Natural Balance To Kirkland's

[LakeshoreGreys]

We're headed down to Costco this Sunday, and are considering switching dog food. Right now, we're using Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. The dogs like it and we've had great results for years.

 

Due to the cost ($50 for a 33 pound bag at Petco), we do a bulk purchase from them with a friend of ours. With price matching and their 200# program, we can usually get the cost of a bag down to $33 or so plus tax. But our Petco has a new manager who is not as lenient as the other manager, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the price match disappear sometime in the near future. And our friend has been unemployed for 2+ years, and has only recently begun working on a part-time basis, so she's definitely appreciate the lower cost.

 

So I've read good things on here about Kirkland's food in the past, and am wondering how it compares to NB. Anyone else make this switch? They both get good grades on the pet food grading system (122 A+ for NB, 110 A+ for Kirkland's Chicken, Rice & Vegetables).

 

Tell me more about the Kirkland food! Varieties, your results, etc.

[TheFullHouse]

We buy Kirkland's Lamb and Rice and Chicken and Rice for our crew. We found that some did good on the Lamb and Rice (as far as stools go) and other's did good on the Chicken and Rice, so we combined the two and got the perfect match. It seems not having just 1 protein source works for my hounds. They love it and the cost is fantastic. We actually switched a few years ago from Nutro to Kirklands. The only dog that doesn't eat the Kirkland brand is Gee, because she has to have grain free and they don't offer the new grain free food at our Costco so she's on Taste Of The Wild.

[NancyB]

My dogs ate Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra for six years. We also switched because of price and the bag was smaller. We originally had them on the Kirland Chicken and Rice but their poops weren't that great and they had so much gas. Eventually we switched to the Kirkland Lamb and rice and they do really well on it.

[Guest avadogner]

My Augie has been on the Chicken Kirlkland for the 4months he has been in our home. He loves it and his stools finally firmed up. He has horrible gas but he has a lot of phobias and seperation anxiety. They gas attacks against us are usually related to Augie feeling stressed. I am in the process of switching him to the Lamb flavor of Kirkland to see if he has a chicken sensitivity. I'll update you on his gas in a couple months. Augie really likes the Lamb flavor and seems to pick it out of the dish before the chicken. The price is fabulous and it scored well on the rating system. My sickly senoir girl is on Blue Buffalo Grain Free. have read posts that Kirklands's has a Grain Free flavor but it hasn't come to B'ham yet. Each hound is different and do well on different types of food. The sweet sensitive dogs have personalities that we fall in love with but that sweet sensitive hound is extremely sensitive to stress. They tend to pass gass when anxious so be prepared. They are totally worth it all (typing with one hand as I hold my nose)

-ava and augie's mum

[kamsmom]

We buy Kirkland's Lamb and Rice and Chicken and Rice for our crew. We found that some did good on the Lamb and Rice (as far as stools go) and other's did good on the Chicken and Rice, so we combined the two and got the perfect match. It seems not having just 1 protein source works for my hounds. They love it and the cost is fantastic. We actually switched a few years ago from Nutro to Kirklands. The only dog that doesn't eat the Kirkland brand is Gee, because she has to have grain free and they don't offer the new grain free food at our Costco so she's on Taste Of The Wild.

 

You know, I never thought about it that way. We buy the chicken and rice and also the nature's domain grain free and mix the two. Since we have done that all 8 dogs have done well. It may be the two different protein sources helping

[3greytjoys]

When comparing price, and healthy ingredient content (ingredients not from China), remember to compare calories per cup. Many foods that appear cheaper (sticker price) have a lower nutrient bang per cup; meaning it takes more cups to feed the dog -- so you could wind up spending the same or more money overall.

 

Example:

A dry food considered fairly "healthy" at a warehouse store was about 350 calories per cup, vs. a different healthy dog food jam packed with over 500+ healthy calories per cup. The 500+ calorie bag will last longer.

[LakeshoreGreys]

My dogs ate Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra for six years. We also switched because of price and the bag was smaller. We originally had them on the Kirland Chicken and Rice but their poops weren't that great and they had so much gas. Eventually we switched to the Kirkland Lamb and rice and they do really well on it.

 

So did you need to increase/decrease the volume of food after you did the switch? (question prompted by the entry above)

[greg1229]

While you are at the Costco, see if they are one that carries the NAture's Domain. It is a grain-free salmon/sweet potato kibble. I switched from the lamb and rice to that and my dogs love it. More of it gets digested and the back end is less and been in easy to scoop form.. Also they seem to eat less of it. I free feed so they nibble off and on through out the day. But I don't seem to need to buy it as often.

[Guest Sweetee]

We have a 5 year old (mother) and 2 year old (daughter) who came to us from rescue in July. Stools were like "soup" for the first few weeks. We tried several "high end" brands with little luck. Royal Canin worked pretty good, but we have finally settled on a 50/50 blend of Nature's Domain and Kirkland's Lamb & Rice. We free feed and the stools have finally become normal. The cost is not the main factor, but it certainly helps.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Sweetee

[cello]

We have used Kirkland Chicken and Rice for four years now. It was the only food we could find that solved Riley's horrible gas and pudding poop problems. Turns out he cannot tolerate corn or wheat. This is a reasonable cost kibble that is corn and wheat free.

For those that are interested, here is a photo of the contents label. At almost 400 calories per cup, we feed between 2 to 4 cups daily for our pack. Gizzy our 58 pound petite girlie gets one cup twice daily, and Lady our 70 pound athletic girl gets two cups twice a day. Specky gets just under two cups twice daily, and poor Riley has a slow metabolism and he only gets 1.5 cups twice daily!

 

[JenniferS]

I think it really depends on the dog. I had Ducky on the Kirkland, both to save money & because I had heard so much good about it on here, & bought a Costco membership just for the dog food. However, his poop & gas were terrible on it. After trying another food that was just okay for him, we tried the Natural Balance Venison, which runs $55/28lb. bag. His poop has been soooo much better; it's worth the money.

I would say try a switch gradually, but don't count on it.

[Hubcitypam]

When comparing price, remember to compare calories per cup. Many foods that appear cheaper (sticker price) have a lower nutrient bang per cup; meaning it takes more cups to feed the dog -- so you could wind up spending the same or more money overall.

Example:

A dry food considered fairly "healthy" at a warehouse store was about 350 calories per cup, vs. a different healthy dog food jam packed with over 500+ healthy calories per cup. The 500+ calorie bag will last longer.

If anyone is to take any heed from that quote then perhaps the "healthy" warehouse food should be identified.

 

Costco, Sams and BJ's have lots of foods and a "healthy" monikor is pretty much up to what the owner deems as healthy, isn't it? As far as jam packing the most amount of "healthy" calories into a cup you can often end of getting an overhyped costly rich food that doesn't agree with a lot of dogs -- especially greyhounds where rich high calorie foods can lead to massive big D.

 

(ingredients not from China)

Exactly how do you find out that none of the ingredients in your kibble don't come from China? Seriously.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Hubcitypam

[3greytjoys]

When comparing price, remember to compare calories per cup. Many foods that appear cheaper (sticker price) have a lower nutrient bang per cup; meaning it takes more cups to feed the dog -- so you could wind up spending the same or more money overall.

Example:

A dry food considered fairly "healthy" at a warehouse store was about 350 calories per cup, vs. a different healthy dog food jam packed with over 500+ healthy calories per cup. The 500+ calorie bag will last longer.

If anyone is to take any heed from that quote then perhaps the "healthy" warehouse food should be identified.

 

Costco, Sams and BJ's have lots of foods and a "healthy" monikor is pretty much up to what the owner deems as healthy, isn't it? As far as jam packing the most amount of "healthy" calories into a cup you can often end of getting an overhyped costly rich food that doesn't agree with a lot of dogs -- especially greyhounds where rich high calorie foods can lead to massive big D.

 

(ingredients not from China)

Exactly how do you find out that none of the ingredients in your kibble don't come from China? Seriously.

 

---

My suggestion was simply to remember to consider caloric value (along with quality ingredients) when comparing costs of dog foods. My example was to provide a range of caloric values available in like foods. I wasn't recommending any food over another. By "fairly healthy," I meant a good quality well-balanced food without cheap fillers (like corn). Since the question arose, the food which I noticed most recently at a warehouse is called Dog's Well - Vitality. Calories per cup: 350. I just happened to be comparing generally balanced foods with chicken as the highest protein ingredient (not grain free, or otherwise rich ingredients). Just comparing "apples to apples" so to speak.

 

A call to the dog food manufacturer's customer service department can reveal if their ingredients come from USA, or elsewhere.

[cello]

The Costco foods are made by Diamond, right here in the USA. I called them and they were very helpful in telling me any info I wanted regarding this food.

[LakeshoreGreys]

The Costco foods are made by Diamond, right here in the USA. I called them and they were very helpful in telling me any info I wanted regarding this food.

 

Thanks for posting the bag info and this info. I was wondering who made the food for them.

[Guest PhillyPups]

Kirkland is the one food all fove of mine do well on. I might try mixing the lamb with chicken.

[tydyelady]

We use Kirkland food for Opie, the lamb and rice one. He doesn't do well on chicken foods. He has nice firm poops. no gas, and the price is right - oh, and he likes it.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Another lover of the Kirklands foods.

We switched to it about 3 years ago, both for the cost factor and the ingredients.

 

We started off with the chicken and fed it for a couple of years.

Last year when I knew I was getting a Greyhound I switched the girls onto the Lamb before Nixon arrived, as I had read that a lot of Greys do not do well on chicken.

 

I was in Costco today (buying - what else? - dog food) and ours does not carry the grain-free stuff yet.

 

They had also put the price of their regular dog beds down to just over $20, and the Ortho ones were only $27.

I am soooo tempted to go back tomorrow and get a couple...