# Acana trial



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

I thought I would do a little update here on Acana. 
Some of you may know that we were having issues with Elza not eating. Well it was so bad that from last week she totally refused to eat her dry food. Even if I put just one handful of dry into her wet food she refused to eat it! So in the last 1 week all she had is wet food. That is something we cannot keep up since its extremely expensive. 
After searching the web for a good quality kibble and also using old posts to find out what others feed their dogs I ordered 3 different tastes from Acana. It has arrived today and I have put out from each of them a few pieces on the floor with some distance between them to see which one she would choose. 
Well! Great success! She didn't give a **** she had the whole lot one after the other! Yay! Did notice she had the fishy one last both times so I might not be getting that for now. 
Anyway after that I tried it again in a different order and she was still happy to eat all three flavours so I guess we are good to go. I'll be ordering a big bag of Acana Wild Praire first since that's the cheapest of all. It seems she doesn't need as much of it so we might be ending up paying almost the same as before but s better quality food. 

Lets wait and see. Just hoping she won't get a bad stomach after all since we couldn't do a gradual change...


----------



## Watson (Sep 17, 2012)

We just switched over to Acana as well (from ProPlan) and couldn't be happier! Although Wats would eat a bowl of dust bunnies for dinner if that's what we served him!! Good luck with the transition!


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

I have Penny on Acana and she mostly likes it. First bag was grasslands. Now we are on wild prairie. She almost always finishes it at 1.5 cups 2x a day. She is 35 lbs and one year old.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks Watson, hopefully it will be a good transition!

SteelCityDozer I was wondering how much to give her but I measure it by gramms. 3 cups a day seems a lot more than what they suggest on the bag. I know it's only a guidance though. 
I guess it will take me some time to figure it out how much she needs. 
Tonight I gave her 200g + what she ate when we tried it out. She has left some in her bowl which she ate about 2 hours later. I don't normally leave food out for her but because she wasn't eating well for so long I thought bugger it. From tomorrow it's all back to normal! Finally...

Just one question do you guys put water on it and give it to her a bit soggy or just dry?


----------



## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

Jasper's on Acana Pacifica. At 47lbs he gets not quite 2 cups, twice a day. I do usually moisten it. It doesn't really swell up when it's wet, which is good. He likes it wet better. Presumably it's a little more aromatic. But I don't get it soaking wet, because I find he inhales a lot of air if it's really wet, since he's slurping it up. So just a quick spritz with the water sprayer, so maybe there's just the slightest bit of water that's not picked up by the kibble.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Redrover thanks for that, great explanation I shall be doing the same.


----------



## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

We've had Ruby on Acana Wild Prairie since we brought her home at 8 weeks. She does great on it. We give her about 3 cups a day (she's 44 pounds at 11 months old) We add water to it as well. Just a splash, and then we warm it in the microwave for 20 seconds. She likes it warm ... did I mention she's spoiled?

Oh, a couple months ago my husband accidentally bought the Pacifica variety. She lost about 3 pounds and got quite ribby. I am guessing it has less calories than her usual Wild Prairie?

Glad your girl is enjoying Acana!


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Adrino - glad to hear that Elza is liking ACANA, it is a really good kibble. Boris's poo firmed up very quickly when we changed over to Pacifica and as I said before I used to switch flavours every time I bought a new bag with no stomach problems.

I just wanted to add that when I was feeding Boris on it at 4/5 months I had to feed him quite a lot more than the recommended feed guide suggested. However, he was a growing puppy and Elza is probably near enough fully grown. Trial and error I guess.

Fingers x that she will continue to like it, and put on some weight.


----------



## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

Fingers crossed for you from us to adrino, Bella is on James Wellbeloved and has settled really well on it. It did take a few different foods to get there. Hope Elza starts to enjoy it, I don't no about you but I found it quite stressful. To many foods to choose from and a hungry puppy ???


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

A drink I honestly don't even know what the bag says to feed. I just know that if I put 2 cups in twice a day, she doesn't always finish it or she ends up completely skipping some meals and getting off schedule with things. So 1.5 - 1.75 cups twice a day does the trick. Also at a year old she needs quite a bit bec of her energy level and growing body. Keep us posted.


----------



## Racer (Apr 23, 2012)

The boy used to be on Acana. It's a great choice of food. 

He loved Wild Prairie but was a bit inconsistent on Ranchlands and Grasslands. He'd like it at first but would then refuse to eat it after a couple of weeks. He did really well on Acana except it made him pretty gassy. He's now on Orijen 6fish and is doing really well on it. Every dog will be different. As a pup he could not tolerate Orijen at all. He soft served and was really really gassy.

When on Acana, he was getting about 2 1/4 cups 2X a day, which is greater than the recommended amount. Even at that amount plus snacks he still showed ribs.

I wouldn't worry too much about what the bag says. Just use it as an initial reference. And up it if they are still really ribby.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Hi all, so far so good! Elza had her breakfast and dinner without stopping so it means she likes it. I upped the amount to 300g, she used to have 360g on JamesWellBeloved. For now I'm giving her the Wild Praire but I will try the other two to see how she reacts to those. I think I'm gonna order a big bag of Wild Praire on Monday if she continues to eat it well. 

No upset belly! Yay! Her poopoo is absolutely normal which is great news. 😁

I think she will love the Grasslands too but I'll post about that when she has it. That's the most expensive so I'm trying to order the cheapest first. Already spent a fortune on these trial bags! 😳


----------



## datacan (May 15, 2011)

300g = 1.26803 cups, I think the recommended amount is 2.5 - 3 cups

I feed the boy twice a day, almost equal amounts, but only after a period of rest after his runs... and always rest him for two hours after each meal. 
Would like think that minimizes chances of bloat, stomach torsion.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Data that seems an awful lot! That should mean more than half a kilo dry a day. You might have made a mistake with those measurements. 😳 
The bag says 270g = 2 1/4 cup a day that was suggested for active dogs. Anyway Elza is a petite girl so what you all feed your dogs it might be too much for her. She's a tiny 17-18 kg average at 17 months old.


----------



## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

We give Bella 300g of james wellbeloved split into 2 meals, she also has some of their wet food with her meals to. With that and a few treats in the day she is fine 
She weighs 21 kgs at 11 months old, have to say if I gave Bella double that she would eat it 
We feel she gets plenty but she acts like she's never been fed


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks AngieNG! Yes it is quite hard to find the right food and even then she might not like it. I will keep her on 300g for a week to see how she's doing on it. We still have the wet pouches from Jameswb but I'll keep that to fill her KONG up. If she's left alone for a few hours it keeps her busy.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Okay, so just thought I would do some update on Elza's eating habit. 
After I started her on Acana was all well for about 4 days, perfect poopoos and less gas. Then she started to eat less again barely interested in it... 😒 That only went on for about 2-3 days then she was all ok again and still is. She's settled on 300g and I'll keep her on that for another 2 weeks to see if its enough or not. She's eating Acana Wild Praire mixed up with Grasslands and Pacifica. 3/4 of it is Wild P. and the rest is between the other two. She has a lot less poo than before which is good and a massive improvement with the gas. 

So far so good! 

My only problem now that her toilet habits have changed. Sometimes she has 2 on walks then she won't poo for the next 8-10 hours. I mean its ok I guess since she uses most of her food instead of wasting it but she had a good routine and now its all a bit messed up. 😳 

Any suggestions or should I just wait and see and adjust to her new routine?


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Sounds like very positive news all round Adrino.

Are you feeding her more in one feed than the other? I would feed equal quantities either end of the day.

I wouldn't worry about when she goes to the toilet - you will get into a new routine, but it is good that her stools are firm and not so many. As you say her body is processing more of the food.

I just hope she continues to eat it. It wouldn't surprise me if she goes off it in time to come, but I hope not.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Although I'm trying to go back to her old routine on feeding times and quantity unfortunately that doesn't work. If I give her food before her morning walk she just picks at it then leaves it. So I started to feed her after her first walk of the day but even then she chooses how much she eats then leaves it. Now I started to put it away if she doesn't finish it off but that means sometimes she will eat a bigger amount later on the day. So it's sort of a controlled free feeding...  (never let her eat too close to her exercise)
We can't help it... I've tried everything and although she eats the whole amount eventually it varies when and how much she eats each feeding time day by day. I was thinking to put her on just once a day but I don't really agree with that due to the fact she has 2x1 hour walk a day and I don't want her to be starving all day then fill her belly up with the whole amount....

It's a bit of a nightmare to be honest. I can't let her lose any more weight so I just let her eat when she chooses to for now.


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Sounds a bit of a nightmare. But I do think you are perhaps worrying about it more than Elza is. Quite a lot of working dogs are only fed once a day. I think Ken only feeds once a day. Some of my longest living dogs were only fed once a day.

I think you are comparing Elza's desire/need for food to that of a humans. If she only wants to eat at night I would just go with that. Maybe fill a Konk with kibble for her during the day, but I agree with you - if she doesn't eat her food when you put it down - take it away. Leaving it down just encourages fussy feeding.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks Hotmischief, yeah I do worry a bit since its going on for so long... 
I'll see how it goes for a couple of more weeks then we adjust accordingly. If she only need to eat once a day then be it!


----------



## datacan (May 15, 2011)

*I try to feed around the concept of preventing bloat.* 

Dog's food intake requirements increase and decrease with amount of energy expanded.
On lazy days we eat 2 cups and on busy days we will war up to 4.5 cups. In any case, feeding large amount of food in one sitting may not be a good idea so we break it up in more than one sitting.


----------

