Labrador Retriever Forum
With all the recent changes at Purina, we are after many years ready for a change.
I am torn between Sam's Exceed and Costco's version of Diamond Natural. If we decide to go with the Kirkland brand, we will have to buy a Costco card and give up our Sams.
Both foods I know are pretty decent and in looking at Exceed, the positives are we can keep our Sams card, Sams is closer for us, only 60 miles away. The negative is, I do not know who is going to make it now and what their Quality Control will be like. I have always been impressed with Purina in this aspect as I am familiar with their program and procedures.
On Kirkland, I like the ingredients better but I am a little nervous about buying a Diamond product. We had severe problems with it back in the late 90's along with quite a few other breeders then recently again, a more serious Quality Control issue resulting deaths. I know the Kirkland food has no corn in it but no matter what it is a symptom of the importance the company puts on QA.
My questions are:
How much does the Kirkland product cost, how many pounds are in a bag?
How many folks are using it and for how long?
Who has used it and switched, to what and for what reason?
I use the Kirkland product - which is basically the same as the Diamond Naturals products. It costs $21.99 for a 40-lb bag of the chicken/rice and a little more for the lamb/rice. I've had very good luck with it - have fed it off and on for years now, now almost exclusively. Another option is to find a feed store that sells the Diamond Naturals - the chicken/rice is $23.99 at my local Rural King farm store. I do feed the Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete to the boys - straight for one, mixed with the regular chicken/rice for the other. I get that for $25 for a 40-lb bag from a local feed store. I also feed Taste of the Wild to one bitch at $37/30 lb bag - it's a grain-free food also made by Diamond.
Oh, the feed store has to order the Extreme Athlete as they don't normally stock it, but that's easy to do.
One other thing with the Kirkland (and most foods) is that if you overfeed, you will get soft stools, but given in the proper amount, stools are nice and solid.
Coats and weight are good, too.
Kirkland is made by Diamond.
Some of the Kirkland canned foods were recalled. The difference between the Costco food and Sams is that Kirkland food does not have any corn in it. I've been feeding it for many years and have had excellent results.
Being in Canada, I'm not sure how our price compares to yours, but Kirkland is very reasonable, compared to other foods with similar ingredients. I've fed it for 3 or 4 years, maybe more, it wasn't recalled as there is no gluten. (Not sure if there were other reasons for recalls, but it hasn't been in the time I've been feeding it.) As I said on another thread here, our coats, weights and poops are all fine on it. I've never seen Kirkland canned foods, either I've just missed them or we don't have them in Canada. Kirkland scored really well on the "test" for dog food that was going around a few years ago, (I have the test at home,) it was quite highly rated.
Diamond had a big issue with their corn; they had an issue with aflatoxin which is a symptom of poor quality control on the company’s part. This particular food was not affected due to not having corn in the mix but this incident, along with the Melamine fiasco and the late 1990's problem just causes me to worry about their overall quality. If it had not been for all this, I would have switched a couple years back.
I tried Kirkland for a while, but switched because of the volume of stool the dogs produced while on it, as well as the really nasty smell of their stool. It's too bad, because the food looks good on paper, especially for the price (sorry, I don't remember what it costs, although it has undoubtedly gone up since then anyway).
I swear by exceed , yellow bag. I will never change unless they screw up the formula.
I have used Kirklands for a few years and have had many dogs and puppies on it. Never had a problem with coat or weight. I would not switch from it. I pay about 23 for a 40# bag. puppy food is 12 for a 20# bag. Love the puppy foor as well.
I've been feeding Kirkland Chicken and Rice for at least 5 years and am very pleased with it. Dogs love it too!
We fed the Kirkland food throughout the recall period. It was not made in the same factory as the affected foods. If things get tighter economically we'l be switching part of the crew back to it. The reason we stopped is that Costco was a bit of a drive and gasoline was a factor. The Pet food store is closer. I liked the no corn and soy aspect of it. It was very similar to Diamond Premium Edge in formula.
why can't I find it on the Costco website??
I love Kirkland food . Ive been feeding it for 8 years . I also buy Fishoil , vitamin E and vitamin C from costco as well . If stools are soft I buy a 50 pound bag of rice and chicken broth and add to the food ...
Lamb and rice wet food was recalled that was it last year ....
"why can't I find it on the Costco website?? "
I find that odd too, it's very difficult to find an ingredient list or nutrient analysis on this food, it makes me suspicious. Are the ingredients or analysis inconsistent? I don't even know who to email to request this info, I guess you have to have the bag in hand. 
yes, you need the bag in hand to see the ingredients or go to a dog food analysis site that has it. We have fed it on and off for years. 23 for chicken and 25 for lamb. My oldest can only eat the lamb or else he gets super flaky. I need to figure out something with my youngest boy who gets the chicken. He's thin, but 4 cups is too much and we'll get loose stool. But less than that, he's too soft. Anyone have an idea?
http://dogfoodchat.com/kirkland-signature-range-lamb-and-rice-adult/
"I need to figure out something with my youngest boy who gets the chicken. He's thin, but 4 cups is too much and we'll get loose stool. But less than that, he's too soft. Anyone have an idea?"
Get him a food without flaxseed.
My questions are:
How much does the Kirkland product cost, how many pounds are in a bag?
ANSWER : a 40 pound bag of Kirkland Lamb and Rice cost us $23.00
How many folks are using it and for how long?
ANSWER : We've used Kirkland Signiture on and off from the beginning of time when they first put it on the shelves.
Who has used it and switched, to what and for what reason?
ANSWER : I don't know why I keep switching over the years but we always end up going back to the Kirkland with the exception of our big 13 puppy combo litter this winter. I started them off on the Pro Plan Salmon because this is what I had been feeding our other big girls. I also wanted to get back to feeding our young pups the adult kibble due to how big and fast our lines grow. Since we live right down the road from Fred Meyers store and they carry Nutra Nuggets All Stage Kibble Lamb N Rice..40 pound bag, I gave it a try. It's been 6 weeks that our big brood of pups have been eating the Nutra Nuggets, coats are great on all our dogs so I'll continue using it. I really don't see much difference in the size of poop when I feed them the Pro Plan or any other premium over $50 buck a bag. What gets me is that all these more expensive kibbles are shrinking their size of bags while increasing the price. Good old Costco's kibble has never followed suite.
Also, one of our recent puppy buyers have friends who have been feeding their adult labrador the Nutra Nuggests from Costco and Fred Meyers and he said the dog's coat is awesome. No dander and lots of coat.
There are families contacting me from past litters wanting to know how they can save a bit of money on their kibble without compromising their dog's health. I have been referring them to the Nutra Nuggets, also sold at Costco. All my puppy buyers are feeding their pups adult kibble per my suggestion so it works out for them, cost wise and health wise.
Also, I just started adding Salmon Oil to all our remaining pups and adult dog's kibble. Salmon is good for the heart and coats.Salmon oil bought at Costco, along with the Cranberry supplemenets I feed our girls to stave away any UTIs !!
then what is your total cost per feeding if you add all those things to the food....would you be better off buying a premium food without corn. wheat or soy that doesn't need to be supplemented? Just wondering.
Tried the Costco chicken and got horrible smelly soft stools, the lamb and rice is ok but only if I mix it with the Exceed dog food, I found that for my dogs I dont' want that high a protein level using the Exceed straight so I use a mix of half the Exceed and half the Kirkland Lamb and rice... that keeps my dogs in good coats and they don't get too fat, with the Exceed alone they got too fat and the stools were really hard and I ended up with one girl constipated.
Aloha,
Jackie
I am sticking with Exceed as long as it is there. The dogs do great on it. And the stools are half what they were on any Diamond product. You feed less and get more. Chicken and rice 44lbs. $24.99 can't find a thing to compare.
Is Sam's Club the only place that sells Exceed ? If not, where else can one buy Exceed...Petco ?
