Wow! The posting that we put up a few weeks ago regarding the changes to the Acana Classic formulas and the new Acana Singles Duck and Bartlett Pear formula is getting a tonne of hits! It has also generated a bunch of questions from both local customers as well as people in other parts of Canada plus the US. Most of those questions are around the ingredient changes to the Classic line.
We have now received the new formula in at least some (if not all) sizes of each Classic variety. As mentioned before, the changes have been made for a few different reasons, but we didn’t look at all the changes, so let’s take a peek at the new panel.
First, rice has been removed from all formulas as it is not regionally available and Champion’s preference is to use local, trusted suppliers. The only grain is now oat, which is considered hypoallergenic, is available regionally and has a lower glycemic index (42). Removing the rice does create a bit of a manufacturing issue however. Since rice has a lot more moisture than oat, making a dry food with oat as the major carbohydrate would make the resulting kibble rough and dry! Which brings us to the second change.
Potato has been added. Burbank potato is, again, a regionally available ingredient and provides the additional moisture that the new formulas require in order to be properly steamed in their own juices, which is how Acana and Orijen are “cooked”. Steaming the potato also keeps the glycemic index lower (65).
The change in the major fish protein is the third difference you’ll notice in the new formulas. Salmon has been replaced with flounder. This change was primarily made in order for Champion to stick to it’s fresh, never frozen mandate. Wild caught salmon is hard to get year round so the options were to go to farmed salmon, use frozen salmon or change from salmon altogether. Wild-caught flounder is available year round. Champion sources their flounder from North Vancouver Island and consequently it can always be delivered fresh (never frozen). To make up for the difference between salmon and flounder in omega-3 levels, herring oil has been added. This actually brings the new levels higher than the old formulas.
The final two changes are both increases in fresh ingredients. On the protein side of the equation, more fresh chicken has been added, displacing some of the chicken meal. On the fruit and vegetable side, fresh, regional parsnips, butternut squash and Bartlett pear have been added bringing the overall fiber levels up slightly.
Together, all of these changes have bumped the percentages in the analysis around slightly. For instance, the newly named Chicken and Burbank Potato is ringing in at 28% crude protein, 17% crude fat and 4% fiber compared to the 29%, 16% and 3% of the former Adult Dog, respectively. It’s also worth noting that although the ingredient panel lists more individual sources of carbohydrates, the actual overall percentage has not increased. Finally, we are told by Champion that palatability and stool trials for the new foods had great results.
So that’s it in a nutshell for the new Acana Classic reformulations. If you have good or bad experience with the new line, whether you are a customer of ours or someone across the globe that has stumbled across our site, please leave a comment! As usual, the health and well-being of your dog is our primary concern so we’d love to hear how things are going so that we can best advise our own store customers.
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I’m not opposed to the new formula in terms of ingredients, but I have to say that I was very disappointed that Acana/Champion didn’t tell pet stores about the differences. We spoke with a couple of clerks at two different stores and none of them knew anymore than we did, but they said that since Acana didn’t alert them of the changes, our puppy shouldn’t have any problems with the new formula. We decided to transition her to the new food but she ended up getting extremely runny stools anyway, with even a bit of blood after it progressed to diarrhea.
This is exactly how bad her stools became when we transitioned her from Purina Beneful Puppy Growth to Acana Large Breed Puppy. So the message here is that the two formulas of Acana Large Breed Puppy are VERY different and that you NEED to transition your pup as if you were changing brands (especially if they have sensitive stomachs like our labrador). The fact that Acana didn’t mention anything to either pet store we visited makes me unimpressed with Champion Foods. I may actually change her to another brand when she is an adult…
Hi Stephanie,
Sorry to hear that the new formula caused some distress for Pepper (I checked out your blog!). So far, we have had no issues reported from our customers, although we have read about some problems online. Since potato was added to the formula to replace the removed rice, there could be transitional issues, or even long term effects if your dog has a potato allergy or intolerance. Fortunately, there are a lot of other great foods out there that will likely fill your need. If you think potato may be a problem, check out Darford’s Zero/G formulas – they are grain and potato free. The starch comes from buckwheat (not a cereal grain, but actually a fruit seed) and lentils. They are also a Canadian company, although the food is manufactured in the US.
As for informing retailers, we received a couple of communications from both Champion pet foods and our distributor regarding both the upcoming changes and the new additions to the line. Having said that, they were not very complete in information so we did some extra digging to find out what was going on. Also, Champion’s website was not updated to reflect any changes until a couple of months after their introduction. In your store’s case, the information may not have been passed on by the distributor, not Champion directly. Also, chain stores do not tend to do a very good job of informing their customers of what’s going on in the industry due to many factors. If you haven’t yet, find yourself a great, knowledgeable, independent retailer who will help you with your every need and get to know you and your puppy .
Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to let us know your experiences, we love to get any feedback.
Happy Easter to you and Pepper!