Canidae and Orijen

[psychosid77]

My pup is currently on canidae als, and he scratches a bit and bites at his paws occassionally, oh, and sheds probably more than he should.

I wanted to try orijen.

One question if anyone could answer, is that when i look at both contents and food analysis, i see that orijen has carbs % on their breakdown and canidae doesn't. Don't carbs break down into sugars, and then sugars usually turn into excess weight?

I know canidae has grains, and orijen doesn't, but which is better......... a little bit of grains or a little bit of carbs.

My pup is about 11 months. So if i try orijen, i will probably get the large breed puppy for a short while before going to adult formula.

only reason i wanted to try the change was to see if he was having an allergic reaction to one of the protein sources in canidae....and the other reasons noted up top in the post.

Help........

[Zumie05]

I would try it! I had Gary on Canidae ALS as well and he always had soft stool, bad gas, eye boogers, and itchy/flaky skin. I switched him to Evanger's Duck and Pheasant for about two months and none of the problems really seemed to have gone away. Then I tried Innova Evo and his poo immediately firmed up and gas was gone, but I realized from here that I shouldn't feed that due to too high of calcium levels. Now he is happily on Orijen and he is doing great on it. No gas, itchyness, eye boogers, and nice small firm poops!

I also want to mention that I was using Advantage before for flea control while Gary was on Canidae and Evanger's. I never saw a flea on him, but he liked to bite at his butt! I switched to Frontline Plus around the time he started Orijen and really, all of the itchyness and biting has gone away.

[toobad]

I think Orijen is 100% better food. My dogs ALL had fur falling out, eye boogers, eating grass, smelly gas, etc on Canidae. I've been using Evo and Orijen for months and they are all doing great.

You may want to research availability before you switch over though. I have a large store in my area and they carry about 50 or 60 kinds of dog food. They have a serious problem with Orijen. The company is small and they run out of product. I use the adult fish formula and I have to make sure I have food in advance. The problems started when I couldn't get large bags for one reason or another and now I'm having a very hard time getting even the 15 pound bags. I'm feeding six grown Rottweilers and 15 pounds doesn't go very far

The people use their own products to make their food and they are running out of fish from what I'm told. It is nice to know they use their own fish BUT when supplies run low they may start buying from other places and who knows what else they may have to get from other sources in the future so the quality may change.

The 15 pound bags of Orijen have gone up about $7.00 in the past few months and other foods maybe only a third of that.

I'm thinking of maybe going to all EVO because I can always get it. I like the Orijen and the fact they are a small mom and pop company and use their own products but that doesn't help feed my dogs. The more people who find out about the food the more who will want it and that is going to make things worse. Just something to think about.

[psychosid77]

thanks to you guys for your quick responses.

i put him on the orijen large puppy food today, so i'll let u know how things go.

in toronto, the food doesn't seem too hard to get. the funny thing, is that the large bag is only $3 more than the canidae large bag. i'm assuming it's the same weight......but that is just an assumption.

is orijen the same number of calories approximately....or do i got to change the amount of food i gave in comparison to canidae als?

also, i added egg to the first bowl of it today.........since i figured he would like it better, since i usally add an egg frequently to his meals. but with so much protein already in orijen....should i cutback on the eggs i add to his meals?

p.s. zumie, how is gary?

[Zumie05]

Originally Posted by psychosid77

p.s. zumie, how is gary?

I put up an update in the chit chat corner

[gmo1379]

Orijen is about the same amount of calories as Canidae. Obviously Orijen is a superior food because it is grainless and has 70% meat content.

The large bag of Canidae (40lbs) is 33% larger then the biggest bag of Orijen (30 lbs).

So Orijen is considerably more money, but it is definitely a better food.

By the way, since I switched my pup off Canidae to Orijen... she has stopped scratching and her eyes are much cleaner, stool has also firmed up! I'm very satisified with Orijen so far :)

[stale]

thinking that if you're in canada, orijen is going to be easier to get, since it's made here. granted, i feed canidae (orijen might be a technically better food, but it makes Oz into a mobile chemical warfare machine), but the place i get my food from (ryan's pet food supply) always has stacks of orijen.

so, if the OP is in toronto (i think i read that right) keeping a stock of orijen shouldn't be an issue.

[Ayoka]

Originally Posted by toobad

The people use their own products to make their food and they are running out of fish from what I'm told. It is nice to know they use their own fish BUT when supplies run low they may start buying from other places and who knows what else they may have to get from other sources in the future so the quality may change.

Have you heard this from Orijen themselves? I'd be curious to know what they have to say about it. Reading their website about using wild fresh fish (including cod) I can see how there might be issues around fishing seasons and maintaining sustainable fishing practices. If supplies are running low in one place they likely are in another and there wouldn't likely be an alternate "shady" source. I would see them changing the formula rather than buying stock from somewhere else.

That being said I'd use it in a rotation if there were availability issues.

[dpatrone]

...I made the switch months ago and I was a huge Canidae fan but.... WOW what a difference in food quality,just incredible. Much better coat, eating smaller portions(less poop), both dogs have much more energy, look leaner.... The MOST Important thing that sets this kibble apart from the rest is the fact that they list out the company hey get their poultry and eggs from, which I believe is the only company that does that(please let me know if I'm wrong).

Two biggest problems are that I can't find the food anywhere and I have to order online and once you include the shipping, its about $70 per 28 pound bag. I go through 2 and 1/4 bag per month(for my two dogs) so it hurts the wallet but it's worth it.

Bottom line, accepting that not every food works for all dogs, I found Orijen to be the BEST, by far product out there.

[psychosid77]

So far the switch has been good. Less eye goobers. I put him on the Large breed puppy for now as he is 11 months old. I think I'll wait until another few months and then put him on the adult formula. Is the fish formula better than the regular adult formula? any issues with changing around from fish formula to adult formula etc. based on availability?

On a regular basis, I add egg to his kibble and he gets sardines once a week or so.

His poop has been a little bit mushy at least one time a day since the switch (which was cold turkey). I'll see if that goes away within the next few days.

Other than that, he is his happy go lucky self. he's sleeping at my feet right now....but i'll whisper the words "walk" in a few moments..............and magically he will arise with that "rotti look" on his face.........

orijen is at the pet store that i buy most of my food from. they say they don't order too much of it, and they were actually out of the large breed puppy formula in the bigger bags when i first got it, so i had to make do with a smaller bag.

It was surprising to see how much air was in the bag. At first when i got the bag of orijen, i thought to myself how am i gonna keep this stuff fresh in the bag........it seems like it's full to the brim! then i opened it up slowly to discover the top 15% was filled with air.

[adam8065]

I'm purchasing a bag of Orijen today myself! I was going to go with the California Natural but I believe it's better to go grain less right off the bat!

[rottgirl]

I have been looking to switch Paradise from Royal Canine and just found a place close to home that carries Canidae, Evo, Orijen and quite a few other 'premium' brands. So I decided on Orijen and Paradise has been on it for about 2 weeks now. She loves it! I too noticed she eats less and less poop - can't bet that. The 28 lb bag was $52.99 here. Currently I am feeding her 3 1/2 to 4 cups a day. She is 4 1/2 years old we were at the vet last week for her annual check up and tops the scale at 104lb. She is pure muscle - no fat on her.

Michele

[stale]

Originally Posted by psychosid77

So far the switch has been good. Less eye goobers. I put him on the Large breed puppy for now as he is 11 months old. I think I'll wait until another few months and then put him on the adult formula. Is the fish formula better than the regular adult formula? any issues with changing around from fish formula to adult formula etc. based on availability?

On a regular basis, I add egg to his kibble and he gets sardines once a week or so.

His poop has been a little bit mushy at least one time a day since the switch (which was cold turkey). I'll see if that goes away within the next few days.

Other than that, he is his happy go lucky self. he's sleeping at my feet right now....but i'll whisper the words "walk" in a few moments..............and magically he will arise with that "rotti look" on his face.........

orijen is at the pet store that i buy most of my food from. they say they don't order too much of it, and they were actually out of the large breed puppy formula in the bigger bags when i first got it, so i had to make do with a smaller bag.

It was surprising to see how much air was in the bag. At first when i got the bag of orijen, i thought to myself how am i gonna keep this stuff fresh in the bag........it seems like it's full to the brim! then i opened it up slowly to discover the top 15% was filled with air.

rubbermaid is your friend for keeping dog food fresh. we bought a container that has a screw on lid with a rubber gasket around the edge of the lid, so it's completely airtight. if you're buying the truly large bags, and ending up with spare food, large thick freezer bags work too - just put the extra food into a baggy and toss it in the freezer.

[MarleysMama]

I think i t's great you are switching your boy from Canidae. They actually just changed their formula and a lot of folks do not believe it is the same hig quality product it used to be :(

I wish you and your pup the very best of luck!

[psychosid77]

well, just an update.

although the pup is eating the food from orijen, his poop has been mushy the past few days....and on canidae..........well..........it was fine. is it simply just his system getting used to it and this is expected.

everything else is fine with him. but he is pooping more and it's a little mushy. should i have any concerns or is this normal?