Orijen Puppy Large Breed

[Antman408]

decided to switch from TOTW to orijen large puppy brand. My question is this, the orijen says to feed him only 2 1/3 cup of food a day in comparison to the TOTW 4 1/4th cup a day. Is this correct? Too little?

Also I rationed out his food for a week already and did mixed the foods to transition him slowly to the new food. Any input would be great.


Also sorry for my millionth post lol.

 

[GOD'S GRACE]

I feed raw, so I have no clue about quanity...but a transition is always good.

 

[Kaiser2016]

You have to transition no matter what. 2 sounds low to me, but it's a rich kibble, so, let's try it out and monitor the results. Try to split the portion into 3 meals though.

 

[Antman408]

You have to transition no matter what. 2 sounds low to me, but it's a rich kibble, so, let's try it out and monitor the results. Try to split the portion into 3 meals though.

Unfortunately our schedule only allows 2 feeding times. I’m mainly switching to try to get his pooping under control. Dudes still pooping 6-7 times a day. Lol

 

[Kaiser2016]

It's still way too much pooping.

Switching kibble too many times impacts their bones, so stick with this for a few months. If his poops are unbearable, you'll know within a few weeks.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Wow, that Orijen calls for that much less food than TOTW?

I know that I have always had to feed significantly more than the recommended feeding amounts the foods call for. Many of us Dobe owners do.

I think I would have a hard time only feeding Oji 2 1/3 cups. I think he would feel like he was not getting enough food. I'd be tempted to supplement it with rice or something, but this might throw off the nutrition.

Not sure what I'd do if I were you.

I have been trying to get Oji's poo under control too all his life. He has a problem. Are your boy's stools all reasonably firm, or does he have loose or runny ones? Oji, in addition to producing a high volume of stools, has loose to runny ones. The more times he poos the worse they get. If we are on a longer than normal run he just keeps stopping to poo and they get to the point I'm wiping up melted ice cream off the sidewalk with my plastic grocery bags. Quite embarrassing and inconvenient.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Switching kibble too many times impacts their bones

If I may ask: How?

 

[Antman408]

Wow, that Orijen calls for that much less food than TOTW?

I know that I have always had to feed significantly more than the recommended feeding amounts the foods call for. Many of us Dobe owners do.

I think I would have a hard time only feeding Oji 2 1/3 cups. I think he would feel like he was not getting enough food. I'd be tempted to supplement it with rice or something, but this might throw off the nutrition.

Not sure what I'd do if I were you.

I have been trying to get Oji's poo under control too all his life. He has a problem. Are your boy's stools all reasonably firm, or does he have loose or runny ones? Oji, in addition to producing a high volume of stools, has loose to runny ones. The more times he poos the worse they get. If we are on a longer than normal run he just keeps stopping to poo and they get to the point I'm wiping up melted ice cream off the sidewalk with my plastic grocery bags. Quite embarrassing and inconvenient.

Wow, that Orijen calls for that much less food than TOTW?

I know that I have always had to feed significantly more than the recommended feeding amounts the foods call for. Many of us Dobe owners do.

I think I would have a hard time only feeding Oji 2 1/3 cups. I think he would feel like he was not getting enough food. I'd be tempted to supplement it with rice or something, but this might throw off the nutrition.

Not sure what I'd do if I were you.

I have been trying to get Oji's poo under control too all his life. He has a problem. Are your boy's stools all reasonably firm, or does he have loose or runny ones? Oji, in addition to producing a high volume of stools, has loose to runny ones. The more times he poos the worse they get. If we are on a longer than normal run he just keeps stopping to poo and they get to the point I'm wiping up melted ice cream off the sidewalk with my plastic grocery bags. Quite embarrassing and inconvenient.

All his poops are firm, the runny ice cream machine ones stopped but the shear volume of them is too much. But he’s being fed 4 1/2 cups of food a day so the volume coming out to the volume coming in are the same. Also he’s only 12 weeks old so the pooping a lot is expected.

However, I’m considering doing 3 cups of orijen after the transition. Currently I have 12 baggies mixed in order of day with different volumes of orijen and totw mixed so I can just pour in his bowel. However I may of mixed the ratio too much in the last 2 days of transition due to totw being 4 cups ish and the orijen 2 1/3 cup.

However, it may be good for the week to increase his calories as he’s still putting on the weight he lost from when he was sick.

I read on several other forums that Orijen reduced the volume of poop in their dogs a day and firmed the stool up more than totw which I’m hoping happens to my pup. Also a lot of people have said the dogs coat and overall appearance greatly increased after feeding.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Well, I look forward to learning the results you experience. Maybe I will try this Orijen with Oji if it works for you!

I must say that's studious of you to pre-prepare bags in incrementally stepped mixes for the transition.

 

[Antman408]

Well, I look forward to learning the results you experience. Maybe I will try this Orijen with Oji if it works for you!

I must say that's studious of you to pre-prepare bags in incrementally stepped mixes for the transition.

I like order and neatness for everything. I also have limited space right now since we’re in a 1 bedroom condo and don’t move for another few weeks into a home. I have a kibble vault and took the old food out (besides the food I mixed with the new food) bagged it in ziplocks to donate to a local shelter and I put the new kibble in. It also saves time when serving his food in the morning and it’s quieter. Don’t like waking my gf up two hours earlier than she needs to be up.

I’ll update this thread everyday with the results of the transition.

However I can say the orijen kibble and totw kibble are completely different just by looking st it and smell it. I’ll take a picture in the morning comparing the two.

 

[Tropicalbri's]

You shouldn’t go by their guide as being the absolute amount for your dog. It’s a guideline to go by. You can up the amount to suit your dog’s needs. I fed Orijen and my twins got 1 1/2 cups 3 times a day. With only 2 feedings a day see how much he wants to eat at one feeding and go from there. You can up the amount or lower it according to what your dog needs.

 

[Sir.duke865]

I feed orijen( Regional red) it’s all stages and can for sure tell you it takes less orijen then many other kibbles. IMO it’s because they carry the food a lot better vs it just running through there system doing nothing (less fillers and bs more benefit). What I noticed was at first he would eat the same amount but I then noticed he started to pick up weight fast, like next week fast, track to over weight fast and he also wasn’t waking up in the morning after food like he was starved. Dial his portions into to suite him, we train a lot so we feed slightly more then use to, before training picked up he needed less food seemed like but for sure you will be cutting back the amount vs what he was eating before. I even switched our smaller dogs over and there time between needing food more then doubled. It cut back that much and they all act and look better even with the seemingly small portions.

Had to add dukes coat gets attention from people EVERY where we go. Don’t know if it’s the orijen or not (his mom has a very nice coat)but it looks like silk in the sun.

 

[Antman408]

I feed orijen and can for sure tell you it takes less orijen then many other kibbles. IMO it’s because they carry the food a lot better vs it just running through there system doing nothing (less fillers and bs more benefit). What I noticed was at first he would eat the same amount but I then noticed he started to pick up weight fast, like next week fast, track to over weight fast and he also wasn’t waking up in the morning after food like he was starved. Dial his portions into to suite him, we train a lot so we feed slightly more then use to, before training picked up he needed less food seemed like but for sure you will be cutting back the amount vs what he was eating before. I even switched our smaller dogs over and there time between needing food more then doubled. It cut back that much and they all act and look better even with the seemingly small portions.

Had to add dukes coat gets attention from people EVERY where we go. Don’t know if it’s the orijen or not (his mom has a very nice coat)but it looks like silk in the sun.

Awesome, he’s currently getting 4-4 1/2 cups a day of TOTW depending how nicely I scoop it lol. I just fed him his first mixture of 1-1/2 totw and 1/2 cup of orijen. He seemed to enjoy his breakfast a lot more than usual. After I fully transition I’m thinking of starting at 3 cups a day and to go from there. I’m hoping he picks up some weight this week during the transition because he is sitting a little on the thin side thanks to the vet.

How does your dog do on his poops with orijen?

 

[Sir.duke865]

usually 2 times a day and I have to catch him then. The loads are smaller too.

 

[Sir.duke865]

You should for sure see him pick up weight. I’d say bout the time you get him switched over you’ll be noticing him looking a lot thicker or more filled out should I say. The Orijen will stay with him a lot better between feedings. We only feed twice a day, any more then that and duke isn’t interested in one of the feedings and food is wasted, or he gets up the next morning and I feed him on schedule and he has no desire to touch his breakfast feeding, he looks at me like um “I’m not hungry “

 

[Sir.duke865]

On Orijen.
No effects or anything and took these on a good day with a camera phone

 

[Sir.duke865]

Something I didn’t consider when I switched to orijen. That 100 dollar bag that last a month right now for you will soon turn into a bag a week I average 4 bags a month easily. Duke isn’t 7 months yet and it’s not getting any cheaper. You may have already consider this I didn’t, no biggie I just did my budget over and realized dukes food is now a small car note each month. Just a heads up orijen is a monthly bill

 

[Kaiser2016]

If I may ask: How?

I read it on here that switching too many kibble brands (in the puppy phase) which have different nutritional profiles can impact their bone growth. In Kaiser's early days, I was told it's better to switch kibble within the same brand...so during our Acana switch, it was ok to experiment with different proteins from Acana because their kibble is all similarly formulated.

 

[Antman408]

Something I didn’t consider when I switched to orijen. That 100 dollar bag that last a month right now for you will soon turn into a bag a week I average 4 bags a month easily. Duke isn’t 7 months yet and it’s not getting any cheaper. You may have already consider this I didn’t, no biggie I just did my budget over and realized dukes food is now a small car note each month. Just a heads up orijen is a monthly bill

Thanks for the heads up. There’s a feed store local to me that sells it for 75 a bag. I had planned a 300 dollar budget a month when I got him.

 

[GOD'S GRACE]

I had planned a 300 dollar budget a month

I don't spend that on power, gas, water, trash pickup and internet....LOL...