I cannot imagine committing to buy a puppy without seeing the animal and if possible the sire and dam. OTOH, a rescue (or adoption of an older dog) is a different thing. My last two Basenjis came to me sight unseen, and turned out to be wonderful dogs, but the breeders I got them from wanted to place their dogs in an experienced Basenji home, and I only paid the cost of getting the dogs to me. One came by air, one was personally transported to me by his breeder. If she hadn't been happy with what she found I expect she would have taken him back with her when she left. I also had to commit to return him if ever I couldn't keep him. Good breeders care about where their dogs end up.
Taste of the Wild
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They are now selling Taste of the Wild here in Dominican Republic. I feed Eukanuba, because it was the best of what was available here. I also feed raw but also kibble. I am thinking if switching. It's not much more expensive but I get Eukanuba at a great discount from the person who owns the brand here in the DR… Anyway I bought a small bag and so far they love it, but that's no surprise cause they love any food that is new and different!!!....
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Kipawa ate Taste of The Wild - High Prairie (buffalo variety) until the salmonella problem earlier this year that affected Taste of The Wild and many other brands made at the Diamond Pet Food plant(s). I no longer felt comfortable feeding Kipawa TOTW, so we switched to a Canadian brand - Acana. It's made in Alberta by Champion Pet Foods. They also make Orijen dog food, which is higher in protein. Both are excellent foods and I really like the fact that as their plant ONLY makes their own foods, they may possibly have a hand in better quality control.
I'm not sure if you can get Acana or Orijen in the Dominican though.
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That makes me a little nervous, there was a salmonellaroblem? And suddenly they are selling it here in a 3 world country with no quality control or regulations?….. Hmmmmmmm
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I thought the salmonella issue didn't affect TOTW feed. There was no recall for this brand in my area, just their other brands.
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The salmonella did affect Taste of The Wild, but not in every area of their distribution. I'm on the west coast of Canada, and it did affect our province, British Columbia. It also affected numerous States in the United States, but not all of them.
I agree with what you have mentioned, and it did cross my mind - the Dominican Republic just NOW getting TOTW, and as you say, no quality control or product regulations where you are. It could just be a coincidence, but….
With the bag of food that I had, I opened it and noticed that it smelled very strong. The kibble also seemed to be bigger than it previously was. I thought that perhaps something had been added to make it smell stronger (so dogs would really like it) and that they had merely changed the size (each kibble looked bigger). I fed Kipawa one meal of it and within about 2 minutes he thankfully threw it up. I watched him carefully to make sure there would be no further adverse effects.
Here are a couple of websites you might find interesting regarding the voluntary recall. The second link indicates which product codes (on the bags) are the ones that were affected for Taste of The Wild.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/taste-of-the-wild-recall.html
http://blog.petflow.com/2012/05/important-recall-information-diamond-taste-of-the-wild-canidae-wellness-and-natural-balance/ -
Our state wasn't included in the TotW recalls, but I did recall that it was affected – along with many other "top quality" brands of kibble. I think it just goes to show that no matter what commercial product you feed, you HAVE to keep abreast of recalls, and do what is comfortable for you.
I haven't purchased another bag of TotW since the last round of recalls, but I will probably still include TotW in our rotation because frankly, I haven't found anything else that matches its price point for its quality. It's about $26USD for a 15-pound bag (versus about $39 for the same size of Acana, which we also feed). Not sure how the price compares in the Dominican Republic. I noticed that it's sold in Taiwan (and has been since before the recalls), where it's significantly more expensive than in the States and certainly in comparison to other brands. It does seem like it would be an outrage to pay so much more for a fancy imported brand if there are still potential problems with recalls, but not every country has a reliable, domestically-produced kibble option!
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Thanks for the links on the info, I will check them out to see abut the codes.. As far as the price, I can't remember what the actual weight was of the bag I bought. Think it was 2.7 kilos. I'm not sure. It's a small bag about 12 inches tall and it cost me 790.00 Dominican pesos which is 20 dollars.
Everythhing here is a lot more expensive though, so I wouldn't be surprised… -
5 pound bag….20 dollars!!!
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Some of the small bags of dog food I have seen here in the U.S.-Ohio is that expensive. One pet store near me never had the smaller bags on sale only the larger bags but I could not buy the larger bags since only one of my dogs would be eating it. I started buying the food at a health food store where it almost always have the smaller bags on sale. The price of dog food has really gone up within the last couple of years.
Jennifer
