Question about a kibble brand.

Hi people!.

I'd like to make you guys and gals a question regarding cat food.

What do you think and know about this product?.


I've been cosidering to buy it since it is quite cheap, however I 'd like to read your experienced opinions about it.

I have been reading some reviews at the web and opinions are divided, some ppl say it is good others say it is even dangerous, so...who else is going to know best than ppl on The Cat Site?.

Should I buy the product or should I not?...Why?

Thanks in advance.

I think Kirkland has some pretty good stuff, and is great on a budget if money is tight. It's a bit low in protein (the source I found on the CostCo website says 30% - aim higher if you can), but it doesn't have a bunch of fruits and vegetables in it. Like the formula name obviously suggests, it does contain rice - both brown and white, and that's not the end of the world as long as your cats don't have grain sensitivities.

I think a big concern with this, and indeed many other brands, is their recall history. There have been some reports of cats and dogs fed Kirkland falling ill, having bloody stools, having skin reactions, etc. so they may have some batch or consistency issues you would need to be diligent of. Kirkland pet foods are manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods, which is a company that manages several brands that have had recalls in the past. This is an unfortunate reality of the commercial pet food world though.

Well Ladies and Gentlemen,  just updating to say I decided to get a bag of the prev mentioned Kibbles and so far so good! my cats have been eating them for the past two weeks and they like it!, They didn't threw up.

When at Costco I was asking costumers who I saw were taking those bags what their opinion was about this kibble brand so they said it was OK, I gave it a go then. 

I'd like to hear some more comments on this kibble bran so I if you have something to post, do nor refrain .

Cheers.

Sorry, don't feed any dry!

bonepicker said:

Sorry, don't feed any dry!

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I think maybe you meant to say " In my opinion, you shouldn't feed any dry". , since that is only your opinion and the OP didn't ask whether or not they should feed dry.


HoratiotheCat - I've never tried this brand personally. If your cats are enjoying it, then that is half the battle, right?

Horatiothecat said:

 
my cats have been eating them for the past two weeks and they like it!, They didn't threw up.

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This is the most important part. If they like it and can stomach it, then you've found a good food for them. I've never tried Kirkland but I know they are awesome for budget-friendly food.

If you like, we'd definitely appreciate if you share your experiences on our reviews section for future cat owners who may be considering this brand. 

AbbysMom said:

I think maybe you meant to say " In my opinion, you shouldn't feed any dry". , since that is only your opinion and the OP didn't ask whether or not they should feed dry.


HoratiotheCat - I've never tried this brand personally. If your cats are enjoying it, then that is half the battle, right?

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No that is not what I meant, what I meant was I was sorry I could not offer any info on dry because I do not use it myself!

I would think that the larger brands, name brands would have slightly higher quality controls. What are the ingredients in the food? I, myself moved away from dry food, too many males having urinary issues. But I used to feed Purina Cat Chow. The one in the blue bag. Until they changed the formula the food had not dye in it.

My deceased cat, April, ate that her whole life.  She wouldn't eat anything else.  I mean literally we ran out of the Kirkland brand and didn't have a chance to go to Costco so we went to our neighborhood Thriftway and got some kind of Meow Mix or Iams cat food and she wouldn't touch it.  She lived a pretty long life till around age 16-17 but she was overweight and may have had diabetes (we adopted her as a stray kitten and she was partially wild so she never had a registration, license, or vet - besides getting sprayed).  We also free fed so I don't want to blame the food specifically.

I don't know to much about dry food since I only feed wet.  But here is the link to the Kirkland cat food ingredients.  I think the formulas have evolved over the years since I last fed it but this is basically what I fed: http://www.kirklandsignaturepetsupplies.com/kirkland-brand-pet-food

It does look to be a pretty good food.  However, the chicken meal sort of bugs me.

Things to think about: Feed what you can afford.  If you can afford wet, think about the health differences for your cat when feeding wet compared to dry and vice versa(moisture, urinary, long term effects, etc.).  When picking out any food (dry and wet), don't get sucked into advertising; for example, I avoid Blue Buffalo because of their heavy advertising.  They want you to think certain things about their food, such as being the best and the most natural and kicking other brands to the curve.  Recently, it's been uncovered that they've been keeping certain ingredients off their dry food such as meal.  It's also easy to spot issues with their wet food.  I would also ignore sites like Consumer Affairs and only concentrate on professional reviews.

Dry food brands I would recommend: Orijen and Nature's Variety.  These two brands I think are the highest quality.  I would still recommend Kirkland after seeing April live a long life off of it.  Kirkland also has a great reputation and their pet food is a good price.

If you want to try wet and can afford it - Wet food brands I would recommend: Nature's Variety (Instinct, Prairie, and Pride), Nutro Natural Choice, Fancy Feast Classics (good food and very cheap for budgets), and Honest Kitchen (dehydrated raw food that you add water too.  From what I can tell, a 4 lb box makes 11 lbs of food and is about the same as a high quality dry brand in weight and price.)

Thanks for your replies, I really appreciate it!.


Just want to add that I don't really think that it is a must to feed my cats any wet food (I do in every now an then though), ant that is because the both of them are some hell of a good drinkers, they do drink water very well on a daily basis so I don't see them having urinary problems despite their eating mostly dry food.

Your thoughts?.

I only know both my childhood cats died prematurely from blockages or diabetes all were fed dry. I am sure dry food has come a long way since then. I used to feed a little dry, but cat threw up too much. I switched to no dry and the problem stopped. I feel girl cats have less blockages than boys, so IN MY opinion I would still feed both wet and dry rather than just dry. Again this is my opinion based on what I read!

I used to feed all dry with wet food as treats or special holiday dinners. I regret doing so, I had 2 cats block, one was able to be saved, one was not. I had another who got into the dog food and was snacking and ended up with a UTI. So, no dry for them. I only feed canned and raw. I will not take anymore risks. I read Dr. Pierson's blog which I am linking and it was very eye-opening for me. I'm not sure if you have males or females but I would strongly suggest you feed the males canned food and the females possibly a mix of wet or dry. I found out through a bit of research that foods high in carbs such as dry or very gravy based wet foods, make cat urine more alkaline and canned food, usually the pate kind, makes it more acidic naturally, therefore naturally dissolving any crystals and any extra water helps flush the bladder. http://www.catinfo.org/

The cost of feeding wet food now is much less than surgeries, insulin or the possibility of premature death later on.

I have never fed this brand myself.  I do know there have been kitties here that were fed this brand and lived long healthy lives.

So much is dependent on the kitty.  Of course first and foremost is what the kitty will eat, the best food is no good if a kitty won't eat it.  Natures Variety is one of the best foods available, has the price to go with that too, but my kitties won't eat it.  They will pick at it a bit and then walk away from it.  For my kitties Nature's Variety isn't a good food.

We have all had or known of kitties that lived long healthy lives on cheaper kibble and other kitties that were fed top quality wet food and had a lot of health issues.  Genetics play a big role as well.  As long as your kitty is getting a complete food and is healthy, you are doing fine.

Dr Pierson has opinions, educated opinions but still opinions.  There simply have been no long term studies to prove anything about pet foods.

Denice said:

 
I have never fed this brand myself.  I do know there have been kitties here that were fed this brand and lived long healthy lives.

So much is dependent on the kitty.  Of course first and foremost is what the kitty will eat, the best food is no good if a kitty won't eat it.  Natures Variety is one of the best foods available, has the price to go with that too, but my kitties won't eat it.  They will pick at it a bit and then walk away from it.  For my kitties Nature's Variety isn't a good food.

We have all had or known of kitties that lived long healthy lives on cheaper kibble and other kitties that were fed top quality wet food and had a lot of health issues.  Genetics play a big role as well.  As long as your kitty is getting a complete food and is healthy, you are doing fine.

Dr Pierson has opinions, educated opinions but still opinions.  There simply have been no long term studies to prove anything about pet foods.

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Dr. Becker has done a study on FLUTD and dry food was considered a considerable factor in cases of cats. I'd like to add that top quality cat food, even marketed as such, is not always what it seems to be. Genetics play a decently sized role but recent research in humans has found it to be only 30% of a role, diet and enviroment plays a larger role. I suppose that in time, studies will be done on cats. I recently did find out that cats' thirst drive is not as good as dogs, only when the cat is slightly dehydrated will they drink water. Sadly, none of mine ever made it past 9 yrs but I'm hoping that will change especially since I have changed to a strictly canned and raw food diet. This is my opinion of it.   

Both of my kitties are 12, one of them male, neither have had urinary tract issues.  They ate strictly kibble for the first 5 or 6 years of their life and are on approximately half and half kibble and wet after that.  There are members here with kitties that have lived well into their teens and made it to 20 on a strictly kibble diet.  You can find anecdotal evidence to back just about any position.

We also very recently had a thread in the health forum with a kitty having issues with urinary blockage.  That kitty had been on a raw diet for several months when he blocked.

With raw diets there's such a degree of what is fed, when, ingredients, so many variables with that, more so than canned.

Horatiothecat said:

Thanks for your replies, I really appreciate it!.


Just want to add that I don't really think that it is a must to feed my cats any wet food (I do in every now an then though), ant that is because the both of them are some hell of a good drinkers, they do drink water very well on a daily basis so I don't see them having urinary problems despite their eating mostly dry food.

Your thoughts?.

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horatiothecat , you can find out exactly how much water they drink vs what they need, no guesswork involved.

Measure how much they drink a day, and you'll know for sure. Pull up the water either in morning or at night, whichever is more convenient for you. Clean the dishes, and instead of just filling them, measure the amount in cups you put out. The same time the next day, measure how much water is left. Do this for a few days, and then you can average it, and know exactly how much water they are drinking.

As dry is just 10% water, and cats need 63% just to maintain a water balance (the MINIMUM) of hydration, each cat eating dry food only needs to drink a minimum of roughly 2/3 cups of water a day, because they need both the amount of water for hydration AND the extra water needed to digest the kibble. Kibble, at 10% moisture, literally "robs" water from their bodies to process it into usable energy and nutrition. Food needs to be a minimum of 63% moist to not "need" water to keep kitty at a hydrated state. The equivalent in eating dry to eating wet would be drinking one cup of water a day for the kibble-only eaters (as the wet food doesn't need extra water to digest).

Horatiothecat said:

Thanks for your replies, I really appreciate it!.


Just want to add that I don't really think that it is a must to feed my cats any wet food (I do in every now an then though), ant that is because the both of them are some hell of a good drinkers, they do drink water very well on a daily basis so I don't see them having urinary problems despite their eating mostly dry food.

Your thoughts?.

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I had some more thoughts about this I think are worth sharing. The difference between dry and wet food isn't only water. I think it helps to understand how kibble is made vs how wet food is made, and then think of it in terms of human food.

To make kibble, animals that died on the farm and couldn't be sent to a USDA facility, and the parts of animals that can't be used in wet foods or human food production are sent to a rendering plant. Here it is cooked at extremely high temps, the fat separated off, and the moisture removed so you're left with concentrated protein "meal." This is the "chicken meal" or "meat meal" or whatever that is an ingredient in the kibble. Many kibbles are labeled grain free, and are "high" protein (though use of the word "high" is a bit of a misnomer, because cats naturally eat a diet that is over 60% protein) - but not all of that protein comes from the chicken, turkey, meat or whatever "meal" ingredient(s). Most have some other form of protein to lower the cost: pea protein, soy protein, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, etc. The ones with grain have things like corn gluten meal, brewer's yeast, wheat flour, etc.

So the highly processed meat, fruits, veggies, etc. are the ingredients in a food that is further processed, and heated to high temps yet again, in order to produce the kibbles themselves.

For canned food, think of making stew or pate - the ingredients themselves usually aren't highly processed with heat before they go into the canned food. In foods like Weruva, you can see meat. In foods like Nature's Variety, you can at least see peas and carrots - not that they have ANY place in a cat's diet. But they're identifiable as ingredients, anyway, so not processed to death.


For people, these other sources of protein don't sound so bad. But we aren't built to live on small rodents and small birds only. We have long digestive tracts that can ferment these ingredients and derive the needed nutrition from them. Cats aren't just carnivores - they are obligate carnivores. We know from the studies that they do derive nutrition from things other than meat. That said - their food is so highly processed, it has that looooong list of vitamins in everything because a lot of the nutrition has been cooked out of the food and it has to be added back in.

And here is where our experience as humans plays in to our understanding.

Imagine your diet is dry cereal made of meat meal and soy protein isolate with added vitamins. You eat the same thing day in and day out. Maybe you switch cereals every once in a while.

Wouldn't you enjoy some stew every once in a while?

And as a person, if I lived on just dry cereal and stew - how well would I feel? Don't you feel better when you eat some fresh fruits and vegetables?

That highly processed diet may provide all we need in terms of the vitamins and minerals we know about. But we already know from science that the less processed the food, the healthier it is for us. And most of us know from our own eating experiences that the more fresh food we eat, the better we feel.

The same holds true for our cats. And the more species-appropriate the foods we feed them, the better they feel.

I'm not suggesting you feed raw. Though tossing kitty a few bites of raw chicken or beef before you prep it for making it yourself is a great treat. After all - if we're living on a microwave, boxed, and canned food diet, ANY fresh fruits or veggies we include are better than none at all.

Just ... food for thought, in answer to your question. :rub: