Solid Gold Wolf King ingredients change!

[Skryker]

Ugh, just when it seemed it couldn't get much worse! Poor puppies that were fed the new stuff all unawares. :sad:

for all the dogs and owners dealing with sudden food change.

Big hisses for SG.

[mafiaprincess]

If you haven't emailed SG. I suggest you do. Tell them what you feel. Seriously.

I just did and I feel better.. Even with a dog that smells like barn, and radioactive vomit going on.

It's harsh, but I don't care if I get a reply back. They'd have to read it to know what it said anyhow.

I am on a pet forum and am one of the people who discovered solid gold is making changes and is unhappy. I've seen the replies you are giving people, and would like you to know, that we aren't ignorant. We are fairly educated pet consumers. You wouldn't know it with the replies I've read thus far.

I hope your company is satisfied with the profits they hope to make in using lower quality ingredients, and also hope that it makes up for the number of people who will cease to buy it. Many of us recommended it, and will not from this point onward.

I also would like to thank you for the radioactive puke my dog has along with the barn smelling poop. I am fairly certain at this point that you already are using lower quality ingredients in wolf king, because when I started what was goign to be my last bag of it, my dog started acting like it was a food switch. Nice.

You can make claims as much as you would like as to why the addition of tomato pomace. But there is no good reply. If it was simply for lycopene, you would use actual tomatoes. Not the pesticide laden skins. Consumers aren't nearly as stupid as we are being treated.

I feel dirty that I went and bought 33 pounds of what now seems to be an utter garbage food. And my pet store thus far is unaware you are making changes and won't take it back yet my dog is sick from it. People whose dogs have intolerances must be really amused at this point. What a beyond despicable thing to pull.

One super unhappy consumer

[Skryker]

I don't actually feed Wolf King. It was the tops on my list, but hubby had a fit over the price. Sooooo, we've been on Performatrin Ultra. At least I don't have to worry over the switch.

I will, however, be emailing SG to let them know that I WON"T be switching dog or cat food to their products ever due to this underhanded switch.

(Gee, could I have used the word "switch" a few more times?)

[mafiaprincess]

lol. Even that is helpful though. I feel that the tactics they are using to see how much we know rather than come out with it, along with the pretending they are high and mighty and we know so little.. between it all I feel dirty. Even if you don't feed it, telling them you know what they are doing and you understand dog food ingredients is a great step to telling SG where they can put their kibble, lol.

[Prin]

I still don't know what I'm gonna feed, but whatever it is, it'll have to start tomorrow. Considering TO's customer service is less than par, even if they've got the food I'm looking for, that's a real turn off for me. If you can't back up what you are selling properly, you shouldn't be selling anything.

So far, I'm still unsure, but it's either California natural herring with evo red meat, or evo canned 100% meat added to it, or Canidae Lamb and rice with the same supplementation.

[technodoll]

prin have you found a place to buy all of this, and how much is it going to cost you per month? goodness i hope all the gas & liquid stinkies stop... what a nightmare for everyone involved. and i'm so pissed off at pet food companies to begin with, and now stuff like this...

[mafiaprincess]

If I could dump my 32 pounds of WK, and could find somewhere to sell premade patties.. I'd be going that way right now. But no one local seems to sell them.
I looked at Freeze dried kibble the other day, but I didn't know it was going to come to this.

[Prin]

Techno, unemployed or not, my doggies need what they need.

[Prin]

A store I just called said they've got a couple of bags of WK returned by customers after bad effects on the doggies.:sad:

[RaYne]

Ditto on that Prin. We spend $154 a month just on Bubba's food alone and I'm not working right at the moment. Lola is being put on Canidae (All life Stages) hopefully starting today.

When it comes to our babies you do what you have to do.

SG should be required to notify everyone ahead of time of an ingredient change. Putting the 'new' formula in the 'old' bags was just a rotten thing to do. Geez they couldn't even attach a sticker or something saying "NEW formula" ??!!Even Eagle notified ahead of time that their formulas were being 'tweaked' To my knowledge they are NOT reusing the old bags. I was told new bag=new formula.

What a crock.. I hope they go out of business. LOL

[technodoll]

A store I just called said they've got a couple of bags of WK returned by customers after bad effects on the doggies

i would urge anyone with a new bag of WK, opened or not, to return it to the store for a full refund. the store then turns to the manufacturer for a refund due to "defective product" - if nobody does it, SG will get away with it laughing all the way to the bank

i have OFTEN returned opened bags of food (Eagle Pack x 2, Holistic Blend, and another that I forget) because of liquid poops and gas. I just say "this food makes my dog sick and i'm not paying for it"

then use the refund to buy another brand of food at the same store, it builds customer loyalty and everybody wins (except SG!)

[mafiaprincess]

If they'll take it back.. I'll be buying maybe a wellness small bag and a small bag of NV freeze dried. So it's not like I'm not buying from them. But I just called and no one is picking up the phone..

I don't want to move that rubbermaid container with near 33 pounds of kibble in it to my car to have them tell me they won't take it back..

[goldengal]

Well, after logging in and my userid and password being accepted and typing my ENTIRE thread, I was told I was not logged in, and then that my password was NOT accepted so I will begin once again although I am sure I will not remember half of what I said.

As a new user to Solid Gold, I am very interested in this discussion. I live in a household with 3 dogs - a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Leonberger and my Golden. The first two belong to my doughter and SIL. The Berner and Leonberger have been on Wolf King now for months. Prior to Wolf King, the Leonberger had a major itching and scratching problem. Now, no itching and no scratching.

My Golden has been eating Eagle Pack Anchovy, Salmon and Sardines for over a year, and I find it to be a great food, and she does well. Still, since we often feed one anothers dogs (I do most of the feeding and especially now that my SIL is hospitalized after a serious motorcycle accident), it made sense to switch Montana to Wolf King too. I must say here the one thing I really liked about Eagle Pack is all the fish was 'meal' whereas with Wolf King the bison was just 'bison' so the moisture was not removed and I wondered if it should, in fact, be the first ingredient.

Just two weeks ago I purchased 6 bags of Wolf King (for all 3 dogs), and it is the old formula. For Montana (my golden) it will take a while to tell if even the old formula makes a difference to her system as I do a VERY gradual change - like a couple of months.

I understand oatmeal has moved up in the chain of grains, and is that a bad thing? Us humans eat oatmeal to reduce cholesterol and thus heart problems. And as far as tomato pomace providing lycopene; there again humans eat tomatoes to prevent cancer as tomatoes ARE an antioxidant. I guess what I am asking, and believe me, I am new to this product, are these changes as bad as you are thinking? Many of the premium brands now include tomato pomace. Will they eventually all go that way?

As a brand new S.G. user, the first thing I noticed is that the packaging is much more expensive than any I have used before.

I sincerely hope this goes thru this time as I cannot type it again, and I am sure my first post was much better.

[Scott_B]

What you have to remember is that Dogs are not humans and vice versa. Things that we get nutrients from, dogs don't. Where would a wild dog ever get Tomato pomace? We cant digest bones, yet dogs can. Too much fat for us is bad, however dogs get Energy from that fat.

[x.l.r.8]

I'm sure Rileys been sneaking down at night to read this forum, I gat sample packs of EVERYTHING on my short list, were on Nutram at the moment, foods always down and hew goes to it twice a day and finishes about 2 cups, he's not fussy and if he smells human food he gets excited and eat every crumb left on the carpet left over from training. So he changed from the 'iams' (said in a small embarassed voice) to nutram cold and loved it, he's even eaten a bowl of Natural Choice, stools hve never been great but managable. So I put down the WolfCub for breakfast, I carry on doing what I want, I notice later after playing and training it's still there, we go for a nice walk and usually what ever's left get eaten it polished on our return, nothing, sniffs it and walks away. So in the evening he was in the kitchen when I was prepairing dinner (something he knows is a no-no) so i look over, the carpet is clean and the WolfCub is untouched, I put a bowl of Nutram down (he's only been on it for 4 days) and he eat the whole bowl and was looking for more. So if SG was not off my list yet, it's off his. I brought the bag a canidae home today to start making the switch and he was very curious about the new bag and followed everywhere the bag went. I hope this is a good sign as I had visions of him turning down the top 5 on my list and being left with stuff I'm trying to get away with. The owner of the food store didn't know about the change but will be looking into it further aswell, if they have it will be available at OTHER stores, not hers anymore, her English Mastiff (now I like a big dog but she was huge) went throught the same thing with Wellness when they switched there formula around and she's an EVO dog now with the occasional herring and potatoe (never looked at the bag but it was Black and Green!) she said for a mixed breed with unknown peramiters of when he will grow and when he will stop, and looking at his weight now canadie was top of her recomendations, once he has finished growing then if i wanted to change to something different then would be a better time as we will know what he likes. So for the moment he's sorted, i do no longer need to think and plan (althought if I had a huge freezer I would think about RAW, but not at the moment). So yay to Riley for boycotting SG all by himself.

[Skryker]

And there's nothing wrong with tomatos in dog food-they're great, in fact. But tomato pomace is what's left of a tomato after it's been processed for human food-it's a by-product; what's left of the skin and core and seeds after all the good stuff has been squeezed out. And it's used as a stool hardener-because oatmeal goes through fast and they've increased the oatmeal, they had to balance it with something to slow the works down-the tomato pomace.

(How'd I do, food gurus? Have I been paying full attention, or did I miss a fact or two? )

[technodoll]

ya did great, stryker!

[doggy lover]

Wow am I coming into this one late, so let me get this, there are so many replies to read.SG is changing the WF food without warning, hopefully not going to affect to many doggy tummies with out warning? I know my last dog would end up with megga poops if anything changed in his diet, touchie tummie for sure.
Now Tucker is on the H&F from SG is there any change in that? Mind you Tucker has a cast iron gut, but hell for the price we are paying it better not end up a crappy food either. I want the best I can afford for my little boy.

[technodoll]

H&F is a super-grainey food... not worth the $$ IMO - sorry

[BernerLver]

I belive I have purchased a bag with the "new" formula Luckily I just purchased the tiny bag on Saturday as they were out of the big ones but were getting more this week.

Dart's gas could have cleared a room last night! Also, he has been straining more to go than he ever has.

I'm not sure what to do at this point since they need sonething to eat.

Incidentially, while at the store on Saturday when I inquired with the owner about a large bag of WK, she said they were out but that someone had just returned a large bag.

At the time I thought "why it's such a great food?". Now I wonder if they weren't just in the know before I was.

[goldengal]

Granted we are not the same as dogs, but they die of cancer and heart disease exactly the same as we do so who says oatmeal and lycopene do not help their systems? Why do we give our dogs glucosamine and chondroitin the same as humans take if it does not help (know it has not been PROVEN to help either?.

[Scott_B]

But studies have shown that giving dogs glucosamine and chondroitin does improve health. We both need protien, and some fat, but we break them down differently. Dogs dont need grains. Why is most good kibbles soy free, yet for humans, soy is a great option? No one is saying your dog will die from these things. at least not in the short term, but why when there is healthier options would you continue to feed it?

Would you feed hot dogs to children twice a day for the rest of their lives? of course not, it has by-products in them. so why feed a kibble that contains by-products?

[goldengal]

Perhaps pet food manufacturers are endeavouring to feed our furry friends the same as we eat because, on another board, an individual was enquiring about Innova, which I am not familiar with. When I checked their site, they state what they feed from each of the '5 food groups' which us humans adhere to - or try to. Maybe that is why we do not understand some of the foods they are adding and why? Just a suggestion .....

And I'm sorry but which kibble are we feeding that contains by products? Are you referring to the premium foods?

[meb999]

we're ominivores. We need grains and we need the five food groups.

Dogs are carnivores. The only grains they are supposed to eat are the ones that are partially digested in their prey's stomach.

Lycopene is good, but the problem is that SG didn't include tomatoes in their food, they included tomato pomace. It's a completely different ball game. If i told you I was making peach cobbler, then served you a bowl full of peach pits, I don't think you would consider that peaches!

we're not saying that tomato pomace should be avoided like Menadione, but it sucks to pay such a high price for low quality ingredients. For the price they charge, they should have included whole tomatoes in their recipe if they wanted the advantages of lycopene.

Maybe that is why we do not understand some of the foods they are adding and why? Just a suggestion .....

i doubt you could say that members like Prin or Techno don't understand why the dog food companies are adding certain ingredients....read over their posts....

[x.l.r.8]

My pet food supplier has finally got in touch and been told the 'animal flavour' is lamb not chicken flavour, but why did they not put that on the list, I for one feel that if they wanted you to know what the flavour was then they would have said, they list everything else. The owner of SG is apparantly off on vacation (how convenient) so will not be able to be contacted for a while (probably untill the fuss dies down).

[mafiaprincess]

I returned near 33 pounds of WK tonight to global. We had a good chat on the phone about it, and another in person. A bag of wee bit was returned earlier this week. Liquid poop from dogs that haven't had an issue before..

Now she's taking this mighty seriously, and SG does have to eat the cost. So they can have fun with that. Hope more people return it.

So we have 5ish pounds of NV freeze dried, 6.6 EVO RM, and 5ish of DVP natural one..
Currently I'm having to cook ground beef and rice till she's okay. Was another 20ish hours of no poop.. and it finally came out like a bullet..

'animal flavour' is lamb not chicken flavour

Actually.. it's spray dried bison liver.. not chicken or lamb.. Erykah emailed SG.
Though you are right, they wrote it in a sketch way, if they were including good stuff they'd write it out.

If I wanted to pay for potentially pesticide covered tomato skins, I'd buy crappy food. If they were using actual tomatoes, not a by product of tomato juice processing, SG would actually include 'tomatoes'. Products, pomaces etc is a way to write crappier ingredients in a way a lot of people wouldn't understand. Sadly, for SG too many of us do understand.

Maybe that is why we do not understand some of the foods they are adding and why?

I don't think so. Far too many of us are over educated on dog food. It comes down to being too aware that they are downgrading ingredients, and anytime anyone calls, emails or anything else they get a walk in a circle, because they don't actually want to come out and say what they've done. Mighty sketch, no?

Berner, take it back. Maybe cook something for a day or two and try to switch in some kibble of something else?

[coppperbelle]

I think I will e-mail them again. I still haven't received a response. Call her back from vacation. My husband owns his own company. If there were a crisis you can be sure he would be called back from vacation.

[mafiaprincess]

Which reminds me. Turns out SG *was* co owned.. There was a big stink, owner of global couldn't remember when.. and the other person left her and created 'holistic blend' which is Canadian if anyone cares.. and in the time she's made it has never screwed with the ingredients.. and it's a pretty good seller.. didn't see anything sketch in it, but I didn't look at the bags for long.
Thought that was an interesting thing to find out..

[technodoll]

this issue has certainly made "quiet ones" rise and roar! good for us we're on top of the ball here and shame on any pet-food company for thinking otherwise. i just feel bad for all those other folks who rely on a company's honesty for feeding their pets

[Prin]

Pretty much everything has been said already...

Good post Skryker! The only thing you forgot was the pesticides on the tomato skins (which Mafiaprincess mentioned already too...). And like MEB said, when you pay for top quality ingredients, you want the WHOLE tomato (which Evo RM does, btw ). I don't want some "Motts Clamato" or "V8" by-product in my dogs' food if I don't have to.

And if SG doesn't consider it a "complete formula change", why are all our dogs getting sick from it?!! If it was just a tweak here and there, they'd be fine!

And I'm sorry but which kibble are we feeding that contains by products?

Tomato pomace is a by-product of human food processes. They don't take a tomato, squirt out all the nutrient rich juice down the drain to make tomato pomace. V8 is a "healthy" drink (although I'm not sure it is- haven't researched it ), and that is because it's got all the nutrients that are taken out before this "ingredient" goes into dog food.

SG is very wrong though- it's not like Iams or Alpo where the owner just gives it and doesn't research it. To find SG foods and to BUY them at $70/bag, you have to be somewhat aware. And unfortunately for them, we are aware and we also don't ignore the effects it has on our doggies.



Doggy lover, I have to say, I know somebody who feeds Hundnflocken and her owner thinks it's doing great things for her, but it isn't... It's not a great food and my mutts are blacker, shinier and softer than her pure black lab.