| Website | ZIWI Peak |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| Available from | Pet Circle |
ZIWI Peak from New Zealand make a rather unique “air-dried” cat food, more in keeping with a raw diet than a dry kibble diet. When a normal kibble is cooked some of the nutrients are lost in the process, which won’t be the case with ZiwiPeak. Another benefit is the food retains more moisture, which is very important for cats who can neglect their water intake.
In our ZIWI Peak cat food review we’ll take a look at the Chicken recipe and find out how good this cat food really is… and yes, it is very good.
ZIWI Peak cat food review
What the marketing says
ZiwiPets, makes of ZIWI Peak, are proud of being a New Zealand company. In terms of pet foods New Zealand seems to offer some of the best products worldwide, and ZIWI Peak is one of the leading brands.
ZiwiPeak cat food is marketed as “Whole-prey recipes rich in meat and gently air-dried to lock in nature’s goodness”. Further delving into the ZiwiPets website we find some fancy terminology with Z-TWINTECH™ air drying technology which neither you nor I need to care about, but what’s really beneficial is this being a “raw and fresh diet” with the “safe convenience of dry foods”. Being whole-prey is absolutely fantastic, and you’ll find out why as you read this review.
ZiwiPeak Air Dried Chicken, like the other formulas in the range, is made from ethically farmed, free-range meats. No factory farming here – fantastic!
What the ingredients really say
An astounding 96% of ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Chicken comes from chicken, organs, and bones, and the wonderful New Zealand green-lipped mussels. You won’t find a cat food made with such an astounding meat content in kibble form, it’s just not possible.
There are virtually no carbohydrates in this food. No grains, and no fillers. It’s formulated exactly inline with feline nutrition, with no corner cutting or cost saving.
We mentioned whole-prey earlier which is an uncommon find in cat food. Many commercial brands have some form of meat or meat meal, lots of filler (grains/potatoes etc) which cats do not need in their diet, some fat, and a range of added vitamins and minerals which make up for the lack of whole-prey ingredients. In truth, organ meats and bones are absolutely essential to feline health, and the best way to offer those nutrients to a cat is in their original form. If you consider ZiwiPEAK expensive in comparison to other brands of pet foods then this is one of the key reasons why. Another way of looking at it is why other brands of cat food are so cheap, using the old adage “you get what you pay for”.
Being air-dried ensures nutrients are kept relatively intact, especially compared to dry kibble which is cooked (multiple times) at high temperatures, and high temperatures kill nutrition. Another huge benefit of air-drying is it greatly extends shelf life once moisture is removed, and for you it offers a wonderfully simple way of feeding your cat what is essentially a raw diet of meat, offal, and bones, with the convenience of a kibble.
If you have the money ZIWI Peak is an excellent choice. If you don’t have the money, at least consider feeding this as part of your cat’s diet. If you want your cat to jump up and purr on your lap then this will likely entice them. It doesn’t have to be the air-dried food either, as the wet food is fantastic as well.
Recommended!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our ZIWI Peak cat food review. As a free resource which aims to get the truth out about cat foods and which are good or bad for your cat, we would appreciate you telling others about Pet Food Reviews! Especially if they’re feeding nasty cheap supermarket kibbles full of cereal by-products to the pets they love…
Where to buy ZIWI Peak cat food
ZIWI Peak cat food products
The varieties of ZiwiPEAK cat food covered by this review are as follows:
It’s worth mentioning ZIWI Peak also offer a range of excellent wet foods and treats which are well worth considering.
Ingredients of ZiwiPEAK Air-Dried Chicken Cat Food
The ingredients of ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Chicken formula as of August 2021 are as follows:
Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Heart, New Zealand Green Mussel, Chicken Bone, Lecithin, Inulin from Chicory, Dried Kelp, Minerals (Dipotassium Phosphate, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite), Salt, Preservative (Citric Acid, Mixed Tocopherols), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), DL-Methionine, Taurine.
Guaranteed Analysis of ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Chicken Cat Food
The guaranteed analysis of ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Chicken formula as of August 2021 are as follows:
| Protein | (min) 38% |
| Fat | (min) 30% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 5% |
| Carbohydrates * | 6% (estimated based on our formula, but note protein and fat % as minimums which will likely leave carbohydrates as trace if at all) |
I’ve tried most all brands, I find the “Feline Natural” does very well with my cat.
They have zero thickeners.
Would be great if “Ziwi Peak” could do the same perhaps eliminate the “Chick peas”
I like giving my cat a variety of quality foods, of course Without carrageenan, all gums, agar agar etc.
First time I tried the Ziwi peak, my cat will taste some of it at best.
Thanks
Would Ziwi be good for a cat diagnosed with urinary issues? I have him on the vet recommended wet food, but it just contains so many bad things I’d like to really stop giving him that. So should I transition to Ziwi, freeze dried and add some water and the wet one?
Hi Liz, Ziwi as a dried raw diet I expect would help – it’s a more true-to-form raw diet. That said, the vet recommended wet foods (for brands like Royal Canin and Hills) tend to be quite a bit better than the dry foods. Definitely adding clean water/moisture to your cat’s diet is a good idea.
The Ziwi chicken wet food that comes in cans has made my cat throw up twice. She’s generally 100% healthy. Obviously something in it doesn’t agree with her. My other cat however is fine.
Is it true that this company was New Zealand owned, but has been bought out by a Chinese company which has changed the product formula?
I had to give away 24 cans as my cat also threw up every time she had the wet food. She is fine with the air dried food though.
Hi Mike, Ziwi was acquired in 2021 by China-based private equity firm FountainVest Partners, but the recipe hasn’t (noticably) changed since and is still manufactured in New Zealand.
If you want an Aussie alternative then check out Eureka which is proving very good.
I’ve come across Tu Meke as another NZ brand. Their wet food is a bit cheaper than ZIWI, are they as good?
I noticed that some of their wet food has chickpeas as an ingredient. Sometimes listed in the first few ingredients. Is this filler? Do cats need chickpeas in their diet?
Over the years they had been adding and changing the wet foods thickeners. People wanted them to stop using gums and a certain Facebook group (Feed cats like cats Feline Nutrition) also states that gums are best not fed.
So to thicken the food they chose chickpeas instead. No cats don’t need any carbs at all actually. However they needed a thickener and chickpeas are way better still than gums. Gums cause numerous issues whereas chickpeas are unlikely to cause any.
They tried their best to find a suitable thickener and this was their best choice as it’s been that way for years now.
Ok great. Thanks for the explanation. Glad it is not being used as a filler, but has an actual purpose.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the odd one out(with my comment) but I was very disappointed with ziwipeak canned chicken wet cat food.
I’d read up on all the rave reviews this brand had received, bought what I thought would be the best ever food for my oriental-mix cat and ….. he hated it! I tried the slow introduction technique (as you do) but ‘nope’, he wasn’t having a bar of it.
I wish that Healthy Everyday Pets made a wet cat food food to go with their super excellent grain free dry cat food. My boy needs a mostly wet food diet or he ‘clogs-up’.
Any recommendations for a wet food to suit a cat with a finicky digestive system would be much appreciated.
Cats are imprint feeders and will usually not eat or classify as food items they’ve never had before. So if the Ziwi was his first canned food or first high meat canned food, that’s the issue. You’ll need to look up how to switch cats to canned food and go from there.
Ummm, as I said in my original comment, my boy IS a mainly wet food feeder. I only give him small amounts of the Healthy Everyday Pets kibble, (which he loves), sometimes. He drinks plenty of water but needs the moisture from wet food or he gets constipated. The vet has also advised me to use a little actilax mixed in wet food when needs be. He really likes fancy feast royale wet canned food but if you have any suggestions for something even better, other than ziwipeak, I’m all ears. He’s a finicky eater with a funny digestive system.
This is my back up to the homemade prey model raw I feed my ferret; it’s useful when someone who isn’t an avid raw feeder looks after her because its easy to portion and not “gross” looking.
I highly recommend as one of the only dry foods (I’d never feed kibble to a ferret) to feed a ferret.
Feline Natural is the only other one available in Australia I’ve used (which I would also recommend for a ferret)
I have been feeding my adopted kitty of one year today – this canned raw food twice a day – with their air dried raw meat as a snack between meals. If she does not eat all the snack food then in it goes on top of the wet canned food I serve to her at mealtimes.
She totally loves it and the associated poop every second day is solid and less smelly than before when she was on grain dry or non-grain dry food so much is easier to dispose on into my ensuite loo.
It is more expensive yes – but hopefully less vet bills as raw food is the best food for obligate carnivores such as cats.
To offset the expense – buy in bulk – I find that I save $80.00 on a three month supply.
are either the earthborn holistic grain free dry food or this food preservative free?
I currently feed black hawk chicken and rice as one of my kitties cannot tolerate preservatives in raw foods, he can eat human beef mince, or the vets all natural raw food, but someone recently told me that blackhawk is very high in salt??
would you recommend either of these as a new food for him. i have 5 cats so as good as the ziwi one sounds, it may be a tad bit expensive for me. is there anything else that you could recommend?? they mainly get the dry food diet
thanks so much!!
Hi Jan,
Both Earthborn and ZiwiPeak are decent foods (although you’re right that ZiwiPeak could prove costly for 5 cats). Most foods contain preservatives, with most high end foods using natural preservatives.
Here is a list of our best-rated dry cat foods – perhaps something like Canidae is worth considering as a decent food on a slightly cheaper budget?
https://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/dry-cat-food/best-dry-cat-food/