Food Friday: Zignature Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food

Our recent move brought us within a few blocks of a store that sells Zignature along with basically every other awesome brand of dog food available in California. They had Orijen and Acana, Primal, Stella and Chewy's, Pure Vita, Canidae Pure, Dogswell, Artemis, Nature's Variety, Real Meat, Ziwi Peak, Merrick, Wellness, Solid Gold, Weruva, NutriSource, Party Animal, Taste of the Wild, Honest Kitchen, Fromm, and some foods we've never tried before.

The Company

I'm pretty sure Zignature has updated their website since last I visited, and I'm pleased with the changes. They say right on the site that they use co packers, including Tuffy's Pet Foods and Performance Pet. They also openly state that they source their ingredients from quality suppliers around the world. Their kangaroo comes from Australia and their duck comes from France because those are where the best kangaroo and duck can be found.

One of the things I like about their nutritional philosophy is their unique type of appeal to nature.

Most pet food companies go on at great lengths about how "your dog is a wolf so you must feed it like a wolf". Zignature's version is this: "a wild predator may find varying types of prey from day to day, but each meal will be fairly limited, so we use a single type of protein in most of our foods". That's logic I can get behind, flawed or not.

The Food

This is a grain-free, soy-free food that contains not potatoes or sweet potatoes (shall I say, tuber-free?) or any type of poultry. In addition to the lamb, there are peas, carrots, chickpeas, vitamins, and that's it. The peas and carrot bits are really obvious, and I lost a pea or two while scooping it out of the can. It's a pate-style food that works well for mixing with kibble, wrapping around pills, and watering down to fill puzzle toys for the freezer. This food is rated five out of five stars on the Dog Food advisor website, and I would happily feed it to my dogs as their sole source of nutrition if I had to pick just one food. Zignature also makes kangaroo, whitefish, and trout/salmon canned formulas that are safe for Brisbane's poultry, egg, corn, barley, and sweet potato allergies. How cool is that?

What's your dog's favorite kind of canned food?

Food Friday: Zignature Kangaroo Formula

I picked up this bag of Zignature Kangaroo Formula dog food while visiting relatives in Boise. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to visit grocery stores and pet stores to see what kind of products I can find that aren't available back home. I've been looking for this particular Zignature food for a while and was quite pleased to finally find it.

The Company

Following the trail from Zignature to the parent company is interesting. I believe Zignature foods are co packed by Tuffy's Pet Foods, a packer I respect a lot for their commitment to food safety. Who actually owns Zignature the pet food marketing company? It's Pets Global, maker of Fussie Cat foods. They are based in Santa Clarita, California, which means they are pretty local to me.

I found this interview with the founder of Zignature from last year, which includes a link to PetsGlobal.com, a e-commerce trade platform for manufacturers and purveyors of pet supplies. Zignature's Pets Global does not appear to have any relation to this company based in China. I'm not sure if Zignature's Pets Global owned the domain name previously, or if the Pet Age website just made a mistake when they linked it.

The Food

Zignature's big selling point is that they avoid using the most common food allergens in their products. Like most top-quality foods, they leave out corn, soy, wheat, and any other grains. However, they go a step further and also exclude chicken, eggs, potatoes, and dairy products. They don't include any sneaky chicken either, no chicken fat, cartilage, or flavorings way down the ingredients list. Most of their foods also use a single source of protein, which makes them a great option for dogs with allergies. This makes me feel like they had dogs like Brisbane in mind when developing their formulas, he can eat four out of their seven kibbles. 

I appreciate the focus Zignature puts on low-glycemic foods, diabetic dogs in particular really benefit from these. No potatoes means no sweet potatoes too, which is great for Brisbane. He is allergic or sensitive to chicken, turkey, duck, eggs, corn, barley, and sweet potatoes. We only found out about the sweet potato, corn, and barley allergies recently. Finding Briz-safe food is the entire reason I put together DogFoodWizard.com. 

The Verdict

Brisbane loved the Zignature Kangaroo Formula kibble, as Brisbane loves anything edible. Sisci can be slightly more selective about food and treats, but she chowed down immediately and loved this food. Ru is super picky but also ate it right away, so it must be good!

Zignature kibbles are collectively rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Dog Food Advisor site, but the individual formulas range from 4-5 stars. The kangaroo formula must be a recent addition, as it is not represented on the site. This is a food I would be comfortable feeding my dogs for an extended period of time, particularly if I rotated between the four Briz-safe formulas.