# Thoughts on Kirkland's Signature Dog Food??



## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

I've been seeing some posts on consumeraffairs.com about people blaming the Kirkland brand (mainly Nature's Domaine but also Kirkland's Signature brand) for their dogs getting sick. I'm concerned because it's made by Diamond which seems to have higher than average recalls. Does anyone else use it? Anybody had problems? I've been using the Chicken and Rice Kirkland's brand for a long time with both of my dogs and no issues but I'm still spooked.


----------



## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I know quite a few people ( breeders ) that use it. 

Since the recalls that happened about 8 years ago, when so many dogs died, I am very scared of a lot of companies. There was one bag of dog food (different brand) that I had opened up, and my two dogs did not eat their breakfast or the supper. I threw away the bag and bought went to a new company. Sure enough, a few months later, that company was also on the list - thank goodness my dogs knew something was not right.

I have also been following a thread on a Facebook Golden Retriever Forum group by a breeder that had three litters one year, and almost all the puppies had cataracts. Since she changed the food, she has had no issues. Her ophthalmologist and her are currently doing a study with a couple other breeders, whose puppies also had cataracts, trying to see if the link is from the Kirkland Signature food that they were all feeding the mothers. It involves the amount sodium selenate in the food. Now if you look at most of the premium dog foods, they have it on their ingredient list, but they are thinking that the amount Diamond has might be too high. She has contacted Diamond, and has had no response.

These cataracts can be seen at 8 weeks or younger, and don't appear to grow with the eye when the dogs grow, so their eye sight actually improves as the get older.

This is also on the West Coast, so it could be something from the west coast plant.

Edit: Sailor's mother was on this food when she whelped. We will see how her eyes are when she and a few of her littermates go for their clearances in the spring.


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I was actually on the Costco Facebook site yesterday for something else and noticed all the posts to page within the last couple of weeks about dogs and cats becoming seriously ill and some fatalities owners are blaming on Natures Domain and Kirkland foods. Costco is in a partnership with the infamous Diamond Foods to manufacture their in-house brands and sadly, this doesn't surprise me. I went back and looked at the consumer affairs website and it's actually a little disconcerting to see all the reports of severe gastro issues, bloody diarrhea and death. I hope anyone who uses this food and has such a reaction reports it to the FDA. Apparently Costco is doing nothing about it for the time being. 

I've never used the Costco brand. It looks like a nice economical food, but with Diamond associated with it, I felt it was too risky since they have a dismal track record with manufacturing food in sanitary conditions. That's just my personal opinion and I hope the incidents being reported now about dogs and cats becoming seriously ill or dying will not escalate; however, I fear they will.

Shame on Costco for not being vocal about investigating this!

ETA- yes, the reports of puppies developing cataracts while their dams were on this food are also very disconcerting!


----------



## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

Interesting feedback, especially on the cataracts. I know the breeder for our new puppy feeds NutriSource Large Breed to all of her dogs and I see that they've got a very good reputation. Maybe it's time to switch Ryleigh, too. Interestingly, they list very similar ingredients in a very similar order.

What do you feed yours?


----------



## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

cubbysan said:


> I have also been following a thread on a Facebook Golden Retriever Forum group by a breeder that had three litters one year, and almost all the puppies had cataracts. Since she changed the food, she has had no issues. Her ophthalmologist and her are currently doing a study with a couple other breeders, whose puppies also had cataracts, trying to see if the link is from the Kirkland Signature food that they were all feeding the mothers. It involves the amount sodium selenate in the food. Now if you look at most of the premium dog foods, they have it on their ingredient list, but they are thinking that the amount Diamond has might be too high. She has contacted Diamond, and has had no response.
> 
> These cataracts can be seen at 8 weeks or younger, and don't appear to grow with the eye when the dogs grow, so their eye sight actually improves as the get older.
> 
> This is also on the West Coast, so it could be something from the west coast plant.



FYI that breeder was a member of this forum. Still is, though she doesn't post anymore. She was trashed so badly that it hurt her breeding program. She tried to have the offending thread deleted, and got roundly trashed again, even though she is a very thoughtful and ethical breeder. People here were very unfair to her, and it became a mob mentality going after her. 

I almost bought a puppy from her recently, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole food/cataracts controversy. She says she had three litters in a row that had cataracts, and she fed Kirkland food to all three litters. Then she says when she fed a different food to a subsequent litter, no cataracts. She points to a study in mice, in which high levels of sodium selenate were fed to mice and some of them developed cataracts, and she extrapolates that to her three litters.

Personally, I am skeptical that the food is the cause. As I said in her thread, correlation is not causation. At the same time that she was feeding Kirkland to those three litters, there were thousands of other litters across the nation being fed that same food. My Gibbs' and my Ziva's litters were raised on Kirkland, and no cataracts in either litter (and we are all in SoCal, though that is far from northern Oregon where this breeder lives), as is the same for so many other litters across the country. I know two other breeders in her area who feed Kirkland to their dams and their litters, and none of them have ever had cataracts. And these are very prolific breeders. So, while it's certainly an interesting claim and I'd love to see the results of a good study, I don't think there is any direct evidence whatsoever at the moment to substantiate it. 

I used to feed it to my dogs. Their handlers feed them ProPlan, which apparently tastes much better than the Kirkland, so they tend not to eat the Kirkland anymore. So I gave in and switched to ProPlan. But we have never had any problems with the Kirkland food, and it gets a good rating on DogFoodAdvisor.com. I have no opinion on the "Diamond influence," so I won't comment on that.


----------



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I will not feed a food produced by Diamond. That also includes Taste of the Wild.


----------



## nancyQ (Sep 25, 2013)

I used to feed Natures Domain and mine guzzled bowls of water a day. Switched to another food and their water intake has greatly reduced. Mine also became really gassy and stools mushy on the bag I bought in November


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Loisiana said:


> I will not feed a food produced by Diamond. That also includes Taste of the Wild.


That's exactly how I feel as well. Their track record with keep plants sanitary and with recalls is dismal.


----------



## JMME (Jun 18, 2012)

My corgi was having digestive issues on another food, so I switched him to costco dog food because it seemed like a solid dog food for a good price (forgot the exact name of the food). We did a slow switch and for a few months he was fine. But he suddenly had unexplained weight loss, dry/scaling/itchy skin, hair falling out, and low energy (likely from the weight loss). We took him to the vet and they did all sorts of testing and couldn't figure out the exact cause (so we still don't know). He ended up getting down to around 21lbs from 28(a healthy/lean weight). Basically his intestines were very inflamed/thickened and he wasn't absorbing nutrients. So we started him on steroids, Benadryl, a probiotic, and switched his food (I had to feed him several small meals throughout the day). This whole thing was really scary for us and I really think it could have been the dog food since it was our only change. However, this could have just been a coincidence, but it hasn't happened since, so I won't risk buying Costco dog food again.

** I also wanted to add that we originally had him on a chicken grain free Costco food and thought it might be a chicken allergy when his skin problems first showed up, so we switched slowly to a salmon grain free Costco food. It ended up getting much worse until we switched to a non-Costco food. Hunter now gets salmon oil and doesn't have a negative reaction. We also recently started giving our dogs a freeze dried chicken food with their kibble and have had no reaction. So I now really don't think it was a chicken allergy or salmon allergy anymore. Again, this could be a coincidence but I'd rather be safe than sorry.


----------



## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

I bought a case about two months ago, and its still unopened. I'm going to return it to Costco this weekend. After reading feedback and that it's made by Diamond


----------



## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I've been feeding Nature's Domain to my dogs for 3 or 4 years now and have never had any issues with it. They gobble it down, have great coats, have firm poops and have no health issues that have arisen since I started using it. Several of my dog training clients also feed it to their dogs and haven't had any issues, either. We are in NC, so that may be the difference, but that is my first-hand experience.


----------



## Susan: w/ Summit we climb (Jun 12, 2014)

The breeder Jet came from feeds Kirkland, and her adult dogs are wonderfully healthy and behave like pups at 8yo. Jet appears to be healthy. However, he preferred our Orijen so much more that he's transitioned to it very quickly and isn't looking back.


----------



## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

There's not a dog food out there that doesn't have people swearing that the food caused allergies, vomiting, health problems, death, whatever. Every single one of them has it. It's not wise to make dog food decisions based on anecdotes like that.

But it brings me to my soapbox (don't worry, I'll only be on it for a minute). The rise in canine cancer directly parallels the rise in the feeding of commercial dog foods. Now that could be a correlation not a causation, but when we feed commercial foods we never know what we are really feeding to our loved ones. Does the food come from China, is there contamination, is the plant not sanitary, are the animals and plants that gave up their lives for the food fed hormones and antibiotics and pesticides that make it into your dog's body? Who knows!? That's why I'm a seriously big fan of making homemade dog food. It's how we all used to feed our dogs before the rationing in World War II gave birth to the modern commercial dog food industry. We feed commercial dog food without even thinking about it because we all grew up with it being the norm. But there's nothing normal for dogs about commercial dog food. Maybe we should all start making our own, from scratch, again.


----------



## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

DanaRuns said:


> There's not a dog food out there that doesn't have people swearing that the food caused allergies, vomiting, health problems, death, whatever. Every single one of them has it. It's not wise to make dog food decisions based on anecdotes like that.
> 
> But it brings me to my soapbox (don't worry, I'll only be on it for a minute). The rise in canine cancer directly parallels the rise in the feeding of commercial dog foods. Now that could be a correlation not a causation, but when we feed commercial foods we never know what we are really feeding to our loved ones. Does the food come from China, is there contamination, is the plant not sanitary, are the animals and plants that gave up their lives for the food fed hormones and antibiotics and pesticides that make it into your dog's body? Who knows!? That's why I'm a seriously big fan of making homemade dog food. It's how we all used to feed our dogs before the rationing in World War II gave birth to the modern commercial dog food industry. We feed commercial dog food without even thinking about it because we all grew up with it being the norm. But there's nothing normal for dogs about commercial dog food. Maybe we should all start making our own, from scratch, again.



How do you make sure the homemade diet is balanced? Do you have recipes?


----------



## T&T (Feb 28, 2008)

Been reading ...Top 95 Complaints and Reviews about Kirkland Pet Foods


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Other than having given TOTW to the dogs on occasion (I buy small bags of food when traveling, my dogs can eat anything so I do pick up different things for kicks)... I haven't actually fed any Diamond produced foods so no real personal feedback either way on the quality of the food. I do consider it better than something like Kibbles and Bits or such? 

I know a lot of people who feed Diamond brand food... lot of people raising puppies on the food....

So about that thread on the dog food causing cataracts.... I am very skeptical about that persons claim. There would be a huge outbreak of cataracts in the golden community and other breeds as well if true......


----------



## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

Christen113 said:


> How do you make sure the homemade diet is balanced? Do you have recipes?


Yes, I have recipes but I don't usually follow them. It's kind of like, how do you make sure your own diet is balanced? It all averages out. They don't need everything, every meal.


----------



## T&T (Feb 28, 2008)

Just came across this recent post ... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...=a.62776026030.96791.561681030&type=1&theater

Larry Gejdos
January 22 · 


ATTENTION PET OWNERS!!
This was our family member Moe, he passed away a couple weeks ago at the early age of two. After having his food laboratory tested it was found the reason he passed away to be from salmonella poisoning from his dog food!! We were feeding him Kirkland's lamb and rice mixture purchased from Costco. Please stop using Kirkland's food for all cats and dogs!!
signs to watch for with your pets are vomiting, blood in diarrhea and being very Lethargic. I will be bringing this to Costco's attention but in the mean time it happened insanely fast so please spread/share to everyone you know with pets please!! —


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Interesting because I always heard dogs handle salmonella well generally and most recalls for it with dog food are because humans handle it and become ill.


----------



## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

Dallas Gold said:


> Interesting because I always heard dogs handle salmonella well generally and most recalls for it with dog food are because humans handle it and become ill.


yes, because the strains the FDA are worried about are antibiotic resistant.

another reason to stay away from american and canadian chicken and turkey


----------



## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

Stay away from American chicken and turkey.? ..........I won't even go there....... B...s...

Any dog gone raw chicken or turkey will have salmonella on it - if it is an antibiotic resistant strain, then it is because there are too many antibiotics given out like candy.


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

A new Facebook group formed (closed group) for concerned people feeding Costco/Kirkland foods. Search: Dogs and Cats Affected by Diamond Pet Foods- Kirkland/Costco Food


----------



## SunnynSey (Jan 17, 2015)

I would not feel comfortable feeding their food with all the recalls associated with them, I have a hard time trusting the Diamond plants and any of their foods.


----------

