# Orijen Regional Red



## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Hi guys, 

I've got some samples of this food - the one w/ 70% - and I'm really happy w/ it so far. Even my picky dog seems to be loving it, but I'd like to know about your experiences and opinions on this one,too. Also have you tried new 75% formula? I've read some awful comments about new formulas, although I tend to believe that most of those comments are coming from hateful ppl. We've tried a lot of dry food so far, the best experience i've got was w/ Earthborn Primitive Natural and now Orijen. Also I sometimes give my dog raw meat or home cooked meal. He's usually not having problems w/ anything, except few times when he had loose stool. AND also he's quite picky. 

Thanks for all your advices and opinions :smile:


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

ajl said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I've got some samples of this food - the one w/ 70% - and I'm really happy w/ it so far. Even my picky dog seems to be loving it, but I'd like to know about your experiences and opinions on this one,too. Also have you tried new 75% formula? I've read some awful comments about new formulas, although I tend to believe that most of those comments are coming from hateful ppl. We've tried a lot of dry food so far, the best experience i've got was w/ Earthborn Primitive Natural and now Orijen. Also I sometimes give my dog raw meat or home cooked meal. He's usually not having problems w/ anything, except few times when he had loose stool. AND also he's quite picky.
> 
> Thanks for all your advices and opinions :smile:


hey, did you email them for samples? or did you buy the 1 pound bag?
if you bought the bag you should complain that you didnt get the new formula.

bth orijen red and earthborn primitive are great foods..earthborn being half the price  but not half the quality


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

I have not tried the Orijen Regional Red; although in the past I've fed Orijen Adult (regular formula).

For myself, I'm not tempted by the Red formula. It has 9 different meat protein sources which leaves the door wide open in figuring out what the problem might be if a dog doesn't do well on it. Nine is overkill, IMO. Part of the reason Champion Petfoods does that is because they have a contract like the one with Freshwater Fish Marketing Co. to purchase 100% of all their fresh by-products; so that necessitates putting a lot of different fish into each formula.

Also, Champion, like so many other brands, is very savvy in their ingredient labeling. Peas are listed twice as "peas" and "pea fiber". Potatoes are listed twice as "russet potato" and "potato starch". If they didn't split apart those specific ingredients, then they would appear higher in the ingredient list. And frankly, since we all know that some type of carbohydrate is necessary to hold kibble together, I'd rather have my dog eating brown rice or millet as opposed to white potatoes and peas.

But if your dog loves it and seems to thrive on it, and you don't mind paying the high price; then all is well.


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## Montana (Apr 10, 2011)

The only "bad" thing I've heard about the Regional Red is the protein levels can be inconsistent from batch to batch. But I don't really see that as a bad thing... It's like if we were to eat a weighed out meal of the exact same thing every single day, adding a little more of something one day isn't going to kill or harm us... 

I used to feed Orijin RR and was happy with it as far a kibble goes. I agree having a formula with such variety can be a problem for allergy prone dogs, but for your average pup, variety is the spice of life!


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

> hey, did you email them for samples? or did you buy the 1 pound bag?
> if you bought the bag you should complain that you didnt get the new formula.


Hiya, it's more complicated than that, lol. I wanted to try out Orijen, because my dog didn't do well on Acana Lamb&Apple and since it's the same company, I was worried that he might have problems w/ Orijen,too. So I went to the store where they have Orijen, I picked it up from the shelf myself (400g bag). I didnt look around much, I guess it's my fault  Though, the new formula probably arrived quite recently to our country, so it's not like anyone cheated on me. BUT now I'm a bit concerned if my pup is gonna be okey if i switch him to the new one. 



> For myself, I'm not tempted by the Red formula. It has 9 different meat protein sources which leaves the door wide open in figuring out what the problem might be if a dog doesn't do well on it. Nine is overkill, IMO. Part of the reason Champion Petfoods does that is because they have a contract like the one with Freshwater Fish Marketing Co. to purchase 100% of all their fresh by-products; so that necessitates putting a lot of different fish into each formula.


Thanks for adding your two cents. I, of course, wasn't sure how my dog would be doing on this food, that's why I bought only small bag to see if dog doesn't have any problems. It's been more than week and he seems not only be absolutely alright, but to my surprise, he's loving the taste - he's one picky dog, but w/ Orijen RR, he always runs around, tries to steal more when i'm filling his bowl and eats it up so quickly.  I'm rotating food brands anyway, so I guess I have nothing to worry about w/ Orijen being rich in so many proteins. 



> I used to feed Orijin RR and was happy with it as far a kibble goes. I agree having a formula with such variety can be a problem for allergy prone dogs, but for your average pup, variety is the spice of life!


Good to hear from someone who actually fed this kibble. I think my dog doesn't have problem w/ any kind of meat, BUT I suspected he was having some troubles w/ grain... Though, I'm not sure what it really was, but he refused to eat Canine Caviar, he was eating only when really hungry. Not sure, maybe CC wasn't tasty enough for him. But nearly the same thing happened later w/ Fromm Family Gold, he didn't have good stools and he mostly refused to eat it. 

Though, as I mentioned I'm rotating dry food bags, so if you guys have any ideas on good quality kibble, I'm open to your ideas. There's one problem, though - as I live in central Europe, it's hard to get some good quality kibble over here. We don't have as many brands as you have for example in the US.


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Hi guys, 

one more question about Acana and Orijen.... someone at another forum brought up this "study" about too much vitamin B and it made me and othes confused. Do you think it's possible it'd make any harm? I mean, Acana and Orijen have much more of vitamin B than other brands. 
the part of that "study"
_too much vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) can cause nervous system damage and increased light sensitivity. Too much vitamin B-3 (niacin) can cause skin irritations, liver damage and stomach ulcers. In addition, too high quantities of one B vitamin can also cause other B vitamins to be depleted. _

Do you guys think there's something to be worried about?


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Where are you from? Cuuuute sheltie by the way. Shelties rock :wink: not that I'm biased or anything....

I fed Orijen and Acana to my kitties for three years and they never had a problem going outside in the sun :wink: as far as I know vitamin B toxicity would be EXTREMELY rare. They probably have higher vitamin B because they are higher in meat than other brands- B vitamins are primarily found in meat and animal products.


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Hiya,

I'm from Czech Republic (central europe). Thanks a lot, yep I love my boy. That's true shelties are great and on the top of that I've been told by many ppl mine is extraodrinary, very friendly, happy lil' crazy dog  Do you have sheltie,too?

Thanks, I wasn't sure how could that be. I hope it won't be any problem, but since i'm not feeding only one brand, I guess I'll be safe feeding this kibble.


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## PennyGreyhuahua (Aug 13, 2011)

I fed my Penny Orijin puppy and the forst 2 months she was so shiny & happy...but dont know why on third month she had uncontrollable diarrhea we had to take her to the vet & was on a bland diet before we switched her to raw...might be overfeeding her kibble so be careful...however Orijin & Wellness are definately better than kibble that contains grains...goodluck!


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

PennyGreyhuahua said:


> I fed my Penny Orijin puppy and the forst 2 months she was so shiny & happy...but dont know why on third month she had uncontrollable diarrhea we had to take her to the vet & was on a bland diet before we switched her to raw...might be overfeeding her kibble so be careful...*however Orijin & Wellness are definately better than kibble that contains grains.*..goodluck!


That's a pretty broad statement and doesn't really address what actual carbohydrates are in a kibble. Why would you think that white potato is better for a dog than millet?


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

ajl said:


> Hiya,
> 
> I'm from Czech Republic (central europe). Thanks a lot, yep I love my boy. That's true shelties are great and on the top of that I've been told by many ppl mine is extraodrinary, very friendly, happy lil' crazy dog  Do you have sheltie,too?
> 
> Thanks, I wasn't sure how could that be. I hope it won't be any problem, but since i'm not feeding only one brand, I guess I'll be safe feeding this kibble.


I guarantee it'll be fine :wink: Orijen imo is second only to Ziwipeak.. and ZP is like 5x the cost.

Yep I have a 15 month old sheltie named Bishop. I've got an Italian greyhound also.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

PDXdogmom said:


> That's a pretty broad statement and doesn't really address what actual carbohydrates are in a kibble. Why would you think that white potato is better for a dog than millet?


I actually kind of agree with you. The main reason why I prefer a grain free kibble to one with grains is the vast majority of the time there is more meat in the grainless food. I don't think white potatoes are superior to grains at all. Potatoes (white) have a very high glycemic index- higher than most WHOLE grains.


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Thank you all for your input. 
Your sheltie is so beautiful Caty. :thumb: I love these lil' clowns.
Though, about potatoes - I'm not saying they're much better than grains, but 1] dogs aren't usually allergic to them and 2] im not sure about Acana, but in Orijen there aren't white potatoes but russet one (i think not having so many carbohydrates). Also potatoes have for example much less carbohydrates than rice. But overall, potatoes aren't really sth I'm worried about, lol. But again thank you all. :redface:


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

ajl said:


> Thank you all for your input.
> Your sheltie is so beautiful Caty. :thumb: I love these lil' clowns.
> Though, about potatoes - I'm not saying they're much better than grains, but 1] dogs aren't usually allergic to them and 2] im not sure about Acana, but in Orijen there aren't white potatoes but russet one (i think not having so many carbohydrates). Also potatoes have for example much less carbohydrates than rice. But overall, potatoes aren't really sth I'm worried about, lol. But again thank you all. :redface:


I realize it's not the focus of your thread, but did want to say that Russet potatoes are one type of white potato. Some people also feel a need to look beyond just the carb #. The glycemic index is lower for instance in brown rice compared to white potato. Also, some people find that their dogs with arthritis tend to have more inflammation when eating a kibble with white potato as the primary carb.


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks for the infos, I'm of course open to anything and I guess a kibble is never gonna be perfect  I'm no vegetable professional, LOL but I'll try to remember that. Thx again and have a good day


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

I am predomately a RAW feeder , but I have used Orijen in the past and use it as a training treat or a Kong stuffer for Buddy now....hands down as far as kibble goes Orijen is the best...I have tried the red..adult..and six fish....great high quality food!!...just dont overfeed it,,,!!!


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## ajl (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks, I hope I'll convert to RAW in the future, too  just can't right now.
I'm glad to hear about your experience w/ Orijen. I've bought bigger bag of Regional Red today -finally new formula- and my dog is so loving it, it's crazy. I was also really surprised by great customer service. I'm lucky to have this shop. They're importer of Acana and Orijen for CR. We've got one pretty bowl and measuring glass for free and a girl was really nice. So I hope everything's gonna be fine w/ Orijen. No kibble is perfect, but for a little time that I've been feeding Orijen, I'm happy w/ it.


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