# Acana Dog vs Cat Food



## Deesters (Apr 26, 2011)

I had a coupon from Champion for a free 7kg bag of dog food. a 7kg bag is $50 and lasts my dog a month.
I went to the store, grabbed the bag of Grain Free Pacifica I've been feeding, bring it home, open it up and think "odd, the kibbles are so small"... I start examining the bag, it looks identical to the last one I bought except for.... oh there it is, a very small picture of a CAT on the right side, closer to the bottom of the bag. OOPS. 
My first thought was oh well, off to the store to spend my $50 on another bag of food.... but after looking at the ingredients and the analysis, the foods seem to be almost identical. Is it possible that I can feed my dog the cat food for the month or is that a bad idea?
The ingredient list is identical except that instead of salmon oil it has chicken fat. Everything else is the same and in the exact same order. The analysis is very similar too: 
Cat Food Protein: 35% Dog Food: 33%
CF Fat: 20% DF: 18%
CF Fiber: 2.5% DF 3%
CF Moisture: 10% DF same
CF Calcium: 1.3 DF: 1.4
CF Phosphorus: 1.1 DF: Same
CF Omega-6: 3% DF: 2.6
CF Omega-3: 1.4 DF 1.3

Cat Food has Taurine 0.5% and Magnesium 0.09% which dog food doesn't have listed in the guaranteed analysis yet taurine is listed at 0.5% under typical analysis.
Dog food has Glucosamine 1000 mg/kg and Chondroitin 800 mg/kg which the cat food doesn't have.

Botanical Inclusions are all 100 mg/kg lower in cat food then the dog food.

Minerals and Vitamins are all very, very close.

Cat food is 45% from fat and 20% from carbs while the dog food is 40% from fat and 25% from carbs.

Metabolic Energy in cat food is 3950 kcal/kg and in the dog food is 3750 kcal/kg

Is this basically the same food?? Or are there differences I'm not seeing and it's best just to go buy a new bag of the dog food?


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## Deesters (Apr 26, 2011)

Sorry, the Pacifica cat food was priced at $49.99 which I think is more expensive then the dog food. I don't remember paying that much for the dog food last time I bought it.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Generally the BIGGEST difference in cat,and dog food is the inclusion of Taurine, and a few other essentials that a cat doesnt' produce on it's own from my understanding. Can't you just return it? I know the pet stores around us as long as it's not gone you can return it. you could also put up an add on craigslist if you can't return it for the cat food and see if somebody wants it for their cat, you would probably take a 5-10$ loss but imo better than 50.

I don't know if i would be comfortable feeding a cat food to a dog, as i've always had problems when a dog has gotten into the cat food, yeast breakouts in the ears, diarrhea etc. It is very very possible it is the same thing, but i just personally wouldn't be comfortable with it.

call and see if they will take it back IMO.


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## Deesters (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks for the response Tobi. My first reaction was to NOT feed it to him but then I checked all the ingredients etc. I didn't realize they would take it back even though it was opened... I used a cup last night and one this morning feeding the pooch since it was all I had. 
We DO have cats, they don't eat this food but maybe I'll just give it to them or just donate it to the shelter. I won't really be losing money as it was a free bag but disappointing all the same.


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## catahoulamom (Sep 23, 2010)

I don't think it would be a big deal to feed it to your dog. I would still return it, though. The store I work at sells Champion products (Acana/Orijen) and we are always willing to accept returns, bag opened or not. The fact that you used a coupon should allow for an exchange only. Donating it is also a nice idea though, but the shelter cats are used to Friskies and may get diarrhea from the higher meat content in Acana... but at least they would be getting some nutrition.


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## Deesters (Apr 26, 2011)

Yeah I like to donate the food when we have extra we can't use. I donated some Orijen Regional Red when my dog wasn't doing well on it. Hopefully they mixed it with their regular food, I'd hate to try to do a good deed and instead give the poor dogs the tummy upset!
LOL I'm so ticked I didn't just get the right food! This is turning into a bit of a hassle. My regular store in my town didn't have the food, they'd sold out of the Pacifica. I got the food out of town... I don't have the food with me today to return on my way home from work (it would be a 40 minute drive back). Oh well... I called and they said they will exchange the food which is great. I'll have to go to my local store and see if they have some small sample bags to tide us over till tomorrow. Oi!

Lesson learned! The cat and dog food bags are identical so look closely!


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