# In a bind since Acana and Orijen are no longer available. Alternatives?



## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Hi all,
Well I knew about the whole champion petfoods issue with their oven, but at the time I had a few bags of Acana Pacifica and Grasslands to get me by for a few months. Well fast foreward to now, and well life got in the way and I completely forgot about the Acana shortage, as my petstore had plenty when I bought the last bags. Now I am down to the bottom of the barrel and my regular petstore is out of both Acana and Orijen with no hopes of getting it til sometime in 2013. 
My dog was doing great on it, stools firm and small and his coat finally has no flakes although that could be the high doses of salmon oil I am giving him. Now I am looking for a quality replacement to the Acana I was feeding him. I am looking for grain free, good quality protein and fat sources, limited amount of binder aka peas potatoes ect. Would like a decent ration of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, but again I am supplementing with salmon oil at super high doses so if a food is short on that, the oil should make it up. 
My dog is a 12 and 3/4 year old shepherd/husky mix. he is 57 pounds but we are working at getting to 54 pounds due to his arthritis. his coat tends to get flaky on certain foods and he does have a somewhat sensitive stomach, but once transistion is over he is usually ok. Unfortunately, this transition is going to be brief due to the old food being almost out. We are prepared for some loose stools.
Foods he has not done well on are Fromms 4 star nutritionals and merricks cowboy cookout. He got super bad diarrhea with Fromms that didn't resolve till stopping it, and a super dry, flaky coat on Merricks. That is when we went grain free and started Acana.
Now, as to price it varies but I was paying about 40 dollars for 15 pounds that would last about 6 weeks. I can't get larger bags as they will go stale before finishing, and unfortunately, most of the other brands I am looking at have either a 12.5 pound bag or a 26 pound bag so I will be getting the 12.5 pound bag. I did end up getting wellness core turkey and chicken as they didn't have the fish one in the size I wanted, they will have it next time though. I figured the Core had a similar nutrient profile as the acana I was feeding, though the ingredients are a tiny bit of a drop from acana and orijen. I question the tomato pomace as I see it as a filler, but it isn't the worst thing in the world so I thought we'd give it a try. The other food the manager was really trying to push was thier Nutrisource brand, which was cheaper than Acana and wellness, but I didn't really like the ingredients as much as it had peas, pea flour, pea starch, tapioca flour and tomato pomace fairly high up. Plus it had Brewer's dried yeast in it which really turned me off it. I am willing to give it at least a try if you guys think it is ok, but it didn't really scream high quality to me. It was more an affordable alternative to go grain free, but not want to feed Nutro kinda food. I felt that I would be going a step down with it, which isn't what I want to do. Other foods I am considering if Wellness is a no go, are Nature's variety Instinct, Blue wilderness, TOTW, Canidae's new grain free line or maybe go back to Natura as I fed innova for a very long time before Proctor and Gamble bought it out. Merricks has revamped their line too so I am willing to consider it as well.
Anyways, I am basically looking for a comparable alternative to the Acana regionals line. It has to be grain free, fairly reasonably priced, not be a step down in terms of quality from acana as well. I would prefer a smaller company that has low to no recalls which makes me hesitate on TOTW. Also what are your guys views on Nutrisource foods. It was a very tempting price, but I felt there were too many questionably inferior ingredients to be a direct alternative to acana. 

Thanks guys,

Becky


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

Have you considered PMR at all?


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

Well it seems like you're already considering the more common foods.



Midnight351 said:


> The other food the manager was really trying to push was thier Nutrisource brand, which was cheaper than Acana and wellness, but I didn't really like the ingredients as much as it had peas, pea flour, pea starch, tapioca flour and tomato pomace fairly high up.


Regarding these individual ingredients, ok peas and pea flour have notable protein content. So does the lentils and field beans in Acana regionals. Actually pea protein as a whole would be "higher quality" than many other plant proteins. (relatively more digestible and a good amino acid profile).

A fiber(filler) source is in pretty much every food, whether that's tomato pomace, beat pulp, or pea fiber matters little.

A starch that has negligible protein content is as good a carb source as anything. Even though it may say "tapioca flour" tapioca is a starch.

Still, not saying this Nutrisource is a good food. I don't know it or the ingredient list or the guaranteed analysis so I can't make any judgements.


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## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Hi there,
Tried to dabble in raw at one point, but with living in an apartment and having a tiny freezer, feeding a 57 pound dog and 2 cats got too expensive so raw at this point isn't an option unfortunately, plus when i go out of town my mother has already stated quite emphatically that she wouldn't be feeding raw lol. Anyways, as to the Nutrisource, the ingredients for the formula the clerk recommended are as follows:

Bison, chicken, chicken meal, peas, pea flour, pea starch, menhaden fishmeal, sunflower meal, alfalfa meal, flax seeds, sunflower oil, natural turkey and chicken flavor, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), tomato pomace, tapioca flour, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, dried brewers yeast, pea protein, salt, minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, cobalt proteinate, selenium yeast), choline chloride, taurine, vitamins (vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), glucosamine hydrochloride, ascorbic acid (source of vitamin C), chondroitin sulfate, yucca schidigera extract, calcium iodate, rosemary extract, yeast culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation product, dried Bacillus subtillis fermentation product.

The GA is 
Protein 25%
Fat 15%
Omega 6 4%
Omega 3 1%
Fiber 7%

It also has glucosmaine and chondroitin added, but my dog is on dasuquin for his supplement but it is a bonus. Not too worried about the pea fiber tapioca ect as long as they aren't too high up on the list. Actually I liked the fact that it had no potatoes in it as potatoes are known to aggravate arthritis. My main concern with the food was the brewer's dried yeast and the lower protein and fat compared to Acana. Though I do believe the Omega ratios were similar. I'll have to check on that. As to the lentils and field beans I wasn't thrilled when they switched the formulas to add these higher up. Old Acana had no field beans or lentils and their was more meat at higher up. My dog liked it better as well, but like all companies they have to change things up once in a while. If the Nutrisource is decent enough, I might try a bag or two, it would definitely be nicer on the pocketbook


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

Ok well it looks.....decent, but not great. It's definitely a downgrade from Acana. I think I found the the formula online with kcal value listed as 3810kcal/kg. Lower protein, lower fat, but higher kcal than Acana would mean a lot higher percentage carbs. The food also obviously has lower meat content.

You could give it a try if you want but I don't think I would unless cost was a major factor. Wellness Core, Blue Wilderness, Instinct are all better choices.


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## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Yeah my first instinct taking a quick look at the ingredients was that it was a downgrade from acana. I'm not really wanting to do that and price doesn't matter as long as the food isn't rediculously expensive. I think we'll stick with wellness for now, I was looking up various varieties of Evo. I have always been leery of the super high protein and calories but I kinda like the looks of their fish based diet. Very similar to orijen and acana. Just can't remember if the store carried it and the price.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

Does your pet store have the nutrisource pure vita line? The grain free pure vita is pretty good.


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## Hitchington (Jun 11, 2012)

I don't know if there are other stores near you that sell Orijen and Acana,but I would advise calling around if your dog does so well off it. I know that my normal store is out of Orijen and Acana, but I have found a couple of stores in the area that still has a great deal of it left. I am so glad I found them. I personally love that brand so much that I would go way out of my way to get some.


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

This thread made me nervous because my dog eats Acana Pacifica and we were almost out, so I went to buy more this morning. I would definitely recommend calling around - my local shop had plenty of Pacifica and Grasslands. The lady said the shortage is really only affecting the Ranchland and Wild Prairie formulas.


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## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Well I called around today and did find a store nearby that is still carrying Orijen and Acana. However they only have the 5 lb and 30 lb bags. I normally get the 15 lb bag which lasts me about 6 weeks. This is the recommended time frame to use up a bag according to their website without the food going stale. 30 pounds would last twice as long or 12 weeks. Is this still ok? I have a vittle vault which is an airtight container that I dump the food in so it isn't hanging around in an opened bag. The container is also in a cool area in my patio and since it is getting cold now there is no danger of the food spoiling by heat. I think we will still try the Wellness Core for now to see how he does so that we can have another brand in our rotation, but it is good to know that Acana isn't completely gone either. So far Midnight loves the flavor of the Core, but the true test is how will his stools be and how will his coat be after being on it. If it doesn't work out, I can always return the food for a refund, so I am keeping it in the bag for now.


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

There are lots of online places with good prices and cheap, if any, shipping. Might be worth looking at. Try wag.com, doggiefood.com, petflow.com, petfooddirect.com are all good


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## Hitchington (Jun 11, 2012)

Yeah, 12 weeks might be too long. We have a vittles vault also, and keep our food for about 8 weeks, and I think Hitch can tell near the end. I used to feed core. The only reason why I stopped feeding core is because Hitch really wouldn't eat it.


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## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Well I went on a search at all the online retailers mentioned and then some. Everyone of them either don't carry the 15 pound size or it is out of stock. I looked at Acana/Orijens website and it is that size that the reduced production on temporarily.Petfooddirect did have one bag of Grasslands in the 15 pound size, but with shipping it was as expensive as the 28 pound size I can get locally. Looks like I will either wait out the shortage as it looks like they are upping production, but are still behind. Another idea is to split a bag with my parents for their dog, but she has a sensitive tummy and does best on Chicken Soup dog food. Decisions, decisions. Anyways, I'll stick with the Core for now, he likes the taste and so far has had no loose stools.


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

You could freeze half the bag if you have the space.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

I see your problem but I'm not 100% sure it is a huge problem.

Buy the larger bag(s) and feed your dog what they are used to and like; it will get you through the "problem" until Champion can get back on line. If the food is getting too old throw it out! We spend $100's on our pets every year and the $20 - $30 that you'll waste may be made up on the food that you try and your dog doesn't like. Also, changing food may play havoc with your dog's digestive system ... not worth the price IMO.

My pup came from a shelter that fed Taste of Wild and the person there said the puppies don't like the food so I made sure I didn't buy it. I bought Wellness and figured a starving puppy would just gobble it up - she didn't touch it and I gave it 2 days before going to another food which just happens to be Orijen as well. I wasted $16 on the food, I wasted much more than that on my last dog over the years as she stopped eating whatever food she was on and I had most of the bag left.


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

I was going to recommend looking online as well. But, as for food, I think that Annamaet is a high-quality food that's worth looking into. I feed my dog one of their grain-inclusive formulas but they have grain-free as well. They're a small company and the food is probably in the same price range, but it can be hard to find. I buy it online sometimes but recently found a local shop that has it too. I considered Acana as well before we switched to Annamaet, but it has worked well for my dog.


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