New Acana flavor

[Carli & Hank]

I am a fairly new member of Doodle Kisses and have been doing ALOT of reading on here....I can't thank you all enough for all of your knowledge!!  I have a 5 month old ALD who is pretty much perfect in every way except his food/poop...imagine that!!!  He came home from the breeder on Orijen puppy food, which I know is pretty much one of the best, but we have yet to have many solid poops.  Have done the pumpkin thing, although I feel if I need to give him pumpkin to have firm stool than he may not be on the right food?  He's not overly interested in his food, but I also know this may be par for the course with doodles as well!  He is about 30 lbs, supposed to be a small standard at 50ish lbs, so growing very well.  

Anyway after much reading and speaking to the breeder I have decided to bump down to the Acana, thought it would be an easier transition since it is another Champion food.  The store I bought it from yesterday only had the brand new flavor in a smaller bag, the Ranchland???  It is free-range beef, bison, and lamb.  Has anyone tried this flavor yet?  The Orijen puppy is obviously chicken, so I am wondering if there is an improvement on the new food will it be because of the new food or the meat??

Last night I started mixing the Acana in and he seemed a lot more interested in his bowl...probably because it was something new??  We will see how it goes.  I would love to stick with one of these foods.  I wouldn't even be opposed to mixing the Orijen and Acana half and half if that works, I think I have read where others have done that.  Ideally I would like to keep a little of the Orijen puppy in him for a little bit longer...not sure if it is ok to switch fully to an all life stage food (Acana) this early?? 

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Saturday!

[Dori & Rua]

Carli,

 

First, Welcome to Doodle Kisses!  I love it here. I had the same problem with Rua that you are having with Hank.  I actually created a Poo scale of 1 to 5.  1 being Diarrhea and 5 being solid waste.  Rua was 'running' (pun intended) in the 2-3 scale.  Ranchland wasn't out at that time, but I ended up mixing 1 15# bag of Orijen puppy with 1 15# bag of Acana Praireland (based on the recommendations of several different all-natural dog food stores).  The Orijen was just a bit too high in protein and caused the loose poos.  Once I gave her the mix...we went to 4's & 5's.  I actually kept her on that mix until a few months ago (she is going to be 17 months on the 27th) just because I had a bought a bag of each when she was 10 months old and didn't open them until she was 1 year...she only weighs 17.4lbs and eats 1 to 1-1/4 cups a day.

 

So, I would mix them, keeping at least 50% puppy until Hank is older.  I have a small sample bag of the Ranchland that I got, but haven't tried yet.  Right now she is eating a mix of three as I have been transitioning her.  My next bag is Fromm Duck & Sweet Potatoe. 

 

Good luck!

[Carli & Hank]

Thank you for your reply....love the poo scale!  We are definitely a 2/3 as well!!  Is it seriously possible to already have a nice poop after 2 new meals????  Hank had 2/3 Orijen puppy and 1/3 Acana for dinner last night and for breakfast this morning and already a good poop!!!  Just a coincidence?? It wasn't even that much Acana!!   I'm hoping this does the trick and if so I will definitely just mix the 2 since he is still fairly young!!  We'll see...I will report back:):)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Orijen puppy has 40% protein and 20% fat. The Acana Ranchlands formula has 31% protein and 17% fat. That would most likely be where the difference lies in terms of your dog's poop improvement, and not in chicken vs red meat.

There's nothing wrong with mixing the two foods, and you will probably find that down the line you can go to just the Acana if you prefer.

An ALS food is just that- ALL life stages, which means it's fine for puppies. Many puppies go directly to ALS formulas and never eat a food that's specifically formulated for puppies, so no worries there.

Kudos to your breeder for starting her dogs on a high-quality food.

And welcome to The Food Group!

 

[Carli & Hank]

Thank you Karen!  I know it is individual for different dogs, but because Hank is having trouble with full Orijen now does that mean he also will as an adult dog?  I will be perfectly fine going to full Acana if I need to, but if the half and half works that is what I will do unitl a year I think.  But do some dogs end up tolerating the Orijen better when they are older??

And yes.....my breeder is amazing!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sure there are dogs who did better with Orijen as adults than as puppies, and probably vice versa. Maybe some others who've had that experience will chime in here.

[Jess and Pippin]

HI! Pippin (will be 1 year old in a couple of weeks) had soft serve poops for ages while he was on Orijen.  We switched to Acana with the same result.  What really made the difference for Pippin was going grain free.  Ever since then, we have had no problems.  I rotate through the different grain free Acana all life stages formulas and no poo problems at all (well, just the occasional soft serve but I figure people have variation, so why not the dogs??).  Pippin has always been an excellent eater.  At about 6 months, he stopped being interested in food.  It happened just about overnight.  I reduced the amount of food I was giving him, and within a day or so, he was right back to running to his dinner spot with great enthusiasm.  Pippin is a medium size doodle.  He is 18 inches at the shoulder now and has been since about 6 months.  He is now 40 pounds and was 35ish pounds at 6 months.  His breeder figured he would be around 35 pounds because he was the smaller male and thought that overall the litter would be 35-50 pounds.  I figure Pippin stopped being interested in food because he just wasn't as hungry on the bigger servings because he had really slowed down on growth.  I cut right back to the adult serving (half of the puppy serving) and that did it for him.  His weight has been nice and stable and he is nicely filled out.  I do bump up his ration a bit if he has had a particularly busy day (like daycare).  Anyway, hope that helps.  BTW, Hank is a cutie!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jess brings up a good point. Overfeeding can cause softer poops. It's really important to measure the food carefully (a standard measuring cup isn't one cup when filled to the brim, the one cup measure is about an inch below that, so if you fill a cup to the brim, you may be feeding 50% more than you think you are.) and remember that the guidelines on the bag are just that, guidelines. Some dogs may need more, some less. Smaller dogs will reach full growth at a younger age, and require fewer calories per lb of body weight than dogs who are going to be very large. So sometimes you just have to experiment with the amounts. 

[Carli & Hank]

Thanks Karen.  I have read that overfeeding is a definite cause for runny poops for sure.  I will keep an eye on that...but for the most part Hank ALWAYS eats way less than the recommended amt for his age and weight.  It is so funny to me, because I have always thought dogs would eat ANYTHING and ALL of whatever you put in front of them.  I guess not doodles!!!

[Carli & Hank]

Thanks for the information...I am really thinking just the little bit of Acana will do the trick from everything I have read on here.  If I can mix half and half with Orijen with good results than I will, but have no problem going all Acana...we'll see how it goes:)

[Cheri & Bonny]

Thought I'd chime in too!  We feed Bonny a rotating mix of Orijen Red Meat and Acana Ranchland and Grassland which are all her favorite flavors.  I rotate a 15# bag at a time.  I still give her some pumpkin in her dinner (I divide up her food into 1/2 in the morning dry to eat whenever she wants) as well as a bit of "dog rice" (white rice cooked in meat broth).  At this point I don't think she needs the pumpkin and rice, but she sees it as her special dinner meal and really enjoys it.  And her poops are always a 5 when I do, which wasn't always so!

[Carli & Hank]

Thanks!!!  I am hoping that mixing the 2 will be the perfect mix for Hank, because I would really love to stay on the Orijen.  This would be the next best thing!  We'll see how it goes:)

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Lucca and Izzy's poo was a tad "off" with just the Orijen also. I now mix the Ranchland and Orijen adult and they #1 love it and #2 have great poops. I know it shouldn't make a difference but in this instance it did firm the stools. So now I mi 50/50 all the time