More Canidae Info....

You've GOT to be kidding me!! I was so happy to find this food and now this. What a pain!!

If its true (I'll try to find out tomorrow from Canidae), we'll be switching. Not sure to what, but we'll certainly be looking. I know that we still have time to look, as we have quite a bit of food here still. I'll let everyone know what I find out.

Lola isn't real crazy about her Wellness food. I WAS going to switch to Canidae but not now. She'll get used to Wellness...

Oh no!! Now I've got to start the search over. Eagle Pak & Wellness are to rich for Remus & Loki has allergies. What a pain!

If this is the case then this will probabley be my deciding factor to start feeding a raw diet.

Well, it kind of was for me, because I had gotten some things from the company about changes coming (we sell it at my shop) so I decided to give it a go on raw after the last bag ran out. Even if raw doesn't work out for my dogs, I'll probably look at EVO. I did write a letter to Canidae, I will post their response as soon as I hear back. Question....wasn't Diamond one of the brands that had the recall? I'm thinking it was, am I right?

Really, you guys are more worried about Diamond making the food than the ingredient changes? Most brands don't produce their own foods (Nature's Variety, Timberwolf Organics) and on top of that, won't tell consumers where the food is made. Diamond isn't a terrible company, and hasn't had issues in a while. Canidae should have workers at the factory to make sure the food is produced to their standards. I don't like the ingredients change much, but it's still a much better food than others. At least they are being upfront about the whole situation and letting consumers know before the changes happen (unlike the Timberwolf Organics fiasco of last year).

I looked at the ingredients and decided I would leave my girls on it. I thought Diamond was involved in some of the recalls too, but I guess I better do some homework on this. I really don't want to switch. My girls are doing really well on Canidae, and I like the price. If I do switch, it will probably be to Eagle Pack.

If I still fed it, I wouldn't be concerned, because I fed chicken and rice, but I believe the change of ingredients is mainly an upgrade. They are just adding more meat to the recipe. I would HOPE that they have reps at the Diamond plant, for quality control, and I kind of expect to hear that back from the Canidae rep when they e-mail me back. they are usually super fast in responding to me, so we'll see what they say. My advice to anyone is don't take your dogs off Canidae if you currently feed it, there is no reason for concern as of yet, lets just hope that there doesn't end up being any reasons for concern!

Hey everyone , like Kelly said do not panic . When Lisa & I found out that Solid Gold Wolf King was being made at a Diamaond plant we paniced and started searching for something else for Godzilla & the girls. After all our research we decided on Innova for big boned kids. Also we found out that Diamond makes alot of different brands and have to make them by the brands spec.s and are checked thoroughly, but accidents happen.If you are on Canidae you should be fine, just do not do anything rash unless you know for sure that the food is bad.

Well, the lamb and rice food has been changed to have a variety of grains, but no new meat. Canidae says that the new list reduces the carb percentage, but just by looking at the new list, you can see grain after grain (which I don't like). Right now, I think only the lamb and rice got changed, but I expect the others to be, as well, what with the rice shortage going on right now. It's not the best situation, but Canidae is handling better than I expected.

Dang! All my kitties are on Felidae and they have done great it was such a difference when we switched a few years ago, we got all the family and in laws to switch their cats and dogs :( I hope they all react well to the new formula's I won't switch unless there is a bad reaction. My kitties get a mix of Felidae with a science diet product so if anything they will go on the science diet totally. My sisters Rotties however are so sensitive I really worry about them.

Another change that my mom heard about is they're changing the 40-pound bags to 33-pound bags, but keeping the price the same. So you'll be getting less food for the same price. I've eaten Canidae canned for years and my dog housemates have eaten their kibble, but we're currently looking for another quality food in this price category. Not long ago, my mom had a discussion with the local rep, and she's not sure he's anyone she wants to do business with. Between the recent price increases and now Diamond taking over their production, mom is looking for another food.

What was the name of the rep you spoke with? Was it the Midwest rep? Unless you have gotten different info, they are definitely not making the 40lb bags go down to 33. The ALS is 40lbs, the C&R is the 33lbs, I will find my link with the new bag sizes and post it here in a few.

Okay, I have to ask.....what's wrong with Diamond foods? We feed our kids Diamond Naturals Large Breed and I though I did enough research to know that it was a fairly decent food for a resonable price. Did I miss something?!

I may have my brands mixed up, but a line of Diamond-made dog food had some sort of fungus (?? or something like that) and dogs would refuse to eat it... owners would pour gravy on it to get them to eat. Ended up making a lot of dogs very sick, some died. Mostly happened on the east coast.

Many owners learned the hard way that if their pet refuses food, there may be a really good reason!

We feed our fosters Diamond Naturals lamb and rice, too. I also mix a little Diamond into our dogs' Wellness sometimes. It's a 3 out of 5 on the dogfoodanalysis.com site. I do remember the recall they had a while back, but haven't heard anything since.

Diamond ranked higher on that site than the Science Diet that we were feeding did and in all honesty when you go through 40 pounds of food in 7 days, we needed to consider price as well. Guess I will look into this more, but will probably keep them on it. It's one of the better foods I can find around here.

Yeah, we get ours at Tractor Supply; we love that store. We were feeding Penelope Iams before and Iams and SD rank 1 out of 5, I think. With three big dogs, I totally understand the price thing. That's why I extend the Wellness with Diamond. They do great on it.

Does anyone have any idea where I can get more info about this? I'm SURE it is not going to be on Diamond's website.

I had never heard that before, but sure enough...(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22505068/) I guess it happened in 2005 or 2006.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- December 20, 2005 -- Diamond Pet Food has discovered aflatoxin in a product manufactured at our facility in Gaston, South Carolina. Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops.

Out of an abundance of caution, we have notified our distributors and recommended they hold the sale of all Diamond Pet Food products formulated with corn that were produced out of our Gaston facility (see complete list below). Please note that products manufactured at our facilities in Meta, Missouri and Lathrop, California are not affected. The Gaston facility date codes are unique from other Diamond facility codes in that either the eleventh or twelfth character in the date code will be a capital "G" (in reference to Gaston). The range of date codes being reviewed are "Best By 01-March-07" through Best By " 11-June-07". Diamond's quantitative analysis records substantiate that Diamond's corn shipments were definitively clear of aflatoxin after December 10. As such, "Best By 11-June-07" date codes or later are not affected by this notice.

States serviced by our Gaston facility include Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (eastern), Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Vermont, and Virginia.

We are rapidly analyzing retained samples of all products produced in Gaston so we can isolate specific lot numbers impacted and provide this information to our distributors, retailers and customers as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, if your pet is showing any symptoms of illness, including sluggishness or lethargy combined with a reluctance to eat, yellowish tint to the eyes and/or gums, and severe or bloody diarrhea, please consult your veterinarian immediately.

Product quality and customer satisfaction are important to us. We pledge to keep you updated as new developments occur.

Gaston Facility Products Removed From Sale

Diamond Low Fat Dog Food
Diamond Hi-Energy Dog Food
Diamond Maintenance Dog Food
Diamond Performance Dog Food
Diamond Premium Adult Dog Food
Diamond Puppy Food
Diamond Maintenance Cat Food
Diamond Professional Cat Food
Country Value Puppy
Country Value Adult Dog
Country Value High Energy Dog
Country Value Adult Cat Food
Professional Chicken & Rice Senior Dog Food
Professional Reduced Fat Chicken & Rice Dog Food
Professional Adult Dog Food
Professional Large-Breed Puppy Food
Professional Puppy Food
Professional Reduced Fat Cat Food
Professional Adult Cat Food

To my knowledge, Diamond hasn't had any issues since 2005, that was 2 1/2 years ago. The rep I spoke with today confirmed that yes, Canidae will be having some of their foods made in a facility that Diamond has, BUT, NONE OF (the several dog food companies that also have food made there, and several are also very high quality foods, whose quality has not suffered from having foods made in their plants ) share the same ingredients, except USDA meat, which I am pretty sure he said chicken. This is human grade meat...Tyson. I am waiting on an "official" quote from him, so that I can post it here, and clear up some of the rumors that are floating around. To anyone who is feeding Canidae, keep doing so , there is no reason to take your animals off it. I am satisfied, after speaking to him on the phone for almost an hour today, that there is no need to worry about anything. I will post a quote from him as soon as I get it, but please don't take your animals off it. You guys know me, I would not lie to you, it is still a good food. They have done a YEAR of test studies on feeding dogs the formulas that they have changed, which exceeds the, I believe 90 day term which they are required to do. Canidae has only made a change one other time in their formula, and they know better to make any "downgrades" to their very successful line of foods. I'll post later when I get a quote from him. (who was very nice and informative, much better than the former Midwest rep, who was a woman, so not sure who your mom spoke with, Lady Madelyn, or how long ago that was)

I also wanted to add, Canidae, Solid Gold, and other companies who use these facilities do not even use the same equipment, or areas of production, for their individual products. There is no chance of cross contamination, as each company has their own ingredients, except the chicken, as I stated.

Thanks for doing so much research into this, Kelly. I really appreciate it! I feel much better about it now.

Glad to see my memory still works! Mostly anyway...

You might want to consider Nature's Select. This is a premium dog food. It's all natural and doesn't have any corn, wheat, soy, glutens, or animal by-products. The ingredients are all domestic except for the lamb which comes from New Zealand. Nature's Select was not involved in last year's major food recall. I am not aware of any health issues related to our products.

See www.GoNaturesSelect.com for the ingredients and guaranteed analysis.

Full Disclosure: I'm the Nature's Select distributor in Central Indiana.

Our Chicken, Lamb & Rice is $.99 per pound in the 50# bag. That's a 20 to 30% larger bag that's priced less per pound many of the comparable brands! And, that price includes the free home delivery.

The Nature's Select service features a free to your door home delivery for orders more than $30 within our territory.

I think our food is much better than Nutro and many others on the market. Our dogs are doing well on it. It's a good value at the price and when you consider the free home delivery, it's a great deal.

We'll save you time and money, plus gas!