Acana vs. Fromm? Also, senior formula for both dogs or not?

[SarahandSam]

I have been feeding Solid Gold to my two dachshunds, but am getting annoyed with their frequent changes–every bag looks and smells different.

Looking currently at Fromm Gold Reduced Activity/Senior, and Acana Senior. Anyone have input on either brand? The Acana gets very slightly higher reviews, but I know Fromm’s a good brand as well.

This is for my 12-year-old dachshund and my 9-year-old dachshund… older dachshund is very sedentary due to arthritis and other issues (she will go for walks, but they are very slow processionals to the end of the block and back, or walks in the creek in summer), and we have to keep the weight off of her. Younger dog is still senior and likes to get fat if allowed, but does agility and is much more active, so I’m also debating whether I should continue to feed them the same food or whether they’re at the point where I should start buying two different foods (pain in the arse when all the cats already get different foods, and the dogs have different supplements and medications…). So any thoughts on that issue would also be appreciated. (:

[SarahandSam]

Well, my friendly local pet store owner told me Acana is having major production/supply issues at the moment, so Fromm it is for the moment at least… though would still appreciate any insight as to whether the reduced activity/senior formula will still be appropriate for the more active senior dog. (:

[vtdobes]

Acana had a fire in one of their kitchens so production has been reduced. I feed two bags of Acana a month and have not had a problem with availability.

I’d choose Acana over Fromm. And I probably wouldn’t feed senior feed to the 9 yr old dog…hard to say without knowing the dog though.

[wendy]

the reduced activity/senior formula will still be appropriate for the more active senior dog.

well, be cautious with “senior” foods- long ago it was thought that senior dogs needed reduced protein levels, but about a decade ago it was proven that senior dogs actually need HIGHER protein levels, and feeding reduced protein would actually take years off their lives. Many dog food manufacturers responded by completely ignoring these new studies, and continue to market reduced-protein foods as appropriate for “seniors”.
The other concern with seniors is they tend to put on weight easier than younger dogs, and fat dogs are unhealthy. The best way to trim weight off dogs is to feed fewer calories, obviously; but also to feed fewer carbohydrates- high- carb diets promote fat deposition. So the ideal “senior” diet would have low kcal/ per cup, but would be very high in protein, and would provide very few calories from carbohdyrates.

so let’s look at Fromm reduced activity/senior formula:

359 kcal/cup.
23% protein, 11% fat.

This is low-protein, very low fat formula that provides 48% of its calories from carbohydrates. I wouldn’t feed it to any dog, particularly not a senior dog.

Most of Fromm’s foods have nice ingredients but are a bit low-ish in protein and fat- my fav of their line is the Surf n Turf, at 30% protein/19% fat, and a normal 409 kcal/cup, providing 29% of calories from carbs, it’s a very nice food for any reasonably active dog, including senior dogs.

Acana senior: 33% protein/ 14% fat, 415 kcal/ cup, provides 33% of calories from carbs. Note that unlike the Fromm line, Acana is actually paying attention to the science and is putting more protein in their senior foods than in their regular foods. Regular Acana, say for example Acana Grasslands, isn’t much different than the senior except the fat level is higher, thus it provides slightly fewer kcalories from carbs- 29%- and slightly higher kcal/cup- 428.
You could feed regular Acana or Acana senior to any dog and feel ok about it, they are nice choices for seniors and youngsters alike.

[Simkie]

Orijen/Acana is back to normal production. No more issues with their stuff. They anticipate their distributors should be back up to normal stock levels by January.

I would feed Acana over Fromm, due to the protein content in Acana. Fromm also does not publish some of their nutrition data and is not willing to provide. They could not give me the calcium values for their food.