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Canidae Pet Foods

A statement from Canidae:

September 2008
We apologize to all who have voiced their concerns with our new formulation. Canidae distributed letters to retailers, breeders, updated packaging, and provided in-store signage, however it appears that this message did not reach all of our customers.

The new formulation, with increased levels of meat protein, lowered carbohydrates, and an increased overall complex carbohydrate quality, provides the most nutritious, all natural, palatable products. Canidae never uses soy, corn, wheat, by-products, grain fractions, or fillers in our food.

If you believe your pet has experienced challenges related to the new formula we suggest feeding smaller portions multiple times a day. Adding warm water can decrease the chance of pets eating too quickly and not chewing thoroughly. It’s not unusual for pets to experience some digestive issues when transitioning, but if your problems persist, contact your veterinarian to rule out any underlying health concerns. For more tips, visit canidae.com/transitioningfromorig.html.

Due to increased commodity costs, we’ve changed our packaging sizes, reducing the overall weight by approximately 3-5 pounds per bag. The new sizes are more consistent with other brands and allow for easier handling.

We are committed to bringing quality products to pet owners and in June that commitment led us to Diamond’s manufacturing facility. Diamond facilities have rigorous quality control processes, utilizing a 141-point ingredient test protocol. All products are subject to a 10-point final product safety review and Canidae has also implemented hourly testing to confirm quality and product safety in our onsite laboratory. All Canidae products meet or exceed AAFCO nutrient profiles in USDA and FDA approved facilities.

At Canidae, we are committed to providing you and your pets the highest standard of excellence for product quality, palatability, and customer satisfaction. Please call 800-398-1600 or visit www.canidae.com to let us know what we can do to serve you better.

Canidae
Scott Whipple and John Gordon
Owners
PO Box 3610
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403

Robin of Baltimore, MD November 4, 2009

Sasha is a 13-year-old Golden Retriever who had been in good health with a strong GI system, until the summer of 2008, around the same time Canidae changed its All Life Stages formula. She started having lots of gas and losing weight at that time, along with recurrent bouts of yellow diarrhea. She also significantly increased her water consumption and became a heavy panter. The panting even happened when she was lying around, not having gone for a walk. This was probably due to pain and discomfort.

The introduction of the new Canidae unfortunately coincided with the closing of our small neighborhood pet supply shop. Had the shop remained open, we probably would have heard from the proprietress that others were having problems with the dog food. We definitely would have been given a heads-up about the formula change as she was diligent about keeping her customers informed. With the closing of the shop, we found other suppliers, none of whom offered this degree of concern and service for their customers.

We assumed Sasha was just getting old, and she had been overweight, so getting down to a normal size seemed good, but the need for extra water was puzzling. Our veterinarian could not detect any issues with her health a year ago. Up until last week, she had been on Canidae All Life Stages dry food. We believe we gave it to her for a good three years. She almost died last week. On October 25th she became extremely ill, first vomiting food, then bile. Her stool was now pure yellow liquid. Her fever was 102.9 degrees, she had no appetite, and looked like she was in pain. Her weight was down 4 more pounds, significantly below what a normal weight would be for a dog her size. Her now unstoppable weight loss and degeneration was seriously concerning our veterinarian.

Our veterinarian bills last week were about 350. We considered euthanizing her as well. The x-rays revealed that her liver was in trouble, and her anterior vena cava was abnormally narrow (though it is not clear whether the latter is connected to the other symptoms). We believed we were bringing her home from the hospital for a few days to say goodbye. The anti-nausea medication started working and she became extremely hungry. I then went on line to search for Canidae problems, found several websites reporting dogs getting seriously ill, and realized she had possibly been poisoned by Canidae.

In the last year she also had recurrent yeast infections in her ears. We are vigilant about cleaning her ears, but were unable to prevent the infections. She has completely lost her hearing, and we now believe that the way the food was impairing her immune system could have brought on the infections. Her whole system has been compromised; it's more than the GI system that has suffered. We also suspect that her collapse, a year ago September, was due to the food. She suddenly fell and couldn't get up for hours. Afterwards she was no longer able to run properly. She still can not alternate her hind legs while running, and her attempts to run since then have been infrequent. The strength in her hind legs seems to have been permanently diminished since this incident.

We are trying to find out where to have the food tested, as we suspect testing will reveal toxic substances. We are now home-cooking almost all of her food and she has come back to life. The stools are getting solid, the gas is totally gone, and her water consumption and panting have decreased. If only she could hear again and regain normal functioning of her hind legs.

J Michelle of Flemington, NJ October 31, 2009

I had no idea what so-ever that Canidae changed their formula way back when and it all makes sense now. I fed Canidae pretty much for the last 3 years of my 3 dogs, yellow lab (10.5); golden retriever (14.5) and Rottweiler (11.5)life. All three experienced diarrhea and became very lethargic. Like most I chalked it off has beeng the heat. Unfortunately they have all since passed. But it all makes sense now why my golden and rotty passed away unexpectedly. I have since gotten a new pup a Lhasapoo and am really glad I have been hesitant to putting her on Canidae, something must have been speaking to me from within for it has been one year since my rotty a passed away whom I miss ever ever so much.

Tanya of Brentwood, CA October 29, 2009

I put my dog on Canidae chicken and rice in early 2007 and he did great until the formula change happened. I didn't put two and two together until I did some research on their product and found that other people were experiencing the same issues as I was. About the time the formula changed happened, every 4 or 5 months I would come home to a huge pile of yellowish mucousy diahrea. it smelled horrible. There was one instance where their was blood in his stool and he was violently ill for about a week with a raging temperature - no explanation could be given by the vet.

About 2 months ago, my dog suffered the first seizure - to my knowledge. He collapsed on the floor, had problems trying to get up and then went into a full seizure episode. I took my dog to the vet. his bloodwork came back fine and they attributed it to his age (he is a 3 year old male golden retreiver and in my opinion far too young to be having to deal with this issue) and stated it appeared he was developing epilepsy. Over the time the formula changed, I noticed Bailey would just "pick" at his food. he would never finish it.

After his first seizure I switched his dog food thinking that may be the culprit after doing research on commercial dog food companies. I put him on "instinct" and he did fine. On Sunday, I switched him back to Canidae and by Tuesday he had another accident in the house - large pile of yellow mucousy diahrea. Yesterday, he was restless and my husband noticed he was staggering around the house acting like he was drunk for about 2 minutes or so he had no leg coordination and was very wobbly.

After he had the first seizure he needed to go to the bathroom. I noticed his stool was the thick mucousy yellow pile I had been noticing over the last year. I am now figuring my dog may have had more seizures than I am aware of and they may have happened at the times he had this diahrea incident. I have fed him Canidae snap biscuits, the wet and dry chicken and the grain free blend. He has had the same reactions to all of it.

He is now scratching a lot more than he used to. I am taking him to the vet today and getting him off this food asap before anything else happens. Canidae should be ashamed of themselves.

Shannon of Murrieta, CA October 22, 2009

We fed our two dogs, a rottweiler and a chocolate lab, Canidae All Life Stages for over 3 years. In the beginning they did great. My labs ears cleared up, they had great coats, and were healthy. Then in 2008 I poured a new bag of Canidae dog food into the food bin and noticed that it looked and smelled different, and not in a good way. I began to feed them the food, but slowly things started to change. Their bowels got loose, their hair turned dull and frizzy, my labs ears got yucky, and she was biting her nails. So I called the company and asked if they had changed formulas, and that's when I found out they did. I was upset that they hadn't made it a point to inform me better, and then denied that the negative chnages I was seeing in my dogs could be from the dog food. We had a trip planned so I figured I would deal with it when I got back. Sadly while we were on vacation my rottweiler suffered a spinal stroke.

She is alive today, can walk, but has trouble, not to mention the thousands we spent in treating her. I also noticed when she was laying down for the 3 months that she couldn't walk(we had to carry her out to the bathroom, and she's 125lbs), that she had developed a cyst on her side, something that wasn't there before. The doctors say they don't know what causes spinal strokes, but I honestly believe Canidae's change in formula had to do with it. My dogs were healthy and looking great till they changed their food, and now my poor rotty drags her foot around everywhere she goes and can no longer play with her best friend.

Rene of Red Feather Lakes, CO October 15, 2009

We have a 9 month old German Shepherd who used to eat Pollux & Castor Brown Rice Forumula, along with some home cooked food too. We switched him to Canidae recently, and he's been having runny, yellow, mucus laden stools off and on for the last month. At first I thought it was my cooking, but then I saw all the complaints here with the exact same symptoms on other dogs! I can't believe it. Canidae used to be a trustworthy company. What happened? I think the only thing that's kept him from becoming more seriously ill is that he's only been eating Canidae in the morning. I have a brand new 40 pound bag that I'm dumping, NOW! Thank you everyone for sharing your stories here. You may have saved my dog's life.

Dione of Palos Heights, IL October 9, 2009

I have been feeding my two Dobermans Canidae dog food for over a year, this past summer my dogs became very ill, vomiting and diarrhea. They both lost weight. The puppy starting loosing her hair and had hives on and off, while the older dobe (10) seemed to adjust better. Both dogs went through a series of test just to find out that it was the food they where eating.

My vet told me that Canidae may have changed the formula. I confirmed what my vet told me. I wish I would have know about this sooner I would have taken them off the dog food months ago. It is not appropriate for a company to change the formula of a food product and not notify the consumer. I am gratefull that all I have is a heafty vet bill and not two dead dogs.

Jennifer of Charlotte, NC October 1, 2009

My husband wanted to change our dog's food to something that is more healthy-he did his research and found that Canidae was a good option. After three feedings, our Golden, Rocky threw up (7 times) and then refused to eat (a HUGE red flag for him). I took him to the vet (at 3pm) who pumped him with fluids because he was dehydrated and gave him antibiotics and some anti-vomiting meds-he continued to go downhill throughout the day.

At 10pm my husband took him to the ER. He was lethargic, drooling uncontrollably and seemed to have difficulty walking. We didn't expect him to make it through the night. He spent 3 days in the doggy ICU (1400.00). Thank God he is alive today HOWEVER...we didn't make the connection that the food made him sick. He ate chicken and rice for awhile but as soon as we began to transition him to the Canidae, he started acting the same way he did before and he refused to eat it.

Only then did we discover this website and all the complaints! Rocky is doing better but I worry that he will have long lasting health issues like some of the other dogs. I am sick to think this company is refusing to take responsibility even after people's beloved pets died from eating this. emotional distress-considering my husband and I mourned the entire first night our Rocky was in the ER and over 1400 in vet bills so far.

Melissa of Kingsford, MI September 28, 2009

We have had our dog on Canidae All Life Stages since she was a puppy. She has always had problems with frequent ear infections, and she has never been able to express her anal glands herself, both were problems that our vet said would eventually cease. She is now 2 1/2 and has a perpetual ear infection and her anal gland problem is bringing us to the vet's office usually every 3 weeks instead of every two months like before.

In July of 2009, she suddenly started having seizures. Our vet told us that dogs may develop epilepsy at her age and that it's perfectly normal. I accepted this answer, until yesterday. Two days ago I bought Canidae Treats for my dog and then...Another seizure. She has had two other seizures since the first one. Once two weeks ago, and one yesterday morning. My vet told us that if seizures become more common with her a diet modification may be needed.

After the seizure yesterday morning, I really started doing research on Canidae Dog food, and the more I read about it, the more I really believe it is the problem. Phyllis started on a new food yesterday afternoon, I will keep everyone posted on whether or not her conditions improve.

I believe in my heart that the food is the problem. Only a 100 emergency vet bill so far, and if the anal glands thing has been caused by the food, several 15 vet bills in the last two years. The emotional stress of not knowing when the poor dog is going to have her next seizure has been trying enough.

Kelly of Oshkosh, WI September 23, 2009

I have always loved feeding my dogs Canidae All stages food. Until about two weeks ago when I puchased something new. Beef and Fish! I have never seen such a sick dog. I came home to a runny mess, a disgustingly stinky dog. For 5 1/2 days she was ill. I had no idea it was the food. I took her stool in checking for parasites only to find out she was normal.

I tried everything to make her feel better, it took days to get her system back to normal. I asked the store owner where I bought the food has something changed? He informed me that alot of his customers had sick dogs and he was going to pull the food off the shelves. Thanks to him for telling me it was the food. I will never buy Canidae food again. I am just thankful I figured out what the problem was.

p of windsor, VT September 23, 2009

People put too much stock in commercial dogfood. What does everyone think people did before there was commercial dogfood. Dogs were healthier and lived longer eating meat and vegetables. Even the cheapest cuts of human grade meat are better then Canadae and ALL OTHER commercial processed dogfoods. It is not difficult to feed your dog a raw meat diet. It is healthy. I have done it for over 15 years. Easy as pie. Feeding a beloved pet commercial dogfood and thinking that this is a balanced diet is tantamount with feeding a baby canned baby food and formula instead of breast milk and fresh food. Let's help put these horrible dog food companies out of business as the power is in the hands of the pet owner.

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