Acana Puppy Large breed

[Priska182]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to put my new CsV pup on Acana for Large breed puppy...

Did some of you have tried it? For how long? Did you and of course your dogs like it?

Thank you very much for your advice

[michaelundinaeichhorn]

We haven´t tried it because we decided to take Orijen what is sold by the same company here in Germany. Orijen is not much more expensive but contains more meat, the rest is almost the same. If this wouldn´t have been the case we would have decided for Arcana and I looked at a lot of dry dog foods before this decision.

[mbubab]

We take Orijen too,I think that Orijen is better.

[z Peronówki]

Originally Posted by Priska182

I'm planning to put my new CsV pup on Acana for Large breed puppy...

Did some of you have tried it? For how long? Did you and of course your dogs like it?

I do not use any food for puppies... They are result of pure marketing of the dog food factories...
Do you think that wolves/wild dogs feed their pupps with different food till the puppies are one year old and change the food later....

Of course not....

I also do not buy any food with glucosamine and chondroitin - or better said I do not pay any attention if the food contains it or not. If you check the labels you will be that most of the dry food contains trace amounts of it. So I prefer (and I recommend) additinal suplementation. I have very good experiences with ARTHRIX Plus (http://www.arthrix.com/arthrix_plus.htm). Believe me - cetyl myristoleate makes miracles...
It is great also for dogs with dysplasia (I saw a bulldog who vets suggested to put down and who is still alive and RUNNING).

[hanninadina]

I tried both, but Orijen is better. The most important thing for the wolfdogs is to get high protein, high fat but no grain and low carbohydrats. That is what wolves in the wild get most. Of course they do not change the food after being adult. And that is what Orijen is all about. But here in germany we have a even better dry kibble food wolfsblut http://www.wolfsblut.com/ . With Oirjen my pups had sometimes soft poo. With Wolfsblut green valley http://www.wolfsblut.com/hundefutter...kenfutter.html , it contains lamb and salomon with 30 % protein an 18 % fat and more than 50 % meat and fish they do have normal hard poo and they do make poo not so often like with all other dry kibbles, only 2-3 times a day. So the body gets most of the food.

Christian

[yukidomari]

We fed Acana Provincial, the grain free line, years ago when we fed kibble. It wasn't the large breed puppy formulation, though, but my little dogs tolerated it better than Orijen.

My large dog (not csv) tolerated Orijen fine, though. I would say both are good choices in terms of kibble, although, since you're in Canada where Champion Pet Foods is based, I'd try Orijen first

[tupacs2legs]

hi... i too have used acana (and orijen)

i also agree about the 'puppy food' marketing,it is just that, marketing

i think any grain free kibble suits,i feed grain free and raw,but the kibble i have found that suits my boy best is fish and potato

if u are feeding kibble i dont think u can go far wrong with any of the 'premium grain free brands'... id just use the adult tho

[michaelundinaeichhorn]

We had no problems at all with Orijen,
Wolfsblut food shows how important it is to have a very close look at the analysis and not to believe the manufacturer: If they follow German declaration law the list of ingediences has to follow the content in food. The part with the highest content has to come first, the one with the second highest second, etc. The third highest content in the lamb version is rice, there is one on the site with sweet potatoes at first place, very unusual feeding for wolves

Orijen now contains 80 % of animal sources and 20% vegetables and fruits.
If you take puppy or adult is not so important, but with adult you might get problems with Ca : P Balance with some brands. And high fat can be fatal with fast growing dogs. So with large puppy you are on the save side.

[yukidomari]

Just as a note though, some puppy foods and some adult foods do not have the appropriate levels of calcium and phosphorus for a puppy (even when it's labeled as puppy food). Adults and puppies eat the same food, but manufacturers don't pay as much attention to C/P levels in adult food since adult bones are no longer absorbing the levels of calcium as puppies do to grow.

In Orijen line up, the new Red Meats formulation is not appropriate for puppies, for example, in terms of C/P level, but all the other ones are. Taste of the Wild and Wellness Core, two other grain free foods also have inappropriate levels of C/P for a puppy, even though the food is labeled as All Life Stages. I'll post links to studies and papers later if you're interested after I'm at a PC.

[raven]

Please yukidomari post links to study beacuse I was thinking in buying Taste of the Wild for my puppy...so I will look for other option. Thanks in advance

[Baz]

I've used Orijen puppy large since my puppy was 7 weeks old, she's now nearly 8 months old & really healthy, I'm very happy with it (apart from the cost, here in Europe it costs cca 70 euro for 13.5kg, but I imagine it's much cheaper in Canada).

[simo]

i 've used Acana and Orijen last year, but in spring so the results did not like me...most protein probably and near Rome is very hot! Now i found a new product http://www.farmina.com/?q=en/content/line/nd-canine-0 but there is a lot of beta carotene and red-fruit, so I care about the color of the eyes..what do you think about?
Thank

[Liidia]

My dog eats NOW! grain free food.Look www.petcurean.com

[yukidomari]

One study with well documented citations and sources is:

Relationship of Nutrition to Developmental Skeletal Disease in Young Dogs by Daniel C. Richardson & Phillip W. Toll

Part of which can be read here:
http://www.joint-health-for-dogs.com...tion-dogs.html

It is a cumulative study with areas specifically dealing with calcium and large puppies; it cites proper calcium intake as about 4-4.5 grams per 1000 calories worth of food; in general it means that in a large breed puppy food, 1.5% maximum calcium on the bag is optimal for puppies especially for large breed. Many food list calcium in terms of minimums - a minimum listed content of calcium of 2% could mean the food contains much more than that.

The reason that the calcium levels are more important for puppies is that according to this research and others (i will find them later)... "puppies apparently were unable to protect themselves against the negative effects of chronic calcium excess.3 Further, chronic high calcium intake increased the frequency and severity of osteochondrosis".

Of the grain-free foods popularly found in the US, these are the listed values:

Orijen 6Fish: 1.4%-1.6%
Orijen Large Puppy: 1.5%-1.7%
Orijen Adult: 1.4%-1.6%
Acana Provincial Grasslands: Minimum 2% (no max given)
Acana Provincial Pacifica: Minimum 1.4% (no max)
Taste of the Wild - Pacific Stream: 1.9%
Taste of the Wild - High Prairie: 2.1%
EVO Chicken and Turkey: 2.55%

[Priska182]

Big thanks to all of you!

Well I learned that a too high level of protein is not suitable for a Large breed puppy... But I can't find the right %...

The protein % is quite high in Orijen Large breed puppy (40%),
and only 33% in Acana Large breed puppy.

Indeed Baz, Acana price here is around 71CAD (51E) Taxes included, and about 83CAD (60E) for Orijen.




"Some veterinary research suggests that feeding high protein dry foods to puppies may contribute to the development or exacerbation of musculoskeletal disorders (as excess calcium and overall calories are believed to).
Equally there is veterinary research that suggests that high protein is not a factor (and we note that it does not appear to be a problem for puppies fed high protein natural raw diets)."

[GalomyOak]

I use this food, for all of my dogs, puppies and adults:
http://www.diamondpet.com/products/d..._rice_formula/

I have used in the past:
Orijen (nice food, but also had the soft poop issue with a couple of dogs - many of the fish based foods were like this)
Innova Puppy (I liked this with Bongo and my A litter and would use it again)
Barking at the Moon Grain Free (fish/soft poop issue)
Taste of the Wild/High Prairie (I liked this one, but the price kept on going up...and up...and up - it would have been cheaper to feed totally raw , but this is difficult to get all of the ingredients where I live)

I have been on Diamond for about 8 months now. I tried the Chicken/Performance (higher protein) version before the lamb, but like the lamb/puppy stuff better. I pay US$33 for 18 Kg (40 lbs)

[nobrezabranca]

Hi,I use since sometime acana pacific mixed with raw meat.before I used proplan salmon.acana has no fish based food for puppies.I use it for both 10 months puppies and adults with exc results.orijen is better,but also 20Euro more expensive!since I give them also raw meat because I get it very cheap from a butcher that I know,in general it is cheaper for me to do so than to buy orijen.if I wouldn't buy any extra meat I would use orijen.with acana pacific the poo of my dogs is ok,but I also give them those big cow bones to eat/chew and this makes also the poo harder.
so orijen better,then acana...
I use the fish based food because due to its ingredients(fish oil,omegas,etc) it makes the coat look better...but this is only a detail...and they like it very much...again the raw meat for sure makes it also more delightful for them!

[Priska182]

Thanks Marcy and Nobrezabranca

Well, I think I will try Acana + Raw... I hope it will be nice for him

Thanks again to all of you