# Does anyone still feed Canidae?



## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

I had requested a sample just days before someone had posted the lawsuit info about Canidae, and I just got it in the mail the other day. I opened it up and read through all the papers they sent me, read the ingredients on the sample bags, and then saw all the coupons they sent me. But I can't help but just be leary of their products now after reading all those horrible reviews. So I guess I was just wondering if anyone was still feeding Canidae with success, or if you have switched?


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

The people that I knew that were feeding it, quit feeding because they changed the ingredients and now it isnt as good a food and they dont trust them anymore.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

That's what I was thinking. I hate to waste it, but I'm not going to feed my baby something that might make her sick. I think I'll just throw them away. Thanks for your help!


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2009)

I've been feeding by furkids Canidae Platinum for quite a while. The change in ingredients didn't bother them at all. The ladies who own the feed store where I get their food talked to the manufacturers and were content that the food is still OK. All they changed was the source of protein and added potatoes and a couple of other things that wouldn't cause any allergy problems. It doesn't have any of the bad stuff like corn or wheat. I will look into it further since someone brought it up. Wasn't aware of a lawsuit!


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

ladyj said:


> I've been feeding by furkids Canidae Platinum for quite a while. The change in ingredients didn't bother them at all. The ladies who own the feed store where I get their food talked to the manufacturers and were content that the food is still OK. All they changed was the source of protein and added potatoes and a couple of other things that wouldn't cause any allergy problems. It doesn't have any of the bad stuff like corn or wheat. I will look into it further since someone brought it up. Wasn't aware of a lawsuit!


http://www.chihuahua-people.com/showthread.php?t=38063&highlight=canidae
Here's the link about the lawsuit. I'll look into it more before I toss it though.


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

I know of someone on the husky forum that I belong to that feeds her two huskies (she has a puppy and an adult) Canidae still with no problems. She's very happy with it.

I just got 3 samples of Canidae dog food this week also. I got the Chicken meal & Rice formula, the Lamb meal & Rice formula, and the All Life Stages formula. I don't plan to put either of my dogs on Canidae but I will probably give them a couple pieces of the sample kibble a day just as a treat. If anything goes wrong after a couple pieces then I'll toss it but if they do okay then it'll be a free treat for them until I run out.


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## Gisele (Jan 16, 2009)

I get sample bags of different dog foods at the little pet store I buy my dog food from and I also use the samples as treats. Saves money on treats and I can stop using anything that causes a problem right away. So far so good, nothing I've used has caused any problems even the Canidae sample. But I did only use it as treats.


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## Bethany (Mar 16, 2009)

My trainer suggested some good dog foods to feed our dogs, and canidae was one of them. Its more reasonably priced than some are. But this is the first day our dogs have been eating it, so we'll see how it goes.
I have some really picky eaters though, and they just love this stuff. 
So I'm hoping to have good luck with Canidae.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2009)

I am hesitant to switch from Canidae at this point. None of my three has experienced tummy problems that I could attribute to Canidae. My female Bichon, Lacy, does upchuck on occasion, but she's been eating the food for a long time. She has done that all her life and just seems to get an upset tummy now and then, especially if she eats too fast. The other two haven't had any tummy issues at all. I'm going to do some more research before I switch.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

I think that many of the problems with the Canidae came about when they switched their formula without notice to existing customers. As we all know, you have to transition dogs to new foods over time. This was not the case with Canidae users - they just picked up the new bag of food like usual and fed it as usual. No wonder there were so many upset tummies and owners!

I know that Canidae was recently acquired by Diamond Foods who were heavily involved in the recall. That is one of the reasons I decided to not feed this particular food. Although Chicken Soup is also a line by Diamond and many people have been feeding it successfully and have had no problems at all.

If it isn't broke don't fix it. If your dogs are doing well on whatever food they are on, don't make the switch. I know that as pet owners we are always looking for the best food for our furbabies so it is hard to make that decision.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

Harley's Mom said:


> If it isn't broke don't fix it. If your dogs are doing well on whatever food they are on, don't make the switch. I know that as pet owners we are always looking for the best food for our furbabies so it is hard to make that decision.


Oh yeah, I don't want to just switch her food, but I'm looking for an adult food for her, so I just want to cover all my bases before I have to switch her to an adult food.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

lilbabyvenus said:


> Oh yeah, I don't want to just switch her food, but I'm looking for an adult food for her, so I just want to cover all my bases before I have to switch her to an adult food.


What are you currently feeding?


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

Harley's Mom said:


> What are you currently feeding?


Wellness Super5Mix Puppy, I would like to switch her to a grain-free adult food, because she is still showing some ichy irritated skin and watery itchy eyes. It has gotten like 90% better since I switched her to Wellness from Eukanuba, so I'm thinking, from what I've been reading, a grain-free should help out a little more.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

Wellness Core would be a good option if she is doing well on the Wellness line of products. You can start feeding the Core at about a year. If you are not married to the Wellness line you can also try Innova Evo or Orijen which are both grain free. The Orijen comes in a puppy formula so will be easier to transition to the adult. However, the Orijen can sometimes be difficult to find in the US but is readily available through the internet.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

I thought about Innova, but I do like the Wellness line, and Orijen is just too much to have it shipped to me right now. I had started a thread about Allergy's also, that I had a bit of help deciding that I'll probably start feeding Core once this bag of Puppy is gone. I started this bag about 3 weeks ago, and she still has half a bag left, so if it takes her another 3 weeks for the other half, she'll over 8 months old, so with some other helpful info it was kind of decided that a chihuahua (being so small and maturing faster) could probably be started on Core earlier than a year. So I figured probably 8.5 months would be old enough to start her on Core.
What do you think? Or should I start up another bag of Puppy and start her on Core right at a year?


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

My personal opinion, I think you would be fine putting her on Core at 8.5 months. It's ultimately up to you but I wouldn't have any problem with it if it were my dog.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

huskyluv said:


> My personal opinion, I think you would be fine putting her on Core at 8.5 months. It's ultimately up to you but I wouldn't have any problem with it if it were my dog.


Yeah, after talking to you in my allergy's thread I didn't think it would do her any harm. I think it would be better for her being on a grain-free diet...


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

I think that 8.5 months would be fine. She will probably get as much or more nutritional value from the Core because of the lack of grains. Be careful to watch her skin and coat (which I am sure you will be anyways if she has suffered allergies) because sometimes they can get dry skin from the lack of zinc being grain free. You may need to add in a supplement to compensate.


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

Harley's Mom said:


> Be careful to watch her skin and coat (which I am sure you will be anyways if she has suffered allergies) because sometimes they can get dry skin from the lack of zinc being grain free.


I am intrigued, what is this about a lack in zinc in grain free? I've never heard mention of this before.  I have a siberian husky, a breed that is prone to zinc deficiency, who has been on Innova EVO (grain free) for a year and a half now and he's doing spectacular with no signs of a zinc deficiency.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

I haven't either. I thought that's what the omego fatty acids were for. I'm goiing to have to look into it more I guess.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

I found this link that tells about the daily requirements for zinc. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1659+1662&aid=718
Core would be find without any supplements. According to this site, "Zinc is found in higher concentrations in meat and bone than it is in plant sources." So a dog food that is 80% meat, as Core claims to be, would have plenty of zinc I would assume. But then again, as hubby always says, "Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups."


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## carrera (Oct 8, 2008)

i just got orijen in today, i had a store order it in for me (the shipping was free!)so were slowly switching to that...
i had mine on the innova evo and for my two i think it was too rich of a food, its high in protein, which is fine for most large dogs but in some small dogs it can be too much for them. 
currently they are getting the orijen mixed with the merrick, i really liked the merrick as well, its not grain free but they do have a larger variety of flavors for when they are adults. 
before merrick i tried the wellness puppy, they didnt care for that though, if they did like it i would have probably stayed with that then switch to core. i think core would be a good option for you.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

BTW, I was looking for the link to post with the info about zinc but the website changed some of their resources and references and I couldn't find it. I will keep looking so that I can reference my statement.


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

Harley's Mom said:


> BTW, I was looking for the link to post with the info about zinc but the website changed some of their resources and references and I couldn't find it. I will keep looking so that I can reference my statement.


That would be awesome if you could find it. I've never heard mention of it before. Although I am not concerned about grain free being associated with a lack of zinc. I have a siberian husky and if there was a zinc deficiency in any food I offered my dogs, he'd show symptoms long before my chi. But even though I don't think we have anything to worry about, I'd still like to know more if you can find it.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

Got it....found the link for the reference about zinc. However, there is so much research that has been done to support the grain free revolution that I think that if you have to supplement, I would still be inclined to feed grain free kibble.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/education/articles/getting-into-grains.shtml


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

I would imagine that feeding treats with grain might be adequate maybe? I feed both of mine grain free kibble but they do get a small amount of canned food daily (with grain) and some of the treats they get daily also contain grain.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

I think that the better quality grain free foods are most likely pretty well balanced but I have heard that some pups still do get dry skin and this is most likely the cause. I know there is a type of treat called Beryle (sp?) that is high in zinc so that would probably be a good option as a "supplement".


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

Harley's Mom said:


> Got it....found the link for the reference about zinc. However, there is so much research that has been done to support the grain free revolution that I think that if you have to supplement, I would still be inclined to feed grain free kibble.
> 
> http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/education/articles/getting-into-grains.shtml


That's a really good link, thank you so much for finding and posting it for us. I never would have known about anything like that. I'll have to keep a close eye on her and see how she reacts to it.


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## Harley's Mom (Feb 5, 2009)

No worries. The Honest Kitchen is a brand of dog food but their website is fantastic. They have all sorts of article about nutrition, supplements and many other topics. The articles are unbiased (i.e. not forcing you to buy their food) and referenced so the info is pretty reliable.


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