Thoughts on Orijen food?

[Zippo]

I was feeding Orijen 6 Fish. It was higher in Copper content than several of the others in the line

I think I'm gonna go with Acana duck and pear and rotate with orijen tundra or Earthborn

 

[Tropicalbri's]

I think I'm gonna go with Acana duck and pear and rotate with orijen tundra or Earthborn

Earthborn Holistic has never had a recall.

 

[Archer]

I found some interesting info, the Fromm surf and turf contains 21mg/kg copper, Orijen Tundra is only 10, and Acana singles duck and pear is 9-15mg/kg, now I'm confused lol

It is what you posted, but it was lower than some of the other foods I was able to feed (I deal with food sensitivities). Since they won't eat the Orijen or Acana (I tried Tundra and a few of the Acana singles and they caused the same issue) it was my best option. So basically don't listen to me, lol The other Orijen varieties are higher in Copper than the Fromm Surf and Turf

I like Earthborn. It was one I looked at.

 

[Gelcoater]

When Drogon was pup we tried a bunch of different foods. Most gave him lose stool or gas. We finally tried Acana 'Pacifica'. As @Archer said Orijen/Acana (same company) changed formulas when they moved to US. Now Pacifica is Atlantica and Drogon went back to having lose stools. I stayed with Acana and switched to Lamb and Apple which has worked out well for us. He had some gas during the transition but has since cleared up and his stool is firmer than ever. He's 2 now.

Lamb and apple.
Interesting. I can't recall a food ever calling out apple as a main ingredient. But hey, what ever works.
I'll avoid that mix myself, we have two apple trees.During the season Rocky gets more than his share.

 

[Archer]

I think I'm gonna go with Acana duck and pear and rotate with orijen tundra or Earthborn

Good plan Watch your calcium/phosphorus ratio in a growing puppy. Not sure about Earthborn, but Acana is not an ALS food. Orijen tends to be high in cal/phos than other foods. I wouldn't worry about it unless he starts to knuckle. Not trying to worry you. Was just sharing my experience incase you may need it in the future

 

[Archer]

Lamb and apple.
Interesting. I can't recall a food ever calling out apple as a main ingredient. But hey, what ever works.
I'll avoid that mix myself, we have two apple trees.During the season Rocky gets more than his share.

It's their singles line.. like their version of a LID diet

 

[Zippo]

Good plan Watch your calcium/phosphorus ratio in a growing puppy. Not sure about Earthborn, but Acana is not an ALS food. Orijen tends to be high in cal/phos than other foods. I wouldn't worry about it unless he starts to knuckle. Not trying to worry you. Was just sharing my experience incase you may need it in the future

Thank you! I did some more reading and the standards say no less then 7mg/kg for copper, but I couldn't find anything that says what the food should be less then in copper? Should it be less than 30? Less than 20, 15? It seems like 10 is the lowest you can find (which is Orijen tundra) except for medical diets which I wouldn't want to do unless there IS an issue, so what do you think is a good "less then" guide in regards of copper mg/kg?

 

[Archer]

Thank you! I did some more reading and the standards say no less then 7mg/kg for copper, but I couldn't find anything that says what the food should be less then in copper? Should it be less than 30? Less than 20, 15? It seems like 10 is the lowest you can find (which is Orijen tundra) except for medical diets which I wouldn't want to do unless there IS an issue, so what do you think is a good "less then" guide in regards of copper mg/kg?

I am not a vet, but from what I've seen the 20 ish range is ok for a predisposed breed.

 

[MeadowCat]

I'm sorry, guys...I don't get email notifications anymore, even though I have my settings set up to get one I did do a lot of research on the claims that Orijen was too high in copper and caused issues and never found any hard proof of it. That said, for a few reasons I don't feed it anymore. My dogs are also both on Fromm formulas and I'm really happy with that company. Richter eats the Chicken a la Veg and Sypha eats Salmon Tunalini.

Whenever people are looking at food and nutrition I highly recommend reading Linda Case's book "Dog Food Logic." She's a canine nutritionist - her master's degree is in canine nutrition. The book is short, an easy read, and very educational. It really helped me feel less stressed about dog food, and she's an actual expert (unlike many who claim to be online )

 

[Archer]

I'm sorry, guys...I don't get email notifications anymore, even though I have my settings set up to get one I did do a lot of research on the claims that Orijen was too high in copper and caused issues and never found any hard proof of it. That said, for a few reasons I don't feed it anymore. My dogs are also both on Fromm formulas and I'm really happy with that company. Richter eats the Chicken a la Veg and Sypha eats Salmon Tunalini.

Whenever people are looking at food and nutrition I highly recommend reading Linda Case's book "Dog Food Logic." She's a canine nutritionist - her master's degree is in canine nutrition. The book is short, an easy read, and very educational. It really helped me feel less stressed about dog food, and she's an actual expert (unlike many who claim to be online )

I am loving the Fromm. Better coats, zero gas and better condition. I'll have to pick up that read. Thanks for the recommendation

 

[jsigrist]

Whenever people are looking at food and nutrition I highly recommend reading Linda Case's book "Dog Food Logic." She's a canine nutritionist - her master's degree is in canine nutrition. The book is short, an easy read, and very educational. It really helped me feel less stressed about dog food, and she's an actual expert (unlike many who claim to be online )

I downloaded this book, and even though I have not finished it yet I wanted to thank you for the recommendation. I feed TOTW to Hera and do not yet know that I will change but the information from this book will help me understand so much of what I see published about canine nutrition.

Like everyone I want to do the best I can for my Dobe. There is so much information on the internet regarding feed and supplements it is useful to have someone trained in the subject to provide information which will help me make a decision.

Jeff

 

[DeniseA]

Yup. Same company. I switched to Fromm and feed the Four Star Nutritionals Surf and Turf. My puppyes are on the Fromm Holistic GOLD puppy. Dogs Have better coats and muscle tone on it and zero gas issues. Dogs love it. Good company with zero recalls and based in the US. I was horribly dissapointed with the change in Orijen/Acana. If you are having success feeding the Orijen don't switch unless you want to. It is still a good food. The food manufactured in the US now receives a lower rating than the food processed in CA. I'm glad Champion Petfood stuck to their principles when they opened their plant in KY and kept it regionally sourced, but it messed it up for many.

@Drogon, I'm glad you found a variety that works for you

It seems like the copper comes from the meat, therefore would using the Orijen fish be a better alternative?

When I was chatting with them yesterday the woman did tell me that they were now adding 11 mg to the six fishes. This is so frustrating...I keep thinking I've found the right food for Addy and thought I'd made the right choice by switching to Orijen but maybe I'll take a look at Fromm's.

 

[AxelRose]

Hello everyone. Its been a long time. Hope all is well.
Thought I would come on here to see any comments about Orijen with their new formulas. Axl has been eating the Original chicken and red meat formulas over the past 4 years.... The new formula changes rolled out here in February. He is not doing that great now. So mad. He's pooping like 5-6 times a day, gas, eating tons of grass, and a little extreme anxiety starting to show. Grrrrr. Going to try the new Acana formula without oatmeal and crossing fingers. Axl is hard to feed as some of you know. And he's tried so many foods if not all of them over the years.
What have some of you changed to? At least dogs with extreme food intolerances.

 

[MeadowCat]

Both of my dogs eat Fromm. One eats a formula with grain, one a grain free. Both look spectacular.

 

[Drogon]

Drogon used to be on ACANA Pacifica before the formula change. After the change his stools were soft. We switched to ACANA lamb & apple and he does great on it.

 

[Zippo]

It's been a while on this thread! I've since switched both my dogs to completely raw. Whole pieces and I order most everything from Raw Feeding Miami as well as stuff here and there from local Asian markets in my city (duck heads, chicken feet, etc. It's been about 2 months, they are thriving on it.


I make a months worth of meals at a time, takes me a few hours. I weigh everything out to make sure it's 80/10/5/5% muscle meat, bone, liver and other organ. Into zip lock bags they go and into the chest freezer, I grab a few at a time and put in my fridge upstairs to thaw and feed.

I give some add ons to the raw diet...

Fish oil
Kefir (probitoic)
Feed Sentials (it's a whole food supplement, great ingredients.)

I guess you could say I've been doing my research on this raw stuff haha.

 

[JanS]

Hello everyone. Its been a long time. Hope all is well.

Nice to see you again! Our dogs have always been on TOTW and do great with it. I agree that Fromm makes a great food too. Hopefully neither one of those companies change their formulas since I pretty much rely on them for our dogs.

 

[My2Girls]

Hello everyone. Its been a long time. Hope all is well.
Thought I would come on here to see any comments about Orijen with their new formulas. Axl has been eating the Original chicken and red meat formulas over the past 4 years.... The new formula changes rolled out here in February. He is not doing that great now. So mad. He's pooping like 5-6 times a day, gas, eating tons of grass, and a little extreme anxiety starting to show. Grrrrr. Going to try the new Acana formula without oatmeal and crossing fingers. Axl is hard to feed as some of you know. And he's tried so many foods if not all of them over the years.
What have some of you changed to? At least dogs with extreme food intolerances.

I just transitioned Princess from Earthborn to Zignatures. P has a sensitivity to anything chicken and this is one of the few foods that offer chicken and grain free formulas and you can rotate them month to month. They even have a kangaroo formula. The pet store I get my food from gave me sample packs of all their formulas. I did a taste test with all the sample packs and Princess chose lamb ( over venison and kangaroo) go figure.

 

[AxelRose]

I just transitioned Princess from Earthborn to Zignatures. P has a sensitivity to anything chicken and this is one of the few foods that offer chicken and grain free formulas and you can rotate them month to month. They even have a kangaroo formula. The pet store I get my food from gave me sample packs of all their formulas. I did a taste test with all the sample packs and Princess chose lamb ( over venison and kangaroo) go figure.

Is that food in Canada? Never heard of it.

 

[AxelRose]

Both of my dogs eat Fromm. One eats a formula with grain, one a grain free. Both look spectacular.

I love FROMM company..wish he could eat it. He loses weight on the grain free and cannot eat the other formulas. U are lucky.