To even step it up a notch, unlike other dog foods on the market, this specific brand doesn’t use any potatoes and makes gluten-free kibble and wet food. Bearing all this in mind, we assume that Zignature is targeting owners looking for a healthy version of kibble. When it comes to dog food for your pooch, we understand you want only the best. Although the market is oversaturated by products containing harsh ingredients that lack vitamins and minerals, there are other brands which have made it their mission to shy away from these damaging components.

One such example is Zignature Dog Food, a North American company that prides itself on producing recipes that come close to a dog’s natural diet. Eliminating the potential for allergies and food sensitivities, Zignature Dog Food is meant to please any dog’s belly, regardless of their age or breed.

About Zignature

What impresses us about Zignature is the fact that the brand uses no animal by-products, no chicken eggs, or fat. Moreover, the Zignature recipes remain committed to not working with soy, corn, wheat, or other grains in the manufacturing of their products.

As a general rule of thumb, an ingredient review list would come up with a combination of lean meats of fishes, including turkey and turkey meal, lamb and lamb meal, Zignature trout salmon meal with salmon oil, whitefish and whitefish meal, or kangaroo and kangaroo meal.

Ingredients

Carbohydrates

As previously mentioned, the brand’s recipes are free from starchy potatoes or gluten-packed grains. Instead, Zignature’s primary focus is using vegetables, which are kind to your pooch’s stomach, including lentils, chickpeas, peas and many others.

These fiber-equipped ingredients are excellent for promoting healthy digestion, easing dogs with stomach problems or other similar sensitivities. Nonetheless, we can’t help but mention that the carb content of the kibble and wet food is still relatively high.

For example, the Kangaroo formula contains more than 40% carbs, an alarming prospect for owners who want to control their pet’s weight. For these reasons, you must ensure that you read the ingredients carefully, staying away from carbs when it comes to an overweight dog.

Fat

Concerning fat, Zignature makes use of oils that are low in saturated fat. Sunflower or flaxseed oil are the ingredients of choice, containing numerous essential fatty acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids, that are needed for a beautiful and healthy coat.

Moreover, flaxseed is renowned for providing both omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6s, in addition to fiber and protein. In other words, flaxseed is an excellent ingredient with multiple anti-inflammatory properties which can aid dogs with low food tolerances.

It’s noteworthy that some of Zignature’s recipes also use salmon oil. We are already more than familiar with the properties of salmon oil, including the omega-3 fatty acids it contains.

However, what you might not know is that the ingredient promotes increased cognitive function, weight loss and even reduced inflammation in the gut.

Minerals and Vitamins

Healthy selections of Zignature recipes contain an excellent source of vegetables and fruit. As it stands for humans too, the duo has a wide range of minerals and vitamins that improve and strengthen the immune system.

While natural sources are also preferred, you should be warned that some Zignature foods contain chelated minerals – meant to allow your dog to absorb the mineral with ease.

For those who prefer whole food sources, this might be a significant disadvantage, as minerals are isolated and included as a supplement, rather than in their organic form. Nonetheless, this process does have its advantages: limiting the possibility of food allergies or interference.

Who is the Manufacturer?

As we have said earlier, Zignature dog food is specially formulated to contain no allergens, to be rich in proteins and limited in content. That way, it mimics the dog’s ancestral diet. Therefore, this dog food is made under controlled conditions, only by trusted kitchens of the partner companies.

Moreover, all of their products are manufactured in the United States. Namely, Tuffy’s/KLN from Perham, Minnesota makes their dry dog foods, while the company named Performance Pet from Mitchell in South Dakota is in charge of manufacturing their canned dog food varieties.

That is why their recipes contain different ingredients from all around the world. Namely, they search for the best quality ingredients and incorporate them in their food mixtures.

For example, they use kangaroo meat, which comes from Australia and is rich in nutrients, but is also the most sustainable protein source of all the animal proteins in the world. Therefore, they help the planet stay healthy, while making sure your pet gets its precious nutrients.

In addition to that, they make sure all of their ingredients are selected from trusted farmers and fishermen. Not only that, they make sure that their dog foods do not contain commonly used binding agents that are high in simple carbohydrates and starches.

Recall History

Since their debut in 2010, it appears that the brand has not had any recalls. This is excellent news, meaning that in their eight years of operation, there has been no concerns regarding the quality of the produced food.

In fact, by looking through online complaints regarding the brand, most customers seem put off by their in-shop experiences rather than the brand itself. In other words, it’s not the quality of the food people seem annoyed with, it’s the quality of the service received in-store.

While searching for Amazon Zignature dog food reviews, we have found that consumers are smitten with the ingredients and the effect it has on their dogs, but they would choose to purchase the brand from another retailer.

When taking into account expert opinions as well, there are a couple of concerns which have come up, similar to what we have outlined above. For example, the high-fat content in some of the dry food might be a downfall should owners not take the time to review all ingredients and percentages.

Similarly, some are questioning the protein quality, but the overall combination of ingredients pushes Zignature as a top-notch brand.

However, we would like to mention the two common complaints experienced by dog owners: either the pooch rejects the taste altogether, or owners can’t afford the high price tag.

While we understand that the formula does not contain any artificial flavors or chemicals, we can’t help but think about alternatives which would better suit your wallet too.

Formulas Offered

Zignature offers eight recipes to choose from, each coming with its own share of pros and cons. For most of the formulas, there is a dry dog food version as well as a wet, canned version too – depending on your preferences.

That said, these are the recipes they have available:

Image	Product	Details
	Zignature Trout Salmon	Great source of omega-3 fatty acids	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Turkey Dry Dog Food	Low in saturated fat Rich in selenium, riboflavin, phosphorus	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Whitefish Formula Dog Food	Animal protein first	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Lamb Dry Dog Food	Limited ingredient formula	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Pork Formula Dry Dog Food	Extremely palatable for any dog	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Venison Formula Dog Food	Complete and balanced diet for puppy to adult dogs	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Catfish Formula Dry Dog Food	Chicken, potato and grain free	Check Latest Price
	Zignature Kangaroo Formula Dog Food	Twice the vitamin B12 of other meats	Check Latest Price

Available Sizes

The kibble variety is sold in bags that come in two sizes – 4 pounds for the smaller one and 27 pounds for the larger one. On the other hand, the wet food is placed in cans and each contains 13 ounces of product.

How Long Do They Last?

Depending on the weight of your dog and its daily food intake, we can do some calculations to determine how long a 27-pound bag of Zignature dry dog food will last until you have to go shopping again.

First of all, Zignature displays the recommended daily intake in cups. Assuming that this is a standard cup that contains 8 ounces of fluid, we can estimate that it equals roughly 113 grams of kibble.

From there, we are able to calculate the recommended daily food intake for dogs of different sizes. For example, if you have a small dog weighing around 10 pounds (4.5 kg), its daily intake should be around 85 grams. With that in mind, the bag of food should last you almost five months.

On the other hand, if you have a medium-sized dog that weighs around 30 pounds (13.6 kg), his or her daily intake should be around 170 grams of dry food. As a result, the bag should last you around 2 months.

Lastly, if your dog is on the larger side, weighing around 100 pounds (45 kg), it will need to consume 368 grams of food a day. Thus, you will have to go shopping for dog food again after a month.

Pros

Healthy Proteins

As you know by now, Zignature dog food is formulated in such a way that it contains high percentage of proteins that come from its meat sources. This is important, as proteins are critical for your dog’s health and their quality is one of the indicators of top rank pet food as well.

Moreover, this dog food does not contain chicken in any of the formulas. This is to prevent allergies and other food-related problems. Namely, chicken is proven to be one of the most common allergens.

However, despite that fact, many dog food brands still make it their number one protein source in their formulas. Thus, that is why Zignature’s decision to not have any chicken is definitely appreciated by many dogs and owners out there.

Free of Other Common Allergens

Corn, grain, wheat and soy are also commonly used as fillers in most commercial dog foods, but Zignature dog food avoids them altogether.

Therefore, if your pet requires a limited ingredient diet, Zignature dog food is a great brand to start with, as it is less likely to cause a food sensitivity issue of any kind.

Controlled Quality

Zignature insists on the quality of its ingredients and gets them from reliable producers. For example, they acquire fish from the Pacific Northwest, duck from France, lamb from New Zealand, turkey from the midwestern U.S. and as mentioned, the kangaroo comes directly from Australia.

Moreover, the fruits and vegetables they use are also products from North America. The manufacturing is organized in U.S. facilities and the whole process is closely monitored.

In addition to that, all of Zignature’s dog foods are AAFCO-approved, which guarantees high-quality.

Cons

Questionable Ingredients

Although Zignature prides itself on hypoallergenic formulas with carefully selected and limited ingredient lists, there are some concerns about a few of their recipes. Namely, some of their dog foods include ingredients such as pea flour, dehydrated alfalfa meal and dried beet pulp.

There is no doubt that peas are healthy, but as they are high in proteins, adding pea flour to the mixture can lead to a higher protein concentration. In other words, you are likely to think that all of the proteins come from an animal source, disregarding the plant part of it.

Moreover, dogs are not able to digest plant protein as efficiently as the meat protein and may experience some problems with digestion. On the other hand, alfalfa is an excellent source of protein and is safe to use in dog food, but it is more commonly used in horse feed.

In addition to that, beet pulp is also somewhat controversial. On one hand, some people think it is a perfect ingredient to help regulate blood sugar levels and improve intestinal health, while others claim that it is just an overrated, inexpensive filler.

If your dog is experiencing stomach issues, read our post on the best foods for dogs with sensitive stomachs.

One Food for All Stages

Zignature doesn’t produce varieties of dog food that support each developing stage of a dog. Meaning to say, there is no special formula for puppies and senior dogs, which have very specific nutritional needs.

Moreover, there is no special formula for toy breeds, nor for the giant breeds either. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is definitely important for most dogs to receive the right and specific amount of nutrients – depending on the breed.

Conclusion

There is little denying that Zignature is a brand worth choosing. Between the limited ingredient list, the meat content, the lack of artificial preventatives, flavors, or colors, Zignature seems to separate itself from other mass-marketed options.

Nonetheless, we can’t help but show our disappointment regarding the use of a substantial quantity of plant protein in the pet food, or the high-fat content which could do more wrong than right for overweight pooches.

An ideal future formula would contain more meat protein and although there are some choices out there, they might pluck your credit card before you even understand what’s going on.

Nevertheless, if you are on the lookout for an alternative to supermarket brands or chemical-filled dog foods, Zignature might be a great place to start.

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