Switching...

Perhaps try the Orijen Senior which is a bit lower in calories. Fromm is an excellent line; not IMHO better than Orijen---not much is.

 Shes not a senior. Does that matter?

While Fromm is a nice food, that particular formula, as well as most of their formulas are a bit grain /carb heavy which might not give you the desired weight loss you are looking for.  The Orijen Senior is lower in fat than the regular formula, so that may be an option. You may want to look into Wellness Core Reduced Fat Formula---I know a few people who have been successful at "trimming the fat" off their dogs using the Wellness Core RF.

No. Many so called "senior" diets also indicate that they are suitable for "less active" dogs. My nine year old Chinook, Samantha gets 1/2 cup of Orijen fish in the AM and either half a can or 1/2 pound of raw mix in the evening. She hold between 63 and 65 pounds. My five year old Weimaraner, Fergus, gets the same (as Samantha) in the AM and an extra couple of oz. (canned or raw) in the evening. He hold between 105 and 109. My two year old Dane, Tigger gets 1 1/2 cups of Orijen fish in the morning and either a can and a half or a little over a pound of frozen raw mix in the evening. He hold between 128 and 130. They also all get a small chicken back at lunch and a small marrow bone in the evening. Treats are accounted for in calculating daily caloric intake. Training treats used are Zuke's mini---less than a calorie per. If I'm going out for longer than normal, I'll give them each a five inch braided Bully Stick. The only reason I don't feed senior to the two older dogs is the hassle of keeping two separate foods---which I used to do. All three get two hours a day off leash walking/running. All three are weighed once a month. Tigger is right where he should be. Samantha looks her best at 62 pounds. Fergus has always struggled with his weight. His parents are both large boned Weimes. Fergus looks his best at 105 or even a couple of pounds below---but he seldom gets there. None of them lack for energy. All get a Glucosomine/Chondroitin/MSM supplement. I also add Missing link or similar to their evening meal.

 I'm so confused!!! I want to keep her on a fish formula, she loves it. We started on EP Holistic Sardine and she was fine, maybe I'll go back. Help!!

 I had the same problem with Jetta on TOTW. Grain free foods are just too high in fat IMO for dogs that only get moderate exercise like my dog. I had to switch to a lower fat food recently because she was eating only 1/2 cup per day of the TOTW and still was a bit too chubby.

I think you should try the Fromm if it has less fat and calories. Or Core Reduced Fat, but I'm not sure if that is low-calorie. Its worth a try!

The Orijen fish is 460 kcal per cup, the Senior 395 and the Fromm you mentioned 325. The Fromm does include several grains although no corn or wheat, but Oat, Barley, Millet, etc. so it is not "grain free". Grain is okay in its place. There has been a bit of over reaction to grains in dog foods (having said that, I feed no-grain dry foods). If not grains then most dog foods include some other form of carb---potatoes commonly. The only truly no-carb dog food (freeze dried) I know of is Ziwipeak and it is 1,000 calories per cup and very expensive---over 20 bucks for a couple of pounds. Some folks add veggies to the kibble so that the pup gets more of a sense of fullness without a lot of usable calories. Fresh is nice but canned or frozen green beans or carrots, ground up fine and mixed with the kibble (and perhaps a little flavoring, if no more than a dash of garlic powder). My vet also recommends a supplement, more for the micro-nutrients than anything else, since at some point they may be lacking in a reduced diet. Keep in mind that if I fed just the dry, Orijen fish to my 105 to 109 pound Weimaraner----no treats, no raw, no canned, just the kibble---he would only be getting approx. a cup and a half a day of food---which is exactly what he gets when he is (infrequently) boarded. When I run into someone at the dog park who is feeding their obese Chocolat Lab (both knees have been repaired) six cups of Science Diet a day---because that's what it says on the bag... Or the chubby 13 inch Beagle who gets three cups a day of whatever----the same amount of food that two of my dogs combined get (combined weight of roughly 170 pounds)...

 That's why I like the senior. Orijen's version is really awesome - you should try it just to see. You can add a teaspoon or so of canned salmon, or a canned fish flavored pet food to "fish flavor" it.

I've got a five year old (Zhi the Chinese Crested) and an eight year old on it, as well as Maggie who really is a senior. Another nice thing about the senior, is that it's easy to digest, so Lynn eats it too for that. Lynn's only a year and a half old.

The only dog I wouldn't put on it is a puppy since the minerals would be way off for rapid growth.

So strange, I actually found when I switched to grain free foods such as Orijen and Evo my dogs's weight actually turned towards the better; they slimmed up real good and actually developed more muscle. I found it so much easier to maintain their weight on a grain-free food then one with grains. If you get too many grains in their diet, the same will occur.

The carb battle with dogs is not unlike the one with people---other than the fact that dogs really don't need any carbs and we do. We need them for energy---dogs get much of their energy from fats. Not unlike us there are empty (mostly refined sugar and/or wheat) "Twinkies" and "good" carbs, i.e., those with a high fiber content, e.g., veggies and whole grains. The advantage of adding veggies to a dog's diet is that they get virtually no nutrition (i.e., very little caloric impact) from them, but they do get fiber and properly mixed in it makes them "feel" as if they ate more than they did. If you don't have time to prepare the veggies, a number of companies pre-mix fresh, frozen veggies (A Place for Paws in Ohio, also they have Green Tripe). Again, while I avoid any food with corn and wheat for my canines, I'm not adverse to other whole grains---assuming the product is of a very high quality but that's not to say I go looking for them. It's anecdotal but I am absolutely convinced that feeding a very high quality, "super-premium" diet consisting of a mix of kibble, canned, raw and frozen raw over the last three years has dramatically reduced ear and skin infections. Actually, none of my three have been to the vet for anything other than checkups and shots in the last two and a half years.

Brookcove - is the senior Orijen really that much easier for them to digest versus the regular adult Orijen??

Supposition I would suspect rather than fact. Champion makes no such claims for their Orijen Senior. Ingredients virtually identical? INGREDIENTS - Adult Fresh boneless chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato, fresh pacific salmon (a natural source of DHA and EPA), herring meal, sweet potato, peas, fresh lake whitefish, fresh northern walleye, chicken fat (naturally preserved with vitamin E and citric acid), chicken liver, salmon meal, fresh turkey, fresh whole eggs, fresh deboned herring, sun-cured alfalfa, salmon oil, chicory root, dehydrated organic kelp, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, saskatoon berries, black currants, choline chloride, psyllium, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, sea salt, vitamin supplements (vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, vitamin C, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12), mineral supplements (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium), dried Lactobacillus acidophilus, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product. INGREDIENTS - Senior Fresh deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato, fresh deboned salmon (a natural source of DHA and EPA), herring meal, sweet potato, peas, fresh deboned lake whitefish, salmon meal, fresh deboned walleye, chicken liver, fresh deboned turkey, chicken fat (naturally preserved with vitamin E and citric acid), whole eggs, fresh deboned herring, sun-cured alfalfa, salmon oil, chicory root, dehydrated organic kelp, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, saskatoon berries, black currants, choline chloride, psyllium, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, sea salt, vitamin supplements (vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, vitamin C, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12), mineral supplements (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium), Lactobacillus acidophilus and Enterococcus faecium fermentation product.

 I don't know about "that much easier" - it's just an easy to digest food as kibbles go. Lynn, my eighteen month old Golden/BC/Dutch Shepherd cross, tolerates it very nicely. She has had a very touchy tummy ever since she had a bout of severe gastroenteritis as a puppy. Whether or not a food sits well with Lynn is the "gold standard" around here for digestibility of a diet.

Since switching to the Orijen, I've dropped a couple of "tummy soothing" supplements from her diet, which saves me mucho bucks each month. She can also share in some of the raw meaty bones that she's had to miss out on previously - red meat in particular. It's tough for a dog living on a sheep farm, not able to share what's in the freezer at processing times.

If a food is a "FAIL" Lynn is a bile barfer and also treats us with poopsplosions. So it's pretty obvious when a diet isn't working for her. There is no difference between the Orijen and the professionally, custom designed home prepared diet she was on previously. I was stunned when I realized that.

Gus, one of the other dogs on the Orijen senior, also has a somewhat barfy tummy - but his problem is poopsplosions. Most kibbles make him have occaisional bouts of irritated gut.  This one and Eagle Pack Senior do not, however. The old Canidae senior was great too, but when they changed it, it lost its superior digestibility in my opinion. I don't know what it was but it certainly isn't as good as before.

So, when I say it's easy to digest, I'm speaking from direct observation - not a huge sample size but reliable ones for my purposes.

ETA: by the way, the ingredients aren't identical in several key places. There are multiple prebiotic sources.  The fat is a bit further down. The protein sources are slightly rearranged and there's a couple of differences. And the GA profile is significantly different.

Brookcove...sorry, my early mindset isn't grasping the statement you made of the "GA profile is different" regarding the Orijen senior versus adult? What is GA?

I DO very highly like Orijen foods, have since I first heard of them. I've too wondered if there were any real differences from their food versus what I could do in a home-prepared, exception being I would buy my own food sources; however their foods/sources have some really legitament/detailed info as to where they come from.

Perhaps at some point I could slowly mix in the senior formula back into Cal Natural lamb/rice for Rivers and see what becomes of it....but I"m going to wait for him to go through at least 2 bags of the lamb/rice to see what becomes of that.