# Anyone feed Canidae ALS food?



## Game Boy (Mar 21, 2011)

I have been having soft stools for a while now. We are on wellness and they get better when I give them Metronidazole. But after a few days off of it, it is back to the soft serve for some of them. Have been considering other types of food to see if that will make a difference. Have looked at several brands. Years ago, I fed my Tasha and Hope Abady (a fish based food) and they did very well on it. Now that is mail only order for me. Any body use the Canidae ALS food? That has fish, turkey, lamb, and chicken...


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## bowdense (Feb 22, 2011)

I feed my 4-year old Norweigian Elkhound mix Canidae ALS. She does great on it. As soon as Remington is old enough (he's 4 months), I'll be switching him to it, too.


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## Sosoprano (Apr 27, 2011)

Pippa, who's almost 8 months old, is on Canidae ALS, and she's thriving. She gets all her meals in Kongs, so I usually seal the end with some kind of supplement (peanut butter, pumpkin, etc.). The combination seems to be working for her.


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

Having heard only good things, I tried this with Summer b she did terribly on it  a friend who had been feeding it for years said he also noticed his dogs having problems with the new bag at that time.. Maybe they changed something?

Ayhow, if your dogs are not doing well on Wellness, while canidae is a good brand it may not be what u are looking for now as it has so many proteins. Maybe try a simpler 1 protein food first so u can figure out what works and what doesn't? Lots if members use TOTW lamb as a good uni-protein food.. I'm sure u can get lotsof other suggestions! 

As for us... I gave up and Summers food is a product of my kitchen now  with occasional kibble additions.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

We did great with it until the formula change, and now Tally's stomach just hates it. I do think it is a great food for the price if the dog reacts well to it. We are eating Taste OF The Wild and Honest Kitchen hear at the moment, and thinking of trying Nature's Variety.


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## Game Boy (Mar 21, 2011)

Thank you everyone for your feedback. Nice to have this forum to get input.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

bowdense said:


> I feed my 4-year old Norweigian Elkhound mix Canidae ALS. She does great on it. As soon as Remington is old enough (he's 4 months), I'll be switching him to it, too.


I actually wean my puppies right onto Canidae ALS. They stay on it for the first year or so, and then I switch to Diamond Naturals. I love the Canidae but the Diamond Naturals is much more economic for me, with 4 Goldens and 2 toy dogs.


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

I have been using Canidae ALS Grain Free for years. I love it. All my dogs look great. There are no soft stools, gas or any digestive problems here. We don't have hot spots, allergies or any skin issues. We were on Wellness many years back and one of my litter of puppies did not do well on it. When talking to the company they were not much help but to blame so that is when the search began. I did love the ingredients in Innova EVO but the protein was just to high for my guys. EVO is not a option for puppies anyway. That is when I found Canidea. The ALS formula is great for all ages. I love the grain free. The protein level is higher showing some good meat and not to high they have a problem. The ALS Grain Free is great with puppies too. We got back a senior dog from one of our families because the owner was injured and could no longer take care of her. She came to us overweight and smelly. I can not explain how bad shape she was in. She was on a very poor diet. (Starts with Ben and ends with Ful) We changes her right away to the Canidea and in about three months she was a different dog. Her coat came in just beautiful. It was so bad at the time I questioned Thyroid. Couldn't believe just the diet change could make such an impact. The smell that was coming out of her pores went away. After that I was believer in the Canidea ALS Grain Free's ingredients to be a good choice for us.


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## bowdense (Feb 22, 2011)

MGMF said:


> I have been using Canidae ALS Grain Free for years. I love it. All my dogs look great. There are no soft stools, gas or any digestive problems here. We don't have hot spots, allergies or any skin issues. We were on Wellness many years back and one of my litter of puppies did not do well on it. When talking to the company they were not much help but to blame so that is when the search began. I did love the ingredients in Innova EVO but the protein was just to high for my guys. EVO is not a option for puppies anyway. That is when I found Canidea. The ALS formula is great for all ages. I love the grain free. The protein level is higher showing some good meat and not to high they have a problem. The ALS Grain Free is great with puppies too. We got back a senior dog from one of our families because the owner was injured and could no longer take care of her. She came to us overweight and smelly. I can not explain how bad shape she was in. She was on a very poor diet. (Starts with Ben and ends with Ful) We changes her right away to the Canidea and in about three months she was a different dog. Her coat came in just beautiful. It was so bad at the time I questioned Thyroid. Couldn't believe just the diet change could make such an impact. The smell that was coming out of her pores went away. After that I was believer in the Canidea ALS Grain Free's ingredients to be a good choice for us.


Why would the grain free be better than the Canidae ALS. Sorry, I am fairly new to this.


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

I just prefer the Grain Free. I do believe it is not necessary in their diet and grain are just extra filler. I think the grain free makes the company work a little harder to fill the bag with some good stuff. That is just my opinion. When looking at the ingredient I prefer the grain free:

34% protein: The grain free beginning ingredients: Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb, potatoes, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), lamb meal, ocean fish meal

24% protein: The regular beginning ingredients: Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, peas, potatoes, oatmeal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I like Wellness... but it didn't work out with both our dogs. Our collie is on a prescription diet for his digestion issues (IBS), but he eats Jacks' food for breakfast. We gave him a smidgeon with some of Jacks old food and it really upset his stomach. 

Nature's Variety did something _very bad_ to Jacks' digestion, so I would be very careful about switching to that if your dog is already having issues. 

I've wanted to try Canidae and Earthborn, but both dogs are doing really well right now on what they are eating so I've really been hesitant to rock the boat. I normally do a mix of things, but right now it's just Merrick... 

Let us all know how it goes<:


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

My dogs don't have issues with grain-not even wheat and soy-so my preference is the regular Canidae ALS. If I had a dog with issues, I would certainly use the grain free. I did try grain free for awhile (both Canidae and EVO) and could not see any difference in my dogs.

I do think my guys have iron stomachs though-I can switch them cold turkey from one food to another with no problems, although the Chinese Crested will sometimes have larger stools for a day or two.


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

I didn't use the grain free for any issue then I preferred the grain free ingredients over the regular. My guys also have steel stomachs and probably could eat anything. The good lord knows they have tried. For a price point regular is less expensive the the grain free. I just prefer more protein then grain. I am very proud how good they look and feel. Could they get that from another kind, maybe, but the grain free works for them so for now I never question it. 

It did solve the problems with the dog we got back but you can not compare Canidae to what she was eating. The other food the previous owner feed her would make even the strongest dog sick. It is a chemically colored nightmare.

Megora if your guys are doing well I would never question changing. I am not a fan of mixing food. I feel if you need to mix to get the right balance for your dogs one of them may not have enough of what they need. If all is well then it is working out just fine.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

We had our previous GSD on Canidae ALS for several years and she did great on it until the formula change, which if I remember correctly was sometime during the fall of 2008. When we started a new bag that had the new formula, she started having vomiting and diarrhea and eventually refused to eat it. A lot of other people had similar experiences with the formula change, but I guess some dogs still do fine on it. As soon as we switched her to Pro Plan, she went 100% back to her old self and didn't have any other problems. I have no idea exactly what the formula change involved or if it's still like that since it has been a few years since we used it. You may have great luck with it or you may not. It totally varies from dog to dog.


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

jwemt81 said:


> We had our previous GSD on Canidae ALS for several years and she did great on it until the formula change, which if I remember correctly was sometime during the fall of 2008. When we started a new bag that had the new formula, she started having vomiting and diarrhea and eventually refused to eat it. A lot of other people had similar experiences with the formula change, but I guess some dogs still do fine on it. As soon as we switched her to Pro Plan, she went 100% back to her old self and didn't have any other problems. I have no idea exactly what the formula change involved or if it's still like that since it has been a few years since we used it. You may have great luck with it or you may not. It totally varies from dog to dog.


The problem could have been with the notification from the company. If you feed your dogs the same thing and were going to change you would do it gradually over time. If you didn't know how could you expecially when the bag looks the same. Some dogs were not affected because some don't need to be gradually changed with stomachs of steel. The food could be good but the transition is needed. Many just instantly change with the first loose stool. Pro Plan is a big grain diet and is usually good for binding up the loose ones.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

MGMF said:


> The problem could have been with the notification from the company. If you feed your dogs the same thing and were going to change you would do it gradually over time. If you didn't know how could you expecially when the bag looks the same. Some dogs were not affected because some don't need to be gradually changed with stomachs of steel. The food could be good but the transition is needed. Many just instantly change with the first loose stool. Pro Plan is a big grain diet and is usually good for binding up the loose ones.


 I am aware of changing foods gradually and we always do that whenever switching foods; however, this was beyond just a sensitivity to a new formula with just loose stools. She became violently ill with the formula change. It wasn't just diarrhea, but massive amounts of vomiting as well that always occurred shortly after eating in several episodes. We gave it several weeks (we had no idea it was the food as we had been feeding it for years) and took her to the vet, who did a very thorough exam and blood work couldn't find anything wrong and had us feed her boiled chicken and rice for a couple of days, which helped, but then the problem started right back up when we went back to the Canidae kibble. We actually found out about the formula change from our vet, who knew that we fed Canidae and he called us about a week after we had been there to inform us of it and suggested we try a different food to see if that would clear the problem. Switching to Pro Plan was an instant cure and the vomiting and diarrhea completely stopped and she perked right back up.


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