# Orijen bad for small breeds



## nainai0585 (Jan 30, 2010)

Due to a new baby on the way and reduced income, I have made the switch from RMB to Orijen adult as I have read about how it is one of the more comparable diets to what I was already feeding (no good deals on RMB, so I was spending almost $80 a month on meat, organs, and bones for two JRT, and that's after going to all the butchers in town, speaking to farmers, and even Walmart).
They've been eating Orijen now for only three days and already one of my dogs has started to throw up (could possibly be due to the heat), whereas my other dog has been doing fine on it thus far. My question though is after reading reviews on Orijen at this website http://www.rateitall.com/i-949636-orijen.aspx a lot of people seem to think that that food is absolutely terrible for small dogs. What is your opinion?


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

I've never ever heard anything like that before... sounds like a bunch of bull to me. Cadence was on Orijen puppy when he was 5 months old and never had a problem with it. Your dog might be eating too quickly, or too much.

ETA: Cadence weighed about 5-6lbs at 5 months old.


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## LittleFr0g (Jun 11, 2007)

Kuma ate Orijen for the 1st year of his life and did very well on it. The only reason he's not still on it is that I decided to switch him over to raw. Some dogs just do better on different foods. Kuma did not do well at all on Innova Evo, but did great on Orijen.


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## john47 (Apr 5, 2010)

3 days is not long enough for a dog to get use to a food. give it more time. if orijen is too rich you can try acana which has grain free foods and is made by the same company. both my dogs did better on acana than orijen.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

My klee kai pup has been on Orijen puppy since I got him. He was nine weeks old and weighed five pounds then and is five and a half months old now and weighs around 11 lbs. He has no digestive issues, has lots of energy, and his coat is gorgeous and shiny. The food may just be too rich for your particular dog, although I agree that three days really isn't enough time to tell. Did you switch over gradually?


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## nainai0585 (Jan 30, 2010)

Oh I knew that 3 days was too soon to tell if the food was going to work well with my guys, but only thought it was good to share. I plan on finishing the bag and seeing how they're doing. My only question though is if the reviewer's statements about the brand being bad for small dogs is worth taking a serious look at, or if they're own negative results where purely the result of their own misuse of the food (eg: switching too soon, feeding too much, etc)


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Jackson has begun eating Orijen Regional Red and did totally fine on it. He also eats Acana Grasslands, made by the same people of Orijen, which is a little less protein, but still a GREAT food.


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## spanielorbust (Jan 3, 2009)

Love, love LOVE Orijen, and it is made close. My Husky and my other larger rescues always did fantastically on it - my small companion spaniel mixes, not-so-much. I find they need something lower in calories as the portions of Orijen I could feed them, without them putting on a ton of weight, are absolutely tiny. One, in particular, had chronic looser stool even after months on Orijen which remedied on a lower protein diet. They are, like many small spaniels, easy keepers . . . . one female more than the others (one third of a cup of low-cal food is all she can get, with two innova cookies, each day, besides some fresh veggies).

SOB


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## kailaq (Nov 12, 2009)

i have a pug/JRT mix and i've had him on orijen since he was 3 months old. before then, he was on iams puppy (from the breeder) and there was a noticeable difference with his energy and most especially his coat. granted, orijen is very rich and has a very high protein content so you do have to exercise them more to keep them fit but i've had no problems at all with orijen. i've tried acana on him too, just to rotate, and he HATED the lamb and apple one. i couldn't get him to eat it, no matter how hard i tried. ended up returning the acana and exchanging it for orijen again.


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