New Canidae Formulas?

Question

I just needed somewhere to complain about the new canidae food and all of the problems people are experiencing due to their "diversified grains." Is anyone else having problems and wants to complain?

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/canidae.html

Canidae was bought out by Diamond and has now switch formulas and made bags smaller (but only after raising prices.) These new formulas with the diversified grains are causeing problems with MANY feeders. Especially thanks to the nonexistant warning of the switch. Not many consumers buy pet food until their bag is almost gone and no one anticipated the change so they are not able to mix to transition like they should. Many people are unaware of the change but this new food is causing very loose stool and vomiting in many dogs.

It is too bad because this used to be a very good food from a reliable company and MANY people turned to it with trust. Due to the recent buy out many people are in for a big surprise. Just what the pet food industry needs.....more monopolization.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments about my comments or their own Canidae issues? We need to get this issue out in the open. Any one that has experienced no problems? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Answer 1

They did that with the Katz-n-Flocken food also. I was buying that because it had NO chicken or poultry in it. Then one day I went to buy another bag, and to their credit, but my dismay, on the bag it said 'Now with Chicken'. Pet food companies have NO regard for the customer or the animals they make the food for. Many of us buy the better foods because of special dietary needs of our pets. Then they change the formula, and those animals have to suddenly be switched to another food altogether. Lots of sick animals.

And while it is great that some people have nothing better to do than to cook for their pets, I don't even cook for my family. So hassling with cooking or a raw diet is out of the question for me. I don't believe in raw diets anyway, because dogs and cats can get e-coli, and salmonella just like humans. And unless you are adding the correct vitamins and minerals to the food, your pet will probably become deficient in something sooner or later.  

Answer 2

There are a lot of people having issues with it.  The Samoyed email lists are overflowing with tales of dogs with explosive diarrhea... coat dumping at odd times and hotspots.

I primarily raw feed but I also give kibble as treats/training aids, and occassional meals.  I also keep kibble available 24 hrs for pregnant/nursing moms.  I had my very first ever hotspot following Canidae's change in formula-- could it be happenstance- sure- but when the email lists are full of this same issue- I just don't think so.  I threw out about 33 lbs of it... its not worth it to me to have a nursing mother eating anything but the best.  So, for now, its on to Innova and Flint River Ranch (I rotate kibbles constantly).

You may want to take a look at this post from ConsumerAffairs.com http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/cani...

Edit:  My issue is not that they changed the formula-- its that they did so without notifying customers.  Some dogs are simply sensitive to some of the new ingredients.

Changed ingredients include a change from brown rice to a mixture of grains- no longer gluten free (and the percentages of each within that mixture can change at will)... and a change from Herring Meal to ocean fish meal- which can contain any of a number of different types of fish! The upshot is that they can change the ingredients from batch to batch for both the grains and the fish without having to change the bag or notify customers that their dogs may suffer dietary digestive upset.

Bad move all the way around for Canidae!

http://chihuahua.meetup.com/533/messages...

The chicken and rice formula will no longer be a true chicken and rice formula as it will have other grains.

And I'll say again:  The way they now have their bags labeled they can alter the amounts of any of the mixed grains... and they can change what type of fish is included ... from production run to production run depending what what is cheapest.  

Now, I, as a consumer am not terribly interested in cheapest.  I primarily raw feed my dogs.   But I do give kibble and in the last year have used probably 20 different types of kibble including Eukanuba and even a Purina product that I got a free 8 lb bag for winning at a dog show.  My dogs can and will eat most anything that doesn't eat them first.  They turned up their noses at the new Canidae ALS.. which has always been my fall-back food and is what I've offered pregnant/nursing mothers for years.  Am I upset they changed? No.  I'm upset that the bag looked just like the bag I'd bought the month before.

Answer 3

This question has been asked a thousand times, so it is out in the open.

New formula:

http://www.canidae.com/new-formulas.html

Old formula:

http://www.canidae.com/dogs/all_life_sta...

Canidae hasn't been bought by Diamond...tyring to find link, but, they use Diamond for processing to help meet the demand of the number of customers who feed Canidae to their pets.

My dogs are on their second bag of the new formula with no problems, really. My smaller dog has had a lot of gas, but, she also gets fruits and veggies added to her kibble. I am removing one at a time until I determine what is causing the problem. IF it is the Canidae ALS, I will switch her to another formula of Canidae.

Add:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pet...

Dear ****,

Please click on the above link, we have updated our site to insure all your questions are answered about our newly improved formulas. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of that page.

Due to overwhelming customer support and increased demand on our products, we have been faced with unique production capacity challenges. Our growing customer support and demand has pushed for increased capacity, therefore we have outsourced additional production from Diamond Pet Foods. Our customers demand and deserve no less than the highest quality safe ingredients, as well as state of the art consistent manufacturing. Outsourcing additional production from Diamond comes not without first carefully instating and accepting only the strictest testing protocols, as well as mandating stringent operating procedures to ensure the highest quality products possible at every level of production. We are very happy with this relationship and the high quality formulations we are able to bring to you. Expect Excellence!

All of our suppliers must follow strict protocols set forth by us. No single employee can be responsible for the testing of incoming ingredients. All testing and reporting must be confirmed by a second party. In addition all grains are purchased from a single supplier in low aflatoxin risk areas. Even though CANIDAE does not use corn in any of our products, we are proactive in creating testing procedures to help assure the safety of your pets. Also all CANIDAE formulas are tested during our production runs, and cleared by a supervisor, every 30 minutes to assure the safety of our line. We understand the level of trust you must have with the foods you feed your pets, and it’s our responsibility and commitment to deliver!

Our quality of raw material as well as quality control has actual increased not decreased. Yes we have diversified our complex carbohydrates as rice continues to climb and high quality availability decreases. Our products are better than ever and more consistent. Yes we have cut costs on shipping rates as fuel continues to go through the roof. To ship pet food from one location is no longer cost effective. Our economy is facing some challenging times and we are being proactive in offering you the highest quality products, yet affordable enough for our consumers to purchase. We are not sure about other companies and their plans for change or their reasons in the past, however we feel we are being open and honest about our changes. We are getting many positive feed backs from our customers that are actually feeding their pets our improved formulas, who also refrain from listening to rumors or incorrect information.

We thank thank you for your comments, and hope you are able to try our products.

Sincerely,

Julie@Team Canidae

Answer 4

i want to complain because people keep recommending it to new dog owners and I recommend eagle pack holistic and they tell me its not that great!

***i wouldnt dare go near it***

okay so Bindie (?) .. all those SAME complaints for tons of people all got the same thing just because they changed to where they make the food? i think NOT

Answer 5

Ugh, Canidae was NOT bought out by Diamond.

To meet demand Canidae is using the Diamond facilities to produce their foods. Canidae still maintains control of ingredients and quality.

In fact many high quality brands use Diamond facilites to produce there foods. Why? Diamond has large facilites and its cheaper for these companies to use the facilities than to build there own. If they did build their own facilities to produce the food the cost of the food would go up.

Then everyone would be here whining that increased the price so much wouldn't they.

No one ever thinks of a businesses overhead in the cost of things.

Canidae has been very open and honest to its customers. They announced the new foods and the reasons why they had to change it. With rice harder to get the price would have sky rocketed to keep the formulas the same.

Some dogs are having some issues, many others aren't.

And no, I do not feed Canidae or any other commericial dog foods.

***Great Dane, what you said made little sense. I never said the issues some people are having aren't because of the formula change.

Answer 6

It's about finding a high quality dog food that's right for /your/ dog. Some dogs are not doing well on Canidae's new formulas. Great, switch to another high quality food then. Some dogs, are having absolutely no problem with the changes. Canidae is still a high quality dog food.

Diamond did NOT buy out Canidae. This is rumor that just won't die. They are simply using the same facilities to produce their food.

Canidae just put out some grain free foods too! I'm anxious to see how those go.

Edit: Yes, Canidae /has/ specifically said in emails questioning them that they were /not/ bought out and merely using the same facilities.

Did you seriously just suggest that all of us are the same person under a different name simply because we all agree that Canidae is a good food? Seriously?

Edit: Ah, okay. No problem.

Answer 7

My dog had problems on canidae so I changed brands I put my weim on Pinnacle Holistic food which she is doing great on.  I also heard from the co founder of the rescue I help at that Diamond foods had purchased Canidae and that Diamond had the most pet deaths in the last pet food recall.  For that alone I would have immediately ceased using Canidae had my dogs still been on it.

Answer 8

Frankly, people need to stop asking for recommendation of a food and start asking to be taught how to read a pet food label.

I personally have almost completely given up on all commercially made pet foods.  Only one of my pets (out of 4) still gets some "dog food" and he only gets grain freed food for half of his diet.  

If you really want to know what's in your dog's food, there's no better way than making it yourself.  I wish people realized how easy raw feeding can really be.

Add:  Yes, Eagle Pack Holistic is good....but, remember, Eagle Pack's regular food line took a dive in quality a while back, too.  It's never ending.