that all the numbers, ingredient lists, and vitamin quantities are misleading and not worth the paper they are written on, I guess we go back to feeding the cheapest feed available, because everybody knows that dogs did fine for generations on feeds not nearly as sophisticated as feeds available today.

You are right about the calories. They are what is digested. And I agree we are overfeeding most of our dogs and causing problems with some of them. Much of it is do to the competitive market and every company trying to out do the next one. There is a reason that there are more different feeds for dogs and horses than any other animal. We have 4 or 5 different supplements for the thousands up on thousands of cattle, hogs, and chickens, while we have thousands of different dog foods and horse feeds for our pets that spend most of their time lounging in a stable or a kennel. And it all comes back to the owners and not the needs of the animal.

Ezzy

Ezzy, what do you mean the "calories are what are digested'?

That is debatable because every manufacture must estimate calories using the Modified Atwater method, which cannot judge the quality of the ingredients or how the food was made. All that measure does is assign calories per gram to protein, fat and carbohydrates uniformly to all foods no matter the type or quality of ingredients or manufacturing.

Apart from the proportion of calories from protein, fats and carbs, the standard method of reporting ME calories can be very misleading from food to food. It is totally theoretical.

Better quality ingredients made better will always have more digestible calories than a lower quality food with the same ME calories.

Right? You can have two foods with same amount of rice or corn that have largely the same ME calorie count because of protocol but if one food company does not grind or gelatinize the grains properly they are of no benefit.

I'd feed TOTW over Diamond any day.

B&BWeims wrote:I'd feed TOTW over Diamond any day.

"Taste of the Wild" is a catchier name for sure!

From everything I have seen and heard TOTW is a good feed but I still haven't found a feed that supplies good nutrition as economically as the Diamond products. There are other feeds as good but they will cost you more for the same level of nutrition. And it is up to everyone to decide if they are comfortable spending the extra money.

Ezzy

And I have yet to find a feed as good as I am feeding for the price point that does what I need it to do for ALL of my dogs. Diamond labeled bags aren't cutting the mustard at my house.

Everyone is different, but don't tell me for a danged minute I am spending extra for it.

I am so tired of that silly argument. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

ezzy333 wrote:From everything I have seen and heard TOTW is a good feed but I still haven't found a feed that supplies good nutrition as economically as the Diamond products. There are other feeds as good but they will cost you more for the same level of nutrition. And it is up to everyone to decide if they are comfortable spending the extra money.

Ezzy

And one could ask the reverse....Are you comfortable spending less ? If it's good for the dog and owner..so be it. Everything else is pretty much personal opinion..imo

bossman wrote:

ezzy333 wrote:From everything I have seen and heard TOTW is a good feed but I still haven't found a feed that supplies good nutrition as economically as the Diamond products. There are other feeds as good but they will cost you more for the same level of nutrition. And it is up to everyone to decide if they are comfortable spending the extra money.

Ezzy

And one could ask the reverse....Are you comfortable spending less ? If it's good for the dog and owner..so be it. Everything else is pretty much personal opinion..imo

Think that is what I said too.

Ezzy

ezzy333 wrote:From everything I have seen and heard TOTW is a good feed but I still haven't found a feed that supplies good nutrition as economically as the Diamond products.
Ezzy

FYI in case it slipped your mind. TOTW is a Diamond product albeit not their most economical line.

Chaingang wrote:

ezzy333 wrote:From everything I have seen and heard TOTW is a good feed but I still haven't found a feed that supplies good nutrition as economically as the Diamond products.
Ezzy

FYI in case it slipped your mind. TOTW is a Diamond product albeit not their most economical line.

TOTW is made bt Diamond but is not part of their Diamond line of feeds. But that isn't what we were talking about. I just said it is a good feed but more expensive than the Diamond line such as Diamonf Premium, Diamond High Energy , etc.

Ezzy

I never knew TOTW was manufactured by Diamond. Interesting formulas for sure!