# Problems with Orijen?



## Dana (Oct 27, 2009)

Both my dogs are eating the Orijen Senior Formula, and have been eating it without any problems for about a year now. The last bag I bought, both dogs got soft poops. Not bad, but a definite change. It took me a few days to realize that the soft poops may have coincided with opening a new bag, but I wasn't sure. By the time I had finished that bag, they were both back to normal. Last week I ran out of that bag and started on a new one, and we are back to soft poops again. Anything going on with Orijen? Anybody else seen similar issues? It's almost as if I had switched foods on them, and switched back again. I wonder if I got a bag that was mis-labeled?


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

winston did not like his last bag of acana as much as usual, and there was a thread that orijen might have sold their company but a lot of people seemed to thin that was inaccurate.
I was going to go bk to acana, but may just use core now instead.


Dana said:


> Both my dogs are eating the Orijen Senior Formula, and have been eating it without any problems for about a year now. The last bag I bought, both dogs got soft poops. Not bad, but a definite change. It took me a few days to realize that the soft poops may have coincided with opening a new bag, but I wasn't sure. By the time I had finished that bag, they were both back to normal. Last week I ran out of that bag and started on a new one, and we are back to soft poops again. Anything going on with Orijen? Anybody else seen similar issues? It's almost as if I had switched foods on them, and switched back again. I wonder if I got a bag that was mis-labeled?


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## Little Brown Jug (Dec 7, 2010)

I was always under the assumption that not every single bag is created equal. Sometimes you open a bag and its a different colour or seems more greasy then the last but that just happens. I've never worried about it. There are days some of their stool has come out not as solid as the day before but it happens in my opinion. For Boone, it could be the slightest change in his routine and him getting stressed that cuases less then steller stool formation. My stool isn't the same consistancy every day either and I pretty much eat the same thing every day. Personally I wouldn't be overly alarmed by it, but that's just me.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

Champion Pet Foods (Orijen/Acana) sent a notice to all their distributers in Feb. 2012. They were giving a heads up that they were having difficulties with supply and demand for about another six weeks. They were going to start using some new suppliers in addition to their old suppliers. This coincided at the same time as the manufacturing plant being refitted / revamped, whatever word you want to choose, to try to lessen the aroma/stink from the manufacturing process. That has been a point of contention for a few years within that city.

Last fall, the original owner Reinhard Muhlenfeld technically sold the company to a Canadian holding company in some form of a limited partnership that includes his son Peter Muhlenfeld.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

PDXdogmom said:


> Champion Pet Foods (Orijen/Acana) sent a notice to all their distributers in Feb. 2012. They were giving a heads up that they were having difficulties with supply and demand for about another six weeks. They were going to start using some new suppliers in addition to their old suppliers. This coincided at the same time as the manufacturing plant being refitted / revamped, whatever word you want to choose, to try to lessen the aroma/stink from the manufacturing process. That has been a point of contention for a few years within that city.
> 
> Last fall, the original owner Reinhard Muhlenfeld technically sold the company to a Canadian holding company in some form of a limited partnership that includes his son Peter Muhlenfeld.


would you reccomend steering clear from champion then? i like how acana has low protein and low fiber. b2b is too high in protein but has 3 percent fiber...while core has lower protein but 7 fiber.....i like ranchlands numbers.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

i think ill jsut go with canidae pure elements even though it's kind of pricey at 55 bucks...i've always had suspicions about champion and the fact winston didn't like his last bag of acana and the sellout and this thread confirms it.

Champion Petfoods turning over a new leaf in customer service?

why does core have to have 7 percent fiber!?!?!?


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

You have suspicions of Champion foods but not Canidae who uses a Diamond facility?


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

@ RCTRIPLEFRESH5, how many times are you going to change up the food? In the short time I've been around here you have gone through a bunch of brands. The poor guy never get a chance to settle down.
What does this thread confirm?


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

Caty M said:


> You have suspicions of Champion foods but not Canidae who uses a Diamond facility?


champion tries to pretend they are super fresh when it's all lies. plus canidae is much more reasonably priced!
daviking....nothing wrong with rotating foods a lot..it's actually recommended. i've ha winston for a year already! he's been on totw wetands and praire, acana pacifica evo, and back to basics oh and core ocean.


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## NotAChampionFan (Apr 6, 2012)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> champion tries to pretend they are super fresh when it's all lies. plus canidae is much more reasonably priced!
> daviking....nothing wrong with rotating foods a lot..it's actually recommended. i've ha winston for a year already! he's been on totw wetands and praire, acana pacifica evo, and back to basics oh and core ocean.


Any that wants to know the truth about Champion Foods should Google The Cats Mother and see what she found out. She is a woman from Australia that spent months trying to get to the bottom of things.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> champion tries to pretend they are super fresh when it's all lies. plus canidae is much more reasonably priced!
> daviking....nothing wrong with rotating foods a lot..it's actually recommended. i've ha winston for a year already! he's been on totw wetands and praire, acana pacifica evo, and back to basics oh and core ocean.


You are not rotating, you are switching, unless it's the longest cycle in history.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

nope rotating..


DaViking said:


> You are not rotating, you are switching, unless it's the longest cycle in history.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

What are they lying about exactly?


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

RC- you're quick to jump on a bandwagon of fear mongering....I would stick with Champion over Canidae any day of the week. I actually avoid feeding Abigail any Diamond produced foods now....and the recall announced yesterday just confirms that for me even more now and in the future. 

If you are worried about company quality, why not go with a smaller company? Fromm, Verus, Precise, Earthborn, Annamaet (GF), etc. Have you looked into Pinnacle's grain free formulas???

Saying you are going to jump ship on Champion but then buy a bag of Canidae kind of contradicts itself entirely.....


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Also- check out Petcurean, they are a high quality company, though, they are pricey...



DaViking- I "rotate" Abbie's food every 15lb bag typically. Is there really anything wrong with it? I stick within a few brands but I like to give her a lot of variety (I transition over a few days). She's got a good stomach and has never had diarrhea from it.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

I wouldn't necessarily stop feeding Champion products. I guess I would just be scrutinizing them extra closely to see what the new bags (post factory revamping) are like. I'd probably buy the middle size bag rather than the large size bag until I was satisfied with the quality.

Kibble rotation to me is having identified maybe three different kibbles - each one having been fed exclusively for 3-4 months to assess how your dog has done on it. Then rotating among those three . . . maybe changing after every bag or every couple of months. Trying 4, 6 or 10 different foods one after another and never going back to previous ones is not rotating in my book; that's a continual search.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Hmmm...interesting. 

Never really thought about it like that. 

Is there anything wrong with my method though? From a health standpoint I mean.


I guess I probably should pick 3 or so foods that she's done well on and just have a rotation list LOL. She always does pretty good on almost anything, so I see a new flavor and am like "WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY THIS ONE NEXT?" I figured it'd be exciting for her to always have new foods so she wasn't getting sick of anything lol


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## NotAChampionFan (Apr 6, 2012)

meggels said:


> Hmmm...interesting.
> 
> Never really thought about it like that.
> 
> ...




Meggels,

You simply cannot tell if a food is good unless a dog has been on it for about 3 months. The same food for 3 months. 

People that feed one food in the morning and one food at night, or use 5 foods each for a week are just bored.

If you want to switch once a year from poultry to red meat, then fine, but "rotating" is just a sneaky way that certain pet food companies get consumers to buy food in small bags at much higher prices per LB.

The few dogs with real food allergies are genetically pre-disposed, so exposing them to many proteins just leaves you with less dry powder.

It best to use one food unless there is a specific problem with that food, or protein source I should say.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I tend to disagree with you on that one...

1) I feed her 15lb bags (or close to it) of each food, so I'm not buying food in small bags. 

2) I have seen her do well in a short period of time. For instance...she was on Natural Balance Ultra for a 15lb bag. I noticed within that 15lb bag her coat got dull and dandruffy. I finished that bag and got her on the Earthborn great plains feast, and within a 15lb bag, her coat went back to glossy, soft and not dandruffy.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

PDXdogmom said:


> I wouldn't necessarily stop feeding Champion products. I guess I would just be scrutinizing them extra closely to see what the new bags (post factory revamping) are like. I'd probably buy the middle size bag rather than the large size bag until I was satisfied with the quality.
> 
> Kibble rotation to me is having identified maybe three different kibbles - each one having been fed exclusively for 3-4 months to assess how your dog has done on it. Then rotating among those three . . . maybe changing after every bag or every couple of months. Trying 4, 6 or 10 different foods one after another and never going back to previous ones is not rotating in my book; that's a continual search.


Couldn't agree more. 12 weeks on one food exclusively is the minimum time needed to evaluate.
Trying new formulas in an endless stream has nothing to do with rotation, regardless if you believe in rotation feeding or not.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

NotAChampionFan said:


> People that feed one food in the morning and one food at night, or use 5 foods each for a week are just bored.
> 
> If you want to switch once a year from poultry to red meat, then fine, but "rotating" is just a sneaky way that certain pet food companies get consumers to buy food in small bags at much higher prices per LB.


They are not bored, they care and have a special interest, a big difference. It's like this with any hobby or special interest. People go the extra mile for something they believe in or care about. If it is right or wrong is besides the point (unless it is actually harmful) No one has the right to judge what other people get enjoyment from. When a stamp collector orders special gold framed rice paper from Japan he doesn't do it because he is bored, he does it because he care about what he is placing on that paper. Doesn't matter if he is paying a 200% markup. If a dog owner did hers or his homework and testing and came to the conclusion that feeding two different formulas throughout the day works great then that's what she or he should do.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

DaViking said:


> They are not bored, they care and have a special interest, a big difference. It's like this with any hobby or special interest. People go the extra mile for something they believe in or care about. If it is right or wrong is besides the point (unless it is actually harmful) No one has the right to judge what other people get enjoyment from. When a stamp collector orders special gold framed rice paper from Japan he doesn't do it because he is bored, he does it because he care about what he is placing on that paper. Doesn't matter if he is paying a 200% markup. If a dog owner did hers or his homework and testing and came to the conclusion that feeding two different formulas throughout the day works great then that's what she or he should do.


I agree. Dog owners can have a high interest in canine nutrition and not all be on the same page. It doesn't mean some are bored while others have the perfect answer.

DaViking: I wouldn't spend too much time trying to educate NotAChampionFan. He recently got banned from a lab board as Hershey123 and other boards as well. He has not demonstrated a learning curve in expressing his opinion in a productive way. Actually, I don't think he wants to. It's too bad, because he actually does have some interesting perspectives.


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## DogLuver (Oct 19, 2011)

PDXdogmom said:


> I wouldn't spend too much time trying to educate NotAChampionFan.


you can tell with a name like "NotAChampionFan" ....some people are just bored and don't actually have a special interest in canine nutrition


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## Dana (Oct 27, 2009)

Well, just an update, 3/4 of the way into the 30lb bag and still soft poops - even with my Aussie who doesn't have a sensitive stomach. I don't know if they are monkeying with the formula due to the complaints about smell, or what, but my Rott mix has a sensitive stomach and I can't keep subjecting her to this (nor my other dog)! So, a few days ago I started the switch to Back to Basics, Turkey formula.....and the poops are firming up already. Maybe I'll rotate back to Orijen again in a year or so.....but not in the near future until they get things stabilized.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

Dana said:


> Well, just an update, 3/4 of the way into the 30lb bag and still soft poops - even with my Aussie who doesn't have a sensitive stomach. I don't know if they are monkeying with the formula due to the complaints about smell, or what, but my Rott mix has a sensitive stomach and I can't keep subjecting her to this (nor my other dog)! So, a few days ago I started the switch to Back to Basics, Turkey formula.....and the poops are firming up already. Maybe I'll rotate back to Orijen again in a year or so.....but not in the near future until they get things stabilized.


I have read many good things about B2B. Hope it continues to work for your pups.


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## kaliberknl (May 9, 2012)

Please google Canidae class action law suit and note they use Diamond.


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## Dana (Oct 27, 2009)

The problems my dogs were having happened when they were eating Orijen Senior Formula dry. They are eating Back to Basics turkey now and doing fine. Maybe it wasn't the food, but it sure seemed to coincide with every time I started a new bag, for about 3 bags. Who knows, seems nobody else here has had any problems, and I know there are a lot of Orijen feeders on this board. Unless it's limited to the line that makes the Senior formula.....don't know if anyone else is using the Senior formula or not. Regardless, it was nothing severe...no diarrhea just soft poops. The worst issues happened in my dog with the sensitive stomach - she also had really bad gas, and several times woke up during the night panting and seeming to be very uncomfortable and gassy. I was worried she might be bloating, but that didn't seem to be the case. The vet thought perhaps it was the fat content of the food, but the Senior formula is lower in fat than many other grain free foods, and they had been eating it for about a year with no issues. Seems to be resolved now, so far, on Back to Basics (which, coincidentally, has a slightly hight fat content than the Orijen, but fewer ingredients which may help the one with sensitive stomach). I'm GUESSING they may be changing the formula around some, or maybe just not consistent with where they source the ingredients, some bags have more of one kind of fish than the other....who knows.....but that kind of thing doesnt work well for a dog with sensitive stomach issues! 

Oh, and both have had their annual exams recently - in fact one had hers this morning! - and no parasites or anything like that.

Dana


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

kaliberknl said:


> Please google Canidae class action law suit and note they use Diamond.


The member who first mentioned Canidae is no longer here, so he won't be seeing this message unfortunately for Winston.


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