Pet Product Review - ZiwiPeak 'Daily-Dog' Cuisine Venison / Lamb
As you may know, everyday I receive a box of samples and goodies to test out for my reviews. Well would believe that the other day a box came from New Zealand? Yes! a company called ZiwiPeak is breaking into the US market. I love the ZiwiPeak philosophy and that is to make products "formulated on the same balance of meat ingredients that cats and dogs would find by hunting in the wild."
We tried the ZiwiPeak 'Daily-Dog' Cuisine Venison / Lamb. Each sample was a small pouch of about 2 oz of small jerky like meat bits. What I like is that this is a transition product should you be interested in giving your pet a raw diet. You can tell it was nothing but real meat. In fact the ingredients are:
- Venison (meat min 65%, venison organs min 19.5%)
- Venison & Fish (meat min 50%, venison organs min 19.5%, Hoki fish min 15%)
- Lamb (meat min 65%, lamb organs min 19.5%)
Now I went on the website, I read all of the material provided and all it said was to give 1 scoop per pound of pet. Well, from the samples that they sent me, yes, they look like a scoop, but it certainly was not enough to feed my 30lbs dog, or even my cat. Do you mix this product in with other dry kibble? Well, that's what I did. Everyday I mix a little bit of wet food in with my dog's dry kibble. On the days we tested this sample, I replaced the small bit of wet food with a sample pouch of ZiwiPeak Dog Cuisine. Yes, he did love it. And I feel it was a nice substitue for canned wet food.
But keep in mind, if you're using this product as a standalone product, it is very expensive. For a $2.2lbs bag the price is $27 in the local pet store near me. I did find it on sale for $22.14 at PetsWarehouse: www.pets-warehouse.com
You know it became apparent that when introducing a new product that hopes to change peoples' lifestyles and feeding patterns for their pets, your website needs to be extremely clear with the message, feeding instructions and have fool-proof navigation. I for myself would feel more comfortable giving a stronger recommendation of the product if I had more samples to accurately determine how its affected my pets, and clear answers to my questions on past recall, sourcing, feeding amounts, and best way to introduce the product into my dog's diet. Unfortunately the petstores I visited were not able to answer these questions either.
If you've got a product you think will pass the Secret Shopper test, send an email to SecretShopperBlog@gmail.com.
Pet Product Review - Wellness Pure Rewards Chicken & Lamb Jerky Treats for Dogs
Ok, I have to tell you today is going to be the last product review of doggie treats for a long while. You know why? with all the samples that get sent to me, and Champ, my Sheltie happily willing to test them all, he's starting to turn up his nose at his regular dog food, and even at some of his lesser favorite treats (which only a week ago may have been his favorite treat ever). So the take away from today's blog post: DO NOT OVER TREAT YOUR DOG!
But, if you are looking for a treat, Champ's new favorite spoil me rotten but healthy treat is Wellness pure Rewards Chicken & Lamb Jerky Bits for Dogs. YUM! Even I have to say, these 1"x1" squares of pressed moist meat smell lovely. They do kinda remind me of soylent green, from the 70's movie, but who cares. Champ certainly does not, even though he gets only one, when he's good of course, you can tell, he simply loves them.
Now in order for me to love the treats, they need to comprise the following:
Nothing Artificial, Grain Free, Few Ingredients, Never Recalled and made in the USA. Well Wellness Pure Rewards Chicken & Lamb bits for dogs, meets these all of these. Wellness Pure Rewards also comes in several delicious flavors including Salmon, Turkey and Beef.
If you're looking to buy the product, we recommend going to www.PetFoodDirect.com. I checked out 5 online retailers, and their prices were the best for a 6oz bag. Order your Wellness Pure Reward Chicken & Lamb Jerky Treats for Dogs and save over $2 per bag at:
http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=2032310&dept_id=9&brand_id=913
If you've got a product you think will pass the Secret Shopper Test, send an email to: SecretShopperBlog@gmail.com
Pet Product Review - Tiny Tots Lamb Jerky Treats 1lbs from Solid Gold Health Products for Pets
This past holiday, my dog Champ received a very generous gift from my friend Gabriel. A 1lbs bag of Tiny Tots Lamb Jerky Treats from Solid Gold. The gift made Champ and me happy because we know that Solid Gold is a super premium pet food company. An added bonus is that it was a product that we haven't tried.
Right off the bat, I liked these jerky treats because the #1 ingredient was lamb.
Tiny Tots Jerky Treats for Dogs are in a smaller size to accomadate smaller dogs, but the perfect size for lite rewards and training for medium size dogs like Champ. Tiny Tots are made with lamb, brown rice, oats, tapioca, cinnamon, and rosemary. They are surprisingly moist and chewy. The bag is sturdy and resealable so they don't get dry. These treats are expensive. In the local pet store a bag cost $18. Online you can find the bag for $11.99.
So far, I loved everything about this treat. Then I went online. I wanted to know if there were any recalls or customer complaints on this product. I always do this when the country of origin is ambiguous on the product. Well............... What did I find out but Solid Gold Health Products for Pets recalled the Tiny Tots Jerkey Treats this past Autumn. I guess there was a mold problem that caused illness in some dogs. This is especially disturbing when the product is designed and manufactered for small sized dogs. Small dogs do not have the immunity to mold that a larger dog may.
Another thing that bothered me was that I simply could not find the expiration date nor the production stock number on the package. I contacted the manufacturer Solid Gold both marketing and PR for comments. I know they opened my emails because I have tracking on the emails sent and opened. Well, they never responded to my questions about the Tiny Tots nor the recent recall.
Simply, I would not recommend this product or any other product that was recently recalled for any reason. And I certainly would not recommend a product that was manufactured by a company that does not respect the concerns of their consumers. Maybe they should call the company Solid "FOOL'S Gold?"
If you have a product that you think would pass the Secret Shopper test, send an email to SecretShopperBlog@gmail.com.
