Does anyone know anything "bad" about Canidae dog food?

[Danielle]

After much research, I switched my 3 dogs from Wellness to Canidae lamb & rice dry and canned. I was also supplementing with Natural Balance canned, but not anymore after reading today where American Nutrition gets their protein. So I just wanted to double-check that I'm not missing something bad and/or objectionable about Canidae. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not!

[KathyJA]

After much research, I switched from Nutro Natural Choice dry to Canidae Platinum dry.  My 3 dogs have been eating the Canidae for two weeks and seem to really love it.   I had narrowed my choices down to 3 brands: Canidae, Innova & Solid Gold based on a recommendation by a Vet friend.  I ruled out Innova (NaturaPet) because they use Menu Foods (until they buy or build their own wet food plant) & I didn't like the fact that  Diamond makes Solid Gold.  I'm hoping that I made a good choice.

[Annette]

One person told me her dog had soft stools with this food.  (My own dogs had a problem with Innova as they had diarhhea.)  Does anyone have any comments regarding the maintainance all life stages versuses the xhixken formulas?  TIA

[2cats2dogs]

I checked into just about every brand on the "safe list" and ended up choosing Canidae All Life Stages.  I like it because all the ingredients are from the U.S. and none of the Canidae food is produced at the same factories as the recalled foods-- they have no affiliation with Menu foods or Diamond-- so there's no concern about cross-contamination.  My dogs both seem to like it, have lots of energy, and have had no stomach upset.  The ingredient list looks healthy:  there are no meat by-products, no glutens, none of that vitamin k I've heard should be avoided, no corn, no artifical ingredients, and the yucca (which is in almost every wholistic brand) is balanced out by probiotics.  This one seems like a good product to me! 

[Hannah_sMom]

I fed Canidae All Life Stages (before the new Chicken or Lamb only formulas) long ago. But because I had to special order it, the cost got prohibitive with the new shipping costs. Now I have narrowed my "acceptable foods" down to home cooked, Timberwolf, and Canidae. My sheltie boy will eat anything, so I'm OK there, but the "princess" refuses the Canidae. Home cooked makes their poops too big and soft, so it's Canidae for my boy and Timberwolf for her. They are both great on both. I can't say anything bad about Canidae except that the "picky princess" does not eat Canidae with relish. (We now have both locally, so the Canidae is not so expensive anymore.) If SHE would eat it, it would be my exclusive food.

[Annette]

My four dogs are eating it well and doing well on it now.

[CathyM]

My elderly Great Dane has a sensitive stomach. I rather abruptly switched her from the Science Diet Sensitive Stomach she had been eating for 5 years to Canidae Platinum. She made the switch easily and eagerly. Her coat seems softer, her stools are smaller, and a fatty tumor she has under her skin appears to be shrinking, if that's possible. It's at least stopped growing. (I switched from Science Diet because I wanted to feed a brand that uses domestic ingredients and seems to have more meat, not because I had any specific trouble with it.)

[ally]

I just started feeding my two labs the Canidae Chicken & Rice formula 2 days ago and so far so good.
I began using this food after doing my own research and a friend who is training her female lab to be a guide dog, recommended it to me.  Her lab has been eating Canidae All Stage for her entire 11 month life and looks extremely healthy.  Per my friend, Canidae is also the endorsed food of the Guide Dogs of America (GDA).

I have my fingers, toes and tail crossed that Canidae remains one of the safe foods.

[debsue]

I just started feeding Canidae a couple days ago.  I feel better about it than most of the other options available, but there's one thing that kind of bugs me.  I sent them an email with a specific question: "do you manufacture your own products?  If not, what manufacturers do you use?"

I got this response:
"All Canidae products are produced in the USA.  We do not purchase ingredients from any suppliers outside of the US. All Canidae ingredients are grown &/or raised in the USA. In addition, we only purchase the absolute best  USDA grade "A" hormone and antibiotic free meats. Our rice is also grade "A" Pesticide free. Our fish is FDA inspected and passed residual free of ethoxiquin.

  Our cannery is a small facility located in IL. and able to produce the highest quality products.  This small family operated facility only produces products that are of the highest quality human grade ingredients. Our formulations were created by an outside nutritionist that has been developing canned foods for over 35 years. You can feel assured by our quality and product performance that our cannery holds the highest standards in production, and is regulated by AAFCO by (NRC), USDA, FDA, IDA, EU Approved and is Organically Certified.

Our dry foods are produced in TX.  Our plant has been involved in animal nutrition for over 75 years. The original pet food extrusion mill was built in 1978. CANIDAE's involvement with the plant sparked the introduction of our own extruder in 1999. Our dry goods facility also regulated by AAFCO by (NRC), USDA, FDA, TDA and EU Approved. We are currently under production with a brand new plant at the same facility to keep up with the growth and demand of our product line.

In order to ensure the highest quality meat based biscuit ever created, we ventured into the biscuit production business in 2003. Our 100 foot oven runs our fresh biscuits daily in a building opposite our extrusion plant in TX.  Our biscuit plant is also regulated by AAFCO by (NRC), USDA, FDA, TDA and EU Approved."

At first, I read it to mean it's their cannery and their dry foods production facility.  But then I read on another site (I don't remember which one) something about Pied Piper in Texas manufacturing Canidae products.  They don't say on the Pied Piper website, so I sent them an email asking if they make Canidae, and what other brands, too.  Here's their response:

"Thank you for your inquiry. We are a family owned and operated and are not
required to give out public information. However, due to all the recent
recalls we have had several request such as yours because of our good food
safety
procedures. We have to ask permission from our clientele to give this
information out because we are not the owner of the product just the
manufacturer and we respect the ownership rights of our customers. Please
feel free to contact the company Metro Pet as they handle many of our
products and they will be able to direct you into a product you will feel
safe in knowing you are feeding your pet the very best."

I've got another email in to Canidae to clarify, but they haven't responded yet.  I really wish Canidae would have been absolutely clear in their response to my first question.  I'll continue to feed it to my pups, but I'm a little less excited about it than I was before.

[SunHawk]

I had a bad experience with Canidae Platinum in 2003. 

After a 3-4 week transition period from ProPlan Sensitive Skin & Stomach to Canidae Platinum, my Dobe bloated on the 4th day of being 100% on Canidae.  Coincidence?  Don't know.  Will I ever trust Canidae again?  Nope.

[inacircle]

Thanks EVERYONE for taking the time to investigate and share their findings.
I'm trying to figure out what dry dog food to switch to (possibly Canidae) and it's enourmously helpful.
The "pet industry" is clearly quite a profitable racket, regardless of how "healthy - natural - caring" they claim or appear to be.
I've been inspired by all of the diligence from the hundreds of contributers and will do my part to investigate and "hound" these businesses for the truth, lest they lose all of our business!

[Cindy Nevarez]

It sounds like their cannery is Evangers...'small, human-grade in IL.'

[Danielle]

Their cannery is Evangers. I've seen that in several places on the web, and one poster from IL said she knew for certain it was.

I've also seen references to Pied Piper on the web, and the similarities in how each company describes the plant and the fact that they just expanded match up as well. I wrote them to ask if Diamond manufactured their food, and they just answered "no".

I wish they'd just answer the question as well, but many manufacturers (especially chemical companies) sign contracts with confidentiality clauses when they are manufacturing for someone else under their name. So Canidae is probably afraid of being sued if they release the name and something is wrong with the food. I know it sucks from a PR perspective but from a legal perspective they are just covering their ass. They've invested a significant amount of money in this plant it sounds like and if Pied Piper sues them for breach of contract they are out a manufacturer. Sucks sometimes thinking like a lawyer.

It also sounds like in Pied Piper's response they are confirming it in a backhanded way. If they weren't a client, they wouldn't need permission, would they?

[Danielle]

By the way, I read on another site that Metro Pet is a subsidiary of Pied Piper, so I wouldn't consider them to be an independent source of information.

[debsue]

Boutique Owner over at Itchmo had some good information about Canidae.  Scroll thru the comments here and you'll find them:
http://www.itchmo.com/read/recall-update-sunday_20070429#comments