# Earthborn Holistics?



## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

Just went to buy a new bag of the Acana for Jasper, only to find the price had jumped by about $10. Price-checked other locations and online, and the cost is similar, so it's not just my pet food store. 

Due to some budgetary cuts in our household, staying on Acana was going to be tough-going at best, but now with a $10 price jump I don't think we can continue to afford it. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that $10 every 5 weeks really adds up when you're talking about a suddenly diminished budget!

Spent an afternoon researching lots of foods. Had half-heartedly decided on TOTW (I'm nervous about Diamond), when I remembered someone mentioning Earthborn Holistics. They make a nice grain-free fish-based one, Coastal Catch, which has a similar crude analysis profile as Acana Pacifica. No hidden chicken meal in their non-chicken food (which is so common and drives me crazy). Jasper definitely has a sensitivity to chicken, though I'm not sure if that also would extend to chicken meal and/or chicken fat (I'd say yes to the meal, maybe to the fat). Anyway, it's relatively comparable to Acana Pacifica in both nutritional and caloric content, but about $20USD less per equal-size bag. (Also, if you send in your UPCs, apparently they'll plant a tree!)

Anyone have any firsthand experience? They get a 5-star rating from Dog Food Advisor, so that's good! How much do you feed? Jasper is about 50lbs and gets somewhere between 3 and 4 cups a day of Acana, but I think I should have been cutting that back anyway. He's starting to look a little soft. That amount was based off of his last major growth spurt, and I never thought about it after that. He'd probably be fine on 3 cups a day only. 

Thoughts?


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Thoughts? Yes...

$10 a bag works out to $0.30/day... or less... Life got more expensive and will get even more expensive, since they're printing paper money like toilet paper... 

Time to ask for a raise, 8)

Reality sucks, I know.


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## SMG (Apr 24, 2013)

redrover said:


> Just went to buy a new bag of the Acana for Jasper, only to find the price had jumped by about $10. Price-checked other locations and online, and the cost is similar, so it's not just my pet food store.
> 
> Due to some budgetary cuts in our household, staying on Acana was going to be tough-going at best, but now with a $10 price jump I don't think we can continue to afford it. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that $10 every 5 weeks really adds up when you're talking about a suddenly diminished budget!
> 
> ...


for 0.30/day I would try and stick with the Acana


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## GarysApollo (Nov 27, 2012)

I'm not sure if you know not every store tells you Orijen offers a program if you buy 12 bags of food and save the upc's you get a free bag.


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## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

You're both right. It is "only" 30 cents a day. Thank you for your opinions. I had a much longer response typed out, but I decided it was far too long and had lots of unnecessary details, so I deleted it. But truly, thank you for your posts. Though, please, remember that you are not me and I am not you, and we are all in different situations. I am trying to do what is best for our current (albeit temporary) financial situation, without sacrificing the overall health and well-being of my dog. He comes first--many budgetary sacrifices were made on my end before I even thought of changing to a lower cost food for him. I would not have posted this thread if I wasn't pretty sure it was necessary to make the switch, even for a measly 30 or 60 cents a day (which, if you want to play that game, comes out to $110/$220 per year, which is not a measly amount, at least to me). Of note, we might also be moving, and the area stores do not sell Acana, but they do sell Earthborn Holistics, so the change might have been made regardless of price increase. It's not as though I'm suggesting I want to switch him over to whatever generic, grain-filled, mystery-protein brand they sell at Walmart--I'm simply trying to find a slightly more cost-effective but still very high-quality food for my dog.

Anyone have any firsthand experience with this brand, and ideally, with this particular formulation? I am particularly interested to know if others have to feed their dogs quite a bit over the recommended amount, since obviously any savings would be negated if I had to feed him more food per meal.

*GarysApollo*: Thanks! I did know that. We got our free bag of Acana in January!  There is a similar program at our store with the Earthborn Holistics as well.


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

redrover, although it is not firsthand experience necessarily, my mom recently transitioned her dachshund and basset from Nutro Natural Choice to Earthborn per my suggestion to get them on a better food. They are on the bison formula, not the fish formula though. So far the dogs are both loving their food and their skin seems to be getting better after dealing with years of skin allergies.

Financially my mom was trying to not break the bank but wanted to get a good food for the boys. Before putting my boy on TOTW I had looked at Earthborn and it was an option for us so I recommended it to her. A 30 lb bag around here (Ohio) is about $48 retail but a lot of the stores around here have been attaching a $3 off coupon to the bags in store and it's been on sale quite often. Based on what I've heard from my mom she is pretty happy with the food. I don't know how much of a step up or down it would be from Acana but I definitely think it is a good food that will help you avoid breaking the bank.


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## GarysApollo (Nov 27, 2012)

Good luck what ever you go with!


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## bjm442 (Feb 6, 2013)

We moved are 6 month old pup to Earthborn. Now we have only had him on it for about 2 weeks now. So i can't say if it as been good or bad, since him last food was very bad. He is on two cup a food day, and he looks good.


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## kiki (May 28, 2012)

We have had Odie for 11 months now and he's 5 years old and weighs 64 pounds. He's been eating Earthborn Grain Free Coastal Catch since we got him. We finally settled on 2 and 1/2 cups of food at breakfast and the same at dinner for him. He loves it and his looks have improved greatly since we got him. His coat is much brighter and shinier, he gained a few much needed pounds. We are pleased with this product. Hope this helps you.


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## kiki (May 28, 2012)

A recent pic of Odie and his boy.


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## WireyV (Dec 15, 2012)

Ugh...

I pay $110 a bag (30 pounds) for Eaglepak here (Australia)... Don't want to know the US retail price in comparison, will probably make me sick!

Have been looking at swapping to earthborn (readily available) or TOTW (online only) but they are both over $100 a bag too..

FYI. Australian exchange rate is more or less on parity with USD


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

If your pup has any allergies, ask the pet store if they have any samples. That way you can try mixing a small amount with the food your feeding. 

I hope your hard times pass quickly.


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## giandaliajr (Nov 24, 2012)

We get TOTW for $50 for a 30lb bag, $100 seems like quite a markup, even with shipping it to Australia. We order from wag.com


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## MaggieD (Jan 28, 2011)

We first got earthborn bc my V wouldnt eat the diamond natural anymore (i knew it wasnt the best to feed him) and he is a VERY picky eater.. So he ate the Bison Earthborn for about 3 months (and by eat I mean he ate all of it in one sitting, which this dog has never done-- i dont know if anyone else has had this experience but please help if so) and I was very excited that we found food he loved.
Then suddenly he completely stopped eating it all together. So i thought maybe he got sick of the flavor, so we got the coastal catch flavor to see if he would eat that... He did for 2 days now no longer eats it.. We have to put in peanut butter to make him eat it (like we did with his diamond naturals food). 
Now my boxer eats anything and loves earthborn and we have seen an unbelievable change in her coat and her muscle mass... She is a gorgeous dog now and I really attribute that to eating better food. But as for my V (who will eat any people food he can get his paws on) wont eat it. 

I would definitely try it if your V is not as picky as mine (or try it anyway). It is a great brand and I agree with you RedRover on finding the best food for the cheapest is what I have done (that is why I chose earthborn instead of others thanks to dogfoodadvisor.com--- Not everyone understands "cutting back")It was worth the switch for my Boxers sake. Now to figure out my dang Vizsla's palate problem...


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