Has anyone had trouble with the Free Run Poultry Acana dry kibble?
We moved from Acana to Fromm
We are adopting a goldendoodle pup in a few weeks who will be 45 – 50 pounds as an adult. We recently changed to Annamaet Grain Free with our five year old goldendoodle. He was previously on Acana but we’re concerned about Acana’s new production facility in Kentucky. Can anyone recommend Annamaet as a puppy food? The editors list included Annamaet Encore for large puppies. The puppy has been raised on Life’s Abundance by the breeder.
Thank you!
I’ve seen plenty of complaints on the USA version of Orijen/Acana, but I’m wondering if it’s a vocal minority (at least based on Chewy reviews, it seems most people are still happy enough with the USA version). Are there any here who switched over from the Canada to the USA without incidence?
My vet made commented about kcal’s in food… suggested to keep it below 400 kcal/cup otherwise I will have to feed them less quantity per serving. Reading label, so many foods are over 400+ in kcal/cup. My pups are all healthy and have been on Wellness Core Reduced Fat for years (360 kcal/cup). One of them began turning her nose up to it… tried different flavors and she still will or will not eat it depending on the day. I tried Merrick Grain Free which she did like (smaller kibbles?) but then I researched the Purina merger and stopped feeding it to her (only ate about 4-5 days worth). Editor’s Review gives both Merrick Grain Free + Castor and Pollux Ultramix Grain Free 5 stars… just so worried about Purina. Acana + Orijin I read over and over are “the best” but seems that was when it was made in Canada. Now made in the USA oddly quality has gone down. So frustrating.
Hi Janel — I ended up with Zignature Zessential as her primary food for now. Their single protein foods are good as well, but she’s always done well on multi-protein source food like Acana or Orijen, so I went with the Zessential for the daily food. She really likes it and she has done well on it. It has a higher protein amount than the single protein foods by Zignature, so closer to what she was used to before. I don’t know if I’ll keep her on that for the long haul, but for now it seems to be a good choice. I know that some reviews have mentioned that it has helped their dogs with allergies, but I’m sure it all depends on the dog and what it is sensitive to. I’m sorry you and your pup also have had a rough time after Champion moved their production to Kentucky. I keep hoping I can go back to Champion and their foods, but for now I just don’t trust them.
Kathy
hi there Kathy… was wondering what you ended up trying? in the same boat as you are after being in orijen for several years. we tried Canidae pure sea but the staining on my three little white doggies send to be worse on that than orijen. we tried Acana right after they switched and had horrible allergies (one’s hair still isn’t growing back right in one spot!)to it so I’m hesitant try the new orijen 6fush formula since it seems fairly similar.
Hi Pam,
I have had a lot of issues’ with Origen and Acana. I’ve switched my GSD to Now Fresh and it seems to be working for her.
Hello! I just signed up for the Editor’s Choice membership and I am a huge fan of the website and the research it represents.
I am working on a spreadsheet to compare nutritional information for 5-star dry dog food brands. However, I have found only 3 brands to report essential amino acid content: Orijen and Acana (both made by Champion pet foods) and EVO (now part of Mars, Inc.).
Can you help me identify other dry dog food brands that report complete nutritional profiles? Amino acids, Omega-3, Omega-6, essential vitamins and minerals.
Hi Rich,
I have a different viewpoint and experience from anon101. Based on the experiences that I have had, your initial instinct of going with a limited ingredient diet would be the best to start. The Acana you were feeding had lentils, beans, chickpeas and peas. Any one of those ingredients are a candidate to cause poo issues and I would limit as many of those ingredients as possible. My girl that had problems with soft and runny poos when she was a puppy now does fine as long as I stay away from grains and a limited amount of chickpeas–green peas do not bother her. She eats Wellness Simple Turkey or Salmon, and I sometimes add a little Wellness Complete Grain Free, with Honest Kitchen Preference and my own cooked meat as a topper. My other girl that had serious food issues eats mostly Honest Kitchen and a few Wellness kibbles. As you and I both know, Honest Kitchen is not a supplement or a scam.
Although Natural Balance LID diets are lower protein, they truly are limited ingredients with only one protein and one carb source. I use to feed their Kangaroo and Potato formula before it was discontinued. My personal opinion though is to try Wellness Simple first.
We have 2 King Charles cavalier spaniels that are about 6 months old. About 2-3 weeks ago they started having soft stools with mucus. We took them both right to the vet. They did physical, fecal and parvo tests. All came back negative so they gave us medicine to help with their stomachs and gave us hill science diet wet food. One of them started to get better though he still has soft stools but the other started having liquid diharrea and stop eating. We took her to the vet again and they said she was dehydrated and put her on iv with med. they did blood test and another fecal but again negative. she came home next day and was better. But both still have soft stools. We are going to try changing their food to see if that helps. We were giving them acana free range poultry.
We are looking at the following and want to get some thoughts or other recommendations:
i was looking for a good limited ingredient or sensitive stomach dry food that is made in the usa only and doesn’t include chicken. Was looking at duck, rabbit or salmon. I don’t have them in any particular order as it was just the order I found them. They are all 4 star or up.
https://www.chewy.com/taste-wild-pacific-stream-puppy/dp/34840
https://www.chewy.com/wellness-simple-limited-ingredient/dp/36859
https://www.chewy.com/canidae-grain-free-pure-elements/dp/55148
https://www.chewy.com/castor-pollux-natural-ultramix-grain/dp/118171
https://www.chewy.com/nutrisca-grain-free-salmon-chickpea/dp/35033
https://www.chewy.com/natures-variety-instinct-grain-free/dp/33462
I had always been told that senior dogs 8 and over need to eat lower protein food. My greyhound is now 8 and I feed acana dry food with has a higher protein than senior foods. Am I damaging her? She has always been on 5 star foods and is healthy now. sharon
and it appears all acana foods have fish in them as well
Hi
is that animal hairs???….YUK, Acana should be giving a refund & send out a new bag without the hairs…
After sending a sample of Acana Heritage Meats to Champion Foods (at their request), I just received a written response from them indicating that the inclusion of hair should be of no concern to me because hair is a typical ingredient in any natural diet! Their written response then closed with a seemingly contradictory statement indicating that they are attempting to improve their processing system! I am now more than glad that I made a prior decision to switch to a different brand of food.
We would like to nominate Farmina N&D GMO free Lamb Grain Free Medium Dry dog good. We have been using Acana but tried Farmina and our Aussies like this brand better.
Hi Craig,
Thanks for posting this. I plan on spending some time checking the site out further. On first glance it looks quite interesting. I saw that some products/brands that people vilify here such as Purina were assigned 5 stars and others like Acana/Orijen that many posters to this site embrace were assigned the lowest rating of only 1 star.
I like that ratings are based in part from actually testing the diets for contaminants and that this isn’t a pet food ratings site per say. It looks like the same group of food scientists and medical professionals also tested baby food
Susan, thanks for the recommendation of VeRus foods…I just messaged them for a sample or two for my Labradors. I have a 2 yr old and a 10 yr old. We were very happy on the Canada formulas of Orijen and Acana…they aren’t doing as well on the USA formulas. The 6 fish made my older dog sick, sick, sick!! The puppy seems to tolerate it a little better. I’m just ready to find a better food and company all together!
Wow, just received & opened a new bag of Acana Duck & Pear yesterday, no feathers that I noticed…..hope it’s an isolated incident…ewwww HAIR, I would be livid!
I noticed the same thing with my dogs, messier stools and smelly. I no longer feed either the Orijen or Acana now.
When was pork added to Ranchland? My Chi’s tummies are sensitive to pork.
I previously reported the same issue (exactly as shown in the pictures, above – purchased March, 2017)). I contacted Champion Foods about the issue. They asked me to send a sample of the food in a pre-paid Fed-Ex envelope. which I have done. I was advised that they will research the issue and get back to me with an explanation. I have always been a proponent of Champion Foods (Orijen/Acana), but no more. I switched to a different 5-Star brand. There’s no way that I would be able to trust the future quality of their product(s)! What a shame….
I just bought this food brand for the first time last night and picked out a piece of kibble to look at it and was extremely disappointed when I saw little pieces ojf hair sticking out of it. Every piece is like that! I can’t believe such a high quality food has hair in their kibble. NEVER buying Acana again!
Hi, yes there was 1 lady on the “Reviews” section, her dog was reacting to the new US Acana but I don’t remember what formula it was??? also are you feeding the US Acana or the Canadian Acana? the US was sold to new owners…
It will all depend on the dog, 1 dog might be fine eating this formula then another dog may be sensitive to say the chickpeas, lentils, peas, or beef etc so your dog must be sensitive to an ingredient now you have to work out which ingredient it is. Look for a limited ingredient kibble with a single protein….
It’s hard working out skin problems it can be environment or food & its weird you have just started this new formula & he has the hive like lumps, but its also the beginning of Spring as well… It’s taken me 3-4 yrs working out my boy & he has Seasonal Environment allergies & food sensitivities.. He does best on Taste Of The Wild Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb & Holistic Select Adult/Puppy Salmon, Anchovy & Sardines grain free & now I’m trying the Canidae Pure Wild so I have a few kibbles I can rotate with, so he’s not eating the same protein 24/7 then reacting to something in that kibble…
Hi, you have to look at the ingredients, there may be 1 ingredient your dog is very sensitive tooo where your other dogs are OK, when my boy eats, Chicken, Turkey & cooked beef carrots, oats & barley he starts to smell & gets itchy & starts scratching & when he gets his environment allergies in Spring & Summer he gets the hive like lumps all over his body, I bath him in Medicated Malaseb Shampoo weekly or twice a week when he’s real bad…With the Malasab you can bath daily if needed it’s a mild shampoo…. Start keeping a diary for this dog & you’ll start seeing a pattern if it’s Seasonal Environment Allergies & start reading ingredient list & see if there’s an ingredient that keeps being in the kibble when this happens…….
Acana make a Pork & Squash formula maybe try that formula for him or get the “Canidae” Pure Sea, its limited ingredients & the protein Salmon & is high in omega 3 fatty acid what is needed for skin problems….
We started feeding our 4 dogs Acana Grasslands on Thursday, and on Saturday one of my four dogs had bumps all over his back. The other 3 dogs are fine. Of course this skin issue could be from anything, but I am trying to rule things out and wanted to find out if anyone has had a similar reaction with the food? This is the first time I had tried Acana.
Re: Vaccinations
Years ago when my dog was going through treatments for cancer the vet suggested we do titers instead of straight up vaccinating for everything since he had a compromised immune system.
Ever since once then we have been doing titers and giving only the necessary vaccinations.
I also spread out vaccinations. I don’t give them combo shots when possible (there’s 1 that’s unavoidable). This way if there is a reaction we’ll know what caused it.
I’m not an anti-vaxxer, but I am anti- overvaccinating.
Re: Acana
It is very disappointing that the high quality of their products has gone down the drain. It was the best food for my big guy and I didn’t have to feed him a ton of it. Now he’s getting hot spots. I’ve tried every formula and the fish has been causing him the most trouble. I thought the oils may have helped. I would only buy the small bags knowing that it was very oily and people were complaining. I keep it in its original bag too so it doesn’t make the bin rancid. And shake the bag to hopefully disperse the oils.
We’re looking into other brands now. Too bad. I really loved Champion.
I have been feeding my 2 border collies on Acana wild prairie for more than 4 years now. It was good, coat was shiny and skin is very healthy. for the past 1 week, after i feed them on a new batch of acana wild prairie, they started scratching themselves excessively. i brought them to a vet and was advised to stop feeding them on acana wild prairie immediately as it was a allergy reaction. i went online and found out that there was a change in formula! i don’t understand why change to a more formula that caused all these reaction. Border collies are not known to have sensitive reaction like bull dogs breeds. i think i will drop the brand as it scares me to see the change within 1 week.
I also just purchased (today) a 25lb. bag of ‘Acana Heritage Meats Formula’ (expiration date of May, 2018). I experienced the same horrible surprise – The kibble was full of white, brown and black hairs, just as pictured in a prior review!!! There was almost more hair than food product itself in each piece! The bag will be returned immediately! I had previously read some negative product reviews after Champion’s move to processing in the USA, but dismissed the bad reviews as probably being related to a transition into a new production facility. I guess I was totally wrong. At this point in time, Champion’s move to the USA is no longer “new”, and a transition period should no longer exist. There is absolutely no excuse for what I discovered in the food I purchased. I have always been a huge advocate for Champion Dog Food’s products, but no more. I can’t possibly continue to trust the quality control methods for either Acana or Orijen.
My Original text about hair in dog food – I’ve been using this expensive 5 star dog food brand ACANA Heritage Meats formula for a while now, trusting their quality advertised as using fresh meat and regional heritage meats, making it seem human grade. Now I am shocked to find out that there is crazy amounts of hair in the kibble. I began using a white plastic food scoop not too long ago and noticed short thick black hairs stuck on the scoop. Then I realized that those hairs were coming from the actual kibbles and there are a lot of them. It’s unacceptable for a premium brand like Acana to grind in carcasses with the hide of the animal, hair still attached. They should mention various animal hairs as one of their ingredients! Please see the photos and next time you feed your dog, please look at the individual kibble carefully. Acana also have not responded to my inquiries in helpful manner. I am worried that my dog might have been ingesting too much hair and who knows, maybe all this hair is from rats. I am really appalled and shocked about my findings. Please share this info. I am very disappointed that even premium brands that advertise no animal byproducts have such suspicious practices.
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This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by
Noora K.
Hi, I was going through the same thing with my 15 yr. old Cocker, one Vet said food allergies, but restricting her at her old age was not in her best interest. I tried the Honest Kitchen Turkey, still runny poop, I tried the Honest Kitchen poop firmer powder which worked for a short while. I tried Orijen Senior, she didn’t like it. Then she was diagnosed with a heart murmur & while adjusting to that I bought Acana Duck & Pear, she loves it but the runny poop issue returned, back in forth to vet, prescription dog food, dry & canned, she wouldn’t eat most of it. So I started cooking whole turkey breast for her along with veggies, rice, pasta etc added to the Acana….but what really has solved the problem is….1/4 Metronidazole tab twice a day everyday…no runny poop since last Oct. It’s a bitter pill so I put it inside a gelatin capsule & wrap in turkey. Vet is happy with the regimen & when asked if it was Colitis she said “probably”. Now she can eat a variety of things without the tummy noise.
Well, that is partially what they told me. I guess I was fortunate to have started my pup on Orijen USA Puppy. Original and puppy are very close in recipe content. Sophie is six months old so I will be on puppy another three months then slowly transition her to Original. We have had companions in the past that developed similar issues and finding a new food can be a delicate and stressful situation. I wish you luck. I assume you wouldn’t want to try any of the ACANA products?
Hello,
I would like to recommend / nominate Perfoamatrin.
http://www.performatrin.com/products/performatrin-ultra-grain-free-recipe-dog-food/
I have a puppy Doberman (9.5m) and he is on his 6 or 7 27 pund bag.
We had a lot of issues in the beginning with diarrhea and loos stool. Brands we tried were Acana,Orijecn, GO, Fresh, Royal canine. Eventually we used the Digestive care from RC, until,
My dog just loves this food! whenever I getting ready to feed him he starts drooling and dripping 🙂
The food is easy on his tummy, no more loos poop and no more gassss!
Poop comes out always the same in density and shape lol, and there is less to pick up then other foods I tries.
Food had lots of protein (37) and is grain free.
Price is reasonable too.
Cheers
Eran
Susan B: Take your baby off Acana, Orijen or any from that Kentucky plant. He probably is lethargic and has bad breath due to what possibly rancid contents is doing to his insides, which can’t be handled with the best dental health. There are many quality dog foods available like Honest Kitchen and/or cooking your own for him or use as a mix like we do. I will never let another dog suffer from what was supposed to be the best dog food and willing to pay the best as well, again. It was one of the worst experiences of our lives. Now we can only pray it is a testimony to others to safe them grief on many levels. Blessings to you!
Hi David – just joined the forum, I have a 6yr4mo Bernese Mt Dog, neutered at 5, s/p last breeding, big weight gain & I’m researching best foods for weight loss – Nike’s been doing the same favoring of his rear R leg, whimpering at times getting up – vet put him on food I really would never in my life use, so am spending hours researching; my breeder fiends have told me brands not listed on dog food advisor; I used Acana Canada based, (Orijen bison as pup)- Nike’s lost 5lbs in 3 weeks, walks & play with his 18 month daughter help too. Still am searching for lower calorie, good protein & lower fat balanced GF dry dog food I feel good about; I also use ground shark cartilage – may sound crazy, but It worked with my 30 yrs of raising golden retrievers when they got older.
Hi all,
I’ve been searching the forums for info on how we can calculate the ratio of dry to wet food (or other mixers) for those who like to mix it up. I want to make sure I can calculate correctly so the meals remain complete/balanced without adding too many calories. Do people just rely on the caloric number to determine the ratio, or do you calculate other percentages as well?
I looked online for a calculator online that can do this and only found one by Merrick. They have a very clever calculator that can help you figure out the proper ratios of their dry/wet/mixers in order to ensure a balanced meal. BUT, given they’re owned by Purina now (AFAIK), I’m unlikely to use their dog food any time soon. I would likely use Acana for dry food and whatever 5 star brand for wet (and 5 star brand for raw mixers), so there’s no doubt I’ll be using various brands to put a proper diet together.
P.S. I read the editor’s quick suggestion on how he adds 1/4 of a can of a singular meat wet food to dry food, but didn’t indicate how much he reduces dry food to compensate for calories, or if he does that at all.
Thanks for any advice or suggestions!
I’ve very sad (and disgusted) that after all this time from my very first post and reporting this to the FDA, that nothing has been done with Acana and Origen from the new Kentucky plant. Since we lost our Katie and now have a new girl, I have learned a ton. First, dog food is big business and the main goal with most is money, not pet health. The things that are done out there should be criminal, but they’re not in most cases. So it is up to pet parents to protect our dogs. First, please don’t buy dog food that has fish oil in it if at all possible because it will get rancid within days of opening. This is why vitamin stores sell fish oils to humans in small pills, dark bottles, and with a packet in the bottle for freshness. And if a liquid, instructions to refrigerate. Second, I know it is even more expensive with a quality food and larger animal, but it is best to buy smaller bags and keep the food in the bag and then in an air tight container. This protects ingredients (think about how you handle your own food). We have settled on Grain Free Merrick turkey and varying it with Grain Free Honest Kitchen (which is human grade food) and we make our own cooked chicken. Sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn’t once in the rhythm of it and gives your dog a variety. The Honest Kitchen can be made for 3 days and kept refrigerated and our girl is thriving on this combination. Much better than vet bills or loss of a pet in the long run, which is the worst heartache ever. I wish everyone the very best in discerning what is best for their precious family member.
I have had Boxers for years and I know only too well those sensitive guts. Right now I have a 9 1/2 y/o and I feed Canine Caviar Limited Ingredient Free Sprit and Nature’s Logic Canine Chicken Meal Feast. I look for dry foods without peas,legumes or beans of any kind. I find that with the newer formulations of even Champion Pet foods (Acana and Orijen) these are being added and are in the first 3-5 ingredients and so many dogs are just incapable of digesting and utilizing legumes. I fed Acana for many years but I do not anymore. I love the company and their transparency and their mission statement.
May I ask how you feed,i.e.: twice a day or are they given food to free feed throughout the day? I’ve had a lot of Boxers which also include over 60 rescues and Boxers live to eat….unless they are ill. They do best with two feedings a day 10-12 hours apart. My hunch is that your guys just may have residual upset stomachs and hence why they are spitting food out
I have two seven year old boxers. They have been eating Acana dog food but once it switched from Canadian to USA they had bad, uncontrollable diarrhea with it. We tried Nulo but it seemed to give my one skin allergies. Now they are trying Merrick but do not seem to like it, they spit it out. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My vet diagnosed our 11yr Wheaten with beginning stages of kidney disease. She said, at this point he doesn’t need meds and said a new dry food with low protein would work fine. She suggested Royal Canine. I think it’s a prescription food. My dog was eating Acana dry and loved it. I looked at Neo but it wasn’t rated very well. Recalls and foods “made” in China concern me. Can anyone recommend a dry food for me? Prefer something I can get without a script but will consider something that does. I just want a good food. Pricing is not really a concern because I’ll be willing to give my pet the best.
My dog has recurring urinary tract infections. One possible treatment offered by my Vet is to switch to a food with no or low added minerals, to help avoid stones in the bladder if that is the cause (bladder ultrasound showed no stones). He suggested one of the Science Diet Vetiranary formulas. I don’t care for Science Diet. I found Acana Singles (USA) has only zinc added and Carna4 has no added vitamins and minerals. Can anyone recommend other dry dog foods with no added vitamins or minerals that are recommended by Dog Food Advisor??
My two powder puff Chinese cresteds have allergies. I’m trying to find a new food. I thought Acana duck and pear would work, however it has juniper berries in it. I have read several times these are poisonous to dogs. Does anyone else know for sure what the right answer might be?
I just wanted to tell everyone in this group that I solved our Acana problem temporarily!!! My dog had eaten Acana Duck and Bartlett Pear (from Canada) for years. After trying the Kentucky crap, we’ve tried at least a dozen different foods. None agreed with my dog’s sensitive stomach, or he didn’t like the taste of them. So I resorted to begging a FaceBook friend in Canada to send me two bags of Acana Canadian Free-Run Duck. Yay! Last night, my dog’s tail was wagging as he ate his kibble, and his poo today was perfect. We are back to normal now that we have a black-market source of Acana!
A friend of mine says they’ve tried everything and have found Acana to be the best. No more skin or ears issues and both of their dogs love it. They have a St. Bernard and a Coonhound. They’ve had the best success with the Freshwater fish over the poultry or beef. I’ve been considering Acana for my Bloodhound.
Thanks for the tips! I’ve definitely noticed a lot of people mentioning Zignature with high favorability. I’ll keep that on my short list. We ended up visiting a couple local retailers, one pet store and one natural food who was the local Annamaet reseller who had about a 5′ section of shelving dedicated to kibble and I think there was one bag of Annamaet along with Acana and Origen. At the pet shop we narrowed our choices down (since we wanted to start them on something else to replace the Pro Plan sooner rather than later) to Wellness and Nutro. Since Wellness still had chicken and Nutro did not we went with the Nutro. That may not be the long term solution but after a couple of days they are likely what little we’ve mixed in so far.
We also picked up a coconut oil based canine skin lotion the pet shop recommended. We’re on day two of that, plus the weather here is much improved from a dryness perspective, so hopefully we’ll see some results soon!
I assure you, it is nothing like Orijen or Acana.
I used to love the Origen from Canada for my cats and felt the price was worth it for what I felt was the best food available. I no longer feel that way now that is comes from Dogstar Company in Kentucky rather than from Champion. I have compared the ingredients side by side and it now has goat meat instead of bison for a meat souce. It now has two different kinds of lentils (both red and green) and other plant foods which I feel are just fillers as cats do not need them. I am trying Open Farm available from Petflow, which is also from Canada and uses sustainably meat and vegetable sources. It is human certified. So far my cats seem to be taking to it well. The price is comparable to Origen and Acana but I will not pay that price for them anymore since they are no longer from Canada and the ingredients have changed.
Thank you to all of you for your thoughtful replies! I definitely have some things to think about!
anon101: My little guy is about 4 and a half. We don”t know his exact age because we rescued him a little over a year and a half ago. I considered feeding him part kibble and part THK and even started adding some of his Acana that we had on hand into it, but his gas came back immediately even though I gave less than 1/4 cup of kibble and i just gave up on it. I’ve yet to find a kibble that worked well for his tummy. Probiotics and pumpkin helped, but not enough to satisfy me.
I’m sorry to hear about the dog you lost. It’s heart breaking to lose a beloved pet.
Susie: We started him out on 1 1/4 cups per day, fed in the morning and evening. He was at the vet in December for a UTI and his weight was just a pound under his normal weight. Now we’re feeding him 1 1/2 cups and he’s 18 pounds which is normal for him. The vet says his weight is perfect. He gets a kong 2-3 days a week, usually with peanut butter. I will look ito some other ways to fill it that might be better for him. Thanks for the suggestion!
Susan: I have a box of the Zeal to try once the Love is used up. Hopefully it will work better for him. I’ve never considered the idea that a dog could have acid reflux. He does often do a swallowing thing after he eats, but he tends to gobble down his food too quickly, so that may be why. I think I will talk to my vet about feeding something home cooked for a few days like you suggested and see how he does. Thanks for the recipe! Paw chewing/licking has been a big problem for him in the past, but he hasn’t been doing it for the last couple of months. His paws look so much better.
I have never written on any of these, but ALWAYS have read and researched dog foods and topics etc. I am so grateful for this site and finding ALL the information. My girl will be 3 on Feb 14th. She has been sick since Christmas day. I found it odd that she had calcium oxylate crystals and a UTI after a vet visit. True I read that with Orijen, they need to drink more BUT….she acted so different too and less energetic and alert. After I read a guy’s article about his dog getting crystals on the Orijen, I called the distributor and asked about the Acana……after all “Orijen is the best as I thought”. I had fed my 75 lb baby Orijen the last 2 years. First year, I fed her the supposed “best” new Blue Wilderness until she got lethargic and hair started shedding……then learned/read how they sold the co. at that time and went with cheaper products. So then went with Orijen Regional Red the past 2 years. Crystals went away and normal PH thank God. I didn’t realize at the time that it might be connected to the food. Had just bought a NEW huge bag of Regional Red….along with the Acana for lower protein. This past week, she got 3 bumps on her rear that then turned to larger bumpy rashes. She started chewing on her tail obsessively and scratching, ate to the bloody skin on all three places, and scratched ALL over. I didn’t know if it was a yeast infection from the antibiotics which it was NOT. I then started giving her the Acana food, bought at the same time, just about 2 weeks ago. OMG…..very lethargic, less alert than before, red eyes and insane itching….even after the new organic “itchless” shampoo. Was scratching her face and sides of her mouth yesterday and today this evening after her “supper” of Acana, which she has NEVER done. She woke up throwing up at 4:00 am yesterday. I found this info and site tonight and now I know FOR SURE that it is this food, and from that new plant. I had called the distributor to ask “where” the food came from…they said KY, not Canada anymore. I had read that on another site also. I “had” felt so assured and happy that she had Orijen and I had found a great food. I’m just praying hard on her to feel better, and throwing away BOTH huge bags tomorrow, the Acana and Orijen! Forget about “transitioning” to a new food…I’ll risk the diarrhea and clogged anal glands instead of giving her this nasty food. I have read hours and hours trying to find a good SAFE Grain Free for her. Will do chicken and rice, but NOW getting the Grain Free Candidae Duck. They have NOT had a recall since 2012, and it was the company that made the decision just for precautions. I pray this food will work and hope the potatoes don’t cause an issue relative to starch/sugar/yeast etc. My heart goes out to anyone and everyone that has had any heartache with their pets/loving part of the family, that has suffered in any way. It TRULY is horrible that more people and companies don’t care more about our pets. These are like our “children” to most of us! For me I know! Thank you truly for sharing your stories and experiences to educate and spare other people and their 4 legged babies etc. I’m praying hard on my baby girl to get back to her old self SOON! Take care, God bless!
