ZiwiPeak?

[brittanyb]

Hi, all. I've still be researching the various ways of feeding raw, and I've heard very good things about the ZiwiPeak air-dried raw food for cats. This video does a great job breaking down the different formulas and ingredients:

It looks very promising, and I think it's going on my short list of options for my own ferrets. Has anyone here fed ZiwiPeak? I would love to hear your honest opinions on the brand. Thank you!

[PatienceTheVirtue]

I haven't fed it and I'm not an expert or as experienced as many here, but personally I wouldn't want to feed it if I had the option to feed whole prey, grinds, or frankenprey. FDR is the most expensive option out there. If you aren't able to do those, it's an okay brand. Stella and Chewy's has a higher meat content by 2%, and it doesn't have some of the ingredients I mention below. However, I'm not sure on S&C's exact ratios like Pazu explains for Ziwipeak in the video. I also don't mind, personally, that the organ content is higher in Ziwipeak because you should be feeding raw meaty bone once or twice a week to keep their teeth clean if you aren't brushing them anyway. If you are brushing them instead of feeding RMB though the ratio is definitely off.

The rest is in small font because the spoiler hiding didn't work and it's just extra detail that isn't too important to know.

I'm looking at the beef ingredients currently and I see a few things that put me off the brand.
First, tripe. My kids will act like I'm poisoning them if tripe is even in the house, lol. Most ferrets are quite picky when it comes to this ingredient.
Next, green mussel. It's a seafood ingredient which makes their poops Extra smelly. Pazu is known for recommending too much fishy stuff in their diets, too.
Dried kelp, inulin, minerals, salt, citric acid, and vitamins are concerns on my list as well. It's plant ingredients and then "extras" that really should not be needed in a raw diet. Plus inulin can cause blood sugar drops in ferrets with sensitivity to it. Ferrets get every vitamin and mineral, all their salt and taurine and etc just from the meat. Either this food isn't balanced enough with the meat ingredients on their own, or it IS balanced enough with just the meat and the ferrets that eat it are going to get an overdose of vitamins and minerals. If the food is only air dried, there shouldn't be considerable loss of nutrients. Not to mention that their organ content is soooo high that they are already getting incredibly rich ingredients above what they normally would or should.
As for the citric acid, I know in dogs that too much can lead to problems. I think this is also true in ferrets & the reason that rosemary as a preservative is frowned upon in salmon oil? Either way, tocopherols are the only preservatives I trust personally when given the option.

[brittanyb]

Thank you for the thorough response, PatiencetheVirtue, that was very helpful! I feel like there is so much to learn when it comes to the ingredients in our pets' food, and it's honestly something I never really thought much about until I became a ferret owner. I'm definitely on a journey to learn all I can about how to keep my fuzzies as healthy as possible. Thanks again for sharing what you know!

I also sat down and calculated an estimate of how much it would cost per month to feed ZiwiPeak to my 3 ferrets, and wow! Way more than I was even anticipating... I am back to considering whole prey grinds. Much more budget-friendly, and no potentially harmful added ingredients. 😊