Orijen- Frequents Urination? - Page 1

I believe I was told Orijen has a high protein percentage. This makes the kidneys work harder, so they pee more. I don't know how true that is.

Yeah people have the same problem :) but I am no vet, hoodie seems more knowledgable about health issue I would ask her. High protein level would be my first assumption, what did you feed before? 

The original poster does not say how old the dog is, but yes, higher levels of protein can cause problems in some dogs, especially those who are older and whose kidneys may be declining in function. Even normal levels of protein, in the range of 25% etc., can cause problems with kidney malfunction or disease.

But there are other possibilities as well, including infection from bacterial or viral pathogens, diabetes, hyperparathyroidism etc. etc. etc. The poster will take the dog and a urine sample to a vet to get a proper diagnosis.

Good luck.

After doing more research I think, well I pretty much know now, that I was feeding him WAY to much, I should have paid more attention to the kilos to pounds conversion.  But I am still going to have his urine checked in the morning and cut him way back, I really hope he can stay on this food as he has seemed perfect on it!  Thanks to everybody who responded! 

  We've been using Orijen for the last 2+ years, yes the protien level is on the high side...42% as compared to most other kibbles at 36%...My 4 yr old female does not urinate any more than normal, in fact sometimes that girl will hold her water all day...(Not that she has to by any means...)So by our experiences I'd say that was not an issue...
  The dogs love the stuff, no doubt its up there with the best of them as far as quality and where the ingredients come from...BUT with the last 2 price increases over the last year I'm getting annoyed and might just find something close (in quality) but less expensive just out of principle...We went from $44.00 to the current $55.00 for the 29.1 lbs bag which is available all over where we are in Fla...With every price increase I get closer and closer to finding something else...
  Ultimately I will as always do whats best for the dog/s...My female is here on the database: CORA von HAUS WINHEIM
 

  Don't post much but do read the boards and try to keep current...

                                       Rob

"So by our experiences I'd say that was not an issue..."   yes but I believe it would be more biological issue than food issue, some dog's just don't do well on high protein food, like hoodie said it could be caused by kidney not being able to work as good as it used to. My female dose not do well on Orijen as well, I know is not food related. I have my own view on high protein dog food and I choose to stay away from it. Why? I believe that dog's are opportunistic animals which means they will cope with almost any kind of food they can find, since we feed our dog's on regular basis, high protein food would be over kill for most dogs in my opinion. People like to compare dog's to wolfs which is acceptable but wolfs in the wild don't eat on regular basis, and the food selection is not always of high quality :), let’s not forget that they have to work 100 times harder for anything they kill J . My approach to feeding keeps on evolving, at this point of my life I choose to feed a decent quality kibble (smaller amount) with a protein % at about 24 than twice or three times a week I will feed RAW (pray mode), through that I believe my dog's get a decent amount of high quality nutrients. I do that with my puppies as well, at about 8 weeks I feed them only twice a day, while every Sunday only once a day half the portion of the daily amount that was fed during the previous days. Once the dog get's to 2 years I will continue to feed the same but Sunday will be no food day. I found this approach to work best on all my dogs. Bottom line is no dog is the same, and you should watch him how he responds to your feeding regiment rather than being stuck on the new hype which is Orijen and similar type of foods. "So by our experiences I'd say that was not an issue..."   yes but I belive it would be more biological issue than food issue, some dog's just don't do well on high protein food, like hoodie said it could be caused by kidney not being able to work as good as it used to. My female dose not do well on Orijen as well, I know is not food related. I have my own view on high protein dog food and I choose to stay away from it. Why? I belive that dog's are oportunistic animals which means they will cope with almost any kind of food they can find, since we feed our dog's on regular basis, high protein food would be over kill for most dogs in my opinion. People like to compare dog's to wolfs which is acceptable but wolfs in the wild don't eat on regular basis, and the food selection is not always of high quality :) . My approach to feeding keeps on evolving, at this point of my life I choose to feed a decent quality kibble (smaller amount) with a protein % at about 24 than twice or three times a week I will feed RAW (pray mode), through that I belive my dog's get a decent amount of high quality nutrients. I do that with my puppies as well, at about 8 weeks I feed them only twice a day, while every sunday only once a day half the portion of the daily amount that was fed during the previouse days. Once the dog get's to 2 years I will continue to feed the same but sunday will be no food day. I found this approach to work best on all my dogs. Buttom line is no dog is the same, and you should watch him how he responds to your feeding regimant rather than being stuck on the new hype which is Orijen and similar type of foods.

I too have been feeding Orijen for almost 2 years. I haven't seen any problems with urinating excessively on 4 dogs. I own 3 and they eat mostly RAW, maybe a cup of Orijen, at most, a day, some days none. My sons dog is the opposite. Fed about 2 cups of Orijen a day and some raw meat etc. But also as Roborob I am looking to make a switch. I started buying Orijen at K9Cuisine for about $50.00 a bag and the shipping was free. When the price climbed I switched to another online store and found it for about the same price with free ship. Now The former is $72 a bag with free ship and the later is $63 a bag with a current 10% off but no free shipping makeing the food well over $70 a bag. This is 29.7# bags of adult. I can feed RAW much cheaper than that so I guess my son is going to have to find a new food which in this day an age is kinda scary to me....

You still didn't give an age for your dog or how much you were feeding if you think it is too much???

I have a 100lb dog and he gets 2.5 cups a day, that's it. My dog always pees allot, he drinks allot.

I too have been feeding Orijen for a year and a half never had an urination problem.  But as others have stated the price is becoming a big problem.