Possible allergy to Canidae All Life Stages - Page 1

My pup is 15 weeks old.  I switched him from Innova Large Breed Puppy to the Canidae and now 2 days later he's scratching quite a bit.  Nothing else has changed.  Doesn't make sense that he's allergic to this since it's also a really good quality food but I don't have any other ideas.

Is this possible or could I be missing something.  I know there are other things that can cause this but the timing just seems too close to be a coincidence.  

Any suggestions?

Nadine.

I had the same problem with a two year old bitch. I switched to Canidae and had bad results. The itching was driving both her and me crazy. I called the vet took his advice and gave her oral, cherry flavored, antihistamine (diphenhydramine) and switched back to her old feed. Problem was solved in about a week.

Beardog

Canidae has changed their formula and have had a lot of problems with it.  I agree go back to the old food if he was doing well on that.

Larrydee

When did Canidae change their formula?

I've fed their food for a long time. Only issue I had was a dog refused to eat a bag this past summer. That's when it was suppose to have been tainted with Acetomenophen.

Canidae is about the last food that one can find that doesn't contain barley which causes too much gas in my dogs.

Anything is possible. I love Innova but hard to find here. Why don't you just stay with that food?

Good Luck,

Birdy...

The Innova is 8$ more per bag and I think the Canidae actually has a little better meat content. 

Thanks for the input.  I'll just switch back.  Waste of $40 ;)

Canidae has changed their formula a few times and said nothing or denied changing it.   I found that out the hard way about 3 yrs ago.  Dog had been on canidae for 4 years, no problems.  Open new bag, within 1 wk full blown allergic reaction.  Compared ingredients on the label and it was different.  I switched him to raw for a couple of years, then they came out with the chicken and rice formula.  Tried that.  He did ok, but another dog who has never reacted to any dog food every started having allergic reaction to it.  So I no longer feed canidae to any of my dogs.    The first time they changed formulas there was alot of dogs itching on it.  A friend of mine thought her dog had fleas and gave more frontline. People at the local store where we were buying it came in complaining of the dogs itching as well.

No thanks.

Canidae SUCKS!  i was feeding my puppy and other 3 adults the "all life stages formula" for several months.  The pup was always scratching and the adults who'd previously been on Inova went to pot with the change.  Coats looked horrible, shedding was out of control, they lost weight and all started developing health issues when they'd been healthy prior.  I'd made the change because I wanted to have all of the dogs on a single food (in my town one dealer sells Inova and not Canidea, the other vice-versa and  the breeder had started and recommended Canidae for the pup...) 

In the end I moved the pup off of the Canidae and onto Inova Lrg breed puppy.  Everyone else went back to Inova.  Coats came back, weight came back on and shedding droppped back dramatically.  I would HIGHLY suggest staying away from Canidea.  They have the "marketing" thing down and all of the health food nuts in my area buy into it - but based on the obersvation of 4 shepherds, 3 of which are not remotely related gentically, all had BIG issues with the crap.  FWIW, I fed it for over 9 months before I had enough. 

Also, I think they change their formula ALL OF TIME.  Seems like everytime I opened a new bag my dogs would get the squirts again for a week.  Sometimes their stools would stay loose for the entire bag - other times they would firm back up and be as compacted as bricks.  This went one randomly, from bag to bag almost the entire 9 months.  This tells me things are constantly changing their formula.

I will never feed it again, and to think I was paying $45 a bag :(  Just goes to show you don't always get more for paying more.

-Calvin

I completely agree with Calvin - had the same experience last year after switching from Royal Canin GSD24.  Switched back and also feed RAW 1/2 of thier meals - couldn't be happier with coat, health, vitality or stool consistency. 

As an update:

Switched back to Innova and he has stopped itching, stools have firmed up and he's eating great.

Be warned against Canidae.

I think it's a good food and I have not had any problems with it. But I have a friend whose dog can't eat it.

You are lucky you have Innova in your area as this would be my first food preference.

Good Luck with your pup!

Birdy...