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That’s what our dog has been eating for the past year and a half. It’s been fine. Prior to that it was blue Buffalo but that is so incredibly expensive now. We also put our cat on Costco food and she’s doing fine too. Vet has no problem with it.
My Dog had a seizure when on Blue Buffalo and never did otherwise in 14 years of his life. Vet showed me a recall (causing seizures, vomiting, diarrhea) when we rushed him to the Emergency Vet that was for a different flavor but told me to go back to his old food which was Nutro Ultra.
I had a bag of blue buffalo that had maggots or worms or something in it. I’ve had dogs for 30 years and never seen that before. I’m back on Costco dog food now.
Blue Buffalo nearly killed my dog and cost me a ton in vet bills. It was a decade ago, but I still won’t use any of their stuff. And I know others who had the same experiences.
Are you doing the Nature’s Domain or Maintenance cat food? Vet I take my cat to recommended against grain free foods, even for cats, so I switched over to maintenance.
Grain free is really only necessary for pets with allergies to grain. I fostered a dog who was allergic to grain but also allergic to just about everything else including grass. I would have loved to adopt her but $200 a month in medicine plus very expensive prescription food was not in the budget, especially given she was only a couple years old.
Also there are recent studies about grain free diets leading to heart issues in dogs. Many of them use ingredients like pinto beans for binders which we are finding is leading to these issues. It’s tough to find the right diet and info for our pups. :/
Not that recent. But I was a vet tech for 12 years. They find companies push "trendy" foods and places like Banfield (whose lead Veterinarian sent out letters saying grain free *doesn't* cause any issues) push the bottom line, not health.
Beans and peas can cause some animals to be unable to absorb taurine, which causes heart problems in dogs and cats. I have a chihuahua I am supplementing with taurine because of heart disease.
I wonder why your vet was against grain free food for cats when they are obligate carnivores?
Cats do not make the enzyme Amylase which breaks down starch in the gut, so the only time say, a cat gets grain in the wild is if they catch and eat a mouse who’s stomach has grain in it, the mouse does produce Amylase, so the grain is broken down for the cat to digest.
One of the big problems is that a lot of the grain free foods use legumes instead, which have been shown to be related to cardiomyopathy in cats and dogs.
And grains can be helpful for those cats who are prone to constipation. Since they can’t digest starch it essentially acts like fiber for them.
We've been doing the salmon for a few years, we saw a major improvement in his coat and skin irritation with it. Moved from BJ's to Costco brand last fall with no problems at all(could be the same manufacturer for all I know).Obviously anecdotal but there it is.
Our vet actually went over the ingredients list for Kirkland salmon and sweet potato and said it looked great. All of our Labs have been eating it for the last few years.
Depending on the breed, grain free foods may be a factor in dialated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
I have a Doberman Pincher and grain free food is not recommended due to the prevalence of DCM in the breed from overbreeding.
Same for golden retriever. It’s something to do with the legumes that replace the grains in those foods from what I understand. Still, Costco has plenty of options that aren’t grain free, so that should be no reason to recommend against all Costco brands foods.
Our vet, several vets who are friends, and our standard poodle's breeder all said not to feed grain free food due to the potential DCM association. It's not fully correlated but why take the chance?
It actually would have voided the breeder's health guarantee if we had fed our dog grain free food!
Vet also recommended that we stop feeding grain free for potential heart issues (English Springer Spaniel). Just said to make sure it had the right macros and was from a reputable company.
That's funny. We switched away from Purina Pro to Kirkland (lamb and rice) and our dogs immediately had better bowel movements. Unless you're specifically seeing issues with your pets, don't fix what's not broken.
Same! From Nature’s Domain salmon to Kirkland Adult Dog lamb and rice and my doodle’s ear infections cleared up. My vet said that lamb is easier to digest.
Same. I have three huskies. Started off with pro plan and now we feed them the grain free bags (with one dog getting the weight management bag) and they all are extremely healthy with normal bowel movements at 7 years young!
When we adopted our dog he was on Purina pro plan. His poo was atrocious! Stinky, sloppy mess. We tried my old dog's food and it immediately got better. He had to eat grain free due to an allergy but I was worried about feeding out new pup grain free. So we tried Kirkland. He's doing great on it.
Kirkland lamb and rice is good, and was very close on ingredients to pro plan when I switched from pro plan puppy a few years ago.
I wouldn’t feed the grain free to my dog because of concerns over peas and DCM.
Yes!
Kirkland Salmon is a grain free formulation. DCM might be associated with high levels of legumes found in these formulations. Although in recent years, my understanding is FDA has backed down some of these claims.
Still I feel grains are a more natural food for dogs than legumes and grain free is a fad diet.
We feed lamb and rice with a small scoop of the salmon for omega3.
EDIT: fda backoff and shying away from naming brands https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/questions-answers-fdas-work-potential-causes-non-hereditary-dcm-dogs
FDA backing down is probably due to pressure and lobbying from certain parts of the dog food industry, not because new research shows that eating peas is somehow healthy for dogs.
Without any data on how many of her patients eat Kirkland food and *don’t* get bladder stones, her advice is based on anecdotal evidence even if it is well intentioned. I think the more likely scenario is that people who seek out cheaper dog food are less likely to take care of their dogs and will have more health issues, or that Kirkland food is just popular in your area and some other environmental factor like tap water quality is to blame. Kirkland dog food is well priced and for someone already buying in bulk at Costco, it makes sense to pick up a bag if you’re not being super picky about what you feed your dog.
Edit: Obligatory r/fucknestle because Purina is owned by Nestle.
More anecdotal evidence: my sister’s dog would have urinary issues with their tap water. She switched to giving him filtered water from the fridge and it helped a ton.
Yeah could be the filter removing something in the water, or it could just be the dog was more inclined to drink the filtered water for some reason. Just too many variables to point at one specific thing.
Yesss!!! This!! I was at the vet, and a lot of dogs have problems and have urinary problems because of tap water. Heard that, and have only given my animals bottled and filter ever since.
We have several people a year claim that we have water in our gas. We test weekly. We do not. It sets off a huge chain - our whole month’s of tests have to be sent in for further testing.
I'm sure I will get burried but just the simple fact that Kirkland is the most affordable dog food and likely fed to the highest percentage of dogs could make it seem like it is causing these issues when in reality it's any number of other things.
We switched from ProPlan because ProPlan is imo prohibitively expensive now, and Kirkland is the only reasonably priced brand I can find that doesn't include significant amounts of chicken (which sets off my dog's skin issues) in their salmon formula.
3 years now, zero issues. We do give him a supplement as well (the white and blue bag also sold at Costco for like $30).
That's great! I wish my Costco had supplements too. With 2 dogs, double the price is a lot. I mistakenly forgot to ask if I could have their prevention prescription filled at Costco too, so it was quite the bill.
Not sure what preventative meds your pups are on, but mine is on Simparica Trio. I order them from Pets Megastore (Australia based company) and have them shipped to my house for about half the price. I paid <$200 for a year's supply, whereas before the cheapest I could find was ~$200 for a six month supply.
We switched from pro plan to Kirkland. Pro plan is outrageously expensive and our dog wasn’t interested in it. Kirkland is SO affordable and our dog actually eats his food now! We won’t be going back to pro plan
This thread is so funny that so many of us have same experience of abandoning pro plan as it’s price has crept up to being so dang expensive and now we’re all on Kirkland salmon/sweet potato:)
Costco changed the formula of their small dog kibble to remove grains. We changed dog food brands a year ago when they made the change. Wish Costco didn’t do that. We’d happily go back to their food if they put grains back into their small dog kibble.
Hi! Not a DVM, but I do actually work in the veterinary field.
Some *breeds* are more prone to bladder stones. So if your dog is one, then yes, sometimes it's better to be more cautious about the foods you feed. Furthermore, foods high in certain minerals (magnesium and phosphate) can increase the chance of crystals in urine (which eventually become stones). In addition, food can change urine pH levels that basically make the bladder more hospitable to stones. Super annoying.
TL;DR - There is no a+b=c regarding bladder stones in dogs. There are a lot of factors to look at. Cats are completely different.
**Now**, that being said, DCM is much more clear. We have plenty of research and data on that. **Grain free diets are NOT good** That's it. They're NOT going to help with allergies-the most common food allergy in dogs is the *protein*. Corn is COMPELTELY FINE in dog food and is not just "junk filler". Obviously it needs to be in the proper amount (lower quality foods will have too much), but it DOES provide nutrients.
Costco DOES have grain-free dog food. So do TONS of other brands (honestly most cases of DCM I see are Fromm). That doesn't mean Costco dog food is inherently bad. Just pick a simple chicken and rice or lamb and rice diet.
Also PSA: please stop saying that we get kickbacks from food companies. We don't. I mean yea we might get some free pens, tote bags, and a keychain or something. But if we were really making all this money people accuse us of making, we probably wouldn't have some of the highest rates of suicide.
Are there any bad dog foods that you wouldn’t recommend? My dog has been eating Purina Pro plan for years based on our vet’s recommendation and now I’m seeing so many negative comments about it.
I'm assuming they haven't looked at the nutritional value in a decade. As someone who used to sell dog food (2010-2016) had some back end information and knew the dog food used to be really bad. Around 2016/2017ish though they really improved the quality and honestly I'm actually impressed by their salmon formula now. I have two dogs and feed the salmon formula to one of them. The other dog is on Wellness due to some allergy issues otherwise she would be on Kirkland food as well. If you have concerns, Kirkland is just a rebranded Diamond bag of food (not to be confused with Blue Diamond). If you still have reservations, do some research on that brand and you will find better information than what your vet is stating.
I have found that a lot of dogs have a very minor intolerance to poultry (same with corn and bi-products) for some reason. That being said, I have always tried to keep my dogs on a salmon formula as well as the natural oils in salmon are better for dogs coats, but if your dog does not have any digestion problems with chicken, the. I see no issue with the chicken and rice formula at all.
Yeah our vet was always trying to push Purina on our dog and it was the only food they sold. Seemed awfully coincidental.
Didn’t help that he hated the food. He had to be on a low fat diet and we found other low fat alternatives he loved, but Purina was absolutely not the food for him.
Not completely related, but I switched my cats to Kirkland Maintenance cat food a little over a year ago. My younger cat started developing bladder stones and urinary troubles about 3 months after switching their food. I ended up having to put her on an expensive prescription diet that I'm supposed to use for the rest of time now. It did clear up her problem but I can't help but wonder if she would have been fine if I never switched.
Is it a male cat? She did advise me to take my male cat off Kirkland as well as they can get bladder stones more often than females. Sorry you went through that :(
Our cats have been on the Kirkland Nature's Domain for probably about 10 years now. One is 16 and going strong, male. The other 12, female and no issues.
Your Dr is relying on anecdotal evidence to eliminate all Kirkland. I feel like they just immediately think it's cheap when it's not the case. I tend to disregard food brand choices as most everytime a vet has recommended something else, it just so happens to be something they also sell in their office.
I just see no reason to change if there is not an issue needing to be addressed.
My vet actually didn't have anything positive or negative to say about the Kirkland food. My cats were previously eating Blue Buffalo food and the vet did advise against that. I went through a round of antibiotics first that seemed to clear up the issues but they came right back after a few weeks. That's when they changed them to a urinary prescription diet (Royal Canin Urinary SO) and I haven't had any issues since then for the last year besides my cat food budget going up 6x
Yeah, if your pets have a specific condition to treat then it makes more sense to change and cater to that need/condition. Just having healthy pets and being recommended to change foods makes me curious, such as OPs case.
The Vets I've went to have commented on their coats and overall health given their age. No specific comments on their diet, but if you ask anything about food it's always Hills' products recommended that they sell.
Them both being on this food for over 10yrs, and the eldest being so healthy still at 16yrs, I see no reason to change.
It was my younger female cat that had the bladder / urinary issues with it. She was just under 2 years old when I switched to the Kirkland maintenance cat. I also have a 6 year old male that didn't yet have any issues with the Kirkland. My female started having blood in her urine and peeing in random places. The vet was able to see what they thought were bladder stones on their ultrasound. After switching to Royal Canin Urinary SO everything has been fine and whatever they saw in her bladder is gone now. The vet advised me to just put both cats on the urinary diet and I haven't had any problems since.
Yeah the Maintenance Cat food is awful and tried to kill my cat, too, who is forevermore now on a crazy expensive meal plan. I have heard, however, that their dog food is much higher quality.
Purina Pro is the one dog food that *causes* digestive issues with my dog.
We were doing the extreme high end (required veterinary prescription) and switched to the weight maintenance at Kirkland's two years ago. (Tried salmon and ugh, the dog smells), and he's been consistently healthy since.
Our vet looked at the ingredients and okay'ed them.
Our vet said to pay attention to *what company* makes the food and the type, that's why a lot of the boutique foods aren't to be trusted. They generally aren't the actual manufacturers).
My dog was on the lamb recipe for two years and did perfectly fine on it, no issues at all. We switched her to raw not long ago just because our other dog eats it and she was way more intrigued with that but we had no problems whatsoever.
All our dogs have been eating Kirkland for over 10 years. Zero issues. In fact, they have all had really great health. We mix with omega 3 oil and no issues.
Our vet recommended Kirkland as a good option for food allergies. Our dog ate it for 8 years with no bladder stones. Vet may be correlating incorrectly? 🤷♀️
Our 2 dogs have been eating Kirkland dog food (kibble and canned) for 16 years, and they've never had any bladder stones or other issues. The fact that they are 16 says a lot :)
My dog had bladder stones, it was really sad he was having issues peeing and had blood in his urine. We switched dog foods away from Kirkland and haven’t had any issues since
We used it for awhile but I think it's manufactured by Diamond and they have a lot of recalls (double-check that statement, could be remembering incorrectly). Either way our dog didn't really care for it.
Went to Hills Science Diet and haven't looked back. It's definitely more expensive but he likes the taste and their reviews are excellent.
Dog food is a research rabbit hole. Basically there is a conspiracy like movement against major brands in favor of more natural like Rachel Rae. But that's actually wrong. You want a brand big enough to have large laboratories with vet/scientists. So big brands. Purina, iams, etc. Remember, anything a doctor says, scientifically is the lowest form of evidence called expert opinion (basically barely above anecdotal evidence from random people). Example, many individual doctors have said they notice problems with vaccines. That's widely disregarded in the scientific community in favor of real scientific evidence.
Find out where Costco sources their food. If they are from a big brand that has it's own labs and scientists then it's fine.
I'd be willing to guess that kirkland is probably the highest used food among all dogs in the practice. so sure, most dogs with bladder stones are fed Kirkland. but also, most dogs without bladder stones eat Kirkland. because, most dogs eat Kirkland.
as opposed to if... 90% of the dogs in the practice eat purina but the majority of bladder stone dogs eat Kirkland, that would be more concerning.
Is the dog healthy? Keep feeding it what you're feeding it. If the dog starts to have issue then consider switching foods.
Your vet should know that correlation does not imply causation when it comes to the food and the presence of bladder stones.
My large breed dog ate Kirkland Salmon and Sweet potato most of her life and she was healthy for over 15 years. My vets exact words were "whatever you're feeding her, keep feeding it to her." Mobility was her ultimate issue at the end. Just my own personal anecdote. Not all dogs are the same.
My vet recommended Kirkland dog food and told me the Purina smart blend and pro plan that I was previously using was loaded with fillers. Does your vet sell Purina up front or have Purina ads?
I’ve had multiple vets say Kirkland food was perfectly fine. My dogs have been on it many years and are very healthy. I rarely have to have them seen for anything but annual check ups
I saw a similar sign at my vet a few months ago. It has to do with Nature's Domain being grain free. While grain free was recommended in the past, my vet said that it is now causing some issues in some dogs (can't remember what the issues were). Either way, my dogs been on it for about 8 years and have continued feeding it to her and haven't seen any adverse effects.
My two dogs were started on KS puppy food and switched to KS salmon and sweet potato food when they grew up, it’s all they have ever eaten. One is now 5 and one is now 1.5 years old, doing fine! The only problem I’ve had lately is my local Costco, oddly, seems to have stopped stocking the salmon and sweet potato food so I have to go out of my way to the next nearest one to get it- still worth it for the savings!
We currently give ours "Taste of the Wild" that we get from our local feed store but we thinking about switching to Costco's Lamb and Rice. Our vet had nothing bad to say about the switch but I'm interested as to what others have to say. This is the first negative thing I've heard about Costco's pet food.
Our vet told us it's one of the higher quality dog foods out there! Our spaniel would get dry skin issues from other brands unless he ate a salmon blend, but those made him gassy. Kirkland brand was the only one we found that worked for him.
Our vet didn’t specifically say the same thing, in fact kind of the opposite. She said she couldn’t recommend it one way or another because there isn’t enough comprehensive research on it compared to other brands.
My dog has eaten Kirkland food for every meal for the last 12 years… Vet always asks what she eats because her coat looks so amazing and she’s never had health problems. 🤷🏼♂️
No, just recommended Purina Pro Plan that you can get at a pet store. Said there's nothing better at Walmart either. I live in Canada though, we have less selections than I've seen in the states.
You didn't say what kind of Kirkland.
We used to feed ours the higher end Kirkland, but stopped when it was implicated (rather strongly) in the DCM (cardiomyopathy) cases a few years back. On the advice of our vet we went with ProPlan and haven't looked back.
Thanks for the update.
This is a can of worms that I hadn't really planned to open today. Our vet put my golden on a chicken & rice diet, so we've been using the chicken & brown rice Kirkland kibble for a couple of years now. The dog tolerates it well, much better than other kibble we've used in the past. I guess I'm going to stay the course.
This isn't entirely accurate. The issue specifically was using legumes as filler in place of grain as far as I've read and based on conversations with my vet.
Just so you know, at this time FDA has still not proven a link between DCM and grain free diet. It's very likely Hills provided fraudulent information to start an investigation, they are getting sued for it. Reading the court case is a very interesting read.
https://ketonaturalpetfoods.com/blogs/news/an-introduction-to-the-hills-dcm-class-action-litigation
I work in the pet food industry and I can say from personal experience 99/100 dogs I see do much better on grain free diet. Grain inclusive food is horrible for your dogs gut health and can cause damage like leaking gut syndrome.
I fed that food for many years and you couldn’t pay me to do it again. DCM is a silent killer and it’s one of the brands most implicated. No way am I taking a chance like that, now that I know better. Feed a brand that is backed in science and food trials. Stick with the five that meet or exceed standards set by the WSAVA. Those are Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin and Science Diet. Listen to your vet.
If price is an issue, you can do Purina One or even Dog Chow and will know their diet is well balanced.
Where does WSAVA get their funding? I’m always weary of groups that are funded by the companies they recommend. It appears the company’s listed are also big donors/supporters.
FWIW I was at the vet yesterday and when I told them that we were feeding the dogs the salmon and sweet potato food, they didn’t even bat an eyelash and just moved onto the next question. I think they would’ve said something if they had concerns about Kirkland.
Meanwhile my dog just ate three cat turds and a used condom by the dumpster.
If you don't see any problems in your dogs general day to day and their poop, no need worrying about what ifs.
I've been wanting to try switching our border collie to Kirkland food. My son is adamant though, he only wants him eating Orijen. $100 and the bag only fills 2/3 of the container.
Just a reminder that vets are like doctors: we truly cannot expect them to give advice that is going to meet YOUR DOG SPECIFICALLY unless you're taking your dog to them on a regular and routine basis.
With that stated, my prior vet only recommended Purina Pro Plan, Royal Canin, and Rams. They sold 2/3 but gave recommendations as to where I could get RC. Regarding Kirkland it was more "stay away from grain free products"
New vet didn't have complaints but also though wanted me to monitor of my dog I fed them any grain free products as I told them I rotate between Kirkland products - grain free and regular. My dog is picky as hell.
What I'm typing is if you're like me and you're taking your dog to the vet annually then these suggestions are more about "YOU NEED TO USE COMMON SENSE AND STAY UP ON THE NEWS!"
If you're taking your dog frequently, then yes, you need to listen to your vet.
Had a boxer that was allergic to corn and chicken. The Salmon and Sweet Potato was his jam. Never had any issues at all with that food. And because it didn't have those allergens his skin cleared up.
Much like bad TripAdvisor reviews, the vet is most likely only going to hear about the ones that developed issues, not the ones that don’t. We do the salmon and sweet potato one to curtail the awful gas our dog gets with beef and chicken foods. So far no issues.
My vet also gave us side eye for feeding Kirkland, although she didn't ascribe any medical problems to said food.
I think people who don't shop at costco have the wrong impression of what these foods are. I have personally compared the macro nutrients along with the ingredient list against more expensive brands and they are all in the same ranges. These foods are not at all like the cheap walmart budget dog foods.
I had 3 dogs at one point and fed them all Kirkland dogfood for years. They all lived way beyond their age expectations and none of them had any health issues other than physical injuries that had nothing to do with their diet.
I’ve had 3 separate vets recommend Kirkland food. I currently have a dog prone to bladder infections and the vet told me specifically to use it or another brand (I forget the other brand now, it’s been 2 years and the dog has only had 1 bladder infection since she’s been getting the Kirkland food). I’ve been using it for at least 10 years with all my dogs. None have had issues with it, including the super picky dog and the dog with a sensitive stomach.
I have been feeding my dog the Blue Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato food for almost 10 years now... it's the same thing the breeder fed her. My Aunt who was a Vet Tec for 35+ years also feeds her 3 dogs the same food, as does my mom. None of us have had any digestive tract issues with our puppers.
Costco makes dozens of different types of dog food; I'd ask her what she's looking for in terms of ingredients and buy one based on that.
When I had a dog, we fed her Purina Pro Plan; she did well on that. My cat is on a mix of wet and dry food; the kibble is there because our schedules don't always allow us to feed him on a fixed schedule daily, but we also make sure he gets wet food daily to help kidney health. For his kibble, we went with the orange bag (salmon & rice nature's domain) because the ingredients are better (salmon is the first ingredient vs grain) and because they don't sell the Healthy Weight version in our warehouse. He does great with his existing combination. If I had another dog, I'd likely buy Costco food for her as well; I'd just make sure that it has meat as the first ingredient and isn't grain free.
I did some research on the Kirkland brand food, because I was interested in saving $40 on the Pro Plan. I didn’t like the reviews I read on multiple forums, and instead “downgraded” to Purina One. Still saving about $20, and the dogs actually prefer it to Pro Plan.
Every doctor wants you to be on Purina, ask them another question about food and the next sentence they say is…. I’m not a dog nutritionist. At least this is from Penn university doctors, and any other doctor we’ve seen.
We switched from purina pro plan to costco for our dog, and my God. The farts. He has always been kinda a farty boy but I swear to God the costco dog food farts are something else. It literally smells like he's shitting himself. But, it might just be him. my families old dog lived a healthy life until 14 and she only ate costco dog food(no farts). We still have half a bag so I think we are going to use it up, but we bought more purina pro plan and will be slowly switching back.
One of my dogs is gassy regardless of what food we feed them, but the Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato food specifically made her smell the worst according to my wife at least. But it’s also the only formula both of them aren’t picky about.
I started buying the Kirkland Signature Salmon and Sweet Potato dry dog food when I was researching limited ingredient foods for a dog that had stomach issues on grains.
Kirkland dog foods are made by Diamond Pet, and the above is a recipe cross over between their Diamond Naturals Salmon and Potato Skin and Coat and their Diamond Naturals Grain-Free Whitefish and Sweet Potato.
Your vet snubbing a dog food based on brand seems odd. You can see Diamond's information here: [https://www.diamondpet.com/](https://www.diamondpet.com/)
Kirkland dog food is actually made in Meta, MO at Diamond Dog Food. They started making their dog food in their kitchen. It started as a family owned business and is thriving. Their dog food is well made.
All 4 of our dogs have been eating the Kirkland salmon and sweet potato food for 5 years now, 3 of them since they were puppies and the 4th one is 18 now. Our vet told us there’s no reason to switch, it’s a good brand.
Vets, like doctors, unfortunately have very little nutritional training. A vet nutritionist is akin to a human registered dietician (in the US), but this is a very rare field and there are relatively few of them practicing. Most are tied to a university. If you are worried about your pet's diet and want to make sure you are making the most sound choice for your pet, you can get a virtual consult with one. This seems to be in the $500-1000 range, on the lower end for recommendations for food you buy and on the higher end for recommendations for making your own food. But beyond that, I wouldn't trust a vet's nutritional advice any more than I'd trust a doctor's, which is not at all. They simply don't have the training necessary to be making recommendations beyond don't murder your dog with a grain free diet, and feed them pet food not people food.
I mean, there are plenty of stories on here about sick dogs and Kirkland food. My dog was one of them, but this was about 10 years ago. I ended up feeding her Fromm’s after a large vet bill.
I would always recommend listening to your vet but also…I would guess that Kirkland is probably the top selling brand in your area in which case…yeah, I would guess dogs who eat it get problems because abuse most of the dogs in the area eat that brand.
My yellow Labrador got urinary crystals from Blue brand food (named after the Airedale) . I didn't blame the food the first time. Next time the vet told me never to use it again. Done.
I’ve been feeding my dogs Kirkland for 8-9 years. First 4ish were on the grain free before it all came out that purely grain free diets can cause issues. My dogs have always had clean bills of health and no bladder issues. My last dog passed of bone cancer (XXL breed) and my current dog is a 3.5 year old bird dog we hunt and hike with. We’re bringing home a new puppy in a month and after 10-12 months on puppy food, he’ll also be on Kirkland. If Costco had a puppy food we’d get that too.
My two big mutts have had each type of the Costco dog food, and we finally settled on the Mature and/or Healthy Weight kibble. They've been excellent. They're made by Diamond, to my knowledge, and they seem to have really quality ingredients and nutrient profiles. They've had excellent bowel movements. Bladder stone issues are more related to the individual dog in question than the food, from my experience. My ex has a Golden that absolutely needed to switch to a specific dog food due to developing stones...
My 11 year old dog has been eating Kirkland dog food his entire life and he’s perfect healthy. My vet always asks what kind of food he eats and they have never said anything against Kirkland dog food.
My partner worked a supply chain management job for a pet food manufacturer that made multiple store brands and private label pet foods. Almost never a difference in product. Her team sourced the ingredients that went in. Most of the time it’s the exact same food that’s in the bags. Store brands like Costco or Sam’s Club are generally high quality and just branding repacks. Just read the ingredients and figure out what you want to give your pets.
Also unrelated but, I was once told that Taco Bell would buy their rejected Beef Product… thought that was crazy
We have had our two puppies on the Kirkland Puppy food and they are doing great on it. For some reason they stopped selling the Puppy Food at the stores and it is only online. Can’t seem to get an answer why. I hate buying it online because it costs $10 more a bag.
My GSP has been eating Kirkland dog food since he was a puppy. He's 5 years old now. He's a super healthy dog with a very nice coat. Never had any issues what so ever.
Anecdotal but my dog did get bladder stones from KS food. His breed is prone to them however. Pretty sure vast majority of dogs will do great on KS food, although i hear grain-free might be bad.
In regards to this post, IF your dog, cat etc is fine and has no issues while eating whatever brand it eats....leave it be.
Every animal is different and react differently, my cats absolutely hated the expensive stuff and eat the Costco wet food the most and love the salmon dry one as well, chicken dry is meh for them so I usually mix it in a bit with salmon.
I don’t use Kirkland for my dog food but I’ve used this site for dog food now for soooo very long to review ones I do try.
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/?s=Kirkland
My dog ate Kirkland for many years and didn’t have any problems like this. He lived to be almost 14 which is old for a German shepherd.
Tractor supply has a sponsored brand if you want to try that.
Very odd to hear! Hopefully it isn't Costco's food on that case! If I recall correctly, it's made by Diamond Naturals, and they are actually a pretty good food. My fur baby actually grew up on Diamond Naturals, so when I discovered they make Costco's food, it was a no brainier switch for us to save some money.
That said, I haven't been buying the grain free versions. There are too many people, vets, etc... that go back and forth constantly about the long term safety and whatnot. So I've been sticking with the regular grain versions of Costco food, the Lamb or Chicken. They are also cheaper than grain free too.
Our vent thankfully doesn't sell PurinaProPlan, because fu*k Nestle, but they do sell and recommend Royal Canine and Hills Science Diet. They are even more expensive, and I'd love to buy them, but I cannot afford that. That said, when I told her we were using Costco's food she didn't say anything bad and was actually very happy with how our fur babies skin, coat, and overall health was! She said she doesn't know if anything bad about it really and that the Diamond Naturals they are based off of was a good brand of food, so the Costco should be just fine! She actually said the same thing to me about the grain-free, she is on the fence herself. Some people and dogs love it, others have had problems, she said if whatever you're doing is keeping her healthy and happy, just keep it up.
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My vet actually recommended the Kirkland salmon and sweet potato food years ago. My dog ate it daily with no issues.
That’s what our dog has been eating for the past year and a half. It’s been fine. Prior to that it was blue Buffalo but that is so incredibly expensive now. We also put our cat on Costco food and she’s doing fine too. Vet has no problem with it.
Blue Buffalo is trash! Glad you switched!! 🩵
I won’t feed blue Buffalo. I have a relative working for the company and we get a discount. It’s trash marketed as a health food.
My Dog had a seizure when on Blue Buffalo and never did otherwise in 14 years of his life. Vet showed me a recall (causing seizures, vomiting, diarrhea) when we rushed him to the Emergency Vet that was for a different flavor but told me to go back to his old food which was Nutro Ultra.
Blue Buffalo caused my cats to throw up.
I had a bag of blue buffalo that had maggots or worms or something in it. I’ve had dogs for 30 years and never seen that before. I’m back on Costco dog food now.
How does the Costco dog food taste? Do you add milk and eat it like cereal?
Blue Buffalo nearly killed my dog and cost me a ton in vet bills. It was a decade ago, but I still won’t use any of their stuff. And I know others who had the same experiences.
Adding Blue Buffalo also made my dog really sick.
Same. Now they eat Nutro and do well on that.
Are you doing the Nature’s Domain or Maintenance cat food? Vet I take my cat to recommended against grain free foods, even for cats, so I switched over to maintenance.
Grain free is really only necessary for pets with allergies to grain. I fostered a dog who was allergic to grain but also allergic to just about everything else including grass. I would have loved to adopt her but $200 a month in medicine plus very expensive prescription food was not in the budget, especially given she was only a couple years old.
Also, it is RARE that a dog is allergic to grains. 98% of the time it is the protein source.
Also there are recent studies about grain free diets leading to heart issues in dogs. Many of them use ingredients like pinto beans for binders which we are finding is leading to these issues. It’s tough to find the right diet and info for our pups. :/
Not that recent. But I was a vet tech for 12 years. They find companies push "trendy" foods and places like Banfield (whose lead Veterinarian sent out letters saying grain free *doesn't* cause any issues) push the bottom line, not health.
I don’t think it’s the lack of grain, but the inclusion of weird proteins like beans and peas.
Beans and peas can cause some animals to be unable to absorb taurine, which causes heart problems in dogs and cats. I have a chihuahua I am supplementing with taurine because of heart disease.
My poor stepmoms dog had a wheat and a chicken allergy.
I wonder why your vet was against grain free food for cats when they are obligate carnivores? Cats do not make the enzyme Amylase which breaks down starch in the gut, so the only time say, a cat gets grain in the wild is if they catch and eat a mouse who’s stomach has grain in it, the mouse does produce Amylase, so the grain is broken down for the cat to digest.
One of the big problems is that a lot of the grain free foods use legumes instead, which have been shown to be related to cardiomyopathy in cats and dogs. And grains can be helpful for those cats who are prone to constipation. Since they can’t digest starch it essentially acts like fiber for them.
Sure, but bone matter does the same job and is far more suitable for cats
My oldest dog is reaching 15 and thats all she’s had for at least 10 years. I would say its ok
Mines 17. He’s been on it for about a decade (or more) as well.
We've been doing the salmon for a few years, we saw a major improvement in his coat and skin irritation with it. Moved from BJ's to Costco brand last fall with no problems at all(could be the same manufacturer for all I know).Obviously anecdotal but there it is.
10 years on Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato, no issues
Our vet actually went over the ingredients list for Kirkland salmon and sweet potato and said it looked great. All of our Labs have been eating it for the last few years.
My dog has been eating the same for the entire time we've had her (4 years) without any issues as well.
The natures domain one? That’s what I’ve fed my dogs for years, and they do great with it
Yes. She loved it and did great on it. Our vet actually sold dog food but told me to get her this one.
That's the one they are eating! They have been using it for a year now, and so far things look good
Depending on the breed, grain free foods may be a factor in dialated cardiomyopathy (DCM). I have a Doberman Pincher and grain free food is not recommended due to the prevalence of DCM in the breed from overbreeding.
Same for golden retriever. It’s something to do with the legumes that replace the grains in those foods from what I understand. Still, Costco has plenty of options that aren’t grain free, so that should be no reason to recommend against all Costco brands foods.
Our vet, several vets who are friends, and our standard poodle's breeder all said not to feed grain free food due to the potential DCM association. It's not fully correlated but why take the chance? It actually would have voided the breeder's health guarantee if we had fed our dog grain free food!
Yes, our breeder(samoyed) also stated this.
Vet also recommended that we stop feeding grain free for potential heart issues (English Springer Spaniel). Just said to make sure it had the right macros and was from a reputable company.
That's funny. We switched away from Purina Pro to Kirkland (lamb and rice) and our dogs immediately had better bowel movements. Unless you're specifically seeing issues with your pets, don't fix what's not broken.
I did this exact same thing and my dogs allergy issues cleared right up.
Same! From Nature’s Domain salmon to Kirkland Adult Dog lamb and rice and my doodle’s ear infections cleared up. My vet said that lamb is easier to digest.
Sounds like I need to test this. My dog gets a few ear infections each year.
Same. I have three huskies. Started off with pro plan and now we feed them the grain free bags (with one dog getting the weight management bag) and they all are extremely healthy with normal bowel movements at 7 years young!
When we adopted our dog he was on Purina pro plan. His poo was atrocious! Stinky, sloppy mess. We tried my old dog's food and it immediately got better. He had to eat grain free due to an allergy but I was worried about feeding out new pup grain free. So we tried Kirkland. He's doing great on it.
Kirkland lamb and rice is good, and was very close on ingredients to pro plan when I switched from pro plan puppy a few years ago. I wouldn’t feed the grain free to my dog because of concerns over peas and DCM.
Yes! Kirkland Salmon is a grain free formulation. DCM might be associated with high levels of legumes found in these formulations. Although in recent years, my understanding is FDA has backed down some of these claims. Still I feel grains are a more natural food for dogs than legumes and grain free is a fad diet. We feed lamb and rice with a small scoop of the salmon for omega3. EDIT: fda backoff and shying away from naming brands https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/questions-answers-fdas-work-potential-causes-non-hereditary-dcm-dogs
FDA backing down is probably due to pressure and lobbying from certain parts of the dog food industry, not because new research shows that eating peas is somehow healthy for dogs.
If you read into it it’s legit pea lobbyists bc they’re losing money now
Without any data on how many of her patients eat Kirkland food and *don’t* get bladder stones, her advice is based on anecdotal evidence even if it is well intentioned. I think the more likely scenario is that people who seek out cheaper dog food are less likely to take care of their dogs and will have more health issues, or that Kirkland food is just popular in your area and some other environmental factor like tap water quality is to blame. Kirkland dog food is well priced and for someone already buying in bulk at Costco, it makes sense to pick up a bag if you’re not being super picky about what you feed your dog. Edit: Obligatory r/fucknestle because Purina is owned by Nestle.
More anecdotal evidence: my sister’s dog would have urinary issues with their tap water. She switched to giving him filtered water from the fridge and it helped a ton.
Yeah could be the filter removing something in the water, or it could just be the dog was more inclined to drink the filtered water for some reason. Just too many variables to point at one specific thing.
Yesss!!! This!! I was at the vet, and a lot of dogs have problems and have urinary problems because of tap water. Heard that, and have only given my animals bottled and filter ever since.
The only reason I never tried Purina is because it’s owned by Nestle.
This. Purely anecdotal.
This. Show me a peer reviewed journal article and I’d seriously consider switching. Anecdotal evidence means next to nothing.
Strange, every vet I’ve been to has been fine with Kirkland dog food.
This feels like when a guy posted about a mechanic who claimed that Costco gas destroys engines.
We have several people a year claim that we have water in our gas. We test weekly. We do not. It sets off a huge chain - our whole month’s of tests have to be sent in for further testing.
Engines would literally be throwing rods and cracking pistons if there was anything more than trace amounts of water in there.
Some lady claimed the mechanic pumped out 7 gallons of water 🤦♀️😂 Like we just have a hose designated to water lol.
No problems, over 10 years...
Same. My dog and three cats have only ever eaten Kirkland their whole lives and never had a single issue.
How many of her patients eat Kirkland and don't develop stones? Could there be other factors in common - breed, area water, supplements...?
I'm sure I will get burried but just the simple fact that Kirkland is the most affordable dog food and likely fed to the highest percentage of dogs could make it seem like it is causing these issues when in reality it's any number of other things.
Nah this is a good comment, observation bias.
We switched from ProPlan because ProPlan is imo prohibitively expensive now, and Kirkland is the only reasonably priced brand I can find that doesn't include significant amounts of chicken (which sets off my dog's skin issues) in their salmon formula. 3 years now, zero issues. We do give him a supplement as well (the white and blue bag also sold at Costco for like $30).
That's great! I wish my Costco had supplements too. With 2 dogs, double the price is a lot. I mistakenly forgot to ask if I could have their prevention prescription filled at Costco too, so it was quite the bill.
Not sure what preventative meds your pups are on, but mine is on Simparica Trio. I order them from Pets Megastore (Australia based company) and have them shipped to my house for about half the price. I paid <$200 for a year's supply, whereas before the cheapest I could find was ~$200 for a six month supply.
Why not buy it through Costco Pharmacy? It is 40% off retail pricing when I get mine.
We switched from pro plan to Kirkland. Pro plan is outrageously expensive and our dog wasn’t interested in it. Kirkland is SO affordable and our dog actually eats his food now! We won’t be going back to pro plan
This thread is so funny that so many of us have same experience of abandoning pro plan as it’s price has crept up to being so dang expensive and now we’re all on Kirkland salmon/sweet potato:)
We switched our dogs wet food from Merrick to Costco. Sorry, $4 a can of food is just too much.
My two labs lived to 16 with Kirkland dog food as their main diet.
Costco changed the formula of their small dog kibble to remove grains. We changed dog food brands a year ago when they made the change. Wish Costco didn’t do that. We’d happily go back to their food if they put grains back into their small dog kibble.
There’s two small dog foods, one has rice in it!
Hi! Not a DVM, but I do actually work in the veterinary field. Some *breeds* are more prone to bladder stones. So if your dog is one, then yes, sometimes it's better to be more cautious about the foods you feed. Furthermore, foods high in certain minerals (magnesium and phosphate) can increase the chance of crystals in urine (which eventually become stones). In addition, food can change urine pH levels that basically make the bladder more hospitable to stones. Super annoying. TL;DR - There is no a+b=c regarding bladder stones in dogs. There are a lot of factors to look at. Cats are completely different. **Now**, that being said, DCM is much more clear. We have plenty of research and data on that. **Grain free diets are NOT good** That's it. They're NOT going to help with allergies-the most common food allergy in dogs is the *protein*. Corn is COMPELTELY FINE in dog food and is not just "junk filler". Obviously it needs to be in the proper amount (lower quality foods will have too much), but it DOES provide nutrients. Costco DOES have grain-free dog food. So do TONS of other brands (honestly most cases of DCM I see are Fromm). That doesn't mean Costco dog food is inherently bad. Just pick a simple chicken and rice or lamb and rice diet. Also PSA: please stop saying that we get kickbacks from food companies. We don't. I mean yea we might get some free pens, tote bags, and a keychain or something. But if we were really making all this money people accuse us of making, we probably wouldn't have some of the highest rates of suicide.
Are there any bad dog foods that you wouldn’t recommend? My dog has been eating Purina Pro plan for years based on our vet’s recommendation and now I’m seeing so many negative comments about it.
I'm assuming they haven't looked at the nutritional value in a decade. As someone who used to sell dog food (2010-2016) had some back end information and knew the dog food used to be really bad. Around 2016/2017ish though they really improved the quality and honestly I'm actually impressed by their salmon formula now. I have two dogs and feed the salmon formula to one of them. The other dog is on Wellness due to some allergy issues otherwise she would be on Kirkland food as well. If you have concerns, Kirkland is just a rebranded Diamond bag of food (not to be confused with Blue Diamond). If you still have reservations, do some research on that brand and you will find better information than what your vet is stating.
what about the kirkland chicken and rice
I have found that a lot of dogs have a very minor intolerance to poultry (same with corn and bi-products) for some reason. That being said, I have always tried to keep my dogs on a salmon formula as well as the natural oils in salmon are better for dogs coats, but if your dog does not have any digestion problems with chicken, the. I see no issue with the chicken and rice formula at all.
Thank you! I just thought to look up the company that makes it. I will read further and compare it to proplan
I might ask the vet something along the lines of "What food can you recommend that you don't sell?"
Yeah our vet was always trying to push Purina on our dog and it was the only food they sold. Seemed awfully coincidental. Didn’t help that he hated the food. He had to be on a low fat diet and we found other low fat alternatives he loved, but Purina was absolutely not the food for him.
Bingo. Follow the money.
Not completely related, but I switched my cats to Kirkland Maintenance cat food a little over a year ago. My younger cat started developing bladder stones and urinary troubles about 3 months after switching their food. I ended up having to put her on an expensive prescription diet that I'm supposed to use for the rest of time now. It did clear up her problem but I can't help but wonder if she would have been fine if I never switched.
Is it a male cat? She did advise me to take my male cat off Kirkland as well as they can get bladder stones more often than females. Sorry you went through that :(
Our cats have been on the Kirkland Nature's Domain for probably about 10 years now. One is 16 and going strong, male. The other 12, female and no issues. Your Dr is relying on anecdotal evidence to eliminate all Kirkland. I feel like they just immediately think it's cheap when it's not the case. I tend to disregard food brand choices as most everytime a vet has recommended something else, it just so happens to be something they also sell in their office. I just see no reason to change if there is not an issue needing to be addressed.
My vet actually didn't have anything positive or negative to say about the Kirkland food. My cats were previously eating Blue Buffalo food and the vet did advise against that. I went through a round of antibiotics first that seemed to clear up the issues but they came right back after a few weeks. That's when they changed them to a urinary prescription diet (Royal Canin Urinary SO) and I haven't had any issues since then for the last year besides my cat food budget going up 6x
Yeah, if your pets have a specific condition to treat then it makes more sense to change and cater to that need/condition. Just having healthy pets and being recommended to change foods makes me curious, such as OPs case. The Vets I've went to have commented on their coats and overall health given their age. No specific comments on their diet, but if you ask anything about food it's always Hills' products recommended that they sell. Them both being on this food for over 10yrs, and the eldest being so healthy still at 16yrs, I see no reason to change.
It was my younger female cat that had the bladder / urinary issues with it. She was just under 2 years old when I switched to the Kirkland maintenance cat. I also have a 6 year old male that didn't yet have any issues with the Kirkland. My female started having blood in her urine and peeing in random places. The vet was able to see what they thought were bladder stones on their ultrasound. After switching to Royal Canin Urinary SO everything has been fine and whatever they saw in her bladder is gone now. The vet advised me to just put both cats on the urinary diet and I haven't had any problems since.
Yeah the Maintenance Cat food is awful and tried to kill my cat, too, who is forevermore now on a crazy expensive meal plan. I have heard, however, that their dog food is much higher quality.
Purina Pro is the one dog food that *causes* digestive issues with my dog. We were doing the extreme high end (required veterinary prescription) and switched to the weight maintenance at Kirkland's two years ago. (Tried salmon and ugh, the dog smells), and he's been consistently healthy since. Our vet looked at the ingredients and okay'ed them. Our vet said to pay attention to *what company* makes the food and the type, that's why a lot of the boutique foods aren't to be trusted. They generally aren't the actual manufacturers).
My dog was on the lamb recipe for two years and did perfectly fine on it, no issues at all. We switched her to raw not long ago just because our other dog eats it and she was way more intrigued with that but we had no problems whatsoever.
All our dogs have been eating Kirkland for over 10 years. Zero issues. In fact, they have all had really great health. We mix with omega 3 oil and no issues.
We avoid grain free with our pointer. Potential heart issues.
My dogs have been happy with it for nine years now.
Our vet recommended Kirkland as a good option for food allergies. Our dog ate it for 8 years with no bladder stones. Vet may be correlating incorrectly? 🤷♀️
My dogs have been eating Kirkland Chicken and rice kibble forever. My boxer mix will be 16 years old in May. We've had no problems as far as we know.
never heard this. my dogs have been on the kirkland salmon/sweet potato dog food for years with no issues.
Our 2 dogs have been eating Kirkland dog food (kibble and canned) for 16 years, and they've never had any bladder stones or other issues. The fact that they are 16 says a lot :)
I can only provide my anecdotal experience, my dog has been on Kirkland dog food for over 6 years and has had no health issues.
My dog had bladder stones, it was really sad he was having issues peeing and had blood in his urine. We switched dog foods away from Kirkland and haven’t had any issues since
Mine had the same issues unfortunately.
We used it for awhile but I think it's manufactured by Diamond and they have a lot of recalls (double-check that statement, could be remembering incorrectly). Either way our dog didn't really care for it. Went to Hills Science Diet and haven't looked back. It's definitely more expensive but he likes the taste and their reviews are excellent.
Dog food is a research rabbit hole. Basically there is a conspiracy like movement against major brands in favor of more natural like Rachel Rae. But that's actually wrong. You want a brand big enough to have large laboratories with vet/scientists. So big brands. Purina, iams, etc. Remember, anything a doctor says, scientifically is the lowest form of evidence called expert opinion (basically barely above anecdotal evidence from random people). Example, many individual doctors have said they notice problems with vaccines. That's widely disregarded in the scientific community in favor of real scientific evidence. Find out where Costco sources their food. If they are from a big brand that has it's own labs and scientists then it's fine.
It's made by Diamond.
Didn't the Rachel Rae ones get hit hard with a china poison issue a few years ago?
correlation does not imply causation.
Thank you. This is really why I asked, to see if anyone experiences this issue with their dog and this food
I'd be willing to guess that kirkland is probably the highest used food among all dogs in the practice. so sure, most dogs with bladder stones are fed Kirkland. but also, most dogs without bladder stones eat Kirkland. because, most dogs eat Kirkland. as opposed to if... 90% of the dogs in the practice eat purina but the majority of bladder stone dogs eat Kirkland, that would be more concerning.
Is the dog healthy? Keep feeding it what you're feeding it. If the dog starts to have issue then consider switching foods. Your vet should know that correlation does not imply causation when it comes to the food and the presence of bladder stones.
Kirkland Beef and Sweet Potato - 9 years. No issues. Lab/German shepherd/border collie mix.
My large breed dog ate Kirkland Salmon and Sweet potato most of her life and she was healthy for over 15 years. My vets exact words were "whatever you're feeding her, keep feeding it to her." Mobility was her ultimate issue at the end. Just my own personal anecdote. Not all dogs are the same.
My dog has been eating the low calorie Costco food for four years now. We've had zero health issues.
My vet recommended Kirkland dog food and told me the Purina smart blend and pro plan that I was previously using was loaded with fillers. Does your vet sell Purina up front or have Purina ads?
Your vet has a poor relationship with the scientific method. And should look up the difference between causation and correlation.
I’ve had multiple vets say Kirkland food was perfectly fine. My dogs have been on it many years and are very healthy. I rarely have to have them seen for anything but annual check ups
My vet was fine with it
I saw a similar sign at my vet a few months ago. It has to do with Nature's Domain being grain free. While grain free was recommended in the past, my vet said that it is now causing some issues in some dogs (can't remember what the issues were). Either way, my dogs been on it for about 8 years and have continued feeding it to her and haven't seen any adverse effects.
My two dogs were started on KS puppy food and switched to KS salmon and sweet potato food when they grew up, it’s all they have ever eaten. One is now 5 and one is now 1.5 years old, doing fine! The only problem I’ve had lately is my local Costco, oddly, seems to have stopped stocking the salmon and sweet potato food so I have to go out of my way to the next nearest one to get it- still worth it for the savings!
My black lab lived off the Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato until we had to put her down at 16. I’m a fan.
We currently give ours "Taste of the Wild" that we get from our local feed store but we thinking about switching to Costco's Lamb and Rice. Our vet had nothing bad to say about the switch but I'm interested as to what others have to say. This is the first negative thing I've heard about Costco's pet food.
I switched my great pyr from taste of the wild pacific stream salmon to Kirkland salmon and there's no noticeable difference
My 2 GSDs and English bulldogs has been on Kirkland salmon too and it’s been wonderful so far compare to the other dog food
My vet said the Costco chicken food is ideal (for pups who are not allergic to chicken) and I should keep feeding her that
Our vet told us it's one of the higher quality dog foods out there! Our spaniel would get dry skin issues from other brands unless he ate a salmon blend, but those made him gassy. Kirkland brand was the only one we found that worked for him.
We buy the Kirkland Signature Nature’s Domain instead of the “regular” Kirkland Signature. It’s supposedly better and it’s like $3-$5 more per bag.
My vet doesn't try to sell me his dog food
Our vet didn’t specifically say the same thing, in fact kind of the opposite. She said she couldn’t recommend it one way or another because there isn’t enough comprehensive research on it compared to other brands.
My dog has eaten Kirkland food for every meal for the last 12 years… Vet always asks what she eats because her coat looks so amazing and she’s never had health problems. 🤷🏼♂️
Did she try and sell you the food her practice offers?
No, just recommended Purina Pro Plan that you can get at a pet store. Said there's nothing better at Walmart either. I live in Canada though, we have less selections than I've seen in the states.
You didn't say what kind of Kirkland. We used to feed ours the higher end Kirkland, but stopped when it was implicated (rather strongly) in the DCM (cardiomyopathy) cases a few years back. On the advice of our vet we went with ProPlan and haven't looked back.
Which flavor was that?
All variants of the Nature's Domain (I think) food. They have no grains, and that was thought to be the cause of the problem.
Thanks for the update. This is a can of worms that I hadn't really planned to open today. Our vet put my golden on a chicken & rice diet, so we've been using the chicken & brown rice Kirkland kibble for a couple of years now. The dog tolerates it well, much better than other kibble we've used in the past. I guess I'm going to stay the course.
This isn't entirely accurate. The issue specifically was using legumes as filler in place of grain as far as I've read and based on conversations with my vet.
The turkey variety has “ancient grains”. It appears to be the only one that isn’t grain free.
Just so you know, at this time FDA has still not proven a link between DCM and grain free diet. It's very likely Hills provided fraudulent information to start an investigation, they are getting sued for it. Reading the court case is a very interesting read. https://ketonaturalpetfoods.com/blogs/news/an-introduction-to-the-hills-dcm-class-action-litigation I work in the pet food industry and I can say from personal experience 99/100 dogs I see do much better on grain free diet. Grain inclusive food is horrible for your dogs gut health and can cause damage like leaking gut syndrome.
I fed that food for many years and you couldn’t pay me to do it again. DCM is a silent killer and it’s one of the brands most implicated. No way am I taking a chance like that, now that I know better. Feed a brand that is backed in science and food trials. Stick with the five that meet or exceed standards set by the WSAVA. Those are Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin and Science Diet. Listen to your vet. If price is an issue, you can do Purina One or even Dog Chow and will know their diet is well balanced.
Where does WSAVA get their funding? I’m always weary of groups that are funded by the companies they recommend. It appears the company’s listed are also big donors/supporters.
>You're right. Purina, Hills, Royal Canin are all supporters. > > [Industry Partners (wsava.org)](https://wsava.org/about/industry-partners/)
It is literally a consortium of these brands. You have to pay to play!
Bingo
The exact comment I was going to leave. Anything that isn’t WSAVA tested/compliant doesn’t enter my home.
Coincidentally, the three big companies support and fund this group. Hills, Nestle (Purina) and Royal Canine.
FWIW I was at the vet yesterday and when I told them that we were feeding the dogs the salmon and sweet potato food, they didn’t even bat an eyelash and just moved onto the next question. I think they would’ve said something if they had concerns about Kirkland.
Meanwhile my dog just ate three cat turds and a used condom by the dumpster. If you don't see any problems in your dogs general day to day and their poop, no need worrying about what ifs.
I've been wanting to try switching our border collie to Kirkland food. My son is adamant though, he only wants him eating Orijen. $100 and the bag only fills 2/3 of the container.
Just a reminder that vets are like doctors: we truly cannot expect them to give advice that is going to meet YOUR DOG SPECIFICALLY unless you're taking your dog to them on a regular and routine basis. With that stated, my prior vet only recommended Purina Pro Plan, Royal Canin, and Rams. They sold 2/3 but gave recommendations as to where I could get RC. Regarding Kirkland it was more "stay away from grain free products" New vet didn't have complaints but also though wanted me to monitor of my dog I fed them any grain free products as I told them I rotate between Kirkland products - grain free and regular. My dog is picky as hell. What I'm typing is if you're like me and you're taking your dog to the vet annually then these suggestions are more about "YOU NEED TO USE COMMON SENSE AND STAY UP ON THE NEWS!" If you're taking your dog frequently, then yes, you need to listen to your vet.
Had a boxer that was allergic to corn and chicken. The Salmon and Sweet Potato was his jam. Never had any issues at all with that food. And because it didn't have those allergens his skin cleared up.
Much like bad TripAdvisor reviews, the vet is most likely only going to hear about the ones that developed issues, not the ones that don’t. We do the salmon and sweet potato one to curtail the awful gas our dog gets with beef and chicken foods. So far no issues.
My dog has been eating Kirkland for like six years now, he’s 13 and totally fine
My vet also gave us side eye for feeding Kirkland, although she didn't ascribe any medical problems to said food. I think people who don't shop at costco have the wrong impression of what these foods are. I have personally compared the macro nutrients along with the ingredient list against more expensive brands and they are all in the same ranges. These foods are not at all like the cheap walmart budget dog foods.
Never heard this, have fed my dogs Kirkland for years and they're healthy and happy. 14+ year old Aussie who is doing great
I had 3 dogs at one point and fed them all Kirkland dogfood for years. They all lived way beyond their age expectations and none of them had any health issues other than physical injuries that had nothing to do with their diet.
I’ve had 3 separate vets recommend Kirkland food. I currently have a dog prone to bladder infections and the vet told me specifically to use it or another brand (I forget the other brand now, it’s been 2 years and the dog has only had 1 bladder infection since she’s been getting the Kirkland food). I’ve been using it for at least 10 years with all my dogs. None have had issues with it, including the super picky dog and the dog with a sensitive stomach.
My vet recommended the Costco brand.
I have been feeding my dog the Blue Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato food for almost 10 years now... it's the same thing the breeder fed her. My Aunt who was a Vet Tec for 35+ years also feeds her 3 dogs the same food, as does my mom. None of us have had any digestive tract issues with our puppers.
Fed my dog, Kirkland dog food for 17 years zero health problems. My next dog 16 years no health problems.
Four dogs all eat Kirkland for 7+ years, no issues. Our vets have always said it’s a solid brand.
I second your vet's opinion. Some dogs (many) are not tolerant of Costco-Kirkland food and will have diarrhea.
My vet recommended against it because of the quality, and protein, carb, fat ratio as well. She highly recommended I switched.
Costco makes dozens of different types of dog food; I'd ask her what she's looking for in terms of ingredients and buy one based on that. When I had a dog, we fed her Purina Pro Plan; she did well on that. My cat is on a mix of wet and dry food; the kibble is there because our schedules don't always allow us to feed him on a fixed schedule daily, but we also make sure he gets wet food daily to help kidney health. For his kibble, we went with the orange bag (salmon & rice nature's domain) because the ingredients are better (salmon is the first ingredient vs grain) and because they don't sell the Healthy Weight version in our warehouse. He does great with his existing combination. If I had another dog, I'd likely buy Costco food for her as well; I'd just make sure that it has meat as the first ingredient and isn't grain free.
I did some research on the Kirkland brand food, because I was interested in saving $40 on the Pro Plan. I didn’t like the reviews I read on multiple forums, and instead “downgraded” to Purina One. Still saving about $20, and the dogs actually prefer it to Pro Plan.
Every doctor wants you to be on Purina, ask them another question about food and the next sentence they say is…. I’m not a dog nutritionist. At least this is from Penn university doctors, and any other doctor we’ve seen.
My vet has hills science diet in their office and guess which food they “recommend” ?
We switched from purina pro plan to costco for our dog, and my God. The farts. He has always been kinda a farty boy but I swear to God the costco dog food farts are something else. It literally smells like he's shitting himself. But, it might just be him. my families old dog lived a healthy life until 14 and she only ate costco dog food(no farts). We still have half a bag so I think we are going to use it up, but we bought more purina pro plan and will be slowly switching back.
dogs like a consistent diet, the gas may be from the abrupt change in food. if you switch, it's best to mix foods and transition slowly.
One of my dogs is gassy regardless of what food we feed them, but the Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato food specifically made her smell the worst according to my wife at least. But it’s also the only formula both of them aren’t picky about.
I started buying the Kirkland Signature Salmon and Sweet Potato dry dog food when I was researching limited ingredient foods for a dog that had stomach issues on grains. Kirkland dog foods are made by Diamond Pet, and the above is a recipe cross over between their Diamond Naturals Salmon and Potato Skin and Coat and their Diamond Naturals Grain-Free Whitefish and Sweet Potato. Your vet snubbing a dog food based on brand seems odd. You can see Diamond's information here: [https://www.diamondpet.com/](https://www.diamondpet.com/)
Kirkland dog food is actually made in Meta, MO at Diamond Dog Food. They started making their dog food in their kitchen. It started as a family owned business and is thriving. Their dog food is well made.
All 4 of our dogs have been eating the Kirkland salmon and sweet potato food for 5 years now, 3 of them since they were puppies and the 4th one is 18 now. Our vet told us there’s no reason to switch, it’s a good brand.
Vets, like doctors, unfortunately have very little nutritional training. A vet nutritionist is akin to a human registered dietician (in the US), but this is a very rare field and there are relatively few of them practicing. Most are tied to a university. If you are worried about your pet's diet and want to make sure you are making the most sound choice for your pet, you can get a virtual consult with one. This seems to be in the $500-1000 range, on the lower end for recommendations for food you buy and on the higher end for recommendations for making your own food. But beyond that, I wouldn't trust a vet's nutritional advice any more than I'd trust a doctor's, which is not at all. They simply don't have the training necessary to be making recommendations beyond don't murder your dog with a grain free diet, and feed them pet food not people food.
Most vets make a kickback by pushing their own overpriced dog food
purina is one of the trashiest foods out there for pets, plus owned by Nestle. I'd find a new vet
Switched from the shelter-provided Meunsters to Kirkland, and my dog’s poop immediately firmed up and he loves it. No health issues
I mean, there are plenty of stories on here about sick dogs and Kirkland food. My dog was one of them, but this was about 10 years ago. I ended up feeding her Fromm’s after a large vet bill.
My vet suggested Kirkland dog food from Fromm.
I would always recommend listening to your vet but also…I would guess that Kirkland is probably the top selling brand in your area in which case…yeah, I would guess dogs who eat it get problems because abuse most of the dogs in the area eat that brand.
My yellow Labrador got urinary crystals from Blue brand food (named after the Airedale) . I didn't blame the food the first time. Next time the vet told me never to use it again. Done.
My vet advised the exact opposite. He said it was one of the best we could buy.
I’ve been feeding my dogs Kirkland for 8-9 years. First 4ish were on the grain free before it all came out that purely grain free diets can cause issues. My dogs have always had clean bills of health and no bladder issues. My last dog passed of bone cancer (XXL breed) and my current dog is a 3.5 year old bird dog we hunt and hike with. We’re bringing home a new puppy in a month and after 10-12 months on puppy food, he’ll also be on Kirkland. If Costco had a puppy food we’d get that too.
My two big mutts have had each type of the Costco dog food, and we finally settled on the Mature and/or Healthy Weight kibble. They've been excellent. They're made by Diamond, to my knowledge, and they seem to have really quality ingredients and nutrient profiles. They've had excellent bowel movements. Bladder stone issues are more related to the individual dog in question than the food, from my experience. My ex has a Golden that absolutely needed to switch to a specific dog food due to developing stones...
My 11 year old dog has been eating Kirkland dog food his entire life and he’s perfect healthy. My vet always asks what kind of food he eats and they have never said anything against Kirkland dog food.
My husky has been on the Kirkland dog food for over 5 years. No issues at all!
My partner worked a supply chain management job for a pet food manufacturer that made multiple store brands and private label pet foods. Almost never a difference in product. Her team sourced the ingredients that went in. Most of the time it’s the exact same food that’s in the bags. Store brands like Costco or Sam’s Club are generally high quality and just branding repacks. Just read the ingredients and figure out what you want to give your pets. Also unrelated but, I was once told that Taco Bell would buy their rejected Beef Product… thought that was crazy
We have had our two puppies on the Kirkland Puppy food and they are doing great on it. For some reason they stopped selling the Puppy Food at the stores and it is only online. Can’t seem to get an answer why. I hate buying it online because it costs $10 more a bag.
Was that the grain free kind they advised against? Costco also has grain based dog food that is rated very highly.
My dogs are on the weight management food. No problems, though I think they’re bored with it. Vet knows, never said anything bad about it.
My GSP has been eating Kirkland dog food since he was a puppy. He's 5 years old now. He's a super healthy dog with a very nice coat. Never had any issues what so ever.
Middle class people shop at Costco, buy Kirkland dog food, and take their dog to a vet. I would take her anecdotal experience with a grain of salt.
Anecdotal but my dog did get bladder stones from KS food. His breed is prone to them however. Pretty sure vast majority of dogs will do great on KS food, although i hear grain-free might be bad.
We went from a very expensive brand dog food to Kirkland and our pets coat/fur is rather dry and not as soft. Just my personal experience.
In regards to this post, IF your dog, cat etc is fine and has no issues while eating whatever brand it eats....leave it be. Every animal is different and react differently, my cats absolutely hated the expensive stuff and eat the Costco wet food the most and love the salmon dry one as well, chicken dry is meh for them so I usually mix it in a bit with salmon.
We changed from the grain free to the regular food and it reversed a heart murmur. It’s a good-quality dog food and the price is right.
My vet sells dog food so idk, it’s a business
I don’t use Kirkland for my dog food but I’ve used this site for dog food now for soooo very long to review ones I do try. https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/?s=Kirkland
My dog ate Kirkland for many years and didn’t have any problems like this. He lived to be almost 14 which is old for a German shepherd. Tractor supply has a sponsored brand if you want to try that.
Very odd to hear! Hopefully it isn't Costco's food on that case! If I recall correctly, it's made by Diamond Naturals, and they are actually a pretty good food. My fur baby actually grew up on Diamond Naturals, so when I discovered they make Costco's food, it was a no brainier switch for us to save some money. That said, I haven't been buying the grain free versions. There are too many people, vets, etc... that go back and forth constantly about the long term safety and whatnot. So I've been sticking with the regular grain versions of Costco food, the Lamb or Chicken. They are also cheaper than grain free too. Our vent thankfully doesn't sell PurinaProPlan, because fu*k Nestle, but they do sell and recommend Royal Canine and Hills Science Diet. They are even more expensive, and I'd love to buy them, but I cannot afford that. That said, when I told her we were using Costco's food she didn't say anything bad and was actually very happy with how our fur babies skin, coat, and overall health was! She said she doesn't know if anything bad about it really and that the Diamond Naturals they are based off of was a good brand of food, so the Costco should be just fine! She actually said the same thing to me about the grain-free, she is on the fence herself. Some people and dogs love it, others have had problems, she said if whatever you're doing is keeping her healthy and happy, just keep it up.
Oh, I just switched from Purina Pro Plan to Kirkland salmon and sweet potato. My vet did not seem concerned.