Does anyone feed their pets Kirkland (CostCo brand)?

[kittenpants]

I have two cats and one dog and have always fed them Iams, but I saw an article on here about Iams not treating pets well so I was looking for a new brand. I joined CostCo recently because they're a blue company and have lots of good stuff & I saw that they have a brand of pet food there with ingredients that look about the same as Iams & other good brands. Anyone feed it to their pets or know if it's good or not?

[China_cat]

1. For my dogs, Kirkland has too high a ground yellow corn

content. It kicks in their allergies big time. Also gives them horrible gas and us lots more in the yard cleanup department.

The cats all are on special urinary formulas as they are all fixed and before, when we were feeding them the cheaper stuff, we were seeing lots of vet bills.

Going to the more expensive feeds may feel like a real pinch on the wallet but, for the dogs, between the better food being denser so that you don't have to feed as much and the lack of need for meds for their allergies, the cost is actually LESS than the cheap stuff.

For the cats, we could spend twice as much on their food and still come out ahead on not having to pay what it costs to treat just one cat with FUS, let alone 5.

[Lorien]

2. See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

[Jessica]

5. Crap!

I just switched my cat to Natural Choice cause I thought it was healthy. The only "all-natural" foods our PetsMart carries are Natural Choice & Nature's Best by Science Diet ... and I'd really prefer to not order my kitty's food online.

:cry: I just don't want to make her sick. :(

[kittenpants]

3. thanks for the link and the responses! n/t

[kestrel91316]

4. Advice from DU's cat vet:

Costco's food is one of the few on my approved list, with slight reservation. I cannot recall it being involved in a single case of diet-related disease in a patient of mine in the past 10 years.

Don't be afraid of the corn or by-products. Certain people with (ahem)"agendas" seem to have a big problem with these, but there is no scientific bases for most of the rumermongering.

I know what makes my patients sick and I know what keeps them well, and I cannot point to Costco Kirkland cat food as a problem. Normally I would condemn it as a "generic", but it appears to be a top quality product, and indeed that is in keeping with Costco's philosophy. They ain't Walmart.

[catchthefever]

6. Kirkland is made by Diamond

Diamond makes super premium foods. I haven't tried it with my dog because she's doing so well on Eagle Holistics. I may try out California Natural. All Scout's food has meat as the top ingredients, and rice as the carbohydrate - no wheat, corn or soy.

[Lorien]

7. All meat is not equal

the FDA has different requirements for human grade meats vs. "pet grade" meats; pretty much anything goes where pet grade meat is concerned. The meat industries don't want to pay for the disposal of rotten and diseased meat and slaughter house sweepings, so their lobbyists have successfully managed to have that which is unfit for human consumption sold to pet food manufacturers. Look at manufacturers sites for USDA meats, or the USDA seal on the pet food packaging. I believe that California Natural contains USDA human quality meats, as does Eagle. Kirkland, sadly, does not.

My only "agenda" is to keep my pets healthy. Hopefully my cats will live as long as others I know that have been on human grade diets for most of their lives (an average of 22 years).