Finally called dog food manuf. about food

After having a long long long conversation with the girl at my pet food store, I decided to call the number on the Kirkland dog food bag and also Diamond dog food.

I understand that Diamond makes their own brand, Kirkland and Canidae.

The pet store owner said the chicken that's used for Canidae is a better quality than used in the other brands made at that facility and not to buy the other brands; they are terrible. She was trying to convince me to buy Canidae even though she's the one who tried to convince me not to buy it after the ingredient change. I do understand she doesn't want to lose my business.

After speaking with representatives at both phone numbers, this is what I was told:

All of the chicken delivered to Diamond comes in one batch. They do not have different chicken for each of the brands they produce. It's all high quality and everything they produce is tested. Diamond said the girl who owns the pet store is wrong is what she told me.

Diamond also told me that the Kirkland brand is made specifically for them and is cheaper than buying Diamond, etc. at pet stores because the distributors getting profits, etc. are eliminated. The food goes directed to Kirkland.

What was your question about the foods? I think I missed a thread or so...

I'm currently feeding Kirkland and don't have any huge complaints with it...they shed more and smell a bit more than they did on the Innova, but it's by far and away better than how Virgo did on Canidae.

I actually don't have any complaints. I was just settling the argument the girl who owns the pet store has that Canidae chicken is a better grade than Diamond uses in their other foods, and it turns out that Diamond uses the same chicken in Canidae, Diamon, and Kirkland. The pet store owner felt Canidae has to have superior ingredients and that's why she was insisting I buy the food from her, not Costco or any other place. I'm still buying Kirkland.

My concern with Diamond (which dh wants to switch to because the Calif Natural is so expensive) is the fish possibly being preserved with ethoxyquin. I've emailed Diamond about it and all they would say is that the supplier's info is proprietary and that they, themselves, do not use ethoxyquin. However I've read that all fish that is not destined for human consumption has to be treated with it and Diamond does not mention on their site (that I could find) that their fish is 'human grade'.

eta: in case you aren't aware Diamond makes 2 different Diamond lines. One is Diamond Originals which is full of by-products, corn and wheat. The other is the Diamond Naturals which is better. I would prefer it without the fish (due to the ethoxyquin concern) and the beet pulp filler.

i think that if the fish *are* preserved with EQ, then the content that's actually in your dog's food is so ridiculously low it's probably not even worth mentioning.

Probably true. And in my other thread I mentioned that we can only find the lamb and rice which doesn't appear to even have fish. I think I read waaaaaay too much on the internet! lol