Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: June 30, 2023 by Crystal Uys
ZiwiPeak is one of the brands that has long been included on my list of recommended foods. Today, I’m delighted to offer you a closer look at this brand, courtesy of the folks at ZiwiPeak. Ziwi Peak is a complete and balanced daily diet for all breeds and all life stages. Their formulas are 95% digestible and palatable to even the most finicky cats (and dogs.)
The equivalent of a wild prey diet for your little carnivore
ZiwiPeak gives your cat the equivalent of a raw, wild prey diet and is made from over 95% raw meat and organs, including natural fat and bone. The food contains no rendered meats or meat by-products. They add no artificial colors or flavors, no carrageenan, no chemical preservatives, no grains or potatoes, and no added salts, sugars, gelatin or glycerines or cheap fillers. These ingredients cannot be efficiently utilized by a carnivore’s digestive system and can contribute to various health issues, including skin & coat problems, itchy skin and ears, yeast infections, allergies, obesity, kidney disease, IBD/IBS and diabetes.
Natural ingredients, sourced in New Zealand
ZiwiPeak uses free-range, grass-fed meat raised on traceable, approved New Zealand farms, and seafood caught using ecologically sustainable practices under New Zealand’s stringent, government-controlled fish-management system. The warm, temperate climate in New Zealand allows the animals to be outside in open pastures all year round. All meat and seafood used must be free from added hormones, antibiotics, growth promotants and GMOs. Any added vitamins and minerals are sourced from reputable, traceable suppliers in the USA, Europe and New Zealand and Japan. They do not source any ingredients from China.
ZiwiPeak adds New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel to all formulas to provide high levels of natural glucosamine, chondroitin, and omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids. They also add cold-washed green tripe, which provides important vitamins & minerals, digestive enzymes and probiotics needed for healthy digestion. The glucosamine and chondroitin supports healthy joint development and mobility.
ZiwiPeak is relentless in its commitment to quality and care, operating under the most stringent health and safety standards. Every batch of ZiwiPeak must meet both its own in-house specifications and the highest international benchmarks. All ZiwiPeak products meet or exceed industry standards.
Air-dried and moist cat food
ZiwiPeak’s scoop and serve convenience of the air-dried formulas allows the food to be easily added as a topper, an instant training treat or as a complete diet. Their gentle twin stage air-drying process creates a food high in protein and calories, meaning that you feed less compared to raw and kibble. This process eliminates pathogenic bacteria, while protecting the natural nutrition of our ingredients. It also provides a 21-month shelf life. ZiwiPeak recipes have a high level of slow release metabolized energy, meaning your cat will feel fuller and content for longer periods of time.
All canned products have a BPA-free lining, ensuring the contents are as safe and natural as possible.
For more information, please visit www.ziwipeak.com
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
I have just started feeding my cat Ziwi Peak canned and he loves it. I am looking to purchase the air dried food as well. Does anyone know if it comes in a bigger size bag than the 14oz? I noticed in the pet store that they have bigger bags for dogs. I am all for spending more to ensure my cat’s good health, but it seems that there is not much in that bag?
Hello! My name is Adam and I am the Digital Marketing Manager at ZiwiPeak. Currently, we only sell the cat air-dried food in 14oz sizes. We are looking into many new options for both cat and dog in 2017. We will be making the announcement of the new options on social media and our website in early 2017. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].
Thank you very much! Bigger bags for cats would be great!
I used ZP for awhile, exclusively, until ZP changed their formula and started adding tetrasodium pyrophosphate, a flavor enhancer, to their canned foods. I couldn’t figure out why both cats were scratching themselves so much. A few others (via a blog) also had cats with similar reactions, breaking out in hives, etc. After an inquiry to ZP re TSPP, they said the ingredient was necessary to “bind” the food (I thought agar agar was the binder that replaced the carrageenan they were previously using)? ZP also stated that since cats require phosphorus in their diet, TSPP provided phosphorus (huh? I thought the organ meat in their food provided enough phosphorus)?
TSPP is a flavor enhancer, also used by companies like Nutro like Koha (formerly Mauri).
In any event, I don’t use ZP any more and I have lost trust in the company. I’m glad the food works out for those who do use it.
What have you started using instead?
At this time Primal freeze dried raw, along with some Weruva, Tiki Cat and occasionally Instinct LID.
I recently purchased ZiwiPeak wet food from Chewy.com, and my cats love it. However, upon examination of the ingredients, I noticed one called, “Agar Agar”. Not knowing what it was, I did an Internet search. What I found out is that Agar Agar is the “undegraded” version of carrageenan! So, ZiwiPeak DOES contain carrageenan. I also learned that the undegraded version (in many pets) becomes the bad version upon mixing with the acid in the stomach. So I say hmmmm?
There is a lot of confusing information about all of these binders on the internet. If you’d like to share your source, I’ll be happy to pass it on to ZiwiPeak to get feedback.
https://therawexplorer.com/2013/04/26/dodgy-ingredients-carrageenan/
Thank you for sharing your source, Chris.
Hello, my name is Adam and I am the Digital Marketing Manager at ZiwiPeak.
Thank you for your inquiry regarding Agar Agar and Carrageenan. We updated our canned recipes from Carrageenan to Agar Agar approximately 2 years ago. Agar Agar is considered to be a healthier ingredient for providing gelling properties to canned foods. Carrageenan and Agar Agar are derived from different types of red seaweed, and at a molecular level, there are definite differences between them.
We’re continually trying to improve our formulas, and our latest formulation is on our website.
Please reach out if you have any further questions.
I love this website, so much great information, I just wish I had read all this sooner! My 16 year old cat now has Kidney disease and I’m pretty sure it is due to only eating kibble for most of his life, I feel soooo guilty :-(. He has lost so much weight, he is literally skin and bones and half his previous healthy weight size.
He lost most of his weight when my vet told me to put him on The Hill’s KD. Once I noticed his quick weight loss I found a different vet who practices easter and western vet medicine. I was thrilled when he told me I could feed my cat regular food and just have to included some special vitamins to help with his digestion. He also now gets regular acupuncture but he is not gaining any weight. I had been feeding him the Instinct wet/dry food.
So I found this website and was very excited about all the information and the brand recommendations for food. I particularly love the quality and protein/fat quantity in the Ziwipeak food but wow is this food expensive, (I understand why, but ouch). I did the calculations on how much of their wet and air dried food my 2 cats would need monthly and the wet came to $301 a month but the dry only at $151 a month. I would get the air dry in a heartbeat but from what I have read on this website, especially regarding cats with kidney disease, it seems that the wet would be the best for hydration purposes. I feel paralyzed with making the wrong decision again for health of this cat, I feel like I owe him the best. Advise would be great!
Don’t feel guilty, Shari. You did the best you could, and now you’re educating yourself and making more informed choices. Premium diets are more expensive, but you usually save money on vet bills, so it evens out. I think canned is the better choice for your kitty.
I too had/have kidney disease kitties. What I wish I had known years ago is that dry food is VERY bad for cats. “Prescription” diets are especially bad, just have a look at the ingredients list (minus supplements): Pork By-Products,! Water, Pork Liver, Chicken, Rice! Corn Starch!, Oat Fiber!, Chicken Fat, Fish Meal, Corn Gluten Meal! Chicken Liver FLAVOR, Calcium Sulfate, Guar Gum!, Fish Oil, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dextrose,(sugar) DL-Methionine (major inflammatory, synthetic supplement)
This is what I fed my 3 fur babies. They love it.
I have purchased ZiwiPeak in the past and found it to be an excellent food for my cat with IBD. It was hard to get, usually sold out and expensive but worth the price.
I found it on Amazon. That doesn’t make it any cheaper but it is not that hard to get if you are willing to buy it online.
Chewy has it and is a great company to deal with!
This is one of the very few brands I’m not able to find anywhere near my home. Would love to have my two try it – it’s everything good that a cat food should be.
I’ve found it on Amazon, and Chewy. Although it costs dearly, we find that spending the extra and getting the 3 oz cans serves us better with less waste. My cat likes Lamb, Venison, and Rabbit and Lamb.
3 ounce cans work better for us also. We have 2 cats but both of them tend not to eat much more than 1-1/2 ounces at a meal. They both dislike leftovers. I wind up throwing out so much food if I use the 6 or 5.5 ounce cans.
Try Chewy.com.. that’s where I bought it
Chewy has it, checked this morning.
Awesome, thanks!
Wow, this food sounds more amazing and healthier than most things I eat as a human. Hahaha. I would absolutely love for my cat Jupiter to try it… But he’s still four months old and I’ve heard that these very rich, high-protein foods (Orijen being another one) can give them tummy problems unless they’re a bit older. Do you have any thoughts on this??
I always look forward to your cat food reviews because the market is so flooded with subpar products made without absolute nutrition in mind. I’m proud to say that thanks to you I’ve been able to mindfully select Jupiter’s food up until now, and he’s thriving. Luckily I live in NYC so it’s easy for me to run to the store and pick up high quality foods… But it can be a nightmare to find these foods in other parts of the country when I travel!
I think that’s more of a marketing ploy to sell “kitten foods” than anything else, Jupiter’s Mom. If anything, kittens need more protein, not less. Here are my thoughts on life stages diets: https://consciouscat.net/2014/08/11/life-stages-lifestyle-diets-cat-really-need/
And I’m so glad my site has helped you!
Interesting, that’s good information. I was feeding him Tiki Cat Succulent Chicken ONLY, but then I thought it might be better to fortify it with some kitten-formulated wet food as well. Do you believe that simply feeding him Tiki Cat Succulent Chicken alone would provide him with the nutrition he needs as a growing kitten?
Tiki Cat is actually higher in protein than most “kitten formulas,” but it is very low in fat, so I’d be concerned that your kitten isn’t getting enough calories.
Does anyone know if the wet is pate style? My 2 boys will only eat pate. Thanks!
It is pate style, Pennie.
My human would love to buy this food for us, but she can only do it occasionally because it’s on the pricey side! If it was just one or two of us, she’d probably buy it all the time.