# Taste of The Wild



## pjknust (Oct 26, 2011)

I just ordered TOTW. My question is: do you free feed? or measure it out for each dog. I mainly ordered it for my chihuahuas, but I feel the whole point of this food is to NOt feed other food. I have quite a few poodles and their bowls are scattered around the house that the chi's like to eat from. So Im thinking it would be better all the way round, especially money wise, to just crate everybody and measure out their portion and no more bowls on the floor. 
I assume they wont eat as much of this food as they do Iams. 

thank you for your opinions
pam in TX


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## Blue Chi (Oct 12, 2011)

I measure dog food out but that's because I have more than 1. If I free fed, there would probably be fat dogs and/or fights over it. I think you had a good idea on measuring and feeding in crates.


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## Selina (Nov 24, 2011)

We feed Taste of the Wild. All of our dogs love it. We free feed and with this as it doesnt have all the excess "junk" with no better word to put it. They eat LOADS less yet they get everything they need. Our borders went from 3-4 cups a day to bout 1 cup a day of food. We buy 30lb bag and we have 5 dogs and that lasts 2 weeks if not more. It also has different levels of protein so that you can always lower it down if you notice they are picking up to much weight. Since we have changed ours have not had the runny poo or such like on the other stuff. Im not sure of your other dogs but if they are all small chi's or close to that size I would say it would last you quite awhile. I wont buy any other kind after having it. Also noticed that our chi has almost got rid of her crunchy ear allergy reaction since switching her over. She will refuse soft food to eat it. 

Good luck with whatever you choose  

Selina


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## cherper (May 8, 2009)

I do not free feed. Some of my dogs would eat themselves to death i'm afraid and be obese! lol
I feed totw and my chi's get 1/8c. twice a day. My puppy finn (7 mos.) gets just a teeny bit more than that but not much more. My Leila is 5 lbs maybe an oz or so over and she looks really nice with this amt. of food. In the past i gave her about twice that amt and she was a bit round. She looks great now. Depends on how big your dogs are i suppose but i find the guidelines on the bags are always tooooooo much food.


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## MiniGrace (Oct 31, 2011)

I feed my two a set amount twice a day and I put them in their exercise pens to eat because Taz is very food possessive. They eat very quickly so I don't have to worry about food sitting around. I also like to monitor how much they are eating to keep an eye on their weight. Charlie was free fed at the breeder who raised him. He was five months lod when I got him and he was pretty pudgy.


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## EmberLuvu (Oct 24, 2011)

Don't free feed, that can cause a few issues as other CPers have stated above. And no, they definately won't eat as much as they did of Iams junk... whew that's a bad food.

Anyway, I reccomend feeding two to three meals a day for adults, crate all of them then let one out at a time to eat their meal. If it's not all eaten in about 5 minutes for the Chis or 8ish minutes for the poodles, take it up and wait until the next feeding time


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## LostLakeLua (Sep 6, 2009)

Ditto everyone else! =) I would portion it out. Often times a higher quality food will even be considered a 'higher value' by the dogs themselves which may trigger the food aggression issues. Blue Chi hit the nail on the head; they may fight over it or end up gaining weight because they are trying to 'compete' over it by eating as much s they can LOL.

ETA: Oh and I forgot the other benefit to portioning out food for meals!! since lack of appetite is often one of the first signs of illness or that something is wrong; you'll know right away if one dog doesn't finish their meal or is refusing to eat. If food is left out to free-feed and you can't monitor exactly what each pet eats; you may not notice that a dog isn't eating until it starts losing weight or starts getting worse.


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## RandomMusing (Aug 27, 2011)

Both of my girls eat totw. They started with the Pacific stream formula and I just finished that bag and started them on the high prairie.

My girls are 5 months, 6.1lbs and 4.6lbs and they get about 1/8 cup 3 times a day. They love it. For the past week I've been giving them a bit less because I've been adding ziwipeak as a topping.


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