Orijen Dog Food Review

Introduction
The core of my dog’s diet has been Orijen Original formula for the last 9 months or so. I needed a kibble that wasn’t complete garbage for when I’m too busy or the budget is too tight to do prepared and raw food from the various subscription services out there. Note that this is a review of the all breeds all ages blend. Orijen has many more specialized formulas but those are not the subject of this review as my dog has not tried them. Today I’ll be rating this kibble based on nutritional benefit and price. Ordinarily I would include a convenience rating but that would not be useful for a kibble as it would for a prepared food.

Nutritional Benefit (4.0/5.0 Stars)
As with all dog food reviews, I will defer to the experts on the technical aspects of the health benefits of this food and only provide by observations as a layperson. The idea behind the food is that it is not just animal byproducts and grain fillers and the ingredients are not as heavily processed as a traditional kibble. If you look at the ingredient breakdown, Orijen is 85% “whole prey” or animal ingredients with the remaining 15% primarily being non grain fillers such as vegetables. I looked for a similar overall ingredient breakdown for Purina Pro Plan which is a heavily pushed kibble by veterinarians and breeders and could not find the same breakdown. What is provided on the dog food bags is a chemical composition indicating what percentage crude fat, etc. is in the food so not as useful to tell how much is higher value food vs fillers. If you trawl through the forums and various other articles the consensus seems to be that Orijen is lighter on the fillers than almost all other dog foods. There have been some (possibly not legitimate) conspiracy theories about Orijen being linked to various health conditions but no obvious solid research just from quickly googling the topic (that may be a topic for a different day).
My observation of this kibble is that my dog’s stool looks a lot more natural and solid compared to other kibbles including Purina Pro Plan. This may partially be because of the darker coloring of Orijen. Also, he more readily eats Orijen compared to all other kibble brands we’ve tried. He’s obviously not as happy about kibble as raw or specially prepared foods but as kibble goes he’s relatively happy with it so that earns it a 4 out of 5 stars for health benefits. I reserve the right to update this article if I’m able to find solid evidence of health issues resulting from eating Orijen.

Price (3.0/5.0 Stars)
The first thing to note about Orijen is that it appears you don’t need to feed your dog as much as other kibble since it has less fillers. On an average day without a high level of activity, my dog eats 4 cups of Orijen compared to 6 of Purina Pro Plan. Orijen is roughly $4.51/lb compared to Purina Pro Plan at approximately $1.92/lb. Using round numbers that’s roughly $5 a day for Orijen vs $3 a day for Purina Pro Plan based on what my dog normally eats. This is a pretty big difference especially over a year ($1,825 vs $1,095). For that reason, Orijen gets a rating of 3 out of 5 stars on affordability. It is certainly one of the most expensive kibbles but if you’re dog is refusing cheaper options you have to try something and Orijen is still affordable for households with a median income.

Conclusion
It seems like it’s always a battle to find the right balance of nutrition, price, and something you’re dog wants to eat. Orijen does a relatively good job of creating a tasty kibble (I assume by dog standards) that at least strives to be closer to the original ingredients than other kibbles and more accurately reflects what the ancestors of dogs ate. Does it do all of that? Inconclusive, but this seems to be the best kibble that I’ve found that my dog actually wants to eat. I’ll continue on the search for the perfect food but until then, Orijen is my go to. If you want to try Orijen, feel free to purchase here through our affiliate link.