Orijen Dog Food...

[stargirl88]

Hey folks,
I put my dog on Orijen about 3-4 weeks ago. He likes the kibble without any token bits of wet food added (infact... I use it as treats now on my dog walks and all the dogs love it!!). I've noticed an increase in his drinking habits though. He drink a HELL of a lot more than before and this morning he was standing at the bottom of my bed waiting for me to get up and let him out. This never happens. I was stressing that he might have renal failure (jumping to conclusions I know, my last dog died of it though!) but now I've done more googling.... I see this isn't uncommon with Orijen and some people have taken their dogs off it due to it actually making them sick because of it.

He is 10 so don't want to be putting any strain on his organs - but the protein in Orijen is surely a higher quality than in many of the other kibbles. I'll be pretty gutted to take him off of it as he has plenty of energy to go on 3hrs of walks a day and then bomb about in the garden at the end of the day! plus his poos are good.

Any experiences from you lot?

 

[stargirl88]

BTW I've thought about raw but he actually doesn't eat raw meat unless it's off a bone. Turned his nose up at natural instinct just incase someone suggest switching haha.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I would have thought it would be solely down to the fact that the food is dry so the only moisture he will get is through drinking water, with wet food there will be some moisture so they don't need to drink as much, a bit like horses that have wet hay they won't drink as much as a horse on dry hay I suppose.

 

[gunnergundog]

If your dog was healthy and free from kidney problems when you switched diet then feeding Orijen will not cause problems. A dog that already has kidney issues should however be fed a low protein feed.

 

[Micky]

If you're worried, maybe ask your vet...or change feeds..i like the look of orijen but not the price so researched and found a similar food called akela.....

 

[Bellasophia]

First read this..high protein foods are no longer considered harmful,apart from a few specific kidney issues..( but not all)
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/low-protein-dog-foods/
Consider soaking the feed.
try changing food if this continues...arcana has less protein and is well liked by many dogs...still a high protein compared to many on the market foods.

 

[AmyMay]

Daisy is on Orijen and looks fabulous on it. I would agree that there may be a slight increase in water consumption, but I no longer feed any wet food, so it's not something I've been concerned about.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

As bellasophia says, add water to the food. Orijen is a cracking food, the only kibble I would seriously consider. I don't think the protein content is the issue, rather the dry food. What was he on before? It is good and stinky, so probably very appetising, adding warm water will increase the smell, quite likely. Try this and see how he goes.

2/3 of my lot reduced their water consumption when switched from Orijen to raw, it's quite normal that he's drinking lota, I think. You should also consider his age and whether he might be less able to hold, bit like me at 3am!

 

[stargirl88]

Hiya, I'm resurrecting this thread mostly because I forgot all about it when H&H is hard to access from me phone (can I not get email notifications!!)
I took him to the vet and all his kidneys and urine tests were fine. He drinks ALOT though. Changed his kibble which made no difference.

I'm trying to monitor how much he actually has but difficult with three dogs. My vet said to keep an eye on it but anyone know of a different cause that might be doing this? It's frustrating me that I can't work it out and there's no signs of anything. Diabetes should have shown up on the tests. Argh.

 

[AmyMay]

Has he been tested for cushins?

 

[stargirl88]

Hmm, interesting. I never thought of that actually (!) only because everything else about him is normal!