# Acana vs. TOTW



## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

So, I think I'm going to stick with a grain free kibble for Murph & Abbie. Murph as I've been posting, has tummy & allergy troubles, and it seems that grain free is often a good way to go for these issues (correct me if I'm wrong).

I've narrowed it down to Acana or TOTW. 

TOTW is very affordable. We've fed it to our two other dogs *Abbie and Coop* in the past and they both loved it and did great. 

I was researching other foods and looking at the list you guys have made of the five best foods, and it seems that Acana is mentioned A LOT. I've been reading about it, and it seems like a really great food. Granted, it is more expensive, but I do believe it's still in our price range, esp since Murph is just 20lbs and doesn't eat a whole lot. I also like their lamb & apple formula which they describe as a true allergy formula. 

So, now I'm trying to decide between the two. I know TOTW has worked for many dogs (including mine) but it seems like Acana is a step up. Is it really a big difference in quality? I also love that it's made by Champion, as I hear nothing but amazing things about Orijen.

Thoughts?


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## john47 (Apr 5, 2010)

i've been feeding acana for about a year now and have had awesome results. in the past 6 months i've been rotating between the following acana brands : wild prairie, grasslands, lamb and apple, and large breed. every once in a while i'll throw in a bag of pacifica. orijen is a really good food too but the protien levels are high.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

john47 said:


> i've been feeding acana for about a year now and have had awesome results. in the past 6 months i've been rotating between the following acana brands : wild prairie, grasslands, lamb and apple, and large breed. every once in a while i'll throw in a bag of pacifica. orijen is a really good food too but the protien levels are high.


not to mention the price tag LOL 

I'd love to feed it, but I simply can't afford it. Acana is stretching it, but I think it's do-able. TOTW is very budget friendly but I wonder how much of a difference in quality there is between the two.


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## dieterherzog (Sep 28, 2009)

Just from experience with my 12lb dachshund that has a very sensitive stomach, Acana worked best for him. No anal gland issues, no scritchy-scratchy skin, less throw-uppy issues etc. We rotated with all the flavors and everything worked for him. 

TOTW - we had a mid-size bag of the high prairie - gave him gas and anal gland problems. Then we tried the Pacific Stream and that worked out ok but I think he didn't like the fish flavors as much, took him a long time to finish his food. 

So my dollar is on Acana, and I think I might like that better than Orijen even!


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

I would choose Acana over TOTW just because it's a smaller company that uses only regional ingredients and never preserves or freezes the fish or meat before processing.

However, the Acana formulas I like are the 3 grain free ones. the other ones seems a bit lacking in meat content.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, Acana is out it appears  I can get it here in CT, but am only here for a few more weeks and then I'm moving to PA for a few months. The only stores around there that have it are 45 or more minutes away. And ordering it online will make it too costly with shipping  

What about NV's Instinct line vs. TOTW?


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Acana. I also fed NV Instinct without any problems. I don't know... I honestly like all 3. Instinct was a lot more expensive around here. I think I would pay a little over $17 for a 4.4lb of NV turkey&duck formula. I get 5.5lbs of Acana Grasslands for $14.99. I hear 50/50 about TOTW -- I think it's a good food but I often hear about stomach and poop issues on it (of course, lots of dogs do fine as well).


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## LaurenE (Mar 16, 2010)

What are they eating now? Since Acana is out of the picture I, personally, would go ahead and at least try TOTW for awhile. In my area at least, NV's Instinct is quite a bit more expensive than TOTW and I don't know that it is *that* much higher quality. Of course, it really all depends on how Murphy does on it (you mentioned Abbie was on it before and did well i think?), especially regarding his stomach issues. If he doesn't seem to react well to TOTW then I would look into other grain-free brands. 

On a related note, I finally got my TOTW samples a few days ago. They were delivered to the office of my apt. complex and I kept forgetting to go get them since I already had bought a full-size bag. In my email requesting samples I told them about the dogs I had at that time (3) and also mentioned the fact that I have 3 cats. They certainly aren't stingy with samples! They sent three 6 oz. pouches of all the dog formulas AND three 6 oz. pouches of 3 different cat foods. There were 18 bags in there lol! I had never even thought to check if TOTW had a feline formula but they obviously do and my cats LOVE it so I'm gonna go ahead and switch them over for the dry part of their diet at least.


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## john47 (Apr 5, 2010)

meggels said:


> not to mention the price tag LOL
> 
> I'd love to feed it, but I simply can't afford it. Acana is stretching it, but I think it's do-able. TOTW is very budget friendly but I wonder how much of a difference in quality there is between the two.


where i live both brands are comparable in price, totw is about $70 for a 30lbs bag, acana wild prairie is 62.99 for 30 lbs, grasslands is about $70, lamb and apple is 64.99 for 30lbs, largebreed is 57.99 for 30lbs, and pacifica is is 64.99 for a 30lbs bag. plus 13% tax. it's expensive but my dogs are very healthy and they thrive on acana foods. i could feed cheap but , garbage in, garbage out. both acana and totw are very good foods but (imo) i think acana may be a little better.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

I've decided to go with acana! Even if I have to drive the 45 minutes, I will buy a few bags which will last me awhile....or I can suck it up and order it online haha. I can also order it through the store I bought it from in person today, they do online orders. 

I'm starting them on the grasslands flavor tomorrow morning!


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## BRule (Apr 22, 2010)

Great choice!


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## Angel's_mom (May 26, 2010)

We're doing TOTW right now, and I went today to check the price on Acana. I paid $10 for a 5 lb bag of TOTW and a 5 lb bag of Acana grain free is $15. That's only $1 cheaper than Orijen. I don't remember how much the 15 lb bags were. So I hope she does well on TOTW, lol! I did like the store and the lady who runs/owns it, and she gave me samples to bring home. It's a small store and has a lot of "pampered pet" type items, a little pricey for me but I'm sure I'll be back anyway, the atmosphere was great.  I'm actually thinking about sucking it up and buying Acana just to give them my business. It's not like my dog eats a lot. She carries Acana, Orijen, California Natural, and Innova, along with a lot of different brands of treats, pet bedding stuff, carseats, toys, you name it. Cute, cute store. 

Anyway, off topic! LOL! I think either one would be a good choice.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Angel's_mom said:


> We're doing TOTW right now, and I went today to check the price on Acana. I paid $10 for a 5 lb bag of TOTW and a 5 lb bag of Acana grain free is $15. That's only $1 cheaper than Orijen. I don't remember how much the 15 lb bags were. So I hope she does well on TOTW, lol! I did like the store and the lady who runs/owns it, and she gave me samples to bring home. It's a small store and has a lot of "pampered pet" type items, a little pricey for me but I'm sure I'll be back anyway, the atmosphere was great.  I'm actually thinking about sucking it up and buying Acana just to give them my business. It's not like my dog eats a lot. She carries Acana, Orijen, California Natural, and Innova, along with a lot of different brands of treats, pet bedding stuff, carseats, toys, you name it. Cute, cute store.
> 
> Anyway, off topic! LOL! I think either one would be a good choice.


Acana and Orijen is about the same price where I live too. I used to feed Orijen, now I'm feeding Acana.


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## BRule (Apr 22, 2010)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> Acana and Orijen is about the same price where I live too. I used to feed Orijen, now I'm feeding Acana.


Why did you switch?


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

BRule said:


> Why did you switch?


There's a couple of reasons.

The first one being I rotate chicken, fish, red meat and the Orijen red meat formula contains pork. Nia seems to be allergic to pork because teh last 3 times she ate pork she had explosive diarrhea for about a week each and stopped eating completely. I don't want to take the chance and try the Regional Red formula. 

2ndly, Nia occasionally had a problem of licking her butt for a really long time and then grunting and making weird movements like it's really itchy or something, I thought it might be related to the high protein content of Orijen so I thought I'd try something else. It turns out it's not really related to the high protein. It could be related to calcium content because she had the most of that problem with EVO red meat which is more than 2% Calcium.

3rdly, Acana's protein level is 34%ish which makes me feel a bit safer than the 40+% of Orijen because I honestly don't know if she drinks enough water and I certainly don't want her to have kidney damage or anything like that even if all the info related to high protein and kidney failure is rumor or unbacked up data. Better safe than sorry. 

In terms of energy, coat, she does equally well on both brands and I may or may not switch back to Orijen in the future. The Orijen formulas have more meat than Acana which is a good thing. I only feed the 3 grainless formulas of Acana.


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## jboboxer (Jul 9, 2009)

Acana cost about 75 dollars here, while TOTW costs 42 dollars for the 30 pound bag. 

Dog food analysis website has Acana as a 4 and 5 star depending on which one you buy. TOTW is 6 starts for 2 of them and 5 star for one of them.

I've used both and I personally wouldn't use Acana again. My girl didn't like the taste, it was so much more expensive and I can't see any indication of being better than other dog food like wellness or TOTW.

TOTW uses purified water now as well, which I'm not sure if others do, but they are advertising it.

My vote goes to TOTW


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

jboboxer said:


> Acana cost about 75 dollars here, while TOTW costs 42 dollars for the 30 pound bag.
> 
> Dog food analysis website has Acana as a 4 and 5 star depending on which one you buy. TOTW is 6 starts for 2 of them and 5 star for one of them.
> 
> ...


interesting though, thank you.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

LaurenE said:


> They sent three 6 oz. pouches of all the dog formulas* AND three 6 oz. pouches of 3 different cat foods. *


What other cat food formulas did they send? I thought they only had the Venison and Salmon for cats. It's the only one I've seen anyway.


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## jiml (Jun 19, 2008)

3rdly, Acana's protein level is 34%ish which makes me feel a bit safer than the 40+% of Orijen because I honestly don't know if she drinks enough water and I certainly don't want her to have kidney damage or anything like that even if all the info related to high protein and kidney failure is rumor or unbacked up data. Better safe than sorry. 
>>>

A healthy dog should have no problems with high prot diets. However the higher the protein the higher sodium and phosphate which are not great in theory if you do have an elderly dog w kidney probs. If that is the case many or most of the "premium" dog foods MAY not be optimal. I say "may" because there is some research that i believe contradicts conventional wisdom


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