My sister is adding an aussie pup in a couple of weeks. After her research she will be feeding Acana Pacifica.

She feeds raw at night and kibble in the morning, I believe.

Thanks Bonnie. I think we have those available here. Very hard to think I might be feeding a dog that can actually eat more than 1 or 2 proteins (knock wood). I don't know what that's like

(...But I miss it.)

Ah - an easy, healthy dog! I hope that is what you get, Lisa.

Both Pacifica and 6 Fish have fish as the only protein. It used to be grain free was not used for puppies, but this is changing.

My sister has two dogs that can't eat chicken and it makes since to sue something they can all eat.

Acana Pacifica is about $20 less per bag (here.) Makes it a good choice.

I also like this, stated upfront:

Q: 100 % CHINA-FREE – Do ACANA and ORIJEN dog and cat food formulas contain any ingredients from China?

A |


There are no ingredients from China used in the preparation of our dog and cat food formulas, including vitamins — we are 100% China-free.

Our production focus is on FRESH INGREDIENTS supplied regionally and all of our products are made exclusively within our own award-winning factory here in Alberta, Canada. And rest assured, our products are biologically appropriate, the way Mother Nature intended.

For more detailed information on the ingredients contained in our product lines, click on the Ingredients & Preservatives link.

I wonder where they are getting the vitamins from that are "China-Free" I'd like some for myself!!!

Lisa,

What "medium sized" breed might this new pup be??

LOL, as soon as I know, I will be sure to update here! I'm still wandering aimlessly a bit on this one

Barb -

You can email them and I am sure they will answer. They were the most forthcoming of any company I researched.

A friend who is working diligently on the chicken jerky treats issues also spent many hours on dog food sites. That led her to want to change her dog's food as well and she also chose Orijen in the end.

They are the only one that answered every question. Most just said it was "propriety" information.

Bonnie and barb, I didn't see your posts before - very curious about the non-china vitamins. Maybe we'll trip over that info somewhere.

Lisa;

This is the response from Orijen on the vitamins:

Thank you for your email.



All of our minerals are produced and sourced exclusively in Canada. Our vitamins come primarily from North America; if they are not available from North America we source from European producers. Vitamins sourced outside of North America come from Switzerland, Germany, and France and are produced in these countries exclusively. We do not source or use vitamins or minerals produced in any other countries.

Wow, thanks Bonnie! This is great info to have, very much appreciate you emailing them

I've been switching foods again. Tried TOTW lamb because I saw a bag on clearance cheap. That was a bad idea and did not last long since she became very itchy. So now Riva is on Canidae Pure Sky which is the grain-free duck and turkey meal formula. She has been doing great! We're almost finished with a 30 lb bag and no more itchies. I think we have found a winner!

I had tried Rainer on the Acana Pacifica but his stools were loose and he did not do well on it all. Maybe it was too high protein for him? He's been eating Fromm (surf n turf and beef frittata flavors) and has been doing extremely well. I believe it's around 29-30% protein, 0.9-1.0% Ca depending on the flavor and low ash and phosphorous

I had planned on TOTW puppy formula or Earthborn Holistic puppy formula for the first few months and then transition to adult food.

Both of those are grain free and readily available for me locally.

Could the Wrecking Crew be 3 again soon?

That's exciting - another new forum puppy.

I tried one of the Earthborn Holistic formulas for Aodhán and Caleb. Generally they did well on it. The only thing I found was that based on the claimed calories/cup for the food, I adjusted their meals accrdingly and found that they lost weight when I did that. It ended up that I needed to feed more to keep them where they were compared to what I fed when they were on Nature's Variety.

It's not a reason to not use the food, but may influence how much you have to feed and how fast you go through a bag.

Johanna I have had Havoc on and off Earthborn Holistic for 2.5 years. I switch him just to switch him about every 6 months. He had such bad poo til he was 2 that when I find food that works I stick with them and rotate. EH, TOTW, and NB grain free foods have been my staples.

So pretty much - my dogs eat what Havoc can tolerate as Kayos does not have issues that way and hopefull a new pup will not either.

Mayhem may be home one of these days.

We have not decided which litter yet but look for an announcement within 6 weeks or so.

Kathy -

Butch & Sundance are both raw fed puppies from the day they came home. Sundance was weaned to raw by his breeder (Lisa).

When we were still feeding dry kibble to the dogs I always just started them right off with adult food and 12 or so years ago I think I was feeding the dogs IAMs.

Havoc went straight to adult food too and I may do that with new pup as well. Have not really decided. I like the nice balanced calcium and phosphorous as well as protein level in TOTW and EH's grain free puppy food tho

How many cups per day do you guys feed out of curiosity? I have been slowly tweaking mine. It went from 2/3 a cup a day to 1 cup a day to 1.5 cups a day to 2.5 cups a day to 2 cups a day and now it's 2.25 cups a day. It's tough to figure out because he's been consistently skinny (which is a good thing) but sometimes I feel like he's not eating enough to get good muscle to support himself.

Kaos has been on 4 cups a day (2 cups per meal) for quite awhile now (she's 6 months now) of California Natural
Calorie Content
4092.0 kcal/kg
511.0 kcal/cup
So she's getting about 2000 calories a day

http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/1191

That's pretty comparable to Ciara. She's fed raw and get about 26 ounces of food per day. She gets between 1800 to 2000 calories per day.