Orijen Dog food, is there anything better than this out there?? - Page 1

     I change from Eukanuba puppy large breed to Orijen puppy large breed recently. My GSD that is now 8 months old, (he was born in March 9,2010)loves this Orijen dog food, it's like giving him treats everyday, as a matter of fact I use his food to train him sometimes. Before with eukanuba, he would only eat it when he was really hungry, sometimes he would leave his food there the whole morning and eat it in the afternoon. But with orijen he can't have enough of it, he's always hungry. The reason I change his food though, was because eukanuba contained grains, and I heard that grains weren't suppose to be fed to dogs in the first place, because it will fill their stomach but in the wrong way making them fat and less healthy I suppose. That's why I change to Orijen because it contains 0% grains and because I heard it's the best out there for dogs. I'm just wondering!  Does anyone know of another brand of dog food that is better than this one or is this the top one out there? 

    Keny,

A balanced raw diet usually does wonderful things for a dog. fresher breath, cleaner teeth,  smaller poos, healthy shiny coat, great energy levels etc,  and considered by many as the best you can do for a dog food wise. Just know what your food sources are and avoid additives.

But as far as kibble goes I believe orijen is one of the better ones. However I'm not a kibble expert.

IMO if your dog is doing very well on Orijen keep him on it unless you plan to switch to raw.  Providing that Orijen doesn't have any crazy recalls or such

Either way good luck, happy feeding and enjoy your pup :) 
 

Hi Kenny,

You did your puppy a HUGE service by switching from your previous puppy food to Orijen IMHO!!!  Like the last poster, I am a huge believer in a properly prepared raw diet but what I do is to feed my GSDs raw in the morning and dry in the evening.
This way they are used to both so when I travel and cannot deal with raw, they are accustomed to this food.

It is very dense so take care with the amounts - you will likely feed 1/2 of what you fed previously.  YOu have a young dog so take care to slightly underfeed him to keep his growth rate down.

best luck,

Alex

feed whatever YOU FEEL your dog does best on........every dog is different, every dog can thrive on different foods.

from StephenyJ

"@k9tnk-If you are looking for nutritional advise from a veterinarian you might do better with one that is more holistically oriented in his practice.

My personal experience has run the gamut from feeding extruded kibble exclusively to hacking up raw cow bellies for a kennel of 50 and raising rabbits to feed whole. Now we feed a mid-grade food a couple of times a week (Purina One to the Mals and GSDs and Royal Canine to the teckels), raw meaty bones and/ or chicken leg and thigh quarters a couple of times a week and fast once or twice a week.

Dogs are scavengers and can eat and do well on a variety of feeding methods. Appetite and food drive as well as the ability to be an easy keeper are geneticly driven.

@SitasMom-There is a faction of raw feeders who insist that raw food can be tolerated by all dogs (not true in my experience, even given an adjustment/acclimating period) and must be fed to all dogs in order for their owners to not be considered mongoloids. Sometimes they even attempt to stipulate it in a sales contract (as if anyone has the right to regulate what is done with something once one has sold it). I recently read on another board of a women who has five 14 week old puppies rotting in a kennel together because she won't sell them to any one who won't feed raw, won't vaccinate,etc. Crazy, huh? What some people won't do to get their control freak on."

We were feeding our boy Orijen before.  But then we got another shepherd (plus our Chihuahua we have) and Orijen is just too expensive to be feeding to that many dogs.  We switched to "Taste of the Wild" kibble, which has been great for our dogs.  They love the food, small poo, and only $43 at Tractor Supply.  Compared to the $55+ for Orijen, I'm not complaining!  Its not as high protein as Orijen, and is called an "all-ages" dog food, good for puppies and adults. 

We also feed raw a couple days a week.  Right now its raw venison since it is deer season and we get it for free.  When its not deer season, we give various pieces of chicken.

Raw is the best imo. I watched a dog that was on Orijen and OMG did it stink. Bagged dog food is so outrageous . To say I can feed my dogs cheaper than bagged food is sad at best esp with the cost of beef these days!

I've been debating/researching different foods since I came aboard this forum. I'm kinda leaning towards raw, lately just looking to see if I can find a butcher to establish a relationship with. I have a few questions and certain individuals were very helpful. Right now it's the financial leap and I'm the type of person that once I start to do it I want to keep it going. I have three GSDs, one being a puppy so I'm just trying to figure out the $$.

When I went through Explosive Detection Dog Handler School, the kennel was using Eukanuba and even during training Representatives with tons of literature spoke on all the benefits etc., and if all the kennels' dogs were on it I would continue the service dog on it and flip my dogs over to it. I was using Eukanuba 30/20 and the Eukanuba Natural and all dogs were loving it. Honestly, I don't even know the "full story" with the recall but there I am looking for something the dogs will love just as much. So, for a while there it was a 15 lb. bag of this, a 15 lb. bag of that experimenting. For now I'm using Eukanuba puppy large breed for the pup and Purina Selects for the adults. They appear to love it also. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the adult food is "small" pieces.

Like I stated earlier I am leaning towards raw I just need to figure it out financially.


Missed a word ....... Eukanuba Representives came to the school...........................................

Alboe, some dogs will love anything you put in front of them. Every dog is different. There are some good foods out there. Wellness, Blue buffalo, Solid Gold, Chicken Soup, etc. Etc. Orijen is one of the best out there. If the dog is doing well, don't change a thing.

 Alboe, that is really pretty awful food, ingredient-wise. What they have is good marketing. It's a bit of a misconception that all cops and trainers somehow have nutrition degrees. I can't believe some of what "top" trainers, etc. actually think it's ok to feed a dog, and unfortunately, because of who they are, people listen and follow their recommendation. 

You can do MUCH better for the money. Where do you live? I'll find stuff you can buy locally.

Jenn, what is bad in it? I'm curious! Never fed it, just know it is widely referred.