Opinions on Kirkland brand dog food?

Question

I didn't realize Costco carried its own brand of dog food... and I always figure the store brands are not as good, but I checked the ingredients... and they are better than what was in the ones sitting next to it, including Iams and Purina. I feed my pups Innova right now and it had nearly the same thingS! No by-products or corn meal, and I was under the impression those were the two things I did NOT want my dogs to have. I'm a frugal kinda girl and this dog food was like 25.00 CHEAPER! Anyone else know about it???

Chris ! they would have to say that in the ingredient wouldn't they? Those are the "by products"... My mom just informed me that our dog we had when I was growing up lived on that stuff. She lived to be 14!

Answer 1

Yep....it is actually good quality food, not quite up there w/ Innova, but close, and a much better value. I think it is a good compromise between quality and value.

Here are the ingredients:

chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and vitamin e), egg product, beet pulp, potatoes, fish meal, flaxseed, natural flavor, brewers dried yeast, millet, carrots, peas, kelp, apples, dried skim mild, cranberry powder, potassium shloride, salt, sholine chloride, rosemary extract, parsley flake, dried chicory root, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothanate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vit. B6), vitamin B12 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

The first six ingredients are really good and make up the vast majority of the food. It goes somewhat down hill from there. Egg product is not as good as eggs, beet pulp is a filler and somewhat controversial, and fish meal is lower quality then a specific fish, i.e. salmon meal.

Despite an earlier poster, a single meat meal is better than just the meat. Meat is generaly 80% water. Since ingredients are listed by weight you get a lot less of it from lamb rather than lamb meal. You just want to avoid generic meal, i.e. meat or fish.

I had my GSD's on it for years and they have done very well. I have a new puppy that I have on Canidae, because her coat needs special attention (blue dobe). If her coat wasn't so high maintenace I'd have her on it too.

Answer 2

I use it and I LOVE IT! Its so much better than all those supermarket (iams, pedigree,purina) brands and is usually cheaper. I have 4 dogs and cant afford the best but after alot of research Kirkland was best for my dogs with what I could afford..and Is actually alot better than other "High-end" dog foods (Science Diet,Eukenuba,Nutro) So I deff reccomend it to people on a budget.

Answer 3

I buy costco for my rescue dogs. It's a higher quality, good- priced alternative to premium brands.
Most store brands are not like this, but the Kirklands brand is one I trust. The ingredients are superior to most other "better Brands" and the price is unbeatable. Think about it this way, there's no fancy advertising or packaging with Kirklands. Less overhead. If you are still unsire, ask your vet to compare the ingredients for you, and see what she says.
I trust it though. Good luck:)

Answer 4

First of all I am so glad to hear that you know about dog food and what to avoid. I have read the ingredients on the Kirkland label and see nothing wrong with it. I would feed it to my dogs if my town had a Costco. (and I am known to be ridiculous about what my dogs eat)

Answer 5

Lamb meal can be just as Chris said..it is a very loose description..It does not compare with Wellness, or Innova, or Purina Pro plan, as you can see on this site> http://www.doberdogs.com/foodcht4i-q.html

However, there are MANY worse kibbles to feed than Kirkland...I prefer to feed a kibble made with all human grade ingredients..so I don't have to wonder the source or quality of the 'meats' .

Innova, Wellness, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, and Canidae are all better quality kibbles..
I don't know about anyone else, but I love my dogs..and don't want to risk their health to save money..There are other ways to skimp and save money...

Answer 6

When I belonged to Costco, all their brands (Kirkland) were either as good as or better than the national brands. You can try a bag on your pup and see if he likes it as much, keeping in mind, when you change a dogs food, they can get a little peavey and stomach upset. As to scraps and what not going into dogs food, it goes into all of them. No one is cutting up prime rib grade A and putting it into dog food, unless you're bringing the doggy bag home to Fido. So I'd say go for it. Good luck with your pup. But try not to switch their foods too much or too often, dogs, despite advertising, can eat any dog food if its COMPLETE and they will eat it. After all, its no bargain if they vomit, won't eat it, or get sick on it.

Answer 7

I feed my cats the krikland brand of cat food. My 8yr male cat sufferers from urinary tract infections(he's be fine no infections since we switched him to it) and my 7 year old female cat(who recently died...) was very fussy and would only eat Iams and the kirkland brand. So I think it's a good food for an awsome price!!! I think Next time I'll pick up a bag for my dog too!!!!

Answer 8

I agree - Kirkland is a low cost alternative to the more expensive premium brands out there, and far better in quality than anything Purina makes. A good compromise. (my dogs eat Premium Choice)

Answer 9

ya store brands always are cheaper and carry the same ingrediants as the name brand stuff. some people never take the time to read the ingrediants and it doesnt realy get advertised so people think that it is just some type of imitation brand that has substitutes when it realy doesnt.

Answer 10

Below is a link for grading dog food. Kirkland is much better than most non-specialty brands, I feed it to my fosters for economic reasons.