Taste of the Wild

OK so after getting lots of help from people here and looking for different options I decided to buy Taste of the Wild. If I understood correctly everything I read from previous threads is that grain free foods are the best, like super premium. And the price I found for this food online was 25 USD for a 15 lb. bag, which seems like a really affordable price. I'm switching from Royal Canin Growth to this for my 4 month Himalayan. Now all I need is opinions on this specific brand (Taste of the Wild) and if it is really better than Royal Canin. Also I read about UTIs and wet food as a way to prevent it, but I'm on a budget, so I would like to hear ideas on how to prevent this without buying wet food which is more expensive than Taste of the Wild.

I live in Mexico, so I'll buy this next week when I'm in the USA, but I'm only going for like 3 days, so I searched on the site and found this:

http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/dealer_locator/

Which gives me the following locations in a 30 mile radius of San Antonio:

Mumme's Inc.
24250 Hwy 281 North
San Antonio, Texas 78258
Phone: 830-980-4924
Distance: 0.9 miles

Locke Hill Feed
4927 Golden Quail #105
San Antonio, Texas 78240
Phone: 210-691-2351
Distance: 9.3 miles

Pet Supplies "Plus"
15034 San Pedro Ave
San Antonio, Texas 78232
Phone: 210-545-6900
Distance: 10.6 miles

L & M Feed & Pet Supply LLC
14932 Bandera Hwy
Helotes, Texas 78023
Phone: 210-695-3551
Distance: 16.1 miles

San Geronimo Feed Store
8604 Geronimo Dr
San Antonio, Texas 78254
Phone: 210-688-7433
Distance: 19.3 miles

If someone can confirm that they indeed sell this food on any of those places and tell me the cost in there for the biggest bag I would appreciate it. Also, and most importantly I would like to know an estimate of expiration dates for bags of dry food, as I plan on really stocking up on bags because I don't know how many years might pass till I return to the USA. And somewhat off-topic, but I wonder if any of you know the expiration date for Reptomin turtle food, as I have some from like 2 years ago and still feeding it to my turtles.

You probabley should stick with a brand you can get where you live ... Most Naturally preserved foods have shelf lifes of 6-12 months un opened in perfect conditions ...

IMHO Taste is a great food but it has a short shelf life ( about 9 months ) ... I cant tell you ( would suggest calling yourself if you are able ) ... Here a 7k bag is 25-30 USD

Well here in Mexico only Royal Canin is available. I can't think of some good idea, as I definitely won't be going every 9 months to the USA. If it was before, my father went a few times a year, but now he doesn't, and this is a trip we're making for the first time in 2 years. There must me something, like a web store that sends it for low fees even if it takes like a month or something.

EDIT: I just told this expiration date issue to my father and he told me that if it says 10 months it means that it can easily last for 24 or so... is that true?

Originally Posted by ricardo222222

Well here in Mexico only Royal Canin is available. I can't think of some good idea, as I definitely won't be going every 9 months to the USA. If it was before, my father went a few times a year, but now he doesn't, and this is a trip we're making for the first time in 2 years. There must me something, like a web store that sends it for low fees even if it takes like a month or something.

EDIT: I just told this expiration date issue to my father and he told me that if it says 10 months it means that it can easily last for 24 or so... is that true?

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if it is a best buy date... so technically it could but as someone who has had bags spoil I say go by the date on bag... If it is a Use by then it needs to be used by the date on the bag as the company likely will only stand behind it till then

I see, I at least hope it's best by so I can extend the 9 months to a year maybe. Also what would be a way to maximize this in terms of the conditions in which I'd have to mantain the bags?

Originally Posted by ricardo222222

I see, I at least hope it's best by so I can extend the 9 months to a year maybe. Also what would be a way to maximize this in terms of the conditions in which I'd have to mantain the bags?

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You would need a cool ,dry location to store... unfortunately you will have no idea how the bag was handled to the store and how the store stored it ...

a year is about it IMHO ...

The company has a website, contact them

Can you order online? Taste of the Wild website offers these choices.....

http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/buy_now/

www.petfooddirect

www.doggiefood.com

www.heartypet.com

www.westcoastpetsupply.com

Originally Posted by Skimble

Can you order online? Taste of the Wild website offers these choices.....

http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/buy_now/

www.petfooddirect

www.doggiefood.com

www.heartypet.com

www.westcoastpetsupply.com

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I order from westcoastpetsupply, partly because their shipping costs for me are lower than the others. I order 3 or 4 of the 15# bags at a time and it comes out to about the same as I would have to pay driving to a store (35 miles each way) and paying sales tax plus gas for the car. I don't see anything on the site that says they ship outside the U.S., but you can always ask.

No they don't seem to ship anywhere but the continental USA, and even if they did agree to ship to Mexico the price would be totally insane. I contacted them and they told me that the shelf life is 1 year, so I will at least be set up for a year. How many 15 lb. bags do you think will be enough for 1 year for my 4 month Himalayan?

How much does your kitten weigh? That will make a difference in how much he/she eats.

I have three 4-month-old kittens weighing between 4 and 5 pounds, and three grown cats at 6 to 8 pounds each. They go through a 15# bag of TOTW in about three weeks. For one cat it should last approximately 6 times as long. Mine also get 1/6 of a 5.5 oz can of wet food daily which cuts down slightly on the amount of dry they eat.

I'm thinking a Himalayan kitten might be bigger than my DSH's and would be eating more food. I would say get at least 3 bags just to be sure.

I put the dry food in 1-gallon glass jars, partly to keep it fresh and partly to keep the kitties from chowing down when they chew holes in the bags. If you have a large freezer that should extend the shelf-life as well. Also be sure to check the expiration date when you buy it. You don't want to get food that's already been sitting on the shelf at the store for 6 months.

I'll weight my cat later when I find the scale, though he's probably like yours, and yes, I was thinking about 3 bags for one year to be sure. About the wet food, what would be a grain free wet food that sells cheaply (TOTW price) and how much would be one of those 5.5 oz. cans? And thanks for the heads up on the shelf date, as I don't want my food to rot in like 3 months, I will certainly look for the ones with 1 year shelf life and buy containers to put the opened bags. With the freezer how much do you think the food might last?

The only thing that worries me is if it doesn't agree with you cat. Have you tried it before? TOTW didn't agree with mine.

I haven't tried it, and really no way to do that, so I'll have to take my chances with 3 bags=75 USD. The worst case scenario is I give it to my other cats.

I'm curious now. How many cats do you have? And why are you wanting to feed just one cat something different?

As far as freezing goes, if the food actually stays frozen the whole time it should slow the aging to almost zero. So if the expiration date is six months out from the time you put it in the freezer whenever you take it out it should still be good for another 5-6 months. Keeping it in airtight containers instead of the bags should also extend the time somewhat.

Originally Posted by *Pepper*

The only thing that worries me is if it doesn't agree with you cat. Have you tried it before? TOTW didn't agree with mine.

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My Cats LOOOVE TOTW... but UGH does it make for potent poo's, enough to where those foods that have on the lable 'reduces litterbox odor' VERY tempting LOL... *sigh* but their coat, their eyes, just everything about them is just SO good (other than that poop) on TOTW.

Originally Posted by Lore

My Cats LOOOVE TOTW... but UGH does it make for potent poo's, enough to where those foods that have on the lable 'reduces litterbox odor' VERY tempting

LOL... *sigh* but their coat, their eyes, just everything about them is just SO good (other than that poop) on TOTW.

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That was my issue. They loved the food, but the smell was HORRIBLE for both of them! One of my cats had mushy poo on it. We had to switch.