Orijen Freeze-Dried Regional Red

[dartnyss]

I'm sorry for the millions of posts lately, but I'm really trying to determine what works best for me and puppy! Someone mentioned that Orijen has a freeze-dried line, which I hadn't realized. I really like this idea for a food for my pup. I am wanting to make sure I am reading this correctly, though. The feeding guide is as follows:



Then it says:

PUPPIES: up to 50% grown feed twice adult amount, 50-75% grown feed 1½ times the adult amount, and 75-100% grown feed 1¼ times the adult amount.

Okay, so I'm figuring puppy will be around that 24lb mark when he is an adult. So he will be fed about 5.5 medallions, per day. As a puppy, he should eat 11 medallions until he is halfway done growing (what a weird guideline, though)?! Is this correct? That seems like a ton of food. I understand puppies eat more, trust me, but that just seems excessive. So the large bag will last me...less than 3 days. Hmm. Can someone cross-check my understanding?

IF that is correct, I'm not doing that while he is a puppy. That is way too expensive, for me. Could I possible feed him the Orijen Puppy kibble and then add some of this on top (calculating the calories as not to overfeed him)? Thoughts? He will also be getting a lot of treats during training, so I need to calculate those in as well.

Okay, I ended up calling the company and asking. I am deciding to post this anyway just in case anyone else is curious. My calculations were accurate. Puppy would eat 11 medallions a day, so $35ish every 3 days (purchasing the large bag) which is too rich for my blood. She said the freeze-dried line is balanced and CAN be a complete diet, but most people don't feed it that way because it is too expensive to do so. Clearly. She said I could feed half kibble and half freeze-dried, but that's still $35 every 5ish days PLUS the cost of the kibble. That isn't very economical, either (at least not for me, YMMV). I'm not sure what I am going to do. Anyway, I just wanted to put this info out there for anyone else busy researching food for their dog/puppy!

 

[KimB3384]

Yeah, you were totally spot on (as you found out). I fed their green version with the elk for a few months until I decided that at a cost of $330/mo. I would be living in a cardboard box before long. Turned out to be okay because we can't do the fruits and veggies most commercial foods add. We went real raw and can get by at around $110/mo. now.

 

[dartnyss]

Yeah, you were totally spot on (as you found out). I fed their green version with the elk for a few months until I decided that at a cost of $330/mo. I would be living in a cardboard box before long. Turned out to be okay because we can't do the fruits and veggies most commercial foods add. We went real raw and can get by at around $110/mo. now.

So I *just* discovered reelraw.com and I think I'm in love. I'm glad you use it because I have a couple of questions. I've never fed raw, so this is clearly new to me. I am thinking a month's worth of the plus plan to start out with and see how it goes with puppy. That said, what if he hates it? Is there that chance? I am being sent home with a bag of whatever dog food the breeder feeds; should I transition slowly? If so, will the month's worth of food be good that long, since I will be transitioning him and therefore feeding less of the raw than the daily amount? Do I need to store it in...the freezer? I am reading the daily feeding requirement and it says for a puppy, to go for 2% of the estimated adult weight. Okay, I can do that. Does that mean he will eat the same amount of food his entire life, because when he is an adult he is also supposed to eat 2-3% of his adult weight, right? I know that is dependent on his activity level. Also, how does this come? I'm stating I want the package for a 21-31lb dog, so...will it be in 30 containers?

 

[KimB3384]

I think the easiest and best way (this is just my opinion) is to start off with the grinds. That way, you're not locked into any plan and you won't have to worry about bones. The first time I fed Beezy a chicken drumstick, she swallowed it whole, coughed it back up, and then swallowed it again. It was terrifying. But I should have known better because she's a gulper, as many young ones are.

If you get the grinds they're already mixed to the right ratios, so you don't have to mess with that. I cannot say for certain that your dog will love it, but I have yet to meet one who doesn't dig raw meat. I mean, it's what they're meant to eat, so the chances yours won't like it are pretty slim.

Others here might disagree with me but I would tell you to jump right in with the raw feeding and not worry about a slow transition. As I understand it, you need to transition with different kibbles because of all of the ingredients (have you ever actually LOOKED at a list of ingredients? Even on a "good" food it's overwhelming!). With raw, there's just meat. I didn't transition and didn't have any issues.

You'll keep the meat in the freezer except for what you need for feeding a few days at a time. You'll keep that in the fridge. I use freezer bags to double wrap the packages and then I put the bag in a plastic bowl. The bowl goes in the dishwasher every time I rotate. I don't know how many containers you'll get if you go with the monthly package. It could very well be 30 containers. I buy most of my food from a place called Hare-Today now and they sell in 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-lb. packages. I know that I go through about 20 lbs. of meat per month, so I try to break it up into 3-lb. groups. So I might buy three 3-lb. packages of goat (9 total lbs.) and three 3-lb. packages of rabbit. I'll stick it all in the freezer and take out one package at a time and scoop out what I need as I need it. Beezy gets 4 oz. of meat and 1 oz. of tripe at each meal, so one of those packages lasts me about 6 days. And it's fine in the fridge that long. Remember, they have different stomach acid than we do. They eat weeks-old dead stuff and never have issues.

You'll need to keep an eye on your pup and feel its ribs as it's growing. You may need to feed more at times and less at others. I could not get any weight on Beezy at 2% or even at 3%. I'm almost positive I had to jack her up to 5% and even now I think she's at 4%. She'll be 3 years old in August. I can tell by looking at her that she's at a good weight, but if I see her look lean I'll add more to her meals.

Once you get comfortable with the feeding, you can move on to the monthly program. Or not. You could stay on the grinds. I felt like the program was expensive. Much more expensive than doing the grinds. And way messier, too. Beezy would always try to take raw bones into her plush bed to chew on. With the grinds, she's happy to stand at her bowl and eat. No mess at all.

Does that all make sense, or did I confuse you even more?

 

[dartnyss]

Well, I posted also in the raw facebook community about this reelraw site and they all ravely reviewed it. I think I am going to start out with the monthly pre-planned meals until I get more confident in myself when it comes to balancing meals. It will be $127 a month, which I don't think is bad at all. It seems to be the general consensus that I do not need to transition slowly, so I don't think I will do that. We had planned to buy a spare side-by-side fridge/freezer for the garage anyway, so now sounds like the right time to do that. I'm slightly nervous, but honestly really excited that this seems like an excellent solution to my feeding quandaries! I really want to feed raw, but I want it to be economical and relatively convenient (especially if my family needs to help out at any time, even though I'm the primary caregiver/feeder!) And good point about watching puppy's weight. I'll be doing that as well as sporadic lab panels, since I have free access, just to make sure everything is going well with the feedings. I feel its a big undertaking but also an important one! Fingers crossed!

 

[MaplesMommy]

I think its great that you have done so much research regarding a fresh diet! I am sure the pup will appreciate it
I switched Maple to a fresh diet when she was 6 months old. She is now 2 1/2 years old and I would never feed anything else ever again. When we found a kitten shortly after starting Maple on raw, it was common sense to us to raise her on a raw diet. Later we adopted a second cat and switched her over as well.
I work at a store where most of our customers are raw feeders and I see a lot of sick dogs that positively change once put on fresh food. It is amazing.
But in the end it really is true : You are what you eat.

 

[Cbrugs]

I switched Jax over from kibble to raw in November and I did not do a transition and he did just fine. I buy grinds in patty form that are already complete and balanced with the meat/organ/bone ratio so I don't have to figure anything out. I also mix the meat with some tripe in order to cut down on the amount of meat Jax gets to help it be more cost efficient. You could also add in quinoa which would also cut down on the amount of meat. I started Jax at 2% of his body weight which came out to 10 ounces per day. He lost 2 pounds (I'm sure because he went from carbs and starch and sugar to meat/protein) but I didn't want him to lose anymore weight so now he gets 12 ounces a day and he has gained 1 pound and seems to be maintaining his weight now.

 

[eeturk]

We didn't do a transition with either of ours. Straight onto 100% raw. I give 8 ounces twice a day to my adult (so 16 oz total) and about the same to my puppy but broken up into more meals. My adult struggles to keep weight on so he has to eat a lot and the pup is growing. I've found it's a lot harder to over feed on raw because they seem to actually get more full and it's not full of fattening fillers. We also give goat's milk which they love and helps to firm up their stool during the transition.


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