Amber of Paulding OH (09/11/08)
I started using Canidae about 2 or 3 years ago. Another dog food company had abruptly changed ingredients and my dogs would no longer eat it, and one got an ear infection.
I spent a lot of time researching brands and settled on Canidae. My dogs LOVED it. I didn't do the traditional gradual change over, and my dogs experienced no problems. Everything has been great. I even worked for a pet store that sold a LOT of Canidae, and can count on one hand the number of individual dogs it didn't work out for. Our store sold over 80 of the 40# bags a week! That's feeding a lot of dogs.
Well a few months ago I got the first of the new bags. I wasn't happy about the price but it was my first time buying from that particular store so I thought they just were higher priced. Then I noticed the 5# smaller bags.More money for less food doesn't make me happy.
When I got home, I noticed the new ingredients. Now, I KNOW ingredients, the pet store I worked in required me to know this stuff as we had a high number of clients with allergy dogs. I wasn't impressed, took a deep breath, and put it in their bowls. Only one dog finished his dinner that night. Out of 5!
It only got worse, and my allergy dog began digging at himself and got greasy skin and hair. I immediately knew it had to be the food and emailed Canidae. Their response was that the food is now better. I might have bought their explaination if I didn't already know so much about dog food.
I went to the store and they told me that Canidae had again raised prices, forcing them to raise prices. $45 for a 35# bag is way too steep for me! She said other customers were complaining as well, and that Canidae wasn't selling very well.
After looking at every brand of food in the store, I was forced to go with Diamond Natural. I just can't afford to spend more on dog food.
I loved Canidae, my dogs looked so good on it. They look ok now, but not like they used to. I'm realy disappointed.
Jim of Merced CA (09/10/08)
The newest formulation of Canidae Lamb and Rice is acutely toxic to dogs. Like all the people whose stories are below my dog ate Canidae for as long as I owned him until I bought a bag of their new formula last month. Within 24 hours he began vomitting up to 5 time a day and his stools became runny.
Canidae had not labeled their new formula on the bag so I had no idea it was new until I went online to the Canidae website. Once I learned it was new formula, I took my dog off of this food and gave him some Blue Buffallo lamb and rice. He stopped vomitting and his stools firmed up within 24 hours. He is still not 100% but I pray he heals up soon.
Please!!! call the FDA now if you have a problem 1-888-463-6332. File a complaint and they will investigate. I have already contacted the FDA but if more people call it will certainly drive this into the spotlight. Don't just write a letter on this website, do something to stop this company from poisoning your dog. Keep your used bag of poison. We may need it to put these people out of business.
Steven of West Orange NJ (09/10/08)
We had sang the praises of Canidae ALS for over 2 years. We adopted a dog from a shelter that arrived with diarrhea and horrible coat condition and odor. We could not find a food that agreed with her until we tried Canidae ALS. That is all we fed her and when we added a new puppy, we eventually transitioned him to Canidae ALS.
Their coats were gorgeous, they smelled great and never an ear or skin problem. Almost never a digestive issue and they always passed small stools. Until the NEW formula that is. Non stop gas, itching and worse was the gigantic mountains of yellow mushy stool that we picked up for 2 months along with unexplained vomiting. Our female also began to eat out of the litter box, something she had NEVER done prior to the new Canidae ALS formula. The male pooped in his crate and on our rugs several times which is out of the ordinary for him.
If Canidae had made their new grain free formulas available when they improved their other formulas, We probably would have tried one and may have stayed a Canidae customer. We most certainly were not going to try another of the improved formulas after seing what the improved ALS did to our dogs.
In all fairness to Canidae, our retailer WAS aware of the switch and we were able to do the slow transition. It did not matter in our case as our dogs were still not tolerating the new formula after alost 2 months of being on it.
Karen of Ridgefield CT (09/09/08)
My 8.5 yr old black lab has been on Candidae her entire life, from puppy food, to lamb and rice to now platinum for seniors which she's been on for at least 5 yrs. Over the past three weeks, she has had an unknown but severe allergic reaction which ultimately required intravenous cortisone to improve and she is still incredibly itchy and uncomfortable. In fact we have an appt with the vet today to get longer acting cortisone shot. This morning, my lab, who normally eats everything, refused to eat her food. I have never seen this from her before, even when she's been sick, she'd still eat, albiet a bit slower and less enthusiastically.
I quickly deduced that she was not off her food as she acted otherwise completely normal and ate all the biscuits I could give. I promptly called my pet food store to report I thought something must be wrong with my dogs Candidae. They immediately informed me that they've been receiving many complaints about Candidae over the past few days and that there had been a change in formulas. Immediately it all made sense, the allergies, the gassiness and now her flat out refusal to eat. I promptly switched her over to another brand of food and she ate with gusto (I would have loved to have mixed it in gradually but there was no way I was going to force her to eat that Candidae after her reaction to it).
It's clear that this new formula has some major issues. I never received any notice that there were changes in the formula and no warning that this could happen.
My dog suffereed for 3 weeks with a severe allergic reaction, and we spent $100 on a vet visit and countless more time and energy trying to diagnose her allergy issue. Also wasted $25 on bag of dog food which now has to be thrown out.
Jennifer of Allendale MI (09/09/08)
I sent the following email to Canidae after noticing that my dogs were not doing well on the new formula. We had successfully been feeding this brand of food for 16 months before the formula change.
Message: I just wanted to let you know personally that I will be changing foods after seeing your new formula and who is manufacturing your product. I did a lot of research on foods when before we rescued our two great danes and your product came well recommended. We have been SUPER happy over the past year and have recommended your product to numerous other dane owners! However I'm very disappointed by your decision to outsource your manufacturing to Diamond. I'm also not pleased with the new look and formula of the food. The green color is off putting and the dryness of the kibble makes it look like any other store brand rather than a premium kibble. That is all just looks and opinion though. My dogs have experienced an increase in gas and looser stools on the new formula. So, now I have had to do my research all over again and will be switching to Eagle Pack which still is manufactured in their own facility and controls their ingredients. I just wanted to let you know why I'm switching and why a lot of people I know are switching rather than just being a number on a sales report. I think you may find that the demand that you could not meet in your old facility will no longer be an issue when everyone switches over rather than feeding something made in a Diamond facility. I wish you would have considered who feeds your food and the demands for quality that we have for our pets
We have successfully switched to Eagle Pack with wonderful results. |