After waiting for OVER 2 weeks for a reply to my e-mail, I am reposting these questions here. I posted yesterday in the other forum and noticed Clark answered other questions posted after mine but ignored these ones, so I thought I would try again. Getting answers from this company is harder than pulling teeth:


1)First I notice that you include chicken and turkey meal, which obviously comes from a rendering plant. What rendering plant does your company get its meal from; is it a Canadian plant and where is it located?
 
2)You use L-Carnitine in you cat food product. It is my understanding that this supplement was banned from import in Canada in March 2006, Why are you using this product?

3) I do not see taurine listed as an ingredient. Everything I have read on cat nutrition states that taurine is essential as part of a cat's diet. Why is there none in your product?
 
4) I do not see any preservatives being used in your product. It is my understanding that all pet food contain some sort of preservative in order to keep the food fresh and prevent spoilage. Why do you not use any preservatives, or are they just not listed?
 
5) Why are there so many different herbs,botanicals and probiotics listed? I read your White Paper but can find no solid scientific evidence that these are necessary or beneficial to a cat's diet. I am concerned that this is an appeal to the emerging trend of people to use holistic supplements for their own health and not necessarily a need for cats.
 
*Glucosamine
*Chondroitin
* L-Carnitine
*not recognized as an essential nutrient by the A.A.F.C.O. pet food nutrient profile

Wilbur:

Thank you for changing the title of the forum, since my questions were about the Orijen cat food..guess I should have clarified that.

As I said in my earlier post..I have been waiting over 2 weeks for a reply..sent 3 e-mails asking to at least be acknowledged, even if it took time for the answers.

My last e-mail (May 3) included this statement:

I am still waiting for a response. A non response will be considered as a negative reply. If your product is as good as you present it I would have thought you would be anxious to get the word out.

And still no answer from Clark in this forum or the other Orijen forum..most upsetting, since he chose to come into the forums to promote the product.

Hopefully Andycat's e-mail will get some answers for all of us.


 

As I said in the other forum:

I guess the problem is that I have e-mailed them..3 times..it has been almost 3 weeks and no answer. Plus I asked my questions and Clark answered a question posted after mine and never answered my 5 questions.

If my questions were too difficult to answer then I wonder whether they really don't have GOOD answers for them. Sorry for being suspicious but the last 8+ weeks have caused a lot of doubt and suspicion with pet owners..for good reasons.

I don't get replies to my e-mails and I don't get replies to questions posted when Clark was actually still in the forums..guess that answers my questions!!!

Wilbur:

That is a pretty straight forward request. If you do not get a reply I will be VERY surprised. My questions are a little more involved, but I still thought it would be a good customer service attempt to at least attempt to answer mine.

Good Luck and please post what you hear.

ANDYcat:

Thank you for your post. I will try to be patient but it has been almost 3 weeks since I e-mailed them. If they had even said "thank you for inquiry..we will answer as soon as we can" it would have made it easier to be more patient.

I will give it another week and hopefully we will all get some answers.

Wilbur Clark will only be able to tell you the percentage ranges that are in the food. eg. for iodine, Peter has responded with the range and the standards.

Why not take your package in to your veterinarian and get an opinion as to whether Orijen is OK for your dog, especially if he has a medical condition?

Wilbur LOL! Even as I was typing that last message, I was thinking about my own experience with my vet. The front office is stacked with Science Diet and Medi-Cal, and the vet techs had only vaguely heard of Orijen.

I guess what I'm saying is that Peter and Clark can provide us with percentages, but unless they are nutritionists themselves, they need to consult their experts.

Mordanna over at Our Dogs Online seems to know what she is doing. I think she was going to do some calculations. I recall that she posted that there are a number of variables involved, such as the dog's breed and weight, what else is being fed, etc. That's why I think that percentages of ingredients and regulatory guidelines can only go so far.

It occurred to me that another avenue might be to contact Steve Marsden, the Alberta holistic vet who is working with Orijen on their formulations.