recommended dog food for small poodle - currently giving him Orijen

[DiploDocus]

posted on here awhile back, still have the same dog and he's now 2 years old and currently feeding him Orijen and its about $21 for this bag

since this is a deal site anyone recommend anything else thats slightly cheaper with same quality?

why switch? again i'd like something cheaper and he doesn't seem to enjoy eating the food and will only eat it if i go up into the room with him and sit there and he'll play with his toys and seem to pump himself up before having to chow down on this smelly stuff




hoping not but expecting replies would you do the same with your health or you're a terrible owner slacking on cost of food for your dog or you shouldn't have got the dog if you can't afford it...its fun pointing the finger isn't it but hard to look in the mirror

[rc51]

Orijen from my past research when we got our current dog is a very highly rated kibble. (Kibble = dry dog food). However, it is considered to be a very 'hi-protein' food which may not be suitable for some dogs. Hi protein can lead to health problems. I would check with your vet first and where your dog is health-wise. Do not 'cheap' out on food, it will come back and haunt you if/when the dog gets sick or develops allergies (which is probably the most common issues when feeding kibble) and poor quality food will affect quality of life for the pooch. I'm sure Orijen has other formula's you could try as well.

Depending on where you are and if you can source a supply, I would look into raw food. You can buy it frozen, in bulk which reduces costs. We switched our current rescue to raw about a month after getting her and she loves the raw. We have a large breed, so she goes thru the raw quite quickly but we buy in 25lb and 32lb bulk boxes.

I believe the rescue place had our puppy on Innova when she was found, so she was on that for about 3 months. I believe Innova is highly rated as well.

Check out this site. I haven't been there in quite some time, the raw is working so well for us, we'll never go back to dry kibble.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/

Good luck with your pooch.

[rc51]

One more thing to mention, what is the weight of your poodle. The feeding size for adult dogs, depending on activity levels obviously, is about 2%-3% of optimal body weight.
So if your poodle should be 40lbs for optimal weight, he/she should get 16oz of raw diet, or 2 x 8 oz per meal. Raw diet can consist of fish, GLMB (ground lean meaty bones), or a meal formula which would include beef/chicken/bison and vegetables.

If you're feeding 16oz a day and buy in bulk, you can get the cost down to less than $1/day. (This may not reduce food costs for you, but will definitely reduce vet costs and result in a healther pup). Do your research and read on it, there's lot of info out there.

[redgrandam]

If you like the quality of orijen, why not try Acana? It's made by the same company, just not grain free, which often isn't really a huge concern. It's what we feed our dog, and with the amounts that you feed it's quite reasonable in cost.

We've discussed raw food for a while here, and still think that one day we will switch to that. We've tried a few things raw and of course our dog love it, so we just need to decide ourselves.

There is a huge thread on here about 'quality' pet foods which is quite informative.

[setell]

I second Acana since that’s what my baby eats. It’s sorta “smelly” as well so I don’t know if you’re ok with that. My dog loves it since I switch flavours every couple of bags so that he’s not eating the same stuff over and over again. Since I switch flavours so often I don’t even need to slowly adjust him to the new food, his tummy can take it cold turkey. I just switched to lamb flavor from chicken two days ago.

I found Orijen a bit too high on protein level for my dog. He’s a small breed and doesn’t need such a high level of protein so I went with Acana instead, the next best alternative from a well respected manufacturer. I don’t consider cost when I select food for my dog. I select the kibble based on the products used to make the kibble and how the food is rated. The next best alternative to raw food.

[DiploDocus]

thanks for replies, he's not very big he's smaller breed but not toy poodle size

thought on tryijng elderly line of orijen it says it uses less protein ???

don't think i'd go raw just because i don't know if i want to put that much effort into it, i know that sounds terrible maybe it is but i am too lazy to just be preparing that much food when i'd start taking care of him better than myself.

[redgrandam]

thanks for replies, he's not very big he's smaller breed but not toy poodle size

thought on tryijng elderly line of orijen it says it uses less protein ???

don't think i'd go raw just because i don't know if i want to put that much effort into it, i know that sounds terrible maybe it is but i am too lazy to just be preparing that much food when i'd start taking care of him better than myself.

Again, look at acana. It's basically a lower protein version of orijen. Unless you specifically need grain free due to allergies. We use the chicken and potato one. Look at the numbers on the bags in the store.

[Hambone]

The Loblaw brand (PC Nutrition First) is surprisingly a decent quality food. Ranges from 3 stars to 5 stars on that site. It's much cheaper than most of the premium high end brands. We have our dog on the grain free food.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-fo...irst-dog-food/

[rc51]

thanks for replies, he's not very big he's smaller breed but not toy poodle size

thought on tryijng elderly line of orijen it says it uses less protein ???

don't think i'd go raw just because i don't know if i want to put that much effort into it, i know that sounds terrible maybe it is but i am too lazy to just be preparing that much food when i'd start taking care of him better than myself.

You don't have to make the raw yourself, (that is actually the B.A.R.F way to do it). You just buy frozen patties, thaw them overnight and serve. You do need to practise good food handling habits though, as you will be handling raw meat, no different than when you cook your own food,just make sure you're not cross contaminating.

[HandsomeRob]

On top of Acana mentioned, we're currently feeding Go! which is owned by Petcurean of Abbotsford BC.

[lefty09]

If you like the quality of orijen, why not try Acana? It's made by the same company, just not grain free, which often isn't really a huge concern. It's what we feed our dog, and with the amounts that you feed it's quite reasonable in cost.

We've discussed raw food for a while here, and still think that one day we will switch to that. We've tried a few things raw and of course our dog love it, so we just need to decide ourselves.

There is a huge thread on here about 'quality' pet foods which is quite informative.

all the regional varieties of acana are grain free http://acana.com/products/regionals

[xxxray]

stay with Orijen

[Rykusx]

Paying for a decent quality food now will save you money in the long run. Beside vaccinating and neutering your pet, feeding a good quality food is the most important thing you can do for its health.

And for the love of god, never feed a BARF diet. It's downright dangerous for both you and your pet.

[Shaner]

Paying for a decent quality food now will save you money in the long run. Beside vaccinating and neutering your pet, feeding a good quality food is the most important thing you can do for its health.

And for the love of god, never feed a BARF diet. It's downright dangerous for both you and your pet.

And why exactly is a BARF diet dangerous? If you're going to mention that bones are a choking hazard for dogs, there is some truth to that, but with precautions, it's perfectly safe. You don't just give a bag of chicken wings to a dog that's never had a bone before and leave the dog unsupervised. Bones are perfectly safe for dogs provided it's done properly. Besides, dogs can and do choke to death on kibble too.

As for an alternative to Orijen, I personally feed Horizon Legacy. It's cheaper and just as good.

[Rykusx]

Bones are perfectly safe for dogs provided it's done properly.

That is absolutely, 100% wrong. For several reasons - as you've said, bones are a choking hazard. They can also splinter and break, which can cause stomach and intestinal perforations leading to infection and painful death. They can break teeth, get caught in the mouth or esophagus and cause severe pain and distress. There are several more potential injuries associated with giving bones to dogs in the link below. The take away message - bones can and do kill dogs.

BARF diets are also not complete or balanced diets (unless you go to great lengths in micromanaging them - ie, supplementing deficient vitamins & minerals, etc and regularly sending samples away for nutritional analysis to a lab) in terms of calories, nutrients, vitamins and minerals, leading to long-term chronic illness and debility; in severe cases leading to death.

The more important reason, from a public health standpoint, is the potential spread of zoonotic disease through the feeding of uncooked meat. Uncooked meat is often contaminated with bacteria such as E. coli or Salmonella, and can also harbour parasites. You can take all the preparations in the world but it won't mitigate the risk; significant environmental contamination is going to occur - your dog eats his raw meat out of his dish and 5 minutes later licks your kid's face? No thanks.

There's a reason that every major veterinary association has issued negative position stances on the use of BARF diets. It's not, as some of you naysayers will say, because they stand to make a profit off of selling pet food - it's because it's a health and safety issue.

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/Cons.../ucm208365.htm