# Kasiks



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

I recently came across Kasiks, a sibling brand of FirstMate. I suspect many people here aren't familiar with either, but that's okay. I'll be frank, I don't have much interest in how other people's dogs do on a food, but I would really appreciate any thoughts you have based on the company if you are familiar. There's a few things I really, really like about them so far, but I am really interested to hear what others think.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

Looks like they're trying to compete with Acana but I'm not impressed from looking at it. The foods all have tons of legumes which makes me question how much protein is actually coming from meat and my even bigger concern would be a super gassy dog with gross poops. Personally I don't like that all the formulas are grain free. Also they are all 500+ calories per cup which means my dog would be eating such a small portion there's no way he would be full.


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## pawsaddict (Apr 17, 2013)

Maybe I'm wrong, but the Kasiks formulas seem to be just like the FirstMate ones, just switch out a bunch of potatoes for bunch of legumes. Nothing groundbreaking about it. 

I like FirstMate as a company. They seem to be honest, and I enjoy the story of how they came to be. I believe they have their own manufacturing facility too, which I like as well.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

NicoleIsStoked said:


> Looks like they're trying to compete with Acana but I'm not impressed from looking at it. The foods all have tons of legumes which makes me question how much protein is actually coming from meat and my even bigger concern would be a super gassy dog with gross poops. Personally I don't like that all the formulas are grain free. Also they are all 500+ calories per cup which means my dog would be eating such a small portion there's no way he would be full.


Grain-free is easier for us; many "good" grain-inclusive formulas use oatmeal, which has given Snowball loose stools in the past (and did again when we tried Eagle Pack recently). Kasik's sister company FirstMate makes grain-inclusive formulas (that use oatmeal, so we'd never feed them anyway). On the other hand, Snowball has never had an issue with legumes which are the main carbs in Horizon, which he has been really great on since we started. (I want to add a red meat-based formula to our rotation, but Horizon doesn't make one).

Something that's been bothering me is how is a food that is 25% protein and 12% fat is so calorically dense per cup. Most of the super calorically dense foods seem to be upwards of 40% protein. 

Thank you for reminding me about protein source vs. content, however. I am compiling a list of questions to ask them so I'll add that as well.



pawsaddict said:


> Maybe I'm wrong, but the Kasiks formulas seem to be just like the FirstMate ones, just switch out a bunch of potatoes for bunch of legumes. Nothing groundbreaking about it.
> 
> I like FirstMate as a company. They seem to be honest, and I enjoy the story of how they came to be. I believe they have their own manufacturing facility too, which I like as well.


Legumes don't bother us, Snowball seems to digest them really well. Horizon uses legumes as their starch as well.

FirstMate does have their own facility, in North Vancouver. It's one of the things I like about them as well. Unfortunately the FirstMate brand is a bit out of our price range, so I was really excited to see a 5 lb bag of Kasiks for $13, since that puts it right in our price range per lb, even buying the smallest bag.

I noticed today that Kasiks also seems to be single-protein, which makes me really excited for their cat line to come out (I hope it's single protein too so I can finally be satisfied with the cat's food...)


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

Damn! In Toronto 5lbs of purina one is $13.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

NicoleIsStoked said:


> Damn! In Toronto 5lbs of purina one is $13.


Purina One is the same price here, Eagle Pack is $16-18 for 6 lbs, Acana is like, $23/5 lbs. It seems like the smaller more regional foods seem to be where the best value is.


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