ORIJEN - does anyone feed this?

Hi there!

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Orijen again recently. Does anyone (apart from Jim C.) feed their Saints on this?

If so, how do your dogs do on it?

At what age do you/did you change from puppy to adult?

Thanks.
BeBe

Hi Bebe

I fed all mine on Orijen - pug, collie, goldens & Saints & they all did brilliantly. I was feeding this am & raw pm. Mine are all on complete raw now

I only took them off it as the supply has been so intermittent & I can't afford to run out!!

They need about a third of what you would feed them of normal complete food, thats quite hard for us humans psychologically to put less in the bowl LOL

I changed up to Adult from 4/5 months depending on the dog

never heard of it

Million dollar dog food (around £60 a 13kg bag) but, I have to say absolutely brilliant stuff if it wasnt so sodding hard to get regularly!!!

Hi Heather!

That's very interesting!!

Looking back over ancient posts about dog food, I think you used to feed Pro Plan?

It would be really informative to know more about the factors that prompted your decision to change to Orijen and then on to a completely raw diet and what that raw diet comprises!!!

Look forward to hearing more...!!!

Thanks!
B

Hi Bebe

My feeding dramas began when my Golden boy went on a fussy one!

Lots of people who show & breed do use Proplan & I raised 2 litters on it without any problems at all. What I was looking for was one complete food that I could give all my dogs without having to have 5 different kinds in the house!!

Rory the Golden as a young 'un was extremely hard to keep weight on & would turn his nose up at just about everything & I had a Saint bitch that was the same.
He didn't like Fish4Dogs (all the Saints did) Proplan (some of mine liked it) Royal Canin made the teenage Saints bounce off the walls. He did like ARden Grange but that made everyone else itch...
He didn't even like tinned food (which I HATE to use) mixed in. It didn't take long before I worked out that he would eat complete something if I squashed it into raw minced economy beef from Tesco...

I was living in Wales then & there is an excellent raw supplier in the Midlands (TPMS) who delivered my way so I read up about raw & gave it a go. The Golden had raw twice a day while the others had complete am & raw pm. I had around 15 dogs at home then & I couldn't stand the mess of raw for so many twice a day!

Someone in our breed who shows, works for Orijen so I gave it a go to see what it was like. After the initial managing to feed them all too much (as I was feeding the same amount as the previous complete) after 3 weeks, the Golden was still eating it so I stuck with it.

When I moved back to Kent last year I couldn't find a raw supplier down here to even remotely match TPMS so they stayed on Orijen, except even when I ordered it direct from the company deliveries wouldn't arrive & they wouldn't email to let me know & the nearest stockist that actually DOES stock it is about an hour from me.

I stalked all the local butchers & found one that can give me a regular supply of chicken wings, carcasses, backs & bits etc. Then a friend gave me an industrial mincer & I was away. After much googling re BARF etc I moved to & have stayed on raw. I mince/bag up everything once a week so only one messy day & its working well. My butchers gives me boxes with mostly chicken stuff which weighs around 20kg. I should add that I mince carcasses for the pug & Saint as they both pretend to gag & choke & my nerves can't take it! The butcher charges me £6 a box & that lasts me about a week
They have chicken 4 days a week, turkey 2 days & one offal day & beef offcuts thrown in maybe twice a week. We also have a lamb day once every couple of weeks when my butcher can get them for me, necks/spines (not as gory as it sounds!)

I buy the £1 frozen veg bags from Farm foods & send them through the mincer into an ice cream tub & 4 days a week they get a proportional spoonful in ther evening meal. The veg I use is carrots, green beans, peas & spinach (this is very rich & does go through them if you give them too much)

Last weeks food for them came to about £15 which isn't bad for 7 dogs. I have a year old Pug, an 18 week old Golden pup, a 6 month Golden girl, an 18 month old Collie bitch (prone to being a fatso) my fussy 2 year old Golden Wonder, an 11 year old Lab & my huge dufus Saint Trixi who is 31" & just over 70kg at 11 months, here at the moment.

Its initially a faff to work out & I weight them all once a month to make sure we're on track with weight, leaner preferable to being a heffer. Working out how much to give who was a bit of a brain drain to start but its fine now. For an adult Saint around 1-2% of their weight in food is what they get a day, depending on whether they need to stay the same, lose some weight or put some on. Puppies can vary between 5 & 10% of their weight, 10% is what my Golden pup is getting as he had a stomach virus & dropped off all his weight.

There is a table to help you re amounts to feed etc which I can email you. I have to say I don;t mind mincing bits & bagging up once a week, but depending where you live if there is a good raw supplier nearby you can avoid all that.

I have a third of the mess to clear up as when they were even on half raw half complete everyone has decent coats & teeth/eyes, no itching scratching so as long as my butcher provides the chicken we're ok!

I do think for a complete Orijen is probably the best I have used yet. One down side is because they do need less of it to do well & any more than that goes through them, it doesn't seem like alot in the bowl & psychologically thats a bit unnerving when you're used to shovelling 2/3 cups of complete in for a Saint!!

I'm not convinced there is a world of difference in nutitional content between Orijen puppy & adult but the size of the kibble.

Feeding is probably the one thing I worry about most because if you get it wrong it affects everything!!

we tried the Orijen and gave up having to scape the S**t of the grass, it gave them severe runs and 3 did not like the smell also thought the protein level a bit high but everyone is different and it is just a piont of finding what you and the dogs are comfy with. Feeding different foods to different dogs as Heather said is a pain.

I have never tried it. I think its one of the most expensive foods we can get here in America since its imported to us from Canada. The import taxes and the exchange rate it makes it really expensive here. Ive heard good things about it and like Sue that it can give the runs as its very rich.

It does as everyone can't help feeding too much lol, I do know some kennels 'pad out' Orijen meals with Arden Grange or something similar.

It is also probably the most expensive food I have come across here, even on breeder rates it was over £50 a 13kg bag I think for the adult & a whopping £75 ish for the regional red, which is even MORE rich so you need to feed even LESS to avoid over doing it!! Not many impressed doggy faces with less food in the bowl!

All this aside, it is still a food that every dog I've had loves & they have all looked really well on it

Hi Heather!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to come back and thank you for taking so much trouble in detailing your feeding regime - I really appreciate the time and detail!!

Also your posts on the BARF thread are very interesting - thanks so much!!

Bee

Its been trial & error & what's worked for some hasn't always worked for others!

The ox heart carnage last week had me splattered in blood & thinking 'oooooooooh I did love Orijen'!!!!

I'm hoping you will have a small furry subject to trial run on barf soon??!!