# Did you switch from Canidae?



## marc515 (Nov 27, 2007)

Did you switch from Canidae; if so, what to? If not, why dod you stay?

My Yellow Lab has been on Canidae Lamb & Rice kibble since last year. I had done a whole lot of reading, and decided it was a decent brand, and Boomer has done really good on it.

Now thay have changed the ingredients somewhat, and their website claims they improved the formula, and from what they say, it does sound like an improvement (to me anyway), but after reading some posts here, I'm beginning to doubt Canidae. Throw in that Diamond makes some of thier food (I hear they are not the best), I'm beginning to think I should start looking again.

So, just looking for some insight from the folks who have remained with Canidae, and those who have dumped them like a bag of cement (LOL)

Thank you,.....marc


----------



## pamperedpups (Dec 7, 2006)

I rotate brands and flavors of kibbles and cans often. The dogs are currently eating some Canidae and are doing just as awesome as always. I not only believe in quality, but variety as well.


----------



## Pupsbegood (Sep 12, 2008)

I would say that if your dogs are already eating Canidae and doing well on it, keep them on it but make sure to follow the switching over guidelines on their site.

Have you tried the new one yet?


----------



## LeRoymydog (Feb 25, 2007)

LeRoy was on Canidae. I have switched him tho. He is now eating Evo by Innova. He's doing great on it.


----------



## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

We fed Canidae a little while but have now switched to Innova EVO and I am much much happier with the EVO than I ever was the Canidae. The dogs are doing a lot better on it.


----------



## Cobalt (Jul 27, 2007)

Switched to Natural Balance Ultra Premium 2 months ago but that is connected to Diamond too so just started switching to Fromms Chicken ala Veg.

Fromms is made in WI where I live and that makes me feel better. When Luna is one, I'll likely switch to Fromms Surf and Turf, their new grain free.


----------



## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I'm still feeding Canidae ALS.

Depending on where I get it, it might still be the old formula or the new. I haven't had problems, but I mix each bag in a big bin with what's left of the old. (You don't ever wanna run out of kibble at our house.)

I am constantly looking at foods that I can get from PetCo and PetSmart (for convenience) but haven't seen anything I'd switch to locally.


----------



## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

I did not switch but I add 6 oz's of 75% or 80% lean (which means fatty) hamburger (raw) to the food along with Mirra Coat (I have always added mirra coat.. and did with horses too.. less shedding and shiny coats are the result). 

I suppose it would be cheaper to feed a better food at this rate, but she is doing well... so far. She weighs 70 pounds and gets 2 to 2.5 cups of Canidae and the hamburger. If the exercise goes up the extra 1/2 c of Canidae gets added. If the exercise goes down, the 1/2 c of canidae is taken back. She is trim and looks and acts good.

The problem with most dog food is you don't really know how good it is or was until the dog is older and does or does not develop kidney failure. If you get kidney failure in an old dog (and this is real common) you can usually blame it on the diet. 

I fed Abady for years to my last dog and she never had kidney issues as an old dog. At nearly 14 she developed enough degeneration in her back (large dog GSD issue) and was in pain and had to be PTS. A good long life for a hard working dog. 

I would feed Abady to this dog but she is intolerant of it. By intolerant I mean the runs.. and that just won't work. I sure wish she tolerated Abady.


----------



## Sonn84 (Mar 29, 2008)

I switched (not because it is a Diamond food however). My dogs are now fed Taste of the wild, Innova Adult, California Natural and Orijen.


----------



## Ender (Sep 16, 2008)

I switched from Canidae because my dogs simply would not eat it. They started to lose weight, so I switched them to Timberwolf Organics Ocean Blue formula. They love it and do incredible on it. It also cleared up my golden's food allergies.


----------



## Pupsbegood (Sep 12, 2008)

Were you feeding them the grain-free Canidae, the ALS, or which one?

I'm curious bc they have a lot of different types for different dogs, and the grain free one is very appealing to me (well, I won't be eating it, but only bc I'm a human) http://canidae.com/dogs/grain-free-als/dry.html


----------



## Ender (Sep 16, 2008)

I tried feeding the ALS. When I was trying to do the switch over, my golden would actually pick through the bowl and drop all of the Canidae kibble out and just eat the regular food. The grain free looks interesting, but currently I'm getting ready to switch them to Taste of the Wild since it's the only quality food actually sold in my town.


----------



## RenaRose (Mar 22, 2007)

I switched mine to Taste of the Wild. And then switched them again to EVO(only b/c i can get it cheaper and it lasts longer), which they are doing great on. Much better than they where on Canidae. Plus I get a 28 lb bag of EVO for only 40$ from my work!


----------



## BullieCrazy (Feb 11, 2008)

switched, I had to travel an hour to get canidae, the change (downgrade in ingredients) and increase in price......getting 5 pounds less for higher price. Just doesn't make sense. So I switched to Costco's/kirkland until I find something better. Not a lot to choose from around here presently, don't want to feed food from Diamond, so I am still searching.


----------



## HersheyPup (May 22, 2008)

Bullie...I may not be 100% correct, but I think Diamond manufactures Costco/Kirkland and Nutra Nuggets. That being said, I've know lots of people that feed Kirkland and the dogs all look gorgeous!


----------



## Mycathinks hesadog (Mar 4, 2008)

I tried 4 diff. foods: Fromm Chicken a La Veg, Wellness Core, Wellness 5, and California Natural. The dogs seemed to do well on all of these, but I was most impressed with the Core ingredient list, it is just a little out of my price range, so we went with the super 5 mix. for $5 less a bag. The dogs seem to be doing well, I'll update if that changes.

The odd thing is, as we rotated through the smaller bags above, there was no gastrointestinal upset, unlike the switch from the old to the new Canidae.


----------



## FriendsOfZoe (Aug 7, 2007)

From what I saw, only the Lamb/Rice Canidae was really changed...Zoe's on ALS and we just love it. She has a sensitive stomach and this works very very well for her and she does great on it. I see no reason to switch, as switching would only start the stomach problems again.

Every type of food has positives and negatives, and if your dog is doing well on the Canidae, I say don't mess with it.


----------



## allab (Oct 6, 2007)

FriendsOfZoe said:


> From what I saw, only the Lamb/Rice Canidae was really changed...


The did change ALS also.If you look at the ingredient list on the new formula 
you would see that they have added lamb meal as a 3rd ingredient,before it was chicken meal,turkey meal,rice....
New ALS formula:
All Natural Ingredients
Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, peas, potatoes, oatmeal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta carotene, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, yucca schidigera extract, dried enterococcus faecium, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, dried bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid, cobalt proteinate, organic selenium, papaya, pineapple


----------



## BullieCrazy (Feb 11, 2008)

HersheyPup said:


> Bullie...I may not be 100% correct, but I think Diamond manufactures Costco/Kirkland and Nutra Nuggets. That being said, I've know lots of people that feed Kirkland and the dogs all look gorgeous!


I realize that the Kirkland/costco brand is maid by Diamond and that is why I'm still looking for an alternative, the costco food is good for the moment, I just don't care for Diamonds recall history and history of conditions in there factories. I will continue to look for an alternative, and possibly research a homemade or raw diet over the winter.


----------



## Leanie (Sep 28, 2007)

My Shih Tzu was on after I found out about Science Diet she was on. I switched her to Canidae Lamb and Rice to. She didn't care for it. At first it was ok but she wouldn't eat it. She'd go all day without eating and then look at it and whine. So I changed her to Natural Balance and she liked it better, but she still licks her legs and paws and scratches but of course she has alot of environmental allergies, now I'm changing her to Wellness Core Ocean just this week.


----------



## puglover (Nov 17, 2006)

My pugs were on Canidae chicken and rice for about a year. I have one senior and one young pug and they were doing great on it until the formula change. They both had diarrhea for several days after I got a new bag of food and I was unaware of the formula change. I did not know what was going on until I read about the formula change on another site. The diarrhea cleared up after a few days but they also had more gas then usual. I was not happy my pugs went through this and not happy Canidae is no longer made by a small company. I just switched my pugs to Great Life which is a wholistic kibble made by a small company and I can get it from my work place at wholesale. This food looks really good and they are doing well on it so far.


----------



## Pupsbegood (Sep 12, 2008)

Just wanted to ask who has had success with the new formula of Canidae? If you did, what was your strategy for switching over?

I do worry that some people are still not transitioning correctly (as explained here: http://canidae.com/transitioning.html ). There is a correct way to do it, and those that I know who have transitioned gradually have had positive results.


----------



## kato (Sep 26, 2008)

Our dog has been on the lamb/rice since we got her in February. She has done great on it, until now. We got a new bag last week and the first thing I noticed was the food's change in color. After we noticed she yaked and had soft stools, we called our normal pet store. They told us Canidae had changed the receipe and they would give us a full refund. We're now trying to find a new food for her. Looks like Canidae screwed up on this one. Thanks for all the info here!


----------



## Mycathinks hesadog (Mar 4, 2008)

Pupsbegood said:


> Just wanted to ask who has had success with the new formula of Canidae? If you did, what was your strategy for switching over?
> 
> I do worry that some people are still not transitioning correctly (as explained here: http://canidae.com/transitioning.html ). There is a correct way to do it, and those that I know who have transitioned gradually have had positive results.



I think the issue for most of us (or at least myself) is that there was no real effective communication about the change so we could transistion from old to new.

I just waited until I was about out of food, then bought another bag. Perhaps if there was some advanced warning this could have 1) prepared me a little better and 2) probably increased sales in that folks would be buying more than 1 bag to be sure an adequate mix could be made.

In retrospect, I don't think it would have worked for my dogs. They typically have iron guts, and I was amazed at what the "minor" changes in the canidae reciepe did to them. As I said in an earlier post, we then went through 3 bags of varying foods, and not one major issue, unlike the old vs. new ALS.


----------



## marc515 (Nov 27, 2007)

Our Yellow Lab has made the adjustment, but after reading all these complaints, and the outsourcing to diamond, I am seriously considering switching to California Natural.

marc


----------



## Pupsbegood (Sep 12, 2008)

Marc if it's working, why not stick with it? From what I've heard it can be so hard to find a food that your dog "agrees w/," so if he's doing well, I'd stay on the same plan.

Since your switch worked out alright, can you help me understand what you did? Did you mix in the old and new formula gradually? My friend from home has a yellow lab and I've asked some others how they switched their dogs over, but would be really helpful to know how you made it work.


----------

