ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Dog Food – Venison - All Natural, High Protein, Grain Free, Limited Ingredient w/ Superfoods (35.2oz)

This stuff is so worth it, and when you do the math, it's actually a bargain. More on that later.... Some background: My dog is an 80 pound American Pit Bull Terrier. He is the love of my life (ok, he's a tie with my husband). He has horrible allergies, both environmental and food. Because of this, his doggie dermatologist (yep, there's dermatologists out there just for animals!) has him on an elimination diet of just venison. Being that I completely spoil my dog I've been looking for high quality venison treats to feed him when I stumbled upon the ZiwiPeak venison on Amazon. I'd not heard of ZiwiPeak, but when I looked at how few ingredients were in there and did a little research, I decided it sounded about as close to bambi in a bag as I could get (sorry, I know that's a sad visual...). So, I ordered a few bags of the ZiwiPeak Venison treats. Titan went mad for them. It was as if I was sprinkling him with magical venison fairy dust and he would do anything so long as I would continue to shower him with those heavenly venison squares. You see, it's raw air dried venison, and it comes in these little compact squares about the size of a dime of venison jerky. But it's still soft, almost velvety, as it is still raw. Titan suffers from a tiny case of separation anxiety, so recently when I had to leave him alone for a while and I was fresh out of bambi bones, I put a handful on top of his food and tip toed towards the door. He barely lifted his head from the bowl. For insurance, I threw a half empty bag of the ZiwiPeak Venison treats on the floor just as I slipped out the door...he noticed the bag, but kept eating from his bowl, pushing it around and digging through the kibble with his nose to sniff out the ZiwiPeak squares as if a pig searching for truffles in the south of France. When I returned a couple of hours later, I searched the house for evidence that he wasn't pleased with my departure. Apart from the garbage being knocked over (my fault for leaving it full, bad mom!) the place was fine. Later when I went to put down his dinner, Titan sat at the entrance of the kitchen and stared at the cabinet where the venison treats were kept. When I told him to go and eat, he stayed put, staring at the cabinet. I added a little canned venison to entice him. No go. Finally I poured a little bit of the ZiwiPeak Venison on top and he ran to his bowl and started eating. Now, he will not go near the bowl unless there is a hefty portion of ZP in there. Figuring I could save some money, I moved up from the treats to the 2.2 pound bag. Once I went through that in a week, I moved on to the 11 pound bag. I haven't made the complete transition to just ZP in his bowl, as I'm still mixing it in with his old stuff, but it's just a matter of time. The vet has had Titan on one of those vet prescribed diets, which, when I looked at the ingredients on that bag, not only could I not pronounce most of them, but the list was HUGE and the first ingredient was POTATO! But back to my point: I've bought venison treats for Titan that were anywhere from $10 for 5 or 6 ounces, (which translates to $30 per pound) to $44 per pound for venison jerky (and I paid it!!). So, at $9 a pound, the ZiwiPeak Venison is actually a bargain. And, it is high quality. Not to mention, you know how sometimes your dog eats a bowl of food and then throws up and the vomit looks like a mixture of spongy kibble and foam? Titan's never had that with this stuff. I think it's because the ZP is so close to the natural thing that there isn't anything in there to cause it to expand which then causes him to throw up. So yes, overall, I'm very happy with the product line. I think it's a pretty cool thing that I can use his food as treats and he still goes mad for it (much like a toddler with cheerios!). I'll be experimenting with some of the other varieties once I'm allowed to introduce other foods per the doggie dermatologist; and I will be trying out the ZP canned as well.

I wrote a REALLY long review regarding a different brand freeze dried dog food and now I'm wishing I hadn't because it probably makes this product seem not as good in comparison and nothing could be further from the truth! When I originally read all of the reviews about this product I was a bit skeptical but VERY hopeful (despite the cost)since so many reviewers said that this was the one food that their totally-picky dog would actually eat. When I first tried giving her a nibble while out on a walk she turned her nose up at it like she does with all new things. I slowly started giving her some, mixed in with a clump of almond butter and her kibble. Eventually I got her to eat it and was happy to have something else to feed her along with the kibble and the other raw products I feed. (I know that raw is not supposed to be mixed with kibble, but in this case I am just trying to get her to eat anything) Anyway, I continued to do this until one day she just didn't seem to want it. Finally it dawned on me that she probably JUST wanted this and nothing else and much to my surprise I was right! She likes it so much that she will eat it without the almond butter, which is a HUGE relief to me for it's literally the FIRST and only food I've been able to skip the almondt butter with since she first stopped eating. She will get sick of it after a few days so of course I alternate what I feed her; before she had stopped eating completely I had her on a rotation diet which I believe is better for them anyway. The only downside, of course, is the cost, especially if you have a bigger dog like I do. It's understandable, however, since the food is imported and air dried which I imagine takes longer. I love being able to feed my dog a raw diet without the GI upset she gets with fresh raw. I finally noticed that her feces is MUCH smaller when she is on a raw-only diet, and for a dog of 60+ lbs hers weren't that big to begin with. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I can't say how AWESOME the ZiwiPeak company is! When I first noticed and wanted to try this product I emailed them asking if I could purchase a sample anywhere. Within days I received a package of the venison product in the mail. (Their "trial size" is a good size bag!) It wasn't until after the fact that I saw that you CAN purchase that size through Amazon, and it retails for $8-$10! Even MORE impressive to me was a few months later when I wanted to try the lamb variety. I wasn't able to find a similar trial size package of the lamb anywhere online, so I emailed them again and asked if the lamb variety was avaialble for purchase in anything smaller than the 2.2 lb bag. Once again within a few days I receive a package in the mail from them, and this time it included a large zip-lock baggie filled with the lamb variety and a scoop. Apparently they don't make the small trial bags of the lamb but that didn't stop them from sending me some! (which so far my dog seems to like!) To put this into perspective, I have emailed other raw manufacturers asking where I can purchase sample products from, including the other company I reviewed, and many of them never even answered me much less sent me anything! It definitely feels good to be feeding my dog something that I know she actually likes, plus feeding the benefits of a natural raw diet, PLUS a product that uses a drying process that hopefully preserves some of the natural enzymes of raw food. Can't say enough good things about this food - if it was the ONLY food I fed my dog it wouldn't be nearly as expensive to feed her but unfortunately because of her pickiness this isn't the case.

Last year alone, I spent $4,000 on vet bills for my German Shepherd due to uncontrollable itching and scabs that littered his body. To say he was miserable would be an understatement at best. My dog has been on Prednisone and a host of other expensive drugs and shampoos for two years only to find temporary relief. I have tried some of the best dog foods and still...no relief. On a quest to find yet another dog food that might help him, I came across ZiwiPeak Venison dog food. It is expensive and that is a fact. A 5.5lb bag lasts my dog maybe 4 days (my dog is 110lbs). Within a week I could see a lessoning of itching that would only get better as time progressed. He scarfs up the venison unlike typical kibble that he will often sniff and walk away. I would say that my dog has been on ZiwiPeak now for just shy of three months. On a scale of 1 to 10, his itching is a 1. The scabs that littered his body are gone. Completely gone. It seems that I have finally found a quality dog food that works for my dog in a way that nothing in my two years of trying has. The food may be expensive however, my dog is completely off drugs and I haven't needed to see the vet at all in regards to itching.

This is expensive food, but my dog is small and doesn't eat much. I purchased venison because it is the easiest meat to digest.

My dog has severe allergies and weight issues! This product is superior and of super quality! Most importantly there’s no junk and fillers! My dog deserves only the best and this is it!

I ordered this to clicker train a raw fed dog. I think it's about as high quality as you're going to get in a bag and the price reflects it. It's the perfect size to use as training treats and allows longer training sessions than any other treat reward. I understand this is "food" but at the price I think it's better suited as super high quality trainer treat and it's also encouraged me to get a hunting license to provide my dog fresh raw venison as food. *UPDATE* I feed my dog raw whole chickens, ground beef/bison, green beef tripe, whole eggs w/shell, small oily fish and more that I can't think of but I bring all these items up to say that all of these items are fully digested when my dog takes a dump. All the raw meat, chicken bones and the egg shells are 100% digested. I took a sample today just to look through it and I found most if not all of the pieces of Ziwipeak's Venison completely undigested, they literally came out the exact same way they went in. If my dog's stomach is able to break down bone and not this food then I'm not comfortable feeding this food anymore and question the ingredients listed or prep process. I've switched to drying out my own raw meat and using that as treats, I know for sure that the food is 100% meat.

This product, if not purchased on Amazon, is amazing. However, I have done three Amazon orders and fed 2 dogs and EVERY time the dog developed diarrhea and/or vomiting from eating the Amazon purchased food. My dog has used this food daily for over a year (Venison) & it's the only thing that she's tolerated due to allergies. (Has saved us a tremendous amount of $ in the long run with vet bills!) Recently my sons dog also ate the Amazon purchased food & became ill. Subsequently spitting the food out when offered. (My son indicated it appeared lighter than normal as well.) I don't know why the mail ordered products cause illness - perhaps heat during transportation and/or how it's being stored?? Unfortunately I will have to go back to spending a bit more by purchasing the food at the Retail store.

Look, I have a 70 pound lab/pit mix - if I fed him this stuff, I'd spend more on his food than on my own, and he's my best buddy but that's just crazy. I am also unconvinced that it's nutritionally sound as a main diet. BUT, a local trainer/kennel turned me on to this stuff as an ideal training treat and I swear by it. It's smelly and tasty and my dog will come running across the house and straight into a sit when he hears me opening the container I keep it in. It's exactly what you want to train your dog - a great taste sensation with almost no food content, so if you're working on training, you can grab a big handful and use it as a reward without worrying about filling the dog up with junk - I keep it around for just that reason and it's better than anything I've found marketed as a treat.