For those who order food online...

If I were a TWO retailer, it would piss me off if my customer could buy directly from the manufacturer cheaper than I could sell it to them.

 
AGREED! and if these two business would stock more regularly I would probably buy locally to support these places (although I do supoport them through purchasing other pet foods and items- just not TWO since I can't count on them to have it).
 

   I believe a manufacturer has a responsibility to protect their retailers. 
     

 
Interesting that you say this... as the below statement was just added to their website a few weeks ago...
 
We at Timberwolf have taken now taken some bold steps in our aims to address our customers needs.

Timberwolf Organics now offers FREE shipping on all orders over $15.00.

We do however still encourage our customers to purchase directly from their closest retailer. We recognize these individuals as pack members who have taken the risks to invest their lives into their passion for animals by availing pet owners and pets the highest quality and standards in pet nutrition.

Despite the growing number of retail outlets, Timberwolf is not available in all areas or available in all of our available formulas, we have therefore taken the bite out of high shipping rates and unavailability by offering our formulas at no shipping or handling charge to customers who may still find it difficult to find some Timberwolf Organics products. Please keep checking our website as we are continually updating our website with new outlets.

 
 
 

I've been very interested in their foods, but gosh are they expensive!

 
actually, it's not. A bag of the stuff is pricey, but you feed less per dog per day, so each bag lasts much longer than you'd ever think. I have calculated it would cost me more to feed Iams than to feed TWO.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

actually, it's not. A bag of the stuff is pricey, but you feed less per dog per day, so each bag lasts much longer than you'd ever think. I have calculated it would cost me more to feed Iams than to feed TWO.

How would one calculate how much it costs per cup? Or how much less of it I would feed as opposed to my current food?

I feed him 2 cups twice daily of the Chicken Soup for a total of 4 cups a day. I pay $35 for 35 lb. bag. The TO is  $54.78 for a 33 lb bag of the Dakota Bison and $55.85 for a 33 lb bag of the Wild & Natural. Here are the kcals for each:

Chicken Soup: 3593kcals/kg metabolizable energy (ME)

TO Dakota Bison: 3680 kcals/kg ME

TO Wild & Natural:  3980 kcals/kg ME

I don't think you can accurately calculate kcal/cup without having the food and a scale there in front of you. Kibble size and density will effect how much kibble is in a cup and how much that cup weighs.

you need an estimate of calories per cup. Do the bags say that? or say how many cups per kg?

CS is a pretty good food too and if your dog is doing well on it, I see no reason to change.  However, I do rotate foods.  Both CS and TWO are in my rotation.
 
Edited because I lied.  It is Canidae I rotate with TWO, not CS.  However, CS is a pretty good food.

TO Wild and Natural is: 609 kcal/cup
 
Still looking for the others.
 
Kate

Chicken soup is 336 kcal/cup. 
 
A 33 lb bag is about 15 kg. 
 
Chicken soup: 3593 kcal/kg.  That means 53,895 calories in the bag, give or take.  You're getting approx. 160 cups out of the food.  That works out to be about 21 cents a cup. 
 
TO W&N:  59, 700 calories per bag.  98 cups out of the bag. 
 
W&N is a little less than twice the calories per cup...but you are getting much MORE than half the cups out of the food. 
 
4 cups a day of Chicken soup, a bag will last approx. 40 days.
2 cups a day of TO: a bag will last approx50 days.
 
It does wind up cheaper.
 
Kate

I should get some kind of prize for that.  [sm=biggrin.gif]
 
Kate

I should get some kind of prize for that.

 
I am impressed! []

Whoops!  I don't get a prize...I was trying to remember prices and didn't remember the price of the W&N correctly.  I redid it and it is slightly more expensive. 
 
Feeding W&N will cost about 10 cents more per day than Chicken Soup.  So for $3 a month, you can feed what I think would be considered a much better food.
 
Please bear in mind that all this is based on calories only.  Your dog may thrive on less W&N if, for example, the calories are more absorbable for his own personal physiology.  That's something you will only know by testing the food.
 
Kate

LOL thanks Shel!  But I did make a booboo.  []
 
Kate

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

you need an estimate of calories per cup. Do the bags say that? or say how many cups per kg?

I've weighed out the TWO.  Here's what I came up with.

The Wild & Natural is ~150 grams/cup which comes out to ~600 Kcal/cup
The Bison, Elk, and Ocean are ~125 grams/cup (bigger kibble) which comes out to ~460 Kcal/cup.

I haven't tried the Southwest Chicken or Lamb and Apples.

ORIGINAL: Benedict

Chicken soup is 336 kcal/cup. 

A 33 lb bag is about 15 kg. 

Chicken soup: 3593 kcal/kg.  That means 53,895 calories in the bag, give or take.  You're getting approx. 160 cups out of the food.  That works out to be about 21 cents a cup. 

TO W&N:  59, 700 calories per bag.  98 cups out of the bag. 

W&N is a little less than twice the calories per cup...but you are getting much MORE than half the cups out of the food. 

4 cups a day of Chicken soup, a bag will last approx. 40 days.
2 cups a day of TO: a bag will last approx50 days.

It does wind up cheaper.

Kate

ORIGINAL: littlesaint

I've weighed out the TWO.  Here's what I came up with.

The Wild & Natural is ~150 grams/cup which comes out to ~600 Kcal/cup
The Bison, Elk, and Ocean are ~125 grams/cup (bigger kibble) which comes out to ~460 Kcal/cup.

So if my calculations are correct (based on the information in these two posts), then

With the Bison, I would feed ~3/4 of what I would the CS. Based on that, I would get about 40 days out of the bag. Then, I would be paying about $41 a month to feed the Bison.

I don't mind doing this cost wise. Neither of them is very much more expensive with all things considered.

Ok, with that figured out, that leads me to another question. This is more general. If I fed the W&N, he would get half of what he gets normally. Wouldn't that cause him to not feel very full and still want to eat? I guess I could counter that by giving him some plain green beans or something but that would cause my cost to go up as well. I don't know if I want to do this if he's always going to feel hungry.

I'm switching because he does not seem to be doing very well on the CS. See my other thread about itching & loose stool for the details. I think I have it narrowed down to the W&N or the Bison. But I'm not sure which one I should try. I guess the answer to my question above will help in the decision.

He may feel hungry for the first little while, until his stomach adjusts.  My lab did when I switched to T.O.  He got used to less food quickly, though, so I only needed to add green beans for a week or so.
 
Kate