I have been feeding my dogs Acana Ranchlands (all life stages) for just over 8 years. I currently have a golden retriever who is almost 10 yrs., a lab mix, and two golden mixes, and they have done very well on it, they are strong, healthy, and energetic. I would and have highly recommended it to anyone thinking about trying it.
I feed Acana, specifically the Singles Duck & Pear, to my 10 month old. That is not what I fed at 8 weeks, though, just for full disclosure. I made my choice as I tried to balance some food allergies and intolerances with nutritional needs. I have been happy with it, thus far. However, I do have to feed smaller amounts three times daily, rather than twice daily feedings, to mitigate digestive issues. Even at 27% protein, his stools are too soft if he eats more than a cup at a time.
Are you in the US or Canada? The US now gets a different formula Acana and Orijen then Canada. They have very different proteins so if your in the US you will want to hear how people here are liking the new stuff as some dogs did not handle the change well and some did.
We began feeding Max Acana Wild Prairie when Max was about 16 months old. About a year ago, we switched to the US made Acana Meadowland. He has done great on both formulas. However, as a puppy, we fed Max Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy food. I believe that young puppies are not ready to eat the richer, grain free formulas. Max did great on the more traditional Eukanuba puppy formula.
In France we get the Canadian formula. I have been feeding Pacifica since they were 6 months old and am very pleased with it. For a young puppy it is too rich for them to digest properly and I would suggest something like Pro Plan large puppy.
I'm from Singapore and Lily has a cup of Acana Pacifica a day ( she's on home cooked food but i give her a cup of kibbles between her cooked meals), so far so good, she likes it!
My Neeko & Molson have been on Acana Grasslands since 6 weeks old.... but we are in the US...so check the ingredients... my boys love it, and my breeder swears by it....good luck...
My last dog ate Eukanuba until she was about 9 or 10 - and thrived. I was then convinced to switch her to Acana, and she was never as healthy again. Now, she was a 10 year old dog, so those years would have naturally seen decline. But her fur was never as nice, and she just didn't seem as healthy as she had been. Just food for thought.
I now feed my current dog Pro Plan, as do most of the people I know who breed and compete in hunt (and if they don't feed Pro Plan, many feed Eukanuba).
They have also changed the Canadian formula. I fed Acana but Murphy gained weight. Switched to Orijen which is higher protein and he lost slowly . When the formula was changed and I began with the US formula it didn't work out. He was eating SixFish and they got rid of the Salmon. He's now getting Instinct Salmon and he's back to really enjoying his food. Don't get me wrong he'd eat an old shoe for dinner but you can see how he's enjoying his meal now vs just eating.
I feed my boy Acana singles Pork/Butternut Squash. Was on several different brands and his allergies never ended until we ran an allergy panel & found out he was allergic to almost everything except Pork. Thank goodness Acana has the singles with Pork. Hes been on this for 2 years & doing extremely well.
I fed Acana puppy and then switched to Acana Okanagen Pear and Apple at 4mos. But, she didn't do well on that one... so then we switched to Acana Wild Prairie, and has been doing well on Wild Prairie every since. She's now 2.5yrs old.
We feed Acana. It's a great food, but be warned that it's pretty caloric, and if you're careless with it you'll feed too much. But aside from that, it's wonderful.
Most important is to find a food that is a large breed puppy formula to start with as you don't want to overgrow the bones. I had heard they were going to reformulate the Canadian formulas but did not realize they had started that already. I know one of Blitz breeders found their puppy formula to rich for her puppies so you may want to try a small bag of the large breed puppy mixed in with his old food to see how he does always start with the food he was on when you bring him home to keep tummy upsets from happening. If it is I too would recommend the pro plan large breed puppy. But you will find some dogs just cannot handle certain foods.
We now get the new Canadian formula here. I have not noticed any change in the dogs' poop and their coats look good, no itching so everything seems OK. I am just a bit annoyed that they have reduced the size of the bags but I still pay the same price.
Just a reminder to stay on the food the breeder is feeding until the pup is older. The breeder should provide info on when to move to adult food. Their baby tummies need to be on baby food and changing foods too soon can cause loose stools.
If you are feeding any of the Acana grain-free formulas, you may want to have your dog's taurine level (and heart) checked.
It was mentioned here http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...gy-breed-standard/455266-low-taurine-dcm.html .
I personally know 2 affected dogs. One of the breeders who bred to my boy personally knows 8 affected dogs. Acana was very heavily represented in the dogs who are affected.
Just a word to the wise, do with it what you will.
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