# Orijen 6 Fish for small breed puppy? Or other high protein food for small breed?



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

My Papillon Nia(nye-ah) just turned 8 months old. I've been feeding her Innova Puppy since 5 months old and she's doing pretty good on it. The only problem is that she doesn't like the taste of the food and won't eat until she's starving. She used to be on Royal Canin before she came to me and she hated the taste of that too.

Recently I've discovered Orijen foods and they sound excellent to me! Since she still has 1/3 of a bag of Innova puppy, I just bought the adult Orijen for her. Is it alright to put a puppy on Orijen 6 Fish at 8 months old? I'll be mixing it with her puppy food for about a month. She loves the taste by the way!

The only thing I'm concerned about is that it has 44% protein! Would it damage her in any way? I've heard someone casually say that Papillons(or other small dogs) have high urea nitrogen levels or something on high protein. Is that true?

She's very active by the way. She gets 2 hours of dog chasing at top speed at day plus a 30 min walk.

Does anyone feed Orijen to their small breed dog? What breed? Are they doing well?


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## AkiraleShiba (Dec 9, 2007)

Now you also have grain-free Acana made by the same manufacturer that has a bit less proteins.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Thanks, I've considered Acana as well but the ingredients don't seem as good. The main reason I didn't decide on it is because it isn't carried in our pet food store. Actually I don't know any stores near me that carries it. Orijen however, is in 2 or 3 different stores here.


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## Dogluvr (Feb 14, 2008)

She should be fine on the Orijen fish at 8mo. Mixing it with the Innova puppy for a month will be a very easy transition. The high protein is not a concern unless she's been diagnosed with liver, kidney or pancreas diseas. Otherwise, it's not going to damage her. 

I love Orijen...I think it's about as good as it gets for kibble.  I currently feed my Yorkie EVO, which is also high protein, but when we're finished with this bag, I'm going to switch to Orijen.


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## paux (Jul 26, 2009)

It is better that your dog has a high protein diet. Despite what many people may tell you, dogs are naturally carnivores, not omnivores. Though dogs can digest a range of fruits and vegetables, their gut is not designed for these types of foodstuffs. Kibble requires a certain amount of carbohydrate based products to help the kibbles stick together. However, dogs have not developed a need for fruits, vegetables, or grains in their diets and thus whatever CAN be digested is readily converted to fat. As far as kibble goes, Orijen is a good brand, though *Innova EVO* for small dogs has a bit more protein and actually tends to be slightly less expensive than Orijen. To be honest though, I would recommend investigating a raw feed diet


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Well I'm located in Canada so Orijen is local and cheaper for me. But I am planning to use EVO as a rotation food if she does well on Orijen.

They both have the same protein levels according to the bags - 40%. Regular Orijen and regular EVO.
We have the old 6 Fresh Fish old formula though which is actually 44% protein!

I've noticed Nia drinks a bit more water on Orijen(only half Orijen half regular Innova). I wonder if she will need to pee more?

I'm not ready to do raw because I'm a student and don't have the time to look for cheap meat and meat sources that I don't normally eat. Plus we rarely eat meat at home and so I don't even know any places to buy meat other than the supermarket.
With just 1 small dog I won't consider switching to raw. If I ever get another dog, especially a bigger breed I definitely would consider switching.


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## paux (Jul 26, 2009)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> I'm not ready to do raw because I'm a student and don't have the time to look for cheap meat and meat sources that I don't normally eat. Plus we rarely eat meat at home and so I don't even know any places to buy meat other than the supermarket.
> With just 1 small dog I won't consider switching to raw. If I ever get another dog, especially a bigger breed I definitely would consider switching.


Ah, I'm a pre-veterinary student, I'm a vegetarian, and my dog only weighs 11 lb  It's a lot easier than you think. But anyway, as far as kibble goes, Orijen and Innova EVO are both very good brands. When I used to feed kibble, I mixed 4 different types of premium dog food and would rotated different brands into and out of the mixture over time. My logic was, a bowl of mixed nuts is more interesting for me to eat than a bowl purely of peanuts. But besides making food interesting, it is good to balance the different nutrients from the different types of foods, which is also why rotation (as you had mentioned) is a very good practice. Though you probably know all about that.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

What other brands did you feed? I just made a new post about rotation and brands.

By the way, is your dog an Alaskan Klee Kai! What a cutie!

How do you determine how much food your dog needs if you mixed amounts? I'm currently mixing Innova and Orijen just to transition to pure Orijen. She seems to like to pick out the Orijen kibble from the regular Innova. By the way my dog is a horribly picky eater so I have to be careful what to feed her or else she could go off food for a few days hoping for something better.


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## paux (Jul 26, 2009)

Yeah, my girl is an Alaskan Klee Kai ^-^ She is such a great little girl.

My dog is also picky, perhaps not as bad as yours is. When I was on kibble she was free-fed, so the food was always available for her. I would usually have 4 types mixed in her bowl, 1/4 cup of each. She would pick out her favorites first and then eat her least favorite kibble last. I would refill her bowl when all the kibble was gone. I fed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Wellness CORE, Innova EVO, and Orijen. My dog really liked the Blue Buffalo Wilderness. And because my girl doesn't eat too much, I would give her some warm wet food before bed just to help force a little more food down.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Nia is my Papillon and she's currently being free-fed as well. I find that it works better for her than forcing her to eat her 2 meals a day or whatever. 

I'm not sure if our shop carries Blue Buffalo Wilderness but I just looked it up and it looks like an excellent food! If we do have it, I will add it to her rotation. Then I would probably use Orijen fish, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, and EVO red meat.

I may switch to raw some day, but for now I will stick to high quality kibble for my little one! Thanks for the suggestions!


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## paux (Jul 26, 2009)

Sure  Best of luck!


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