Wysong Optimal Performance

Hi Stacey :)

What's the date stamped on the flap at the bottom of the bag?
++Note: Wysong print the date of manufacture on their bags and cite a 12 months period from that date for expiry.

I once had a problem with a bag of Synorgon that was 2 months or so before its expiry ... the dogs were just not interested, and I think it just didn't smell fresh enough any more (despite the good vacuum packing by Wysong). I make sure now that any Wysong bag I order is *at least* 6 months off its expiry date.

Otherwise, the Synorgon also uses the combination of chicken and chicken giblets as the first 2 ingredients, and the smell of a freshly opened bag is ... well, very chicken giblet-ish! What I would call a nice pongy smell, the sort my dogs like!

The date is 9/08, so that must mean is was just manufactured?  I had a hard time finding the date, it is stamped so lightly on the silver packaging.  I had looked for it before but couldn't find it. 

 Anyway, I added water to the food and it smelled yummy, like gravy.  I guess it must be alright, the smell of it dry just threw me off!

starsenchis

The date is 9/08, so that must mean is was just manufactured?  I had a hard time finding the date, it is stamped so lightly on the silver packaging.  I had looked for it before but couldn't find it. 

You're not the only one who had problems deciphering the date! LOL

I contacted my retailer, who couldn't figure it out either and they contacted Wysong. This is the official answer they received:

"The date of manufacture is imprinted into the foil on the front of each
bag of dry food. It will be located on the bottom flap, however you do
have turn the bag upside down to read the numbers correctly. There
should be 6 numbers, an example would be 04 05 07. The first two numbers
are the year, the second two numbers are the month, and the last two
numbers are the day - so this example means that the package was
manufactured on May 7, 2004. All Wysong dry foods are good for 1 year
from the date imprinted on the bag."

Note the tricky 'upside down'! If you have any date with 06 or 09, you're in for some fun. It took me half an hour, an extra strong reading light and my reading glasses to finally decipher the imprint on my bag! Phew ...

As to smell and taste: the dogs are the final arbiters - so how did they like it? Did they gobble it all up?

Oh Wow, thank you so much!  I was of course not reading the bag upside down.

The correct date on my bag is June 25th, 2008.  So it's almost 3 months old- still not too bad.

 They all seemed to like it alright.  My dogs aren't really a good judge of food, because they are used to getting homecooked meat mixes added to everything and all kinds of different kibble in the rotation.  But they did eat it!

I have a dog here I am handling that I'll put on this food exclusively without mixers to see how it actually performs and I'll try to remember to come back in a month or so and let you know how we make out!

Just one more thing, Stacey, to maybe keep an eye on: the dairy content.

If the dog is fine with dairy and lactose, then the whey and yoghurt in the food is obviously not a problem. Both whey and yoghurt contain only minor amounts of lactose; but a dog who is very sensitive to lactose could still react with IBS type symptoms.

 Looking forward to hearing your eval after the first bag is finished! :)