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Attention to those who feed Victor Dog food

81K views 159 replies 52 participants last post by  WVNed 
#1 ·
Victor recently changed their packaging on all of their formulas but that was not the only change. Along with the new bags, all of the formulas have changed. All formulas now have blood meal due to a reduction in meat meal as a protein source. The grain free formulas have peas higher on the ingredient list. Some have now also added garbanzo beans into the ingredient list. Formulas like the Yukon salmon moved salmon out of the first few ingredients. All formulas also now have Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate and Vegetable Oil in them. They have added the blood meal to still be able to claim the same protein levels while decreasing the amount of meat in them. Victor also removed the general analysis tab that they had on their website for each formula and now only have the guaranteed analysis. Calorie content per cup decreased on almost every formula as well. I am disappointed in the change in the brand and wanted to give others a heads up. It seems the popularity got to them and in order to keep prices the same they needed to modify the ingredients and in my opinion, downgrade. I will be switching.
 
#10 ·
Victor and Sport dog are two of the brands I've been rotating around on...for the last year or so I've been trying different flavors from both brands trying to keep (Beau) my almost 14 year old interested in eating--he seems to be willing to eat and do well on most formulas that I've tried from either brand...he was raised the first 12 years of his life on Verus...gradually lost interest....then came to a screeching halt...that's when I spent time reading/researching to come up with Victor and/or Sport....I also have two young Aussies that do great on either brand--good appetite-energy-coat and poop---I will continue feeding as I have been...until the dogs "tell' me one way or the other that they're not doing well or loose their appetite for Victor


I spent a good bit of time trying to decide on a good quality kibble--looking at ingredients---where the ingredients are sourced from etc...most of you know the drill....I really--REALLY wish companies...all companies (not just dog food)....would leave a good thing alone and not try to fix something when it's not broken...to the OP thanks for the heads up
 
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#11 ·
...would leave a good thing alone and not try to fix something when it's not broken...
The problem is they aren't trying to fix something with the food or the nutrition. They are trying to fix something with the financials. I'm most disappointed that the analysis information is now much less detailed. That alone is a huge red flag for me.

Since we are all talking here, I'm open to suggestions. I'm back to researching and looking for something all-life stages, suitable for a GSD puppy (meaning the right calcium to phosphorus ratio and overall calcium content), protein in the 25-32% range, choices to rotate protein sources, and grain-inclusive. I suppose I could consider rotating in grain-free formulas too as the data there is nebulous at best.
 
#12 ·
I get that it's all about money.....all to well I get that...that's why I feel you can pick a company--any company and it's about money and the bottom line---in this case it sounds like they're trying to keep their product at a price point they believe the product will continue to sell well at..in order to do that they're cutting corners on ingredients....that happens every day...pick a market or company in it.....


A good example of the other end of the spectrum is right here where I live...there's a sandwich shop been around over 25 years over the last 10 years pretty much on an annual basis their prices increase--a little bit....but they never cut back on their quality OR tried to compete with any one elses prices....they didn't try to fix or change in any way what wasn't broken by changing quality...they kept the same quality and increased their prices to make the profit they were looking for....I wish (YES I know I live in a dream world) that all companies would keep their quality at the same level they had when "building their name"....just increase your selling price over time if you need to....over the years I've owned a couple businesses ....I understand trying to make a profit....that said when I buy I don't consider price as much in general as I do quality.......I don't mind paying for quality just give the same quality you built your name on...
 
#14 ·
I think moving forward I will be going with Muenster dog food, it is also made in Texas and they own their own manufacturing plant. No recalls and the owner frequently replies to customers himself and posts on their facebook. Their ingredients and formulas are equal if not better to Victor, grain inclusive and grain free. Beaverdam will also be in my rotation.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I have done Earthborn for 10? 12? plus years........with all the scare about DCM, and seeing a big change in ingredients....which also seems to be dependent on source (Chewy vs local ag feed store).....I moved mine to another food. Victor never thrilled me, Sport dog was too iffy on supply/delivery....

Beaverdam formula I looked at had a lot of pea products

Remembered meeting a rep at a pet expo a few years back, and a food which used to be highly promoted to the Sch/IPO community. The food was Best Breed (Dr Gary's) - German Dog formula.....so am giving that a try.


Lee
 
#17 ·
I had called victor and wanted to share the information I was given. They wanted to changes some formulas -to all life stages. They had said AFFCO changes changed some of the standard guidelines and they needed to follow those guidelines. They added blood meal to maintain the amount of protein without the additional calcium and phosphorus for growing large breed puppies. Not all formulas are all life stages, though. The blood meal which is the same information I had received previously is from chickens that are slaughtered for the dog food. They will get back to me as why they added the vegetable oil and tetra sodium pyrophosphate in their micro ingredients.
 
#22 ·
I don't know what you consider "large sized" for kibble, but Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete is about 32% protein and looks like normal kibble to me. It's just over $40/bag for 40 pounds. You should be able to find it at feed stores, TSC, or mom-and-pop boutiques -- or on Chewy.com. We use this one with foster dogs that need to gain weight or that have very fast metabolism, and it feeds out pretty well for the price.



If you are liking how the Victor with small kibble feeds out, you could try using a slow-feed bowl (or even turning a steel no-tip bowl upside down and putting the food in the steel outer ring). That might at least slow the dog down if it's gulping and not chewing.
 
#24 ·
Magwart,
Thanks for the info. I don't think slowing down my dog's eating behavior would work and the Victor kibble is so small for a large dog, being close to the size of a pencil eraser. I called Diamond and they said the kibble size of the extreme athlete is about the diameter of a dime and about two dimes thick, which would have a larger surface area. I don't know why the trend has been to go to smaller and smaller kibble sizes with large breed dog foods. The other kibble I feed is an average, grain free food, pea and fish protein based food, so the rice in the Diamond would compensate for lack of grain and the pea protein. I also found it close by at TSC. I know Diamond has had at least three recalls, but I would think that might be an advantage in that, in order to stay in business, their QC would have to be very good. I used their product in the past and was satisfied, but stopped after the first recall. I can't see paying $55-$60 for 30 pounds of kibble and would rather use that money to buy real food.
 
#27 ·
I have not heard from Victor I did put a second call in she is waiting to here back from the nutrionist.

Muenster Milling Ancient grains looks good and in protein and price range. I have never seen the food at my feed store ever hopefully they can get it to try it.
 
#35 ·
Thanks for the head's up, mmags. And thanks Jenny720 for going the extra mile. I know we all want the best for our dogs but sometimes I think we react too quickly. Quick, let's change foods because one plant in another part of the country has forced a recall for the whole brand. Or...Oh no, they changed the ingredients, change the food.

I'm with Jax. I'll change if I feel a need to. Victor has been a good food so far. If they have to change their ingredients a little, I'm sure they've done the research to find it safe for our dogs. Now if my dog suddenly starts getting diarrhea or he develops allergies, then I'll change.
 
#36 ·
I know a lot of people are loyal to Victor Foods here, perhaps to a fault in this case. One would have to ask WHY in the world would Victor move PEAS higher on the ingredient list of their grain free foods and add garbanzo beans in some in light of the Dilated Cardiomyopathy issue associated with those ingredients? Also, I would've preferred that they raise their prices and keep the quality proteins they had in their formulas that their customers had become to rely on rather than adding more blood meal to the formulas in an attempt to save money. It does not show good judgement IMO, especially the legumes thing.
 
#37 ·
This isn't about loyalty. This is about being cautious and not so quick to change at drop of a dime. I've only been using Victor for a year, so what loyalty do I really have for the brand? If it is about loyalty, I would've stuck with TOTW Pacific, or RCGSD, or any number of other brands. I'm just tired of changing foods every time there's a recall, or a small bit of news of some study that someone did, or price changes, or etc. It's already hard enough to find a food that my dog will actually eat, that he's not allergic to, that it's not hard to get, and that it's not ridiculously expensive. I'm sure Victor is aware of the DC issue and I'm sure they did their own studies and found that their new formula is safe or else why would they sell it and risk their reputation and company on it? Anyway, you're free to change foods, but don't assume that the reason the rest of us aren't changing is because of "loyalty."
 
#39 ·
My thoughts exactly! (Thanks for writing all that Jax08, so I didn’t have to). I’ve got to go get a bag of dog food today. The only thing I’m changing right now is the size of the bag - going smaller since I have one less dog.
 
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#40 ·
What frustrates me about these changes (and what other brands do too--this is not limited to Victor) is the reason they are done. This is not what happened:

Meeting between executives and nutritionists: "Hey we are having trouble producing a balanced healthy food. We've conducted a bunch of studies and discovered blood meal lets us adjust things in an optimal way. Yeah it costs more to use but for the sake of a good product, we highly suggest we alter the formula to replace some of the primary proteins with blood meal." "Sounds good, make it happen."

Instead this is what happened:

Executives in a meeting by themselves. "Margins are down. What's happening?" "Meat costs continue to rise." "Can we source meat from China?" "No, that would be a marketing disaster." "OK. Go tell the nutritionists they have to alter the formula to bring down production costs by 13.7%."
Nutritionists after getting the edict from management. "Crap, what can we do?" "Well we could substitute blood meal for some of the primary proteins. Blood meal is cheap in comparison." "What about marketing?" "It sounds better than byproducts or sourced from China." "OK, I guess it is the best we can do. Make it so."

It is fine if Victor is still a good dog food but switching from Victor because of this has nothing to do with brand loyalty or lack of it. This was a change to keep costs down not done out of a desire to improve the quality of the product.
 
#41 ·
Well...when my cats kill a mouse, bird or rabbit, I never find any evidence of blood so I"m assuming they eat that and these creatures like to have dinner on my porch so I would notice. Luckily, my dogs have not killed anything so I don't know what they do with the blood.

I wasn't in any meeting for Victor dog food so I can't speak for what was said but IMO, if the nutrition and quality is still there so my dogs still do well on it, and they are trying to keep their prices in a range where normal people can still purchase their product rather than a huge jump in price, more power to them.

And just an FYI...some formulas had such small changes that it should make zero difference in the quality. Beef and rice - one grain was added in front of the pork meal. Protein content went up 1%. That is to small to even notice. Previously 68% protein from meat, now 77%.

Nutro Pro contained blood meal prior to the change. I just took a picture of the bag I have. It was the 4th ingredient, now it's the second. Previously it was 10% protein from grains and veges. Now it's 8% from grains and proteins. Same ingredients, different order.
 
#46 ·
I'm concerned with the changes too. Didn't say I wasn't. But I'm not so fickle. If my dog doesn't do well on the new formula, yes, I will change. But until then, I'll stick with Victor only because my dog likes it. Have you ever had a dog that is very picky about what he likes to eat? And on top of that, you had to go through 10 different brands/formulas before you find one that he likes to eat. How about this...when your dog doesn't like the food and he won't eat? Then you're constantly worried about it getting enough food to stay healthy. And when it doesn't eat, it won't have a regular poop schedule. Then you're waking up at odd hours to take it out because he won't go at his usual times.

Loyalty is usually a positive word. So when you used it as a fault, how can people not be defensive?! You may not have used the words "blindly loyal," but you certainly did imply it. This isn't about loyalty to Victor. This is about convenience and here's the phrase you hear a lot in the dog food world, "going with what works." Right now, it's working for my dog.
 
#43 ·
I did not say people were "blindly loyal", as you quoted. And yes it is my judgement based on what I've seen on this forum over the years that SOME people will remain loyal to Victor and defend whatever changes they make. We are all entitled to our own opinions which by the way are "judgements" based on the facts we see.
 
#44 · (Edited)
LOL Nobody is defensive. Our point is that making a choice to not drop a food based on internet chatter does not make us "loyal...perhaps to a fault" (there I actually DID quote you, before I did a translation based on the implication of your sentence ;) )

BTW...I feed raw to my working dogs. I feed Victor to the Husky and use Victor for training. So definitely no "loyalty" here.

General Post:

Per my friend, who works in the animal food industry, AAFCO made changes in the way things are being labeled. Many foods are having to change their ingredient list so it appears different but there are zero changes to the food. So when you look at your food, Victor or not, make sure you contact the company directly and not just take the word of internet chatter.
 
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