Ziwipeak Venison

[Azazel]

I think something funny is going on with Ziwipeak venison cans.

I’ve been feeding one of my cats the lamb and venison flavors for a while without problem. Recently I noticed that the cost went up for Ziwipeak venison products. I was told by store owners that it’s due to the sourcing of venison becoming more difficult. I also noticed someone posted in a different thread that venison was unavailable in chewy for a while.

Now I recently just bought some new cans of venison and they gave my cat explosive diarrhea. I’m really upset and wondering what happened. Did they start sourcing the venison from a new place? Did they increase the amount of chickpeas? I’m scared to feed the lamb now too.

Has anyone experienced similar problems with Ziwipeak lately?

 

[Furballsmom]

They likely did both of what you're wondering about. This is so frustrating when it happens.
Cook up some unseasoned chicken and rice, that should help with the upset tummy. Then try some plain pumpkin and also a different food including some kibble, hopefully that will help as well.

 

[Azazel]

Thanks, I contacted Ziwipeak and they said they haven't changed anything for 2 years. I still don't buy it.

 

[Furballsmom]

they said they haven't changed anything for 2 years. I still don't buy it.

I'm with you. Granted their suppliers could have changed something as opposed to them, but it's all the same thing to our cats, and really, just wrong.

 

[Azazel]

Definitely. I'm curious to know if anyone else's cat has had any weird reactions to recent cans of Ziwi.

I should also mention that this cat has a pretty good digestive system. She rarely has a soft poop unless she eats something with too many peas. This is why I'm wondering if they have upped the amount of peas.

 

[LTS3]

What is the lot / batch number and "best by" date on the cans? It may just be a bad batch of food. Did you give ZiwiPeak this information as well so they can look up info on their end?

 

[Azazel]

What is the lot / batch number and "best by" date on the cans? It may just be a bad batch of food. Did you give ZiwiPeak this information as well so they can look up info on their end?

I really wish I did this but I already returned the extra can I bought and threw out the ones I fed.
Also, Ziwipeak wasn't even concerned with asking me for the batch numbers. They were more concerned with convincing me that it wasn't their food that caused the diarrhea but instead something else that I did to my cat. I'm not very happy with their response.

 

[Azazel]

Update: I waited until she was back to normal and tried a tiny bit of a new can of lamb. Soft poo the next day.

I am officially no longer purchasing Ziwipeak. Both because my cat can no longer tolerate it and also because I am disappointed in the company’s lack of consideration for my cat’s issues.

 

[duckpond]

My guys have never been fond of any of the Ziwi wet foods. Never got sick, just would not eat it.

They did like the Ziwi dry, venison flavor, a year or so ago. Then they all got sick with a new bag. I contacted Ziwi, and they sent a replacement bag, different lot, but never really addressed the issue with the one i had. Cats went off the food about that time, so i quit feeding it.

 

[mia26]

Please don't feed your cat rice. Cats have trouble digesting carbs and don't need it. raw chicken is fine for upset tummy.
My cats are fine on Ziwipeak (so far they love it) but I haven't got them to try the dry food yet.
I would say it was definitely the batch you gave them. I have to admit though, the customer service are very general with their responses as they are not trained vets and probably know the very basic when it comes to their brand (which is not good for their brand).

 

[Andrewst21]

Update: I waited until she was back to normal and tried a tiny bit of a new can of lamb. Soft poo the next day.

I am officially no longer purchasing Ziwipeak. Both because my cat can no longer tolerate it and also because I am disappointed in the company’s lack of consideration for my cat’s issues.

Hey there. I'm having same issues right now.
2 weeks ago my male cat developed diarrhea with mucus. It was very unusual because he hadn't had any issues with his stool for over 5 years. I took him to the emergency clinic. They took his urine, blood and fecal samples. Then the vet said they were able to rule out parasites and dietary intolerance, so that left us with either bacteria or stress she said. She prescribed Metronidazole (Antibiotic) and FortiFlora (Probiotic). It seemed like it was helping and for 10 days when he was taking the meds his stool was perfect. The next day (today) after we finished giving him his meds, he had the same stool with mucus in the end. It's basically half is perfect, but closer to the end it softens (not sure if it was the case with yours?).

Another thing is that I have a female cat who also started having very same issues 5 days ago and the same vet again prescribed Metronidazole (Antibiotic) and FortiFlora (Probiotic). We're yet to see her stool (it's been 4 or 5 days now), but clearly she's having the same issues as our male cat.

What frustrates me in this situation is that they said they were able to rule out parasites and dietary intolerance, but not bacteria. I mean what else. other than a fecal test, can determine if there's a bacteria in their stool? Nothing.

At this point, I don't wanna go into their practices and faults, I just wanna know what's going on with my kids here and make it go away. If it's a diet, I'll change it. Because we have a 3rd cat and she's eating Orijen and has been super healthy for years. These 2 eat ZIwipeak Venison Canned (one of the best foods out there). They've been eating it for quite a while too (Male cat for 4+ years. female just started earlier this year).

Now I'm wondering if it is the diet that's been causing these issues. Did changing the diet help in your case?

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

Ziwipeak Venison added chickpea in 2016. My cat had been doing well on it until then. My cat ended up with pancreatitis and she never recovered from it after they added chickpea. I recommend switching to another brand.