Dog Food Chat banner

Orijen Vs Fromms

38K views 69 replies 24 participants last post by  InkedMarie 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. I am new here but I have lots of questions. First I have a 10 month old Caviler King Charles Spaniel. I am currently feeding him Life's Abundance but it's time for a change. I was debating either Orijen or Fromms. I saw that orijen is 38% protein and thought that might be way too high for a Cav. Also I don't know whether I should go grain or grain-free.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Hello,
Except for a few individuals, there is no upper limit for protein content. 38% or even more is fine for most dogs, even sedentary dogs. But some dogs have problems with foods which are rich in carbohydrates. A lower protein and fat percentage almost always mean a higher starch content, which isn't really healthy.
Grains are useless and can even be bad for a lot of dogs. Some proteins from grains (gluten) are allergens, and their biological value is low. Grains can contain mycotoxins. And they are extremely rich in starch that dogs can't easily digest.
Personally, I prefer Orijen, especially because it isn't too high in carbohydrates and because of its higher meat content. However, I haven't tested their new line. But Fromm is a good brand too. Why not make your dog try both ?
 
#3 ·
Thanks, I will try both. I actually bought fromms today so maybe I'll try that for a few months then orijen.
 
#4 ·
I don't feel excess protein is necessary for most pet dogs. I would pick Fromm over Orijen. However, if you want to stay with Champion Foods, try Acana ... 'sister' product to Orijen, but more suitable for pet dogs IMO.

Fromm is a better company IMO as well.
 
#13 ·
When we fed kibble, we tried orijen and acana...we liked how it was made in Canada and sourced local fresh ingredients. Bit our dog didn't do well on either. We used Fomm and he did better...he was a large breed so we used the large breed Gold formula. I would also recommend the Go! line from Petcurean. Our dog had the best stools on that food by far. But again, every dog is different. I hope you find one that works well for you!
 
#14 ·
My boy was on Orijen 6 Fish until just recently and was doing very well on. The only reason I have switched him is my dog food store just got the new formulas in (with the lentils) and my boy didn't care for the taste.

So right now he is on Fromm Salmon Tunalini...though I'm not that he's really liking it as much as I had thought when I had bought him a sample bag of it.

I might try Nulo Endurance, if I can get the company to respond to me via email or phone.
 
#15 ·
My dog is on Salmon Tunalini now. He has a little bit of loose stool but he just got off antibiotics so I don't know if its from that or the food.
 
#19 ·
I tried it with my french bulldog for about two weeks, and he did pretty bad on it. Awful gas and his stools never firmed up in two weeks. They were like soft serve the whole time.

He's on Annamaet Aqualuk now and is doing so much better.
 
#20 ·
I've tried most of the brands mentioned in this thread.

Of the Fromm grain-free formulas, I think the Surf & Turf (their original grain-free) is the best formulated. The Beef Frittata and Game Bird both rely on "pea protein" as a primary ingredient which isn't ideal in my book. They've never had a recall which is a big plus.

I don't think the new formulas of Orijen or Acana are as good as the originals back from five years ago when I had a puppy. The reliance on lentils as a protein booster isn't a positive. Some posts mentioned a breath problem with dogs eating Orijen; and I just remembered my son recently saying that his dog (eating Orijen exclusively) has really developed bad breath.

Canine Caviar really revamped there formulas plus came out with a lot of new ones in the past two years. Their cancer claim is disingenuous to say the least. They have moved around to a variety of manufacturing plants (believe they are with Chenango Valley now) and are currently being sued by Ohio Pet Foods. Of their grain-frees, two rely on chickpeas as the 2nd ingredient which is capable of providing a lot of protein. The other two grain-free formulas only have 26% protein. My two dogs developed major ear issues while eating the Canine Caviar Chicken and Pearl Millet.

Both my dogs have been eating Annamaet Aqualuk for the past several months and I haven't been this pleased in a long time - both with the company and with the outcome.
 
#21 ·
VERY bad breath on Acana for my girl and a lot more tarter build up. I had to brush her teeth every day and now I only have to once a week on Healthwise.
I am going to be using either Horizon Complete, Satori, or Now for the next food choice. I also really like the look of Nutri-source.
 
#22 ·
Has anyone heard of life's abundance? That's what I used to feed my dog before I recently switched him to fromms. Just wanted to see what you guys thought of Lifes Abundance.
 
#24 ·
Neither as I never had either brand really work for any of my dogs. Fromm Surf and Turf was probably the best one. Pongo ate it for a while. He really liked the Beef Frittata, but he has loose poop and coat quality wasn't good. My dogs all had loose stool on Fromm 4 star line. No matter how little I fed or what I did. Poop was never firm. My neighbors dog didn't well on Fromm either hence the reason I ended up trying to many of their formulas as I got their leftovers. My roommates dog did do well on Fromm Classic. Never tried Fromm Gold. I do prefer Acana over Orijen. The Duck and Bartlett pear was the best formula I fed the dogs.

Petcurean Go! or NOW! would be my favorite of the higher end foods if that is what you want to stick with. All my dogs could eat NOW w/o issue, the fat lazy ones to the active high energy ones from small to giant. That is pretty rare in my experience with foods!

Annamaet is another good choice.
 
#27 ·
Potatoes have a high glycemic index, which isn't good, but it has very few vegetable proteins (and as vegetable proteins aren't good for dogs' kidneys, it's a good thing). Peas have a very low glycemic index, which is great, but they're rich in bad proteins, and are often used to add cheap vegetable proteins to foods. For this reason, I prefer potatoes to peas, but I prefer sweet potatoes to potatoes and peas, as their glycemic index is moderate and they contain very few vegetable proteins.
 
#26 ·
My only addition is that my parents 12lb Maltese shih tzu mix did not do well on Orijen. She had constant yeasty ears, was very itchy, not sure that she gained weight but you really can't feed a little dog much on this food...I just feel its a very rich food, geared towards active dogs. She's now on Horizon Pulsar and doing fantastic!
 
#28 ·
I honestly have become less and less a fan of Orijen as time has gone on. Very rarely do I hear a dog doing well on that food...it's almost always negative reviews. Even if it looks great on paper, that doesn't seem to help when so few dogs seem to do well on it. And then factor in the crazy price tag...no thank you.

I really like Now as well. Abbie is on that now and does fantastic on it.
 
#30 ·
Ii am switching my dogs from Organix to Fromm; Ziggy is doing great on the 4 Star Chicken Ala Veg however Allie still has the loose stools she had on the Organix though I was only giving her 1/2 cup of Fromm and 1 cup of Organix at each meal; last night I gave Allie the Gold formula from sample packs and this morning she had an almost normal stool; also last night I gave each of them a tablespoon of the Gold Duck/Chicken Pate instead of the Organix wet food. I am going to order a bag of the Gold and see how they do - perhaps the Gold is better for Allie.
 
#33 ·
Now is really poor in meat IMO. I prefer Go (especially the Fit + Free line and the new Sensitivity + Shine with turkey), which is made by Petcurean too, and which is much richer in meat. I don't give this brand to my dog, but I give it to my cat. She loves it and her stools are firm.
 
#38 · (Edited)
I could never get his stools 100% where I liked them on Fromm. Don't know if it's just too complicated for him, is the fiber content is not the greatest, or what. But we did their grain-frees, Gold, etc, for over 6 months. Everything else was fine, he did well for the most part, but stool was always a bit softer than I 'like'. He also got a bit chubbier. Now when I say this, he looked it to ME, no one else probably would've thought so... but I think his body condition has improved so much already and we're only on our first 6lb bag of Now Grain-Free. His stools are so much better on the Petcurean foods for some reason. We have a few samples of Go! as well.

The food game kinda sucks. I was perfectly content feeding him Acana for 2yrs and he always did so well. Then they went and changed their formulas. And I don't like the changes, nor the change in price, and the decrease in bag size. Heard of lots of yorkies getting itchy on the new formulas. It's a shame. So I'm still looking for that perfect food for my guy. I have the bag of Now, which he's been eating, and some Go! samples. I also got some Annamaet samples in the mail. Oh and my friend was feeding Natural Balance Synergy so I have a baggy sample of that, haha. Right now it's going to a guessing game with what food he LIKES best and what he does the best on.
 
#39 ·
How often is the scratching? I noticed Tux every so often scratches the same area (neck/collar). We tried two different colors and checked the area, even vet did as well. Only thing we can think of is Acana. But he's doing really well on it, other than possible itch problem it could be causing. Hate to venture into the food roulette again :(
 
#45 ·
Some animal protein percentages:

Dr. Tim's Momentum 35/25, 96%*
Dr. Tim's Momentum 94%*
Dr. Tim's Pursuit 90%
Dr. Tim's Kinesis grain free 84%
Native Level 4, 35/25, 93%
Diamond Extreme Athlete, 93%
Inukshuk 32/32, 95%
Legacy 80%
Orijen 82%
Instinct 70%
Merrick grain free 70%

* Different sources stated different amounts.

Also consider the Ash content and kcal/kg, kcal ME/cup.

Contact the manufacturer to find out what information they will provide.
 
#42 ·
Well, not many brands of kibble have a nice amount of animal protein (by itself, or compared to vegetable protein). Most have more carbohydrates and vegetable proteins than animal proteins, and contain less meat than starch. That's why I usually advise to take a brand which is rich in animal proteins, low in carbohydrates and contains almost no vegetable protein source. All dogs don't have the same tolerance to proteins, fat or starch though. That's why some dogs don't tolerate brands like Orijen while some other dogs (like mine) can't bear any brand with more starch / less proteins. You can know that only once your dog eats a particular brand since months.
 
#47 ·
Candyd, I am really confused as what you are asking or stating with the amount of protein versus percentage of protein. Can you please try to clarify a bit as I sense people are wanting to learn here. I agree, you want a food that is made up of animal protein to compromise most of the overall amount of protein in the food.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top