Has anyone had a bad expereince with Canidae dog food changing their formula/plant?  I just printed out over 50 pages of recent complaints from consumer affairs.  I realize they just changed their formula (and their plant to Diamond), and yes, some adjustment is necessary, but this seems like it could be something else to me.  Please advise if you have any information or experience.  Thanks.

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

And these are just a few of the complaints at CA from the link posted above by leechash:


Jenya of Olympia WA (10/04/08)
After Canidae made a very discreet formula change to my dogs kibble, he immediately began to get very gassy & had VERY loose bowel movements that would not go away. It was not until I changed brands that Zephyr started to have regular bowel movements again. At the same time the company decreased the size of the bags, but did not change the price....I feel like we got ripped off twice.

I think Canidae owes its customers more than a deep apology - but some money for vet bills & for time spent scraping diarrhea off the grass & carpets of their consumer's homes and yards. Whoever's idea it was to change the formula should be fired; if it's not broken don't fix it. I WAS so happy with this food...and fed it for a great number of years & referred it to adopters within my rescue organization and to other members of the dog show community ....

I am now disgusted with this company and cannot believe the utter lack of compassion & business savvy. Shame on them. They will certainly lose more than money on this stupid decision, they have lost their reputation.


Courtney of Brooklyn NY (10/04/08)
I adopted my very healthy dog (at the age of three) a year and two months ago. I was feeding her Canidae dog food for the duration. She always was in perfect health, with firm stools and a strong stomach. Starting in August, Canidae changed the formula, and later to find out, the manufacturer of their dog food. I didn't notice a change in the packaging, so I bought the food as I normally do. I brought the food home and noticed that it was a different shape and texture.

I contacted Canidae and they told me that they increased the protein content of the food and ti would take some time for my dog to get used to it. I thought it strange, but would give it a chance. I didn't have the opportunity of switching out gradually b/c I had no warning about the change and couldn't procure a bag of the old food. This persisted for over a month and I switched to a different brand. Still had loose stool and bad diarrhea. this had never happened before. I have incurred over a thousand dollars in vet bills. The vet thought it might be worms (although I treat with a preventative) and I, thinking that might have been it, went back to the Canidae. Still bad, bad smelly diarrhea and bad itching and digging at her back and tummy. Red spots on tummy after she eats.

I finally realized that it is the food after reading one after anohter complaint with dogs with similar symptoms. She even had and was treated for an anal abcess b/c her stools were so loose she wasn't clearing her anal glands, not usually a problem for her breed. I am so so so upset that i trusted Canidae and should have went with my instincts and switched off the food from the start. The reason I didn't is that I was afraid that I woulde n't find th source of the problem if I made too many changes to her habits and diet at once. It was the food all along.

And Canidae had the incredible nerve to not tell me when I emailed them that they swtiched to the manufacturer Diamond. I would never, never, never buy a dog food from a manufacturer with so many known issues. I am so angry and am telling everyone not to buy Canidae.

Today, when I went to my local dog store to report this there were two other customers there with the same complaint. At the vet today (where i am back for yet another fecal recheck) one client's dog had diarrhea and vomiting and their dog eats Canidae. I want my vet bills back, I want my dog's intestines to be healthy again. I want Canidae to be punished. I will tell everone I know and there is no doubt in my mind that they are negligent and I will sue.



D. of St Louis MO (10/04/08)
I am a breeder and have had all my dogs and new puppy families on Canidae ALS for years and years. We were all very happy. Being a breeder and part of Canidae's breeding program where they supply me with with free food and puppy packs to send home with the puppies. I was very upset that they never told me of the formula change and only changed the bag and added the formula change information to their wesite AFTER getting loads of complaints of sick pets.

Ive talked with tons of families and they definatley put the new formula in the old bags and didnt even put a sticker on the bag letting people know it was a different formula. My 2 litters at the time had non stop runs for 10 weeks and i spent alot of money on vet ills, medication and fecal exams to rule out worms and parasites. My adults were also having vomiting and the runs but i never could figure out why...

finally a friend talked me into switching foods claiming that the food she feeds gives the pups hard stools no matter what and instantly the pups had firm stools. still i didnt think it was the canidae that i trusted completley until someone sent me alink to this website. After investigating several brands I decided on a new high end brand and will no longer use or refer anyone to Canidae.


Beth of Meadville PA (10/03/08)
I have fed Canidae chicken & rice for the last two years and was very happy with how my 5 cocker spaniels did on it, not to mention the price was very reasonable. My dogs range in age from 11 1/2 years to 2 1/2 years. I noticed about two months ago, when after purchasing a new bag that the color was more yellow, but didn't think anything of it, as I totally trusted the company. Within hours my dogs developed gas and very soft, bright yellow stools. Several of them vomited a bile- colored liquid over the course of the next few days.

Concerned, I contacted the company, and a young woman said that they had changed the formula, and if my dogs were experiencing soft stools to mix water into the food and/or add some cooked rice to the food. If I wanted to cook for my dgs I would- isn't why we feed packaged food for the convenience? Funny thing is- our 11 1/2 year old has always had to have his food ground & mixed with enough water to make a slurry as he has mega-esophagus, and had and still does, have the softest stools of any of them. So, I switched to the ALS formula of Canidae, the results are a little better, not much.

I am thoroughly disgusted with the company for their lack of any notice on the food bags that there was a change in the formula, and for the increased cost for an obviously inferior new formula. Thankfully my dogs have not developed any deadly effects-YET. I am returning the food and will switch to Nutripet or Innova.

Dogs' distress from diarrhea, vomiting, my distress from trying to clean up after extemely messy stools. Raise in price for inferior product is just wrong!

I bought a new bag of Canidae over the past weekend and found the formula had changed, but didn't look much farther than the Canidae website since I was satisfied by their explanation of the change and the company has given me no reason to doubt them in the past.

Unfortunately, after just a day of being on the new food (mixed with the "original" formula) both my boys were drinking a good deal more water than normal and have softer and softer stools.  I researched a bit more, found all the complaints, and the fact that Canidae is no longer produced in the same facility, but instead by Diamond Foods, and took my dogs off it...both have returned to normal drinking and stools in the past day. 

I called Canidae to ask about the changes and first-off got a long spiel about how "Diamond Foods did not intentionally poison dogs during the recall"...that they immediately jumped into a line of defensive talk like that when asking about changes to the manufacturing process really disturbed me considering I hadn't mentioned anything about the recalls.  Also, the rep kept going on and on about Diamond, not Canidae so I'm wondering how much of the original Canidae company is really left.  The rep further went on about how Canidae was facing "unique production capacity challenges" since so many people had switched to them as a result of the recalls and they were forced to abandon their original plant in Texas for larger production facilities (i.e. Diamond) in order to meet growing demand.  The rep also told me that they had decreased the amount of food in the bags (while actually increasing the price a few dollars) to allow for "easier storage and handling".  Perhaps the most disturbing part was that when asked about the safety measures in place, I was told that they could no longer guarantee the same level of safety checks as before due to the increased size of their new production facilities and the fact that they were outsourced to Diamond.

I visited a number of pet stores in my area looking for the old formula, but found none, though each store said they have had numerous customer complaints over the new formula and a lot of owners looking to switch brands.  Two of the stores mentioned the addition of barley and millet to the Canidae as possible reasons dogs are having the stomach/intestinal problems.

I'm off to ask in another forum what recommendations others have for dog food since I'm now stuck having trusted Canidae for quite awhile now, but no longer able to consider them a truly "safe" food, or at least one that has ingredients that don't make my dogs sick.

I've been feeding Canidae for the last two years. I was concerned with the change, even though the new ingredients looked pretty good to me, because one of my dogs has a very sensitive tummy. He was on the chicken and rice and I worried the new grains would cause him problems. We never transitioned I just started giving my dogs the new formula. There was never any problems and I was keeping a vigilant eye out. Not even loose stool. Surprisingly my dog with the sensitive tummy seems to doing even better on this formula, over two months now. Recent blood work on the pups was all good... So I'm not sure what's up with all the complaints.

Courtney of Brooklyn NY (10/04/08)
I adopted my very healthy dog (at the age of three) a year and two months ago. I was feeding her Canidae dog food for the duration. She always was in perfect health, with firm stools and a strong stomach. Starting in August, Canidae changed the formula, and later to find out, the manufacturer of their dog food. I didn't notice a change in the packaging, so I bought the food as I normally do. I brought the food home and noticed that it was a different shape and texture.

I contacted Canidae and they told me that they increased the protein content of the food and ti would take some time for my dog to get used to it. I thought it strange, but would give it a chance. I didn't have the opportunity of switching out gradually b/c I had no warning about the change and couldn't procure a bag of the old food. This persisted for over a month and I switched to a different brand. Still had loose stool and bad diarrhea. this had never happened before. I have incurred over a thousand dollars in vet bills. The vet thought it might be worms (although I treat with a preventative) and I, thinking that might have been it, went back to the Canidae. Still bad, bad smelly diarrhea and bad itching and digging at her back and tummy. Red spots on tummy after she eats.

I finally realized that it is the food after reading one after anohter complaint with dogs with similar symptoms. She even had and was treated for an anal abcess b/c her stools were so loose she wasn't clearing her anal glands, not usually a problem for her breed. I am so so so upset that i trusted Canidae and should have went with my instincts and switched off the food from the start. The reason I didn't is that I was afraid that I woulde n't find th source of the problem if I made too many changes to her habits and diet at once. It was the food all along.

And Canidae had the incredible nerve to not tell me when I emailed them that they swtiched to the manufacturer Diamond. I would never, never, never buy a dog food from a manufacturer with so many known issues. I am so angry and am telling everyone not to buy Canidae.

Today, when I went to my local dog store to report this there were two other customers there with the same complaint. At the vet today (where i am back for yet another fecal recheck) one client's dog had diarrhea and vomiting and their dog eats Canidae. I want my vet bills back, I want my dog's intestines to be healthy again. I want Canidae to be punished. I will tell everone I know and there is no doubt in my mind that they are negligent and I will sue.



Increased the protein content? With what? Did they say? Hopefully not something from China!! (Melamine increases protein content!!)