More $$$ is better.. - Page 1

   I have been experimenting with Prince's kibble over the last 6 months or so....

   I originally fed Natural Balance, but I was concerned about it not having enough meat protein so I switched to Taste of the Wild and was not that impressed with his stool.... 

   I then switched to Earthborn Primitive and was happy with the results at first because his stool was firmer, but over time I just did not like Prince's coat condition. I actually think Prince's coat was better on the Natural Balance....    
   I decided to bite the bullet $$$ and try Orijen....WoW!!! It has only been about two weeks and what a difference it has made. I noticed that his coat looks really shiny and more full and thick. The other thing I noticed was that he gained a bit of weight. He was getting two cups twice a day of the Earthborn so I continued the two cups because I am still only at a 50/50 ratio mix of the two brands. I am making a very slow transition because I did not want to upset his digestive system and also I had a huge bag of the Earthborn at the time of the switch....

    I was hoping that I would not see such a drastic difference because Orijen is much more expensive. However, I will need to feed less. IMO it has proven to be worth every penny. Like I said, I am still only at a 50/50 ratio. I am anxious to see how things improve over the next few weeks....

    note.. I also mix homemade ingredients into his kibble on a daily basis and I have done this for months....
  
    Just thought I would pass on my experience......: )

I have had kind of the same experience with TOTW. When I first started to feed it I really like it, however over time it seemed like it began to change for the worse. Cams stool changed and he was losing weight. I switched to raw and IMO kibble doesn't even compare! I love it...he loves it! Happy ending!

Ruger1 which TOTW did you feed? And how long did you take to do the transition to it when you first tried your dog on it? My dogs have pretty much always done well on TOTW, Lamb, or Salmon. (Though there was one bag I got in the past of the Salmon where it was so oily feeling that they all got sick on it so I quit doing Salmon)  In the past I switched to Bison at one time over a four day period (wasn't long enough apparently) and the dogs who were on Bison back then (probably a year and a half ago) had horrible stools all the time on it.  However I recently just switched my puppy (23 weeks old today) to the Bison over the course of the past week and few days and his stools are great, coat feels like silk, and he's doing well on it.  His mom was the one who couldn't handle the Bison in the past.  Now.....I'm doing a 50/50 Lamb/Bison for her and her stools are great, coat feels like a incredibly soft pillow, and oh my word she is more muscular than the boys.  The adult males are not on TOTW, and don't have as nice coats or muscle as Sierra does. 

I've heard a lot of good about orijen, where do you get it at?

GSDguy,
Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream is what I fed and I did notice it was almost always oily....

I had Prince on TOTW for about 2 or 3 months (about)...

I get the Orijen at a small private owned pet store down the road from my home. A 30# bag is about 70$....Ouch, hope my husband doesn't find out lol....;)

Kelly,
I am glad raw is working out for your male. I might venture down that road one day...: )

I switched over to Orijen about 2 months ago. It really is a good food. Sticking with 6 fish and regional red though.

hi all,
i have been feeding orijen fish since my puppy has been 6 months old.
and before that i feed orijen puppy. for more high quality food you feed less, i give my puppy 2 cups in the morning and 1 1/2 at night. he is very active. he plays with the dog upstairs of my place for aleast 1 hour every night. plus training.
on the bag it shows how much to feed between an active dog and a less active dog.

i've notice conpared to my friends dogs, that his stool has always been solid, his coat is very shiny for a sable shepherd. his coat is full and nice. and the sheding has always been to a minial due to the salmon oil in the kibble.

that my point of view of orijen fish. he just turned 1 year old on sept 1.

ill post pictures tommorow of my puppy.

Orijen is a great food but it is price fixed. They require their retailers to mark it up well over 30% whether they want to or not. I know a few independent retailers who no longer stock it for that reason. Up here regional red is about $75 for not even 30 pounds. $2.50 a pound?! You can walk into the most overpriced grocery store in my overpriced county and get raw meat on sale for half that or less. I'm tellin' ya Deanna, go raw, and put what you save in your travel jar. ;)

OK not to derail the thread but kaoboy you mentioned the shedding was less due to the salmon oil? This may be a really dumb question but what does salmon oil have to do with shedding? Anything that cuts down the hair tumble weeds that blow across the floor is good with me, and anything that cuts down the amt of times they have to stand still while I use the shop vac on the dogs is probably ok with them! Ruger what homemade stuff do you add?

Donnerstorm.... Salmon oil = omega oils = great for coat, skin, nails, heart/blood flow, etc etc.   Fish oil is good for people to take as well.  My two that are on TOTW........one is straight Bison, he's young but hardly sheds at all. The other has half bison half Lamb, and she really isn't shedding either.  My other two dogs that are not on TOTW though, are shedding quite a bit. They're on a slightly lower quality food, which is why I want to either switch those two to TOTW when their food runs out, or to something similar.  Not to mention, Sierra is an inch shorter than Buck (her son who is not on TOTW) and she weighs half a lb more than him.  She doesn't have an ounce of fat on her though, she is solid muscle.  I guess for me as long as they're doing well on TOTW I'm going to stick with it.  I really want to try Blue Wilderness or Solid Gold on my two males who are not on TOTW.  Do know though, that the one with the Salmon that Ruger was talking about will have more salmon oil......obviously....than the others.

My local pet store used to sell Orijen for maybe a couple dollars more than what they bought it for, and then they got a nice letter from the company requiring them to sell it for ~60-75 bucks.