So, your vet has just advised you that your dog should go on a grain-free or limited grain diet as it is either allergic or sensitive to the grains in its food…now what?

The world of dog food is complicated enough without throwing an allergy or sensitivity into the mix. Lucky for you, there are many fantastic dog food companies out there that can cater to your dog’s allergy. Two of the biggest contenders are Wag and Taste of the Wild.

Truth be told, these brands are very similar in a lot of ways. Both manufacture high-quality wet and dry dog foods with grain-sensitive and grain-inclusive options. One offers entirely grain-free recipes while the other prides itself on its no added grain recipes. Which will be best for your pup?

Keep reading to find our thorough breakdown of both brands and their products so you can determine which food will be best for your pooch.

A Sneak Peek at the Winner: Taste of the Wild

Best Overall: Taste of the Wild High Prairie

Runner Up: Wag No Added Grains Salmon

The winner of our comparison:

Choosing a winner between these two brands was difficult, but we believe Taste of the Wild has more to offer consumers. Not only do they have many more protein sources and flavor options, but their products are more easily accessible and widely available than Wag’s. Taste of the Wild also has several more years on Wag, which gives them a bit more of an edge.

We found three Taste of the Wild recipes that stood out to us:

About Wag

Wag is a relatively new dog food company that stepped onto the scene in 2018 and is one of Amazon’s own brand labels. As with most products purchased on Amazon, Wag’s dog food is backed by a fantastic guarantee. If you’re unhappy with the food you purchased, you can receive a refund within a year of purchasing it.

Availability & Accessibility

One of the biggest limitations of Wag is that its product line is only available to purchase by American Amazon Prime members. Since Wag doesn’t have its own website aside from its Amazon storefront, we were unable to determine if there are plans in the future to offer its products outside of the United States.

One thing to note is that since Wag is only available through Amazon, consumers have very few options when it comes to buying their food. If your dog’s favorite flavor sells out on Amazon, you can’t turn to Petco or Chewy to find a replacement bag.

Wag’s Amazon storefront doesn’t seem to list all of their food offerings which can make shopping for their products difficult.

Product Line-Up

Unlike other big-name brands, Wag doesn’t have officially separate product lines. They manufacture both wet and dry foods. Their dry food products fall into one of two categories: grain-inclusive or no added grains. Their canned food is available in stew and pate forms and also claims to have no added grains.

Wag also has a very large line-up of dog treats that include human-grade dog biscuits, dental chews, jerky, and training treats. They also manufacture their own line of probiotic supplement chews.

About Taste of the Wild

Taste of the Wild prides itself on being a family-owned brand. Their pet food is manufactured in six facilities throughout the United States. The goal of this company has always been to provide complete nutrition for cats and dogs that their inner wolf or mountain lion would crave.

Availability & Accessibility

Taste of the Wild is available from several authorized online and offline retailers. Their products are easy to find online on Amazon or Chewy, and you can find their line-up in stores in many countries across the globe. You can find Taste of the Wild in stores such as Petco, PetValu, PetSmart, and Global Pet Food Outlet.

The company’s website is very informative and simple to navigate. It’s full of detailed information regarding their food lines, ingredients, and quality assurance.

Product Line-Up

Taste of the Wild has three dry food lines for dogs. These include their standard grain-free Taste of the Wild Recipes, Taste of the Wild Ancient Grain recipes, and their PREY Limited Ingredient recipes.

Taste of the Wild’s grain-free line-up features vegetables, legumes, and fruits in place of grains to support your dog’s health and well-being. They also implement dried chicory root into their recipes for probiotic fiber and digestive health.

Taste of the Wild’s Ancient Grain recipes feature roasted and smoked proteins and ancient grains like millet and quinoa. These grains are naturally high in fiber and protein to provide your pooch with a variety of nutrients.

The PREY Limited Ingredient line-up focuses on providing the modern dog with a diet their wild ancestors may have eaten. They feature four key ingredients—animal protein, lentils, tomato pomace, and sunflower oil.

The 3 Most Popular Wag Dog Food Recipes

Let’s take a look at Wag’s three most popular formulas in a bit more detail:

1. Wag No Added Grains Salmon

Wag’s No Added Grain formulas are available in five flavors, including chicken, beef, lamb, salmon, and turkey. A puppy-specific recipe with no added grains is also available.

Each of these recipes features real meat as the first ingredient to provide a hefty dose of high-quality protein your dog needs for muscle maintenance and growth. They are chock full of nutritious vegetables like lentils and peas to give your dog a dose of vitamins and antioxidants. The formulas also contain salmon oil and flaxseeds for omega-3 fatty acids.

There are no added grains or wheat added to the recipes, and they are all formulated without artificial colors or chemical preservatives.

Wag’s no-added grains formulas do contain peas which are a controversial ingredient as peas may be contributing to a rise in diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

---

2. Wag Wholesome Grains Salmon

Wag’s grain-inclusive dry food recipes include flavors such as beef, chicken, lamb, and salmon, and as with their grain-free line-up, they are also available in a puppy formula.

These recipes feature real meat as the main ingredient and are made without any meat by-product meal or artificial flavoring. They contain added calcium and phosphorus to promote bone and teeth health as well as glucosamine to support your dog’s joints. The recipes are formulated with additional antioxidants as well to boost your dog’s immune system and fats like DHA to promote brain function.

These recipes do not list peas as an ingredient and are formulated to meet the nutrition levels for all life stages, including large-size dogs.

---

3. Wag Wet Chicken & Vegetable Stew

Wag’s wet food line-up is available in both stew and pate form and in three different flavors. Their Chicken & Vegetable Stew Recipe is among one of their most popular canned food offerings.

This recipe is made with real meat, and the first three ingredients are meat-based (beef broth, beef, and chicken). The stew features carrots and peas as well as chunks of meat in a savory gravy sauce that most dogs find enticing.

This food has no added grains and is made without artificial flavor or color.

This recipe does contain peas as one of the first few ingredients.

The 3 Most Popular Taste of the Wild Dog Food Recipes

Now that you know some of Wag’s most popular recipes, let’s see how they stack up against Taste of the Wild’s best options.

1. Taste of the Wild High Prairie

Taste of the Wild’s High Prairie recipe is, by far, their best seller. This recipe’s flavor is roasted bison and venison, and its ingredients suggest that it contains several protein sources, including water buffalo, lamb, and chicken.

This recipe features vitamins and minerals from real superfoods and fruit as well as omega-fatty acids to promote skin and coat health. Taste of the Wild’s K9 Strain Proprietary Probiotics is added to this kibble recipe to support a healthy immune system and promote digestive health.

As with Wag’s grain-free formula, Taste of the Wild’s High Prairie recipe does contain peas.

---

2. Taste of the Wild Ancient Prairie with Ancient Grains

This recipe is one of Taste of the Wild’s fiber-rich grain-inclusive recipes. It features real meat (water buffalo) as the main ingredient as well as pork and chicken as the next two ingredients. This unique blend provides your pup with a highly digestible protein source.

This recipe features a blend of fatty acids to support your dog’s skin health and promote a shiny and healthy coat. The ancient grains and fruits in the recipe work together to provide nutrients your dog needs to thrive and to support his overall health.

---

3. Taste of the Wild PREY Angus Beef

Of all Taste of the Wild’s PREY limited ingredient formulas, the Angus Beef recipe is the most popular. This food features protein-rich Angus beef as the first ingredient to help your dog build strong muscles. It is made with very few ingredients to promote digestion and features just four key ingredients including beef, lentils, tomato pomace, and sunflower oil.

This recipe is formulated with a unique blend of proprietary probiotics to aid in digestion as well as omega fatty acids to boost skin and coat health.

Lentils are a potentially controversial ingredient alongside peas.

Recall History of Wag and Taste of the Wild

Wag has no recall history whatsoever.

Taste of the Wild on the other hand has had one big recall. A manufacturer-wide recall in May 2012 involved thousands of units of Taste of the Wild dog food. Salmonella was the reason behind the recall and it caused many pets and people to fall ill.

Wag vs Taste of the Wild Comparison

Flavors

Taste of the Wild has a wider selection of recipe flavors that includes exotic meats such as bison, wild boar, fowl, and venison. Wag’s recipes are available in classic flavors such as beef and chicken. If your dog thrives on variety, they’ll have many more options from Taste of the Wild.

Taste of the Wild is the winner in terms of flavor options.

Nutritional Value

It was difficult to compare both brands in terms of nutritional value since they’re so alike.

Both brands feature some type of protein source as the first ingredient in all their recipes, and neither claim to use artificial colors or preservatives in the formula of their food. They both add vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to their recipes and don’t use meat by-products.

We found that Taste of the Wild was more transparent with its ingredients than Wag. Their website is much more detailed about what goes into each recipe and why the ingredients were chosen. Wag is limited to what information they share, which works against them in this category.

Taste of the Wild is the winner in terms of nutritional value.

Selection

Both Wag and Taste of the Wild manufacture grain-inclusive dry food, though this doesn’t seem to be either of their specialties.

Wag’s food does not explicitly state that it is grain-free; instead, its listings say that its food features “no added grains” which we’ve taken to mean that it is not a grain-free food.

Taste of the Wild has 21 different dog food recipes to choose from (16 dry and 5 wet) compared to Wag’s 17 recipes (11 dry and 6 wet).

Wag manufacturers a wide range of treats, whereas Taste of the Wild doesn’t offer any treats at all. Wag also has a probiotic supplement for dogs in soft chew form.

Both Wag and Taste of the Wild have puppy-specific and breed size-specific formulas.

It is a tie in terms of product selection.

Overall

It was incredibly difficult to declare a winner since both Wag and Taste of the Wild each won a category and tied in others. Ultimately, we had to go with Taste of the Wild, not only because they’ve been around longer than Wag, but because they are more transparent with their ingredients and have a wider range of flavors. Not to mention, they are much easier to find both online and in stores.

In Conclusion

Taste of the Wild provides high-quality nutrition based on your dog’s ancestral diet. They utilize many different protein sources in their recipes and offer both grain-free and grain-inclusive options. Their website is very thorough and easy to navigate, which makes researching their products very easy and convenient.

Though Taste of the Wild is the winner in our books, it doesn’t mean that Wag isn’t a fantastic dog food option. If you’re on a tighter budget or if your dog doesn’t specifically need grain-free food, Wag might wind up working better for you.

Choosing either brand ensures your pooch is getting the high-quality nutrition it needs to thrive.

See also:

• How to Choose the Right Dog Food: Nutrition, Labels & More!
• Kirkland Dog Food vs Blue Buffalo: What to Choose?

---

Featured Image Credit: cottonbro, Unsplash