monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 15, 2011 15:27:32 GMT -5
A quesiton for Kirkland dog food feeders...
Leo was being spoiled with Orijen and Acana grain-free dog food. Now that he's gone and broken two legs though, I think he's lucky that I've paid for both surgeries given that I'm a student and have human kids to worry about too, and I think his expensive dog food days are over!
Anyway, I've just bought a Costco membership and am contemplating their dog food. I've heard good things about it, the ingredients are decent, and at $25-something for the Chicken & Rice and $28-something for the Lamb & Rice (40 pound bags), I'm sure the dog food savings alone will pay for the membership.
I bought a bag of the Lamb & Rice to try once Leo's almost finished his Acana Pacifica that he has now. I only chose the Lamb & Rice because some greyhounds seem to have trouble with chicken. However, the chicken is a few dollars cheaper and has 25% protein rather than 23%. When I got home I realized that since I feed Leo chicken all the time (pure chicken breast treats, etc.), I think he would be fine with the chicken! (He used to have trouble with certain foods but then I found out he had hookworms; once the worms were gone he was much, much better and can now eat almost anything. My thought is that the hookworms damaged his intestines and that caused him to have trouble digesting certain foods).
Anyway, for anyone else who feeds Kirkland food, which one do you feed? If you've tried both, have you found that one has worked out better for your dog/dogs? I know ever dog is different but I'm just wondering.
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Post by linn on Jan 15, 2011 16:02:56 GMT -5
We tried the lamb Kirkland first and one of our pups had runny poops with it. We switched to the Chicken and they are both fine on it. They have been on it for over 3 years and are doing fine and seem to like it.
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gunnersmom
Hound Nut
GUNNER--the greyhound that started it all
Posts: 1,950
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Post by gunnersmom on Jan 15, 2011 20:17:31 GMT -5
My gang prefers the Kirkland purple bag...ha I can't remember what's written on it, it just look for the purple bags and load up the cart.
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Post by lmcallen74 on Jan 15, 2011 21:12:07 GMT -5
Kawaii has always liked the lamb version. Never tried the chicken.
Lisa
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Redhead
Grey Lover
Teague (Natural Red Head)
Posts: 823
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Post by Redhead on Jan 15, 2011 21:39:17 GMT -5
You can always rotate protein sources as well if he does okay on both kinds. That can sometimes prevent them from developing a sensitivity to certain ingredients.
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 16, 2011 1:59:38 GMT -5
My gang prefers the Kirkland purple bag...ha I can't remember what's written on it, it just look for the purple bags and load up the cart. That must be the chicken because the lamb bag is green (and the other two bags are puppy and mature (senior).
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 16, 2011 2:09:10 GMT -5
You can always rotate protein sources as well if he does okay on both kinds. That can sometimes prevent them from developing a sensitivity to certain ingredients. That's a good idea; I have heard that rotating food is good for different reasons (one is the allergy/sensitivity thing, another is the fact that if any are lacking in any way, the other(s) will make up for whatever is lacking). I looked into a Loblaws brand as well, "Nutrition First" (not their no name or "extra meaty" ones). They have a chicken-based food, a lamb-based food, and a grain-free salmon & potato food as well. However, the Loblaws I was at only had smaller bags of the salmon & potato food, but all sizes (including big bags) of the other two. The shelves didn't have tags for big salmon bags so I don't know if they even make big bags of the salmon, or maybe they only sell it at certain stores. The big bags of the chicken and lamb kibble were about $33, so a pretty good price.
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Post by robandtammy on Jan 16, 2011 8:34:10 GMT -5
We tried Brook on several foods before settling in with Kirkland chicken. Her poop was questionable since we brought her home, but once we started with the Kirkland, it was an immediate difference! No pudding poop, not even close. I've read some really good things about the Kirkland brand - there's a rating system for dog food based on ingredients (has it been in a thread here or somewhere else before?). Kirkland gets an A+ for its contents. I'll look it up and post it here for interested parties.
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Post by robandtammy on Jan 16, 2011 8:42:52 GMT -5
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Post by greys4us on Jan 16, 2011 9:34:44 GMT -5
Our guys get the lamb version. We used to feed Nutro lamb and rice, but switched to Kirkland 3-4 years ago, due to the price difference. With 6 hounds it is a BIG $$ saving
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Aradex
Junior Grey Lover
Posts: 319
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Post by Aradex on Jan 16, 2011 14:03:29 GMT -5
Ditto almost exactly what linn said: started my two on the lamb and they were pudding, switched to chicken and they firmed up quickly and have stayed that way since.
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Post by krissy on Jan 16, 2011 15:01:50 GMT -5
I don't feed Kirkland. I feed IAMS but I chose the lamb because of everything I'd heard about some Greyhounds not tolerating chicken well. However, that said, we've never had "pudding poop" issues with Summit and he gets lots of chicken based dog treats as well as chicken and turkey left overs as treats. Basically whatever is left on our plates after dinner he gets and never really had problems. I think it just depends on your individual dog. If Leo has had chicken and tolerated it then my guess is he'd probably tolerate it in dog food too. You could always buy a small bag of the chicken to see how he does and that way you don't spend money on a big bag if he has GI upsets with it, and if he does well then you can go back and buy a big bag. I find the small bags last about 2 weeks here.
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xtrawld
Grey Lover
Both thirsty....can't wait for their turn....
Posts: 625
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Post by xtrawld on Jan 16, 2011 15:15:41 GMT -5
We've struggled with food for years with Kasey. (He's allergic to chicken) but Lamb gives him such bad stinky gas. Right now it's the lesser of two evils, which Lamb is the less stinky version! We are considering Kirkland (Lamb) also as the next bag. Let me know how the gas smells over there!
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monique
Hound Nut
That's Leo in the red!
Posts: 1,318
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Post by monique on Jan 16, 2011 18:24:02 GMT -5
We've struggled with food for years with Kasey. (He's allergic to chicken) but Lamb gives him such bad stinky gas. Right now it's the lesser of two evils, which Lamb is the less stinky version! We are considering Kirkland (Lamb) also as the next bag. Let me know how the gas smells over there! Leo has gas once in a while but it's usually been when he's nervous (every time he steps into the place where he had both leg surgeries he stinks the place up!) or when he had worms for a few months. His poop has been good ever since the worms cleared up during the summer -- we even had a few days when it was too hard! Since I've been adding 1/4 of the Kirkland lamb food (just a few feeds now), he's had more gass and his poop has been softer but not too bad. I'll keep the Chicken in mind. One thing I have noticed with Kirkland is how LIGHT the food is. A cup of the Acana Pacifica (fish & potato) feels about twice as heavy as the Kirkland, which is lighter and less solid (more porous sort of, I guess). It also has fewer calories so Leo will probably end up having to eat a big more (he's 90 pounds but only eats about 2 cups/day of the Acana right now along with bones and treats). That's a good idea, Krissy. However, Costco doesn't have small sizes of anything! That's okay though, a 40-pound bag (which is huge; some of the "big" dog food bags are 25-30 pounds) is only about $25 and it's probably good to give it many weeks to see how it goes (unless Leo really has problems with it of course). (In case anyone is wondering, I looked it up and PC doesn't make big bags of the Salmon & Potato dog food, only the 2 smaller sizes).
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mallard
Junior Grey Lover
Posts: 290
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Post by mallard on Jan 16, 2011 19:41:46 GMT -5
Another happy Kirklands user here. With 3 large dogs, the savings does pay for the membership cost very quickly. I go through a bag every 3 weeks. I used to feed the chicken...before we got Nixon. I switched the non-greys over to Lamb about a month before Nixon arrived, as I had also head that some Greys did not do well on chicken.
Do make sure that you change Leo over to the new food slowly.
And of course now you're a Costco member, you can really greyt deals on their dog beds. I also buy the Kirklands dog biscuits...they come in Lamb as well.
Costco has come out with a grain-free product, but it is only available in select US stores right now.
FYI...The Loblaws 'Nutrition First' does look like a comparable food, but is quite a bit more expensive.
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