A Long Chewy Review

I've had dogs all my life. At one time it was easy to feed a dog. You went to the grocery store, bought a bag of Purina Dog Chow or a can of Kennel-Ration, plopped the food into a bowl and the dog ate it. That was that.

Now things have gotten much more complicated. There are hundreds of brands and varieties of dog food available and we are more aware of ingredients and dogs themselves are more complicated. Now we know about allergies and food sensitivities and calories and protein levels etc, etc..... Now selecting dog food takes time and research. Now we read labels and make comparisons.

Like many others, the huge recalls a couple years ago reinforced my awareness. I started looking not only at the ingredients but the sourcing. I signed up to be notified of any future recalls and I do lots of research on just what I'm feeding my dogs.

So recently I found myself with a dilemma. My review selection from Chewy this month was a dog food that I hadn't heard of. That's not altogether unusual, I know that new dog food brands spring up all the time. We've tried some in the past and they've become favorites. This time I expected the same experience, but this time was a little different.

I chose to try Tiki Dog Food this month. I had never heard of it but when I read the ingredients, I couldn't resist. For instance Ahi tuna on brown rice with carrots, prawns, egg, garlic and kale, or wild salmon on brown rice with sweet potato. These sound like something I'd order in a restaurant, so why not feed them to my dogs?

When the case of cans arrived I happily opened the box and then saw 'Made In Thailand' on both the box and the cans. Ah oh!!

Now, I know that Thailand isn't China, but I still hesitated and headed for the computer to get some more information. A few months ago we tried a brand new to me called Weruva. Their food is also from Thailand and I went thru the same steps. Weruva turned out to be a pleasant surprise and when I offered it to Morgan during one of her fussy periods, she absolutely loved it. It was the steak and potatoes variety and looked like big chunks of steak and potatoes and veggies that I could easily identify. I was pleased with Weruva.

So here is what I found out about Tiki.  First the 'Dog Food Advisor' gives it five stars. That may or may not mean anything to you. I don't put any faith in the Dog Food Advisor because he or they only read the labels and don't get into the sourcing. The food could come entirely from diseased animals in China and still get five stars from that site as long as the proportions were right. Still I checked.

What I found that did matter to me  is that the company was formed in 2005 by Christine and Robert Hackett. All food used in Tiki is certified by the USDA as suitable for human consumption. The food is low in sodium, iodine, magnesium, phosphate, carbohydrates and has a low glycemic index, making it suitable for dogs suffering from kidney stones or irritable bowel syndrome. They also meet AAFCO recommendations. Tiki has had no recalls.

So, armed with this information, I decided to go ahead and try it with my group of experts. I had chosen Gourmet Carnivore Chicken and Turkey. First to taste test it was Mackey. She is a surprisingly fussy eater. There are only certain foods she'll eat and she even passes up a number of treats. She loved this food. She licked her bowl till it sparkled.

I was surprised when I opened the can. Tiki is in a broth instead of gravy, so it's easy to spill.

As I spooned it out onto the girl's kibble, I was impressed with the amount of shredded chicken. It looks pretty good but now for the real test.

The girls went right to work tasting Tiki and they didn't lift their heads till it was gone.

 I'd say this was a resounding success.  Here's the before.........

And the after.

It's not as easy to feed dogs as it used to be, but with a little research and a partner like Chewy,  it can be a happy experience.

Chewy sent us a case of Tiki dog food at no charge to us in exchange for our honest review.