Acana or Orijen?

[barry581]

I ran into this issue with Bruce. Breeder in the UK was using Royal Canin Maxi Puppy. I picked up Royal Canin Maxi Puppy in the US for Bruce. Within a week of his arrival I had issue with really soft poo's. Long story short. Royal Canin changed the formula here in the US. Same name, completely different formula's. I hated to do it, but I felt it was better to put him on a better food that the re-formulated RC food. So I switched him to Fromm Large Breed Puppy. If it had been the same I would have kept Bruce on the RC food the breeder uses.

I looked into Orijen when I was ready to take Sophie off puppy food a couple years ago. Felt it was way to high in protein. My breeder recommends protein in 28-30% range. Origen was well into the 40% range with every protein type.

[doubledip1]

I didn't realize the formulations were different in Europe. That's annoying.

I would feed Acana over Orijen. Once in a while I'll pick up a bag of Orijen, but I mix it with our regular food or use it as training treats. It is crazy rich.

[Berna]

Sipsi,

If you are not comfortable with the ingredients in ProPlan (I don't blame you, I wouldn't be either), you can try Acana. Make a slow transition. You'll see very fast how she does on the new food. Or you can try Royal Canin, if she doesn't. It's not that rich like Acana and Orijen, but is superior to Pro Plan.

[sipsi]

Thank you Berna. I'll probably do like you said. One more question to you and everyone, do you prefer chicken or lamb? I feed her lamb. But Acana's puppy formula just contains chicken. No puppy formula with lamb. I don't want want to change the meat type. Can I feed my puppy Acana adult formula or should I try something else?

[Berna]

Do you have any specific reasons why you wouldn't feed chicken? You usually avoid chicken only if your dog is allergic to it.

Many people do rotation feeding. They feed their dogs different formulas with different proteins.

[sipsi]

She already has dandruff on her coat. I'm afraid it will get worse if I feed her chicken. Maybe it is an unnecessary concern :/

[Tanya]

She already has dandruff on her coat. I'm afraid it will get worse if I feed her chicken. Maybe it is an unnecessary concern :/

there could be so many reasons for the dandruff totally unrelated to chicken.

[xracer4844]

She already has dandruff on her coat. I'm afraid it will get worse if I feed her chicken. Maybe it is an unnecessary concern :/

I wouldn't avoid chicken due to dandruff. Dandruff can be caused by many other factors and can be managed with various other ways. I would feed a chicken formula and see if there is any change

[sipsi]

Ok I will give it a try. I 'll share the results here.

[Snowco Labradors]

Latte's poop is firm. No itching, no other problems. After I read your experiences I feel like I'm looking for trouble. Really confused. This is what I am feeding her


ProPlan Digestion Lamb with Rice Ingredients: Lamb (21%), maize, maize gluten, dehydrated poultry protein, rice (8%), animal fat, maize flour, digest, beet pulp, dried egg, calcium phosphate, fish oil, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, minerals, L-Lysine, colostrum, DL-Methionine.
Antioxidant: Tocopherol (rich extracts of natural origin).

Additives: Bentonite 5000 mg/kg.

Vitamins: Vitamin A: 15000 IU/kg, Vitamin D3: 750 IU/kg, Vitamin E: 170mg/kg, Vitamin C: 70 mg/kg.


Would you feed this?

I would not feed this. Maize is corn and 2nd and 3rd ingred. Poultry protein (what type of poultry?) Animal fat (what type of animal?), more maize, digest (what form?)

IMO you want a product made up of mostly protein and specific sources, chicken, lamb, duck etc. (not poultry) and no by products. Your protein sources should be deboned or meal and the 1st, 2nd and then maybe 4th or 5th ingred.

Dog food ingredients are listed by weight so the first ingred. you see are what the food is mostly made up of. Notice lamb is first - that is good, then you have two forms of maize, next an unidentified protein, then rice. The commas between the maize prod. allow the company to weigh each item separately. If you weighed all the maize together along with the rice it would most likely out weigh the lamb protein.

Acana has good product but they are expensive. The chicken and Burbank potato is the least expensive but you say you want to stay away from chicken. Is there a reason for that? My dogs do great on the ch/Burbank.