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Orijen

I was in Pet Supplies Plus the other day, and I had a bag of Science Diet in my hand. A guy who works there asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for something to switch my dog to instead of the Nutri Source the store sent home with me. He said "I wouldn't get that (meaning the Science Diet) and recommended Orijen, which had no wheat, corn or other grains that he said aren't good for dogs anyway.
Has anybody out here in MedHelp land ever used it and what are your thoughts??
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Avatar universal
SD stinks. I feed my dog all raw foods; meat, bones and the like. Many do and I believe that raw is better than any commerical. Having said that, if you ARE going to feed commerical Orijen has good ingredients, and if anyone's dog has gotten sick, perhaps it is simply because they are so used to overprocessed foods that their guts are simply not used to dealing with anything remotely whole or real; esp cooked bones.

Any cooking alters the properties of foods that dogs were intended to digest. If your dog is not used to any portion of whole bones and then gets pieces of cooked, which destroys a good deal of useable mineral content, perhaps such a dog is simply going through what most dogs go through when eating something they are not used to.

Many people are very happy with Orijen. I would say it was a good choice.
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
Well, I'll be checking this out!  Are you sure it's not egg shells? They are very sharp, small & brittle...I don't know if Orijen uses egg shells for their Calcium (Alot of companies do), but I will do a search for this.....
The bone that looked like a piece of rice in your dogs stool, did you feel of it by any chance? I'm curious if it was hard like bone or soft & squishy? I do hope you get to the bottom of your dog's illness & he gets better.......Keep us updated on his progress.......Karla
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
It would make sense for the company to cook the salmon until it is like canned salmon (where the bones crumble up easily, as salmon bones are extremely nutritious) -and then just put the cooked fish through a fine processor before manufacturing the kibble! I cannot imagine that being an expensive process!
Half-raw salmon isn't good for dogs anyway. Cooked properly it wouldn't lose much at all of nutritional value. Canned salmon, for instance, which we eat, which has been cooked thoroughly, until the bones are soft is very good for dogs.
But -tell that to the company!
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Avatar universal
Hi All,
I just wanted to warn folks that there is still Orijen dog food with bones out there.  I've been feeding my 1 yr old Basenji Cooper Orijen puppy food for the past year and lately he's had lack of appetite, digestive issues and diarrhea. Testing found no illness or worms of any kind.  I took him to the Vet again today for an X-ray to see if perhaps he ate something non-food that is causing stomach problems and there was nothing to be found, except the vet then said "There's a lot of bone fragments showing up in his stomach, could he have gotten ahold of some bones?"  I never feed my dog anything other than dog food so I just figured it was a fluke, except when I looked closely at his diarrhea that night and saw pebbly pieces and something that looked like a bone about the size of a piece of rice.

To be sure, I dissolved some of my Orijen puppy food in some water and starting checking out the kibble.  Sure enough, there are small bones in many of the pieces.  Yes they are small, fine bone pieces, but some were sharp to the touch and I can only imagine what a bunch of it it feels like in my puppy's throat or stomach.

Lastlly, here's what Oriejn said in a letter back in 2008 regarding customer concerns about bones in the food, " As ORIJEN is made from meats that have undergone minimum processing before arriving at our factory fresh, small fragments of bone are always present in ORIJEN kibble. At less than 2mm in size, these bone fragments are usually smooth, very small and pose absolutely no threat to either pet or person."  This letter was for a time posted on Orijen's website but naturally it is nowehere to be found on their website now.

Well I'm sorry Orijen but I disagree that these fragments are not a threat.  My puppy is now having digestion problems.  The vet, without knowing anything specific about my dog's diet, asked me about bone fragments because he could see the fragments in my dog's stomach X-ray, which showed no other objects or issues.  So thanks Orijen, for making my puppy sick and costing me nearly $300 in vet bills.  I will never buy your products again.  If you have a large dog perhaps it's not such a big deal, but for smaller breeds and especially puppies, I would stay far away from Orijen.  Richard Komurek, Louisiana USA.
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
NEWSFLASH:::::  The BONE incident was in April  "08". (2 years ago).  Yes, there were reports of bone fragments in some of their dry food....It was mainly the Senior Formula....Only a few lots were affected!
The first reports came from Alberta, Canada as the plant is 30 minutes away.....

The company responded quickly and pulled all existing bags.....

Because Orijen uses FRESH SALMON in their recipes, some of the bones had slipped through the mesh filters.....

All was resolved by May "08" (1 month)!  The company refunded any customer for a bad bag and honored all trade-ins at various stores......

P.S. Fish bones are easily digestible.....

That's the scoop!!!!!!!!     This is STILL a wonderful food!!!!!!!!!!




Helpful - 0
212161 tn?1599427282
i went on to read about this food all i found was recalls because of bones in the food, be very carefull if you get this food
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Avatar universal
I read your reply, which is why I went to Pet Supply to get something else, and this guy recommended Orijen
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
Me again....I just went and looked at a few sights..........Orijen is rated 6 star at Dogfoodanalysis.....It doesn't get any better than that......That is the TOP rating!!!!
This means that Orijen is the best of the best!!!!!  You did good!

Please remember:  Your puppy needs PUPPY food till it's a year old....Orijen does make  puppy foods;  (Large breed puppy & regular puppy) .......Karla
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
Hi John.....Did you read my reply on your original post a few days, ago?

You can check out Orijen (And many other brands) at Dogfoodanalysis(Dot)com....
Glad the guy stopped you as SD is just as BAD as NutiSource......

IMO.......Orijen is an EXCELLENT food.................Karla
Helpful - 0
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