Hi All

I am thinking of changing my westie from wafcol salmon and potato onto orijen food he is suffering from recurring blocked anal glands which we cannot seem to clear, the vet advised wafcol salmon and potato as he had ichy skin but i haven't found great results on feeding this and the glands are still blocking even though his motion is firm, i have looked into orijen and see that it has got good quality ingredients the vet has said it seems worth a try but i am not sure which 1 to try him on as they seem to do a few different 1's.

Has anybody used this and found it to be a good food, some people have said it is hard to order but i have contacted petplanet who said that they have usually got good stock levels in, i know it is an expenisve food compared to the wafcol but i am more concerned about the quality of food than the price.

Many thanks

Hi Hamish75.
Have you thought about Arden Grange ocean fish & potato. They seem to be a very good brand, from CDer's comments. The Wafcol salmon might just be a bit rich for a Westie. I have tried Origen but it went straight through mine with the problems. You've probably read my other posts about her? She's on the tripe diet at the moment with some Chappie but I am thinking about trying her on Arden Grange fish and potato. she also was on the Wafcol S & P which was ok-ish bit not firm.
anndee

Hi,
I tried Orijen a couple of years ago for my sensitve springer and it really did not suit him. The meat variety went straight through him, and the fish variety gave him shocking wind that was unbearable. Plus you only have to feed a small quantity which he wasn't impressed with.
Others will probably give glowing reviews of this food, but from my own experience i wouldn't feed it again to him. My two labs were fine on it though so im not saying its a bad food, just one that didnt suit the needs of my dog.
I have also never found salmon/fish based foods to be any better for my boys digestion, ive tried 'challenge salmon and potato', again this caused shocking wind and loose stools. JWB fish and rice, and Fish and potato had the same effects.
As i have said in a reccent post i have found lamb based foods and raw extras are what suits him best. He was on AG Lamb and rice for a while with no ill effects, and is now on 'Natural dog food company - Lamb and veg' and im really pleased. Of course what suits one dogs sensitivities isn't going to suit all.

If your wanting to avoid grains all together then maybe look at raw feeding.
If you don't have the confidence with regard to bones, meat ratios etc, then maybe look a compnay that does it all for you such as:

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/
or
http://www.darlingsrealdogfood.com/  -  reccieved a quote from this company today after speaking to them at Crufts, although pricey they do seem to offer a good product. Wether i'll place an order is yet to be seen.

Hope this helps

I have used orijen in the past and still have some at the moment.  My two elder boys (collie x springer and WSD) didnt do well on it and it went straight through them.

My young BC bitch has done very well on it but it is getting harder to obtain (I had someone at our local club who could order trade so could get it easily but that is now not the case) and is getting more expensive so I am currently swopping her across to a complete wet food such as natures harvest.  She always did very well on orijen, no hyperactivity which is what people are always concerned about with high protein foods, no itchiness and she looked great on it. 

hi there,

I have been put off orijen completely just pureley because of the reaction my pug had, he was on RC before this food and had excellent firm poos etc, i introduced the orijen over a coarse of 2 weeks but he had severe runs on it, he got really itchy and his anal glands needed expressed. Poor pup wasnt right at all.

Hes now on Arden Grange, his itchyness has gone his poo is firm and hes very full of himself. Someone said above that Arden Grange ocean fish & potato is worth a try, i agree 100% my sister uses this and all the problems she had with her dog have now gone away!!

One of my dogs does great on the Orijen Adult,the other found it just a tad too rich so I tried the Regional Red and she does brilliant on this with really tiny poos and I've found I can feed a bit less of it than the Adult.

I now keep orijen in my car for emergencies and the dogs love it, plus the fish one is a great size for tracking training.
There is no proven link between protein levels and
'hyperactivity" (an over used term andI have only met two truly hyper dogs) most other dogs are underexercised both mentally and physically.

If your dog is itchy why not find out what is causing the itchng rather than experimenting?

James well beloved produce a grain free diet as do Applaws

Our Boxer pup came with Arden Grange when we got so I left her on it,everything was fine with her stools she ate every meal,that was until my other half decided to look into Orijen and decided  make the change over to it which was done very,very gradually when Betty was fully on the Orijen she was so bad on it with upset stomach yes she liked it and ate every meal but it didnt agree with her so vet advised to get her back onto Arden Grange and we have not had any bad stomach's since,also the Boston is on it and she has the shiniest coat I have ever seen on her.