Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > Dog food forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 4th, 2012, 10:22 AM
Skierrobbie Skierrobbie is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Georgian Triangle
Posts: 3
Alternatives to Acana

I have a 5 month old German Shepherd named Lola. She had been on Medi-Cal large breed puppy food. Countless friends and people on this website have suggested that MediCal isn't a particularly good food so I had started to transition Lola over to Acana's puppy food. I had been doing this slowly and gradually, but the moment I introduced Acana, her stools became softer to the point over the past several days she had serious diarhea. I fed her MediCal last night and again this morning and her stools are suddenly solid again.

I understand that there are a lot of better foods out there than MediCal. Can anybody suggest a good alternative to Acana? My town has both a Global Pet Foods and a PetValu, so I have options. My budget is a bit tight which is why I liked the Acana - GPF was selling it for $60/bag roughly while the Vet was charging $80/bag for the same size. However, I will spring for the right food if it's in the best interests of my Pup.

Thanks
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old September 4th, 2012, 10:48 AM
Loki Love's Avatar
Loki Love Loki Love is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Regina, SK
Posts: 536
It may take a while for your pup to get used to the food - how long have you been giving it? Also, keep in mind you wont' have to feed as much as you were feeding of the other (over feeding can cause tummy troubles).

That all said - it may end up being too rich for your pup. There are lots of great alternatives out there - but it depends if you want to stick with grain-free or grain-inclusive.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 4th, 2012, 11:11 AM
Marty11's Avatar
Marty11 Marty11 is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: East Gwillimbury, ON
Posts: 1,174
The debate is grain or no grain.......when I switched to grain free it took one of my dogs a couple weeks to have normal stools again. However the dog I have now i have decided with grain. She is on Addiction Kangaroo and her coat has improved from the Acana. I do feel the Acana and Orijen is good food. It's personal preference what you want to feed. Vet food....no way.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old September 4th, 2012, 11:29 AM
Choochi Choochi is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Toronto
Posts: 304
Yes it may take a while for your dog to get used to the food and it is possible that she will never do great on it. Acana and Orijen can be too rich for some dogs. I would give it a few more weeks before making a decision to switch to some thing else. There are tons of good foods out there now. Taste of the Wild, Go Naturals... just two that come to mind.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old September 4th, 2012, 01:16 PM
Rgeurts's Avatar
Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
Senior Contributor
Tetris Champion, Cell-Out Champion
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 1,966
Hi there

I would be very weary of any food made in a Diamond Foods plant. They include Diamond Naturals, Canidae (though they are in the process of getting their own manufacturing plant, I may try it at that point), Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild and several other "high end" brands. They have had several recalls, and most are very recent. I would also avoid Blue Buffalo, for the same reason. Both of mine actually got sick on the health bars that were recalled, and I was unaware until I had fed them.

I also use Addiction, but I feed the Salmon Bleu, which my boys are doing excellent on (I have one with confirmed allergies/food sensitivities and one with suspected allergies), though the dry food is a very small part of what they get. The Honest Kitchen is what I was feeding, and they were doing excellent on it until we learned he could only have beef. In Canada, you can't get the grain-free beef which is called Love, so we started feeding NRG free-range beef. It's grain-free and potato-free. Just fruits, veggies and beef. It's a dehydrated raw and both my boys are doing amazing on it. No more skin issues and no tummy troubles. Good luck!
__________________
"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old September 4th, 2012, 03:14 PM
Marty11's Avatar
Marty11 Marty11 is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: East Gwillimbury, ON
Posts: 1,174
NRG is great food!!! As well dry food is only part of my dog's meal. She gets "Weruva" canned and any meats I cook and sardines.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old September 5th, 2012, 01:37 PM
Rgeurts's Avatar
Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
Senior Contributor
Tetris Champion, Cell-Out Champion
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 1,966
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty11 View Post
NRG is great food!!! As well dry food is only part of my dog's meal. She gets "Weruva" canned and any meats I cook and sardines.
My boys LOVE sardines too. But I have to be so careful with what I give Nookie now. He has struvites and has been struggling with bladder infections and stones since the beginning of the year, poor little guy. Apparently the magnesium in the fish aggravates struvites, so what he's getting in the Salmon Bleu is about all he can take (he gets very little of it).

And yes, I love the NRG! We've been feeding it for almost 3 months now and both Nookie and Montana seem to be doing great on it. Montana is a very picky eater, but he always licks his bowl clean, then helps Nookie clean his

NRG is costly, though. That's the only downside to feeding it.
__________________
"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old September 6th, 2012, 09:20 PM
Skierrobbie Skierrobbie is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Georgian Triangle
Posts: 3
NRG? Is that the name of the food or is it a shortform for something I should know? Global Pet Foods took back my partial bag and gave me full credit for the bag in exchange for First Mate - a local breeder of Shepherds uses it with great results so I am hopeful!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old September 6th, 2012, 11:58 PM
Rgeurts's Avatar
Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
Senior Contributor
Tetris Champion, Cell-Out Champion
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 1,966
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skierrobbie View Post
NRG? Is that the name of the food or is it a shortform for something I should know? Global Pet Foods took back my partial bag and gave me full credit for the bag in exchange for First Mate - a local breeder of Shepherds uses it with great results so I am hopeful!
First Mate "was" a good food. I was actually considering it and even went as far as to go buy a bag. I had done a lot of research on different foods and where they are made, and decided I really liked the looks of it. It showed fish as the first 3 ingredients on the website. When i got to the store, just before I paid for the bag, I decided to look over the ingredients again and it's a good thing I did... the very first ingredient in their food is now potato. They hadn't updated their website with the new food changes they had made.

NRG is the actual name of the food. It's a dehydrated raw food and has only free-range meat, fruits and veggies (plus eggshell for calcium). It's the only dehydrated food that doesn't have any added vitamins/minerals. All the nutrition comes completely from the whole foods, which is important for my guy. He has an auto-immune disease, chronic tummy/gastro issues, EPI and other problems. He's so sensitive to everything and has grand mal seizures, so the more natural for him, the better. The one downside to NRG is the cost. If you buy the biggest box, it's the best value. It's 9 KG and Global orders it for me for $210. Some places charge as much as $240-$270. I have 2 dogs, one weighs 93 lbs, the other weighs 55 lbs. a 9 KG box lasts me for 21 days and is 2/3 of their diet. This is a link if you're interested

http://www.nrgpetproducts.com/
__________________
"Obey my dog!" - Mugatu

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" - Ok... whoever said this has never had a sick or special needs baby. They ARE our whole life!

R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old September 7th, 2012, 07:00 AM
kitona kitona is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Calgary
Posts: 86
Glad to hear that NRG is back to being a quality food. I fed that to my dogs for a couple of years starting 6 years ago. It was great and they both looked fabulous. Then they started looking not-so-good and I was noticing a high ratio of un-cracked pumpkin shells and much less dried meat in the food. When I questioned the company, their reply was that dogs still benefited from the micronutrients in the pumpkin seed even tho the shell was undigestable. Fair enough, but no way was I going to pay what they were charging for all those pumpkin seeds and too little else. The food quality soured me on the product and the insufficent information soured me on the company.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:52 PM.