# Blue buffalo vs. Orijen



## Mother Gaia (Mar 2, 2010)

Ok to make things simple i am trying to decide on witch food to have my pomeranian puppy on, she is on Blue right now but i just found out about Orijen. i would like to know what you all think about it, to me it seems Orijen might be better. so guys what do you all think? witch one do you think is better?


----------



## kcathey (Mar 2, 2010)

I would choose Orijen, just based on my own personal experience with Solo.

I typically feed my schnauzer Solo a variety of cooked and raw, balancing by 2-week periods using the nutritional recommendations published by the National Research Council. I don't do raw bones, and meats are very lightly cooked and mostly raw on the inside.

I do use a kibble meal every few days just to keep it in the rotation in case he needs to stay somewhere that does not particularly care to feed fresh. I researched many foods, tried several, and narrowed our favorites down to Orijen, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, and Honest Kitchen (Force). Blue Buffalo seemed to cause a bit of an intestinal disturbance with Solo, but all dogs are different in that regard. Orijen has become our kibble of choice. Most of the Orijen lines are rather high in fat, as are many of the "grain-free" kibbles. Since schnauzers tend toward pancreatitis, I chose the Orijen Senior because it's lower in fat. 

Just based on my own 25-lb dog's requirements, Orijen seems to be rather high in iron and not well-balanced with zinc. Typically I'd like to see the iron to zinc ratio at nearer 0.5 (iron s/b half of zinc levels). If I'm calculating correctly, Orijen runs at about 3 times the iron requirement for my own dog's level, and only about 59% of zinc requirements. If I were feeding Orijen full-time, this would be easily balanced by feeding a few canned boiled oysters occasionally, as they are outstanding sources of zinc (and Solo loves them - I divvy up a can into a ice cube tray. One thawed "oyster cube", about 10 grams, gives him about 9 mg of zinc, or 75% of his daily requirement.)

Enough of all that, though - you can tell that I like to talk dog nutrition.  Just based on my own experience with my current dog, if I were choosing between Blue Buffalo or Orijen, I would choose Orijen.


----------



## Donna5503 (Mar 13, 2009)

Hi...my dog absolutely loves Blue Buffalo Wilderness and is doing great on it....it is a great kibble.


----------



## maquignon (Oct 21, 2009)

I use Blue Buffalo and the only food I consider better is Orijen. I use Blue Buffalo because I think it is almost as good as Orijen and it is much easier to find and much less expensive.


----------



## Mother Gaia (Mar 2, 2010)

maquignon said:


> I use Blue Buffalo and the only food I consider better is Orijen. I use Blue Buffalo because I think it is almost as good as Orijen and it is much easier to find and much less expensive.


I think i agree with you there.


----------

