Orijen
5
Update as of 01/31/09: Bacchus spent 6-7 months on Origen diets and with amazing results. He has been off kibble for almost a year as I switched him to commercially available frozen raw foods (Paw naturaw, Primal, nature's variety and Aunt Jenni's). As insanely expensive as raw diets are, when you have only 1 dog, the cost isn't so hard to swallow. What has become apparent over the last year or so, it that many pet food manufacturers have decided that profit supercedes our pets' well-being. Companies like Timberwolf and Canidae are prime examples of once great foods becoming at best mediocre and untrustworthy. Origen, on the the other hand has maintained the high quality that made them the darling of kibble diets. One would hope that they will not let us down, but unless that happens this food still deserves a 5 star rating.
Update 09/14/07:Bacchus has been on Orijen ( fish formula) for almost 4 weeks and continues to do exceptionally well. There was no problem with the switch from the Timberwolf<span> </span>brand (which I have also rated a 5 and intend to continue using as part of a rotation diet). For anyone interested, my original review is now in the comments section dated 09/14/07. What follows is just an observation that I hope will appeal to most with posts for Orijen, or at least those who have rated this product a 4 star or better.
Conspiracy theories abound on this site, and although I am not one to particularly revel in them, I do have one of my own. I have been a contributor on Rateitall for 6-7 months and have agreed and certainly disagreed, privately or publicly, with much of what is written in the dog food section. There is however an individual among us, whose behavior is very much reminiscent of a pesky fly in our homes that simply does not want to go away. It is best not to anthropomorphize flies, so even though I think this particular fly is a he, I will simply refer to him more aptly as IT for now on. We leave windows and doors open hoping that IT might find greener pastures elsewhere, but for some inexplicable reason IT seems intent and gratified in just harassing us. Some of us may have even considered<span> </span>swatting IT or, worse yet, using Raid on IT. But we are after all, animal lovers and bug-spray or fly-traps seem just so inhumane. And so we have resigned ourselves to just tolerating ITs presence and waiting for the day that we will feel that presence no more. In the meantime, while occasionally contemplating our navels, we can come-up with all sorts of theories about this flys obsession with our homes. I mean, everywhere you look, there IT is, incessantly buzzing around the same circular pattern, leaving the same calling cards, over and over and over, again and again! So who is this fly? If flies have psychiatrists, why is this one allowed to roam freely and unmedicated?<span> </span>I guess, they have yet to invent a drug for Obnoxious Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the fly kingdom. Back to my question: who is this fly? And here is the conspiracy theory: IT is someone which is directly or indirectly affiliated with a rival. A rival who is so incensed by our well being that they decided to unleash that pesky fly on us. Mind you all, this is only a conspiracy theory, and therefore almost impossible to prove or disprove.
As for some of the mess IT has left behind, I have decided to simply ignore it (a very good advice, btw). Can we reason with IT? Probably as much or less than we could reason with an unruly and spoiled 5-year old who is intent on throwing a hissy-fit in a supermarket aisle until he gets what he wants. Has anyone else noticed that the more effort we expend in silencing this particular fly the louder ITs buzzing sound gets?! Strangely enough, IT seems to be attracted to the sound of his own flap!
Flies will be flies, and to us humans they will always be pests. They come in all shapes and colors but they all share those characteristics that distinguish them as flies. I'll leave it up to you to decide what those characteristics are and whether you think it is worth any effort on your part for the rehabilitation of IT and ITs brethren.
<span>I will close by saying that I do not respond to tirades or anger as comments to this post, and I will certainly not respond to that all too familiar buzzing sound of the fly.</span>