Has your local pet food store run out of your favorite Acana recipe, or is the price of Acana getting too high for you to keep up?
Well, you aren’t alone, and with the ongoing supply chain issues plaguing the world, Acana recipes will likely be unavailable at times for the foreseeable future.
Most dog owners are painfully aware of how difficult switching a dog’s food can be, especially if they’ve been on their existing food for many years.
Finding an alternative to Acana or any dog food brand isn’t easy, and there are many things to consider, including price, ingredients, nutrition, and availability.
What To Look For When Searching For An Alternative To Acana Dog Food?
Price
For most looking for an alternative to Acana, price is the most critical factor. Upgrading or switching to a more expensive brand isn’t an option.
Acana dry dog food recipes typically cost between $65 to $90 for a 22.5-25lb bag depending on the sub-range and recipe. This is roughly $2.6 to $4 per pound of dry dog food when purchased in larger bags.
You’ll want to check the weight of prospective alternatives and ensure they are a similar price per pound.
Ingredients
The ingredients found in an alternative dog food recipe are another significant factor. Many dogs have a poor reaction to new ingredients, which you’ll want to avoid if possible.
Acana dog food recipes typically use meat ingredients like Beef, Beef Meal, Lamb, Chicken, Chicken Meal, and Turkey.
Acana also makes heavy use of plant-based ingredients like Lentils, Peas, Beans, and Chickpeas.
Their newer grain-inclusive recipes have expanded this range to include grains such as Oats Groats, Sorghum, Millet, and Oats.
You are unlikely to be able to find an alternative dog food recipe with the same ingredient list, but instead, you may want to aim for most of the first five ingredients to be the same.
Nutrition
The nutritional value of a dog food recipe is also significant, with many dog owners picking dog food recipes because of their protein and fat content.
This is especially true for certain dogs with larger protein or fat requirements because of the high activity levels of life stages.
Acana dry dog food recipes typically have between 27-31% protein and 15-18% fat; however, some recipes fall outside of this range.
When selecting an alternative, you may want to find a recipe with a protein and fat proportion within this range or within 5% of your dog’s previous recipe.
Availability
Last but not least is the availability of the new dog food recipe. If you are switching because you can’t get your existing recipe reliably or it’s sold out, switching to another, which is challenging to get your hands on, is a bad idea.
You’ll want to check if the brand is available from multiple sources, such as at a local pet food store and online from pet food websites like Chewy.
Best Alternatives To Acana Dog Food
Taste of the Wild
Taste of the Wild is a pet food brand that can be easily compared to Acana. They are a relative newcomer to the industry, launched in the early 21st century.
They also rode the explosion in the popularity of grain-free dog food that Acana has ridden over the last two decades.
Taste of the Wild is priced lower than Acana, with a recipe typically costing between $45-$55 for a 28 lb-pound bag of dry dog food.
This is roughly $1.75-$2 per pound of dry dog food which is almost certainly below most similar Acana recipes.
Taste of the Wild also uses similar ingredients in their grain-free dog food recipes, including whole meat ingredients and meat meals like Lamb, Lamb Meal, Chicken Meal, and Salmon.
On the plant-based side, Taste of the Wild heavily relies on legumes and starches like Peas, Lentils, Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes.
But similarly to Acana, they do have some grain-inclusive recipes that use grains like Barley, Sorghum, and Millet.
We compared the nutritional value of five Taste of the Wild recipes to five Acana recipes and found that the protein levels in their recipes varied from 25-32%, and the fat levels in their recipes varied from 15-18%.
Based on this, the nutritional profile of most Taste of the Wild dry dog food recipes is likely to be very comparable to Acana, with minor differences in protein and fat proportions.
Based on our experience, Taste of the Wild is extremely easy to purchase from physical retail pet stores across the United States.
However, you are more likely to find their recipes at dedicated pet stores like PetSmart or Petco than at grocery stores like Walmart.
While some retail locations may have a limited selection, Taste of the Wild stocks all its recipes online at large pet food websites like Chewy and Amazon.
You can see which Taste of the Wild recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
One of our favorite traits of Taste of the Wild is that all of their recipes are similar in nutritional value and ingredient quality.
For this reason, we would recommend you select your recipe based on your dog’s preference of meat and fish ingredients.
For example, if your dog enjoys Salmon, you should consider Pacific Stream or Ancient Stream recipes such as the one shown below.
Alternatively, consider their High Prairie or Ancient Prairie recipes if your dog enjoys red meat ingredients.
Orijen
The simplest solution to find an alternative to Acana might be to look at their sister brand, Orijen.
The two brands go hand in hand, and many dog owners alternate between their recipes or have used both in the past.
However, Orijen is aimed at a higher price point than Acana and is less in line with other similar premium brands. Instead, Orijen is considered by most to be a luxury brand.
A typical Orijen recipe costs between $90 to $140 for a 25lb bag of dry dog food which is a tremendous amount of money.
This is roughly $3.6 to $5.6 per pound of dry dog food which is noticeably higher than most similar Acana recipes.
Orijen uses a huge range of ingredients in their dry dog food recipes, including whole meat and fish ingredients like Chicken, Turkey, Mackerel, Herring, Beef, Lamb, Goat, and Pork.
On the plant-based side, Orijen has recently expanded to provide grain-free and grain-inclusive recipes.
Their older grain-free recipes heavily relied on the same legumes found in many Acana recipes, like Peas, Lentils, Beans, and Chickpeas.
However, their grain-inclusive dog food includes a unique range of grains like Oats Groats, and Millet.
We compared the nutritional value of five Acana recipes to five Orijen recipes and found that the protein levels in their recipes were all 38%, and the fat levels in their recipes that are consistently 18%.
This extremely impressive nutritional profile is superior to Acana’s comparable recipes, with slightly higher protein and fat proportions.
Orijen should be as easy to purchase from physical retail pet stores across the United States as Acana.
Their recipes are likely to be found at many smaller independent grocery stores and some larger chains.
While some retail locations may have a limited selection, Orijen stocks all its recipes online at large pet food websites like Chewy and Amazon.
You can see which Acana recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
As mentioned earlier, Orijen is a truly luxury dog food brand with ingredients and nutrition that few can compete with.
How many pet owners can say they’ve eaten meat ingredients like Goat or Wild Boar?
While there are no affordable Orijen recipes, the below Original recipe is their lowest cost and could be an option if you want to trial Orijen to see if it’s worth the hype.
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If you’d like to learn more about Orijen, check out our Orijen Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
Purina Pro Plan
Purina Pro Plan is Purina’s premier product line and is one of the most popular and trusted brands in the industry.
Purina performs a tremendous amount of research and development for its products, especially for those designed for pets with dietary or other health issues.
Purina Pro Plan is typically priced lower than many Acana recipes, but it’s harder to compare as the volume of food in their bags can be larger. A recipe typically costs between $60-$90 for a 33-50 lb-pound bag of dry dog food.
This price range is anywhere from $1.75-$3 per pound of dry dog food which is in line with or lower than some Acana recipes.
Purina Pro Plan uses some similar but several different ingredients in their recipes, such as poultry, red meat, and fish. Examples include ingredients like Chicken, Poultry By-Product Meal, Salmon, and Beef.
On the plant-based side, Purina Pro Plan heavily relies on grain ingredients throughout its product range, including Wheat, Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Oat Meal, Barley, and Rice.
In contrast, they do not have grain-free recipes that utilize a range of legumes like Acana.
We compared the nutritional value of five Purina Pro Plan recipes to five Acana recipes and found that the protein levels in their recipes varied from 26-30%, and the fat levels in their recipes varied from 12-20%.
Based on this, the nutritional profile of most Purina Pro Plan dry dog food recipes is likely to be very similar to Acana recipes with similar levels of both protein and fat.
Purina Pro Plan should be straightforward to purchase from physical retail pet stores across the United States.
You will be certain to find their recipes at dedicated pet stores like PetSmart or Petco rather than at grocery stores like Walmart.
You will also most likely be able to purchase Purina Pro Plan from many veterinary practices which stock them.
While some retail locations may have a limited selection, Purina Pro Plan stocks all its recipes online at large pet food websites like Chewy and Amazon.
You can see which Purina Pro Plan recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
As we briefly mentioned earlier, Purina Pro Plan’s unique selling point is having a vast range of dog food recipes for sensitive skin and stomachs, as well as other common health issues
These have thousands of hours of research and development behind them and can make a massive difference to the quality of life of many dogs.
However, if you want a more generic recipe from Purina Pro Plan, the Complete Essentials Salmon & Rice Formula below could be an excellent choice.
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If you’d like to learn more about Purina Pro Plan, check out our Purina Pro Plan Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
Victor
Victor is a dog food brand that we regularly highlight and promote on our site, thanks to various factors.
The brand is owned by Mid-American Pet Food LLC, which also owns some other dog food brands like Nature’s Logic and Eagle Mountain.
What makes Victor stand out in the crowd is the large volumes their food is sold in and their competitive pricing.
While the cost varies greatly depending on the recipe’s range, most Victor dry dog food recipes typically cost $40-$60 for a 30lb or a 40lb bag.
This means that their dry food typically costs $1-$1.50 per pound, which is noticeably cheaper than Acana.
Victor makes extensive use of several high-quality meat meal ingredients, including Beef Meal, Pork Meal, Chicken Meal, and Salmon Meal.
While there is nothing wrong with meat meal ingredients like this, this is a noticeable difference between them and Acana.
Most of Victor’s recipes are grain-inclusive and utilize grain ingredients like Sorghum, Millet, and Brown Rice, but they also have some grain-free recipes that use legumes like Peas and starches like Sweet Potatoes.
Nutrition is one of the most interesting topics to discuss for Victor as it varies tremendously from recipe to recipe, much more than other brands.
Part of the reason for this is as some Victor recipes are designed for working or highly active dogs that have much higher protein and fat requirements than typical dogs.
Due to this, Victor’s recipes contain between 22% and 38% protein and 10% to 20% fat which is a colossal range.
While some may think we have included a few outliers, there are, in fact, several Victor recipes that contain 30% protein and not just one or two specialized recipes.
Thankfully, Victor is widely available for purchase from hundreds, if not thousands, of retail locations across the United States, including larger stores like Tractor Supply Company and Pet Supplies Plus.
Victor is also available from several online pet food websites, including Chewy, Amazon, and Petflow.
You can see which Victor recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
When it comes to Victor, one recipe always comes to mind, which is their extremely popular Hi-Pro Plus.
We’ve discussed this on several of our ‘best’ lists and highlighted its impressive nutrition and range of high-quality ingredients.
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If you’d like to learn more about Victor, check out our Victor Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
American Journey
American Journey is not a dog food brand that dog owners will be familiar with seeing on the shelves of their local pet food store.
This is because American Journey is the private-label brand of the vast online pet food website Chewy.
Despite this limitation, American Journey has seen substantial growth thanks to the success of Chewy and is an option you should consider.
Due to the brand being associated with Chewy, American Journey dog food recipes are competitively priced, and a 28lb or 24lb bag of dry food can be typically purchased for between $40-$50, depending on the recipe type.
However, Chewy does offer 35% off your first purchase of American Journey using their Autoship service, which is a tempting offer for many.
American Journey uses many high-quality meat and fish ingredients in their recipes, many of which are shared with Acana.
Some examples we could find included Salmon, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Lamb, and Beef.
For plant-based ingredients, American Journey offers a broad range of both grain-inclusive and grain-free recipes, and they typically utilize ingredients like Brown Rice, Barley, Peas, Chickpeas, and Sweet Potatoes.
As for nutrition, American Journey offers recipes with very similar nutrition to Acana.
Most of American Journey’s dry dog food recipes contain 25%-35% protein and 14%-16% fat which is comparable to Acana.
As we touched on when first discussing American Journey, they are the private label brand of Chewy, which means they are only available to purchase online from their website.
You can see American Journey’s full range of dog food recipes here.
Thankfully Chewy has a huge supply chain to rely on for the delivery and production of its American Journey, and you can be confident that their food will typically be available.
However, if you want to purchase an alternative to Acana that is also available from retail pet food stores, American Journey may not be the brand for you.
As for which American Journey recipe, we’d recommend you check out their Active Life Salmon, Brown Rice, & Vegetables recipe.
This is thanks to its competitive pricing and the large portion of Salmon present, which provides an impressive level of the beneficial Omega Fatty Acids.
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If you’d like to learn more about American Journey, check out our American Journey Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
Wellness
Wellness is a mainstream pet food brand and is a staple that many will be familiar with when browsing large and smaller pet food stores.
With a vast range of products varying from dry dog food to wet dog food and treats to toppers, many dog owners never feel the need to stray from the brand.
However, we will focus on their CORE range which is the closest to Acana.
Most Wellness CORE recipes are aimed at a similar price point as Acana. A typical Wellness recipe costs between $70 to $80 for a 26lb bag of dry dog food.
This works out to be roughly $2.7 to $3.1 per pound of dry dog food which is comparable to many Acana recipes.
Wellness uses similar ingredients in their dry dog food recipes, including whole meat ingredients and meat meals like Turkey, Turkey Meal, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Salmon Meal, Herring Meal, and Lamb Meal.
On the plant-based side, Wellness utilizes a mix of three industry-favorite ingredients, some of which are used in Acana recipes. These include Peas, Lentils, and Potatoes.
However, like most other brands, Wellness has also expanded into grain-inclusive food, and their recipes use grains like Barley, Oatmeal, and Quinoa.
We compared the nutritional value of five Acana recipes to five Wellness recipes and found that the protein levels in their recipes varied from 32-36%, and the fat levels in their recipes that are between 15-17%.
Based on this, the nutritional profile of most Wellness dry dog food recipes is likely to be slightly more impressive than Acana, with notably higher protein proportions.
Wellness should be relatively easy to purchase from physical retail pet stores like PetSmart and Petco, as well as smaller locations across the United States.
While some retail locations may have a limited selection, Wellness stocks all its recipes online at large pet food websites like Chewy and Amazon.
You can see which Wellness recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
Another attractive trait of Wellness is its RawRev products which combine traditional kibble with freeze-dried meat.
This is an appealing choice for many considering how expensive freeze-dried food can be, and it tends to make the kibble far more attractive.
If you want to try out their RawRev products, we recommend their CORE RawRev Original recipe.
However, if you’d prefer to stick to their tried and tested dry dog food, their CORE Ocean recipe is one of our favorites.
If you’d like to learn more about Wellness, check out our Wellness Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
Instinct
Instinct is a brand we’ve discussed and highlighted for years on the site, primarily due to the reliability and consistency of their recipes.
They are best known for their raw and semi-raw dog food recipes but also have a broad range of traditional dry and wet dog food recipes.
Most Instinct recipes are priced very similarly to Acana, but they vary depending on whether they are semi-raw, traditional kibble, or limited ingredient.
A typical Instinct recipe costs between $65 to $90 for a 20-22lb bag of dry dog food.
This is roughly $3 to $4.5 per pound of dry dog food which is marginally above most similar Acana recipes.
Instinct uses many of the same ingredients in their dry dog food recipes as Acana, including whole meat ingredients and meat meals like Salmon, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Beef, Lamb, Lamb Meal, and Herring Meal.
On the plant-based side, Instinct doesn’t utilize the same broad mix of legumes that Acana does but does make extensive use of Peas and Tapioca.
Their newly created grain-inclusive range uses many of the same grains we’ve mentioned for other brands like Barley, Oatmeal, and Brown Rice.
We compared the nutritional value of five Instinct recipes to five Acana recipes and found that the protein levels in their recipes varied from 25-37%, and the fat levels in their recipes that are between 13-21%.
Based on this, the nutritional profile of most Instinct recipes varies tremendously. Still, with a few exceptions, their dry dog food recipes are likely to be more impressive than Acana, with higher protein and fat proportions.
Instinct should be relatively easy to purchase from physical retail pet stores like PetSmart and Petco and smaller locations across the United States.
While some retail locations may have a limited selection, Instinct stocks all its recipes online at large pet food websites like Chewy and Amazon.
You can see which Acana recipes are stocked on Chewy here and see which are stocked on Amazon here.
Instinct’s Original Salmon recipe is one that we’ve come back to several times over the years. We continue to recommend it thanks to its impressive nutrition, especially its vast levels of the Omega 3 Fatty Acids at a whopping 1.8%.
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However, if you feel a little more adventurous, we recommend checking out the various Raw Boost recipes from Instinct.
These recipes combine the reliability and cost-effectiveness of dry kibble with small portions of freeze-dried raw food that pack flavor and high levels of protein and fat.
You can find the full range of Instinct’s Raw Boost recipes on Chewy here.
If you’d like to learn more about Instinct, check out our Instinct Brand Review for a detailed discussion and analysis.
