Orijen

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Dizzle

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Does anyone feed it?

My BT puppy is now 16 weeks old, originally I wanted to feed raw but a lack of freezer space and my laziness have meant that’s not really the way forward, I assumed that wet food was better for them than dry so he’s been on Wainwrights puppy feed, but he’s started to enjoy kibble more, so he’s been getting a mix of Wainwrights and JWB. I also hear kibble is better for teeth?

I’m loving the fact I can feed kibble in Kongs and use it for clicker training so I want to change to a good quality feed and Orijen keeps coming up.

Is it really nutritionally better for them? His poo’s are a bit erratic at the moment, he was on Nature Diet for a bit (before he refused to eat it!) and he had lovely firm poos then! He has a small patch of eczema that he’s had since we bought him home 8 weeks ago that the vet said isn’t something to worry about, and he does itch himself a lot (but this could be normal puppy leg chewing) so I’m wondering if a change of feed might help. I’ve heard they can be hyper on JWB but being a BT I’m not sure how we’d notice the difference!

Thoughts on Orijen..?
 
With our Lancashire Heeler pup we went from fish4puppies to Orijen, she went off the fish4puppies very quickly and after a while went off the Orijen. We started feeding her raw and on a couple of days the Orijen, purely to use it up. It is expensive but as CC said probabley the best kibble, I would try to get samples of both of them and see which your pup prefers.
 
I feed it to my JRT as I am not keen on doing raw - laziness, no spare freezer space and OH not keen:rolleyes: My sons JRT has it too and my vet was very encouraging saying it was not as good as raw but if I "had" to feed dry food Orijen was the best. My girl is a little overweight but has had to have steroids recently so that is her excuse. My sons dog is spot on for weight. Both have good coats and teeth and no digestive problems. TBH it is not that expensive as they don't eat as much of it as some of the other foods. It is much more economical if you buy the big 20kg bags. My local suplier delivers them free of charge.
 
I think I might take the plunge, OH pays for half of the dog food so between us it's not a lot.

We still have a few cans of Wainwrights to use up, can I feed both together (as long as I don't over feed him).

Where's the best place to buy sample bags, the P&P was nearly as much as the sample on thier website!
 
When I first got Maisie about 14 mths ago I started her on Hills, but then after reading posts on here swopped to Orijen about 3 mths ago. Hadn't had any probs with Hills, but do feed less of the Orijen and her poos are now dark brown instead of having a bit of an orange tinge to them :rolleyes:

Am lucky that a local pet shop stocks it!
 
Well, I'm always going to say "Buy Canadian". :)

Seriously, it is great stuff. Mine basically eat raw but they do get a handful of kibble if they want it and I do feed it if we're away or out late. I did a lot of research and this was my pick BUT the younger dog did get noticeably more wound up on it and I've heard other people say the same. (Mine are with me all day and get a fair bit of exercise for non-working dogs so not short of an outlet.) They have so little it's not an issue but possibly a consideration for certain dogs.

I've also fed Barking Heads and been very happy with it, but it's not nearly as "high powered" as Orijen.
 
I’ve just ordered him a bag to see how we go. I’ve heard of them getting wound up on JWB and now he’s 16 weeks old I’ve started upping his morning walk (did an extra 10 mins this morning and he came home and went to sleep on the sofa!) so that shouldn’t be too much of a worry. I clicker train him a lot so kibble is great for using as treats so I give him some of his daily allowance for training.

I also order him a (shock horror) harness so when we go to Mum and Dad’s I can attach him to a lunge line, although they live in a rural village their garden is open (and hundreds of places for a terrier to go missing!) so it will mean he can chill out in the garden with us in the summer without fear of losing him!

Also, now he’s starting to teeth, I was thinking of getting him some ‘meaty bones’ to chew on (as they’re good for cleaning teeth too) but I’m not sure what I should be buying, I thought weight-bearing bones are out but if I’m getting them for him to chew on rather than as part of a proper RAW diet (where you want them to eat the bone) would these sort of bones be ok?

Feeding dogs is nearly as confusing as feeding horses! :D
 
I can't really say on the bones, since mine are supposed to eat them :) and do so quickly, but they've had both beef and lamb bones in the past to chew and lived to tell the tale. No doubt someone will appear shortly to tell me I'm wrong, though. :D

Mine have also had antlers recently, which one is keen on but not so much the other, although he's not much of a chewer anyway. The chewing one also likes rope knots (actually, what she really likes, even now she's grown, is belts and shoes!) and hide toys, although I know she's not supposed to be getting those! She's quite high energy and even with lots of walking, tends to have a mad moment mid evening and sometimes in the middle of the night, especially if she's anxious, so needs something to occupy her for a bit.

I tend to feed the dogs like I do the horses - in the most simple way I can, so long as its decent for them, and then individually as they need it. My last dog was completely self-feeding (and not a big step off feral - the joke was she was actually a coyote :D) and it was really interesting to watch how and when she ate. One of mine can be a bit prissy to feed and the other has issues stemming from very bad care as a pup, but they've lived this long so it can't be all bad. :)
 
The couple of comments about Orijen winding up their dogs really surprised me! Not sure if it's coincedence or not, but Maisie's recall has improved tremendously in the last couple of months, to the extent she's off lead in places I wouldn't have dreamt of before :D
 
It was not a case of mine being any harder to deal with, she just had more energy than she really needs and it was making her anxious. And it's not like she's fed badly - as I said, she only eats either meat or another high end kibble. BUT she is also very sensitive and basically eats nothing but turkey and some chicken or lamb (and rabbit or squirrel if I or the other dog don't get it off he) whereas the other dog eats pretty much anything that used to have a pulse. She can't have anything with gluten, most commercial treats etc - you can tell even if someone has slipped her the "wrong" treat at the park. So not exactly the norm!

With the other dog, he felt he didn't get enough Orijen to fill him up without making him tubby. He's hell when he's hungry so in all of our best interests not to let that happen! With the meat I can fiddle his proportions so he gets enough bulk without fat/protein.

They still do get a tiny amount of it, mixed with Barking Heads, and that seems to suit, or the Orijen alone on the rare occasions they have to eat kibble only for a day or two.
 
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Well, the Orijen arrived today. So he had half and half for lunch, I accidentally dropped a Kong on the floor spilling everything and he hovered up the Orijen first over the JWB. :D

I’ve also noticed that recently his poo appears almost grainy when soft, the exact same texture as the JWB almost as if he’s not digesting it properly.

Will be interesting to see how it goes, the food smells gorgeous, I left the bag open when I walked the dog and the whole ground floor smells of it now!
 
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