ORIJEN DOG FOOD
Orijen brand dog food is manufactured and marketed by Champion Pet Foods. Champion Pet Foods has been in the pet food business for over 25 years, and was first founded in Canada. They are a family owned company, and currently operate out of Alberta, Canada. None of the ingredients of Orijen brand dog food formulas are obtained or produced in a facility other than their manufacturing plant in Alberta.
ORIJEN DOG FOOD REVIEW
The meat in Orijen brand dog foods has never been previously frozen, and is often wild-caught or free-range instead of farm raised. The vegetable ingredients are steam-cooked at low temperatures, which is marketed as being a procedure that preserves more of the natural ingredients. Orijen formulas are steam-cooked at a temperature of 90 degrees Celsius. Champion Pet Foods maintains that their Orijen formulas are designed to mirror the diet of dogs in the wild, by matching a dog's digestive anatomy.
ORIJEN DOG FOOD FORMULAS
- Orijen Puppy Formula Dog Food is designed to be a nutritious formula for puppies of all breeds. This formula is grain-free, with a low carbohydrate content. The first five ingredients in this formula are fresh deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato and fresh deboned salmon. Other ingredients include herring meal, sweet potato, chicken liver, whole eggs, alfalfa, organic kelp and pumpkin. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 40% protein and 20% fat.
- Orijen Puppy Large Breed Formula Dog Food is designed to be fed to puppies of large breed dogs, who have different nutritional requirements than some other breeds. The first five ingredients of this formula are fresh deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato and fresh deboned salmon. Other ingredients include salmon meal, whole eggs, alfalfa and spinach. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 40% protein and 16% fat.
- Orijen Adult Formula Dog Food is designed for adult dogs of all breeds. The first five ingredients of this formula are fresh deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato and fresh deboned pacific salmon. Other ingredients include chicken fat, sweet potato, peas and northern walleye. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 40% protein and 16% fat.
- Orijen 6 Fish Dog Formula Dog Food is designed for dogs in all life stages. The first five ingredients of this formula are fresh salmon, salmon meal, herring meal, russet potato and fresh whitefish. Other ingredients include psyllium, licorice root, herring and alfalfa. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 40% protein and 18% fat.
- Orijen Regional Red Formula Dog Food can be fed to adult dogs of all breeds. The first five ingredients of this formula are wild boar, lamb, lamb meal, russet potato and pork. Other ingredients include salmon oil, herring meal, bison and potato starch. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 38% protein and 18% fat.
ORIJEN CONSUMER RATINGS
Most reviews about Orijen dog food are positive. Due to its high protein content, many dog owners cite Orijen as being one of their top choices for dog food. The few negative reviews about Orijen cite that some dogs throw up when switched to Orijen brand dog food.
7. March 2010 at 7:47 pm
I know for a fact they use render produced in the USA in their cat kibble. I’ve seen the documents released under the Australian Freedom of Information Act when I was researching the issue of the irradiated Orijen that paralysed my cat and 99 others, 30 of whom died. Can’t comment for certain on the dog food but worth checking the facts before claiming that “None of the ingredients of Orijen brand dog food formulas are obtained or produced in a facility other than their manufacturing plant in Alberta.”
7. March 2010 at 8:33 pm
Tania thanks for bringing this to our attention. The information we used was obtained from the manufactures website. As soon as I get done here I am going to email Champion Petfoods and see if they will comment on this issue.
10. March 2010 at 3:06 am
Thanks Sly. Please let me know how you get on. I’ll check back in later.
10. March 2010 at 3:48 am
As another Australian cat owner who has dead and disabled cats because of Orijen I would also suggest you ask about where the chicken meal component of the kibble comes from as Tania says with the kibble that caused issues here it was sourced in the USA. Should also be noted that it was this ingredient that Orijen claimed caused the presence of BHA & BHT in the kibble that was sold here.
10. March 2010 at 8:58 am
I have emailed them and I am currently waiting for a response. If they don’t email me back in the next couple of hours I will respond highly suggesting they comment.
Are there any documented public information of these claims? I know you talked about some documents that were released Tania, are these still available for viewing?
I want to give the best possible information to the consumer and would love to read these documents.
11. March 2010 at 5:33 am
Here is a link to an online storage folder containing all three pdf files. pdf File 2 is the one containing the released documents.
https://www.box.net/shared/nbzrdmzxyk
If you wish to go straight to file 2, the released documents, without seeing the other files (which contain the application documents and questions to AQIS arising from the documents together with their answers)
here is a link to that file:
https://www.box.net/shared/67v2sk3csr
The certificate from Griffin Industries in Kentucky is on page 34
Pages 32-33 certify that poultry used in production was slaughtered in the USA. On many documents the censor’s pen has been unhelpful to say the least. However the documents told us what we needed to know, that Champion’s Australian importer claimed he told Champion about the irradiation and they gave their consent. See page 54.
If you would like to read the posts made on a pet chat forum where Champion denied all foreknowledge of the irradiation to their food, here are links to the relevant posts on that forum:
Post #240 Page 17 by Clark Stride of Champion Petfoods
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.240.html
Post #427 on Page 29 by Clark Stride
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.420.html
In the second post, Champion lay the blame at their importers feet (as if they wouldn’t be closely monitoring what was happening to their food on its debut in a new market…really) The importer as identified in the FOI docs, Renasence Marketing Pty Ltd, deregistered his company with the Australian Security and Investments Commission in November 2009, thus effectively removing himself from any possibility of legal recourse.
In a telephone conversation I had with one of the company owners, Peter Muhlenfeld, Marketing Manager the night my cat was diagnosed, he swore they didn’t know about the irradiation until August 2008 when they got the invoices for the process. These documents suggest that they knew, and were complicit in the process, a whole year prior in August 2007.
Champion’s “Compassion” fund came nowhere near to recompensing people for their veterinary bills in many cases (though some people were covered – just) and made no concession for those owners, such as myself and Jo, still facing ongoing expenses because their cats are still in slow recovery. By removing their product from Australia immediately, putting some sort of offer on the table and making a donation to a local cat charity, they effectivley removed themselves from any possibility of legal recourse or at least, made it very hard and very expensive. I know, I tried for months to get a legal action off the ground.
One year on my cat is still paralysed in her back legs and urinary incontinent. I have to help her defaecate daily. She is improving slowly, but she is nearly 11 yo and the younger cats are the ones that came through it better. I have just purchased a pet wheelchair for her from the wonderful Eddies Wheels in Massachusetts at a cost of USD 400. There are around 15 cats who are still in various stages of recovery, 30 dead and around 50+ who made it to 90-99% recovery.
Champion dithered around for about three months before recalling their food, even after strong circumstantial evidence was found linking the irradiated Orijen to clusters of cats appearing with the same symptoms. They threatened with litigation any vets who spoke out. If you would like to read the veterinary neurologist’s letter to the Australian Veterinary Journal which mentions the litigation threat to the vets involved, here is a link to her letter:
https://www.box.net/shared/7cl0dp5duv
I have her full permission to quote her freely wherever/whenever.
Champion wrote to affected owners around late August/September of 2009 effectively washing their hands of the whole affair.
Australian Quarantine ceased offering gamma irradiation as a quarantine option for cat food in June 2009 following heavy lobbying from pet food owners, the RSPCA, vets and published studies linking irradiated cat diets to paralysis. I am still in discussion with Biosecurity Australia and the Quarantine service, AQIS, regarding the safety studies they did before the process was instigated, have had questions answered in the Senate and continue to lobby for full disclosure and labelling and preferably the cessation of gamma irradiation of all pet and livestock feed.
Thank you for your interest and for pursuing this issue.
11. March 2010 at 6:08 am
Please also refer to Page 1, under Heading “What we know”, 6th bullet point down of the Nov 28 2008 Champion Petfoods update posted on the Australia section of their website (no longer visible unless you have this link):
http://www.championpetfoods.com/Australia_Consumer_Release_Nov28.pdf
Denying foreknowledge of the irradiation.
At variance with what Page 54 of the F.O.I. documents
20. March 2010 at 5:45 pm
How did you go with this please Admin? Did you get a response from Champion ?
20. March 2010 at 6:14 pm
It appears that someone from Orijen is monitoring the comments but there has been no contact between them and myself as of this moment.
26. July 2010 at 1:07 pm
Hi
I would also like to know about the safety of the current Orijen products both dog AND cat. Both our pets are on Orijen branded food and I have only just come across the stories from Australia. Have these issues been addressed or not? Thanks.
Sorry didn’t use reply.
22. March 2010 at 3:04 am
You can bet your life they are.
Mostly they jump on people posting adversely online and threaten litigation. I personally know of two people this has happened to.
However they would be hard put to bring a case against me because I can back up all my claims with HARD EVIDENCE, evidence they would rather have remained concealed.
Besides, how would it look as a newspaper headline: “Pet food manufacturer cripples cat, sues owner”
I don’t think so…
Oh and by the way Champion, you owe me A$500 for a wheelchair I just bought for my cat because she still CAN’T WALK.
11. May 2010 at 1:12 pm
So what happened here? Did the company respond? What’s the scoop? The last post was in March. Its May 11.
31. July 2010 at 6:38 pm
Well, any response from Orijen? I’ve got my 4 month old on Orijen LBP and he seems to be doing well but I would like to learn more about this. Thanks
9. August 2010 at 10:59 pm
So what was the verdict? Am thinking of switching to Orijen for my dogs…
16. August 2010 at 3:18 pm
Hi, I too was thinking of changing my dogs and cats to Orijen – is this product unsafe?