For those who are kibble feeders. Just went to get dog food and found out that Canidae has gone the way of Iams, Eukanuba, etc. etc. They sold out to an investor who has changed the formulas. The owner of the store suggested switching to Nutri Source which he says is nearly identical to the old Canidae.

Hi, Kory,

Do you have a link? I missed reading about any recent change to their ownership.

Unless you mean the Diamond connection, from 2008? And then I read in 2012 that Canidae broke away from Diamond and bought their own plant ....

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/4/prweb9434480.htm

I don't. All I know is what the store owner told me. He said it was all over Facebook, but I don't do Facebook or Twitter or any of that type of stuff. He said the people at Canidae who had always said they'd never sell out had all either retired or left the company for some other reason and the people left sold out. He was really upset because Canidae is the only food he has sold for years.

All I've heard is that Petco will now carry the food. Haven't heard anything about the company being sold. Some people are saying they've sold out because for a long time Canidae said they would only sell through independent retailers and not big chain stores.

The store owner seemed to know for sure that the formula had been changed and it wasn't a good change

From what I saw, people are saying because it will now be in more of a mass market, the qualiy is sure to change. But I have not yet found any evidence to say that that has already happened. Does he have a source besides FB that he can point people to?

I'm not sure Mary. I know he was trying to find other stores to buy out their stock because he's a boarding/training facility and that's all he feeds so he's trying to make sure he has enough to be able to switch all the dogs gradually. I wouldn't think he'd go to all that trouble if he wasn't sure that the formula was changing. I know he said that he could no longer get the old formula and that's why he was switching to this Nutri Source food because it was the closest thing to the old Canidae that is out there right now.

The website says new packaging but NO change in ingredients.

If I have learned anything from working retail for ~6 years, and 5 of those in various pet stores, it is to take EVERYTHING a salesperson says with a grain of salt.

Whether the formula has been changed or not been changed, it seems to me that keeping an eye on the list of ingredients will tell you whether Canidae has "gone the way of Iams, Eukanuba, etc." Right now, they are a middle-of-the-road dry kibble, not the greatest out there, but far from the worst. Although I don't use it, I might; but there's no way those other two brands would cross my doorstep.

If you are a kibble feeder, and you don't want to spend the money for the ultra-premium stuff, there are still a lot of brands and varieties to choose from that I think would be in the same category, quality-wise, as Canidae, assuming they do change their formula in a not-good way.

Lots of companies get bought and sold for various reasons. I just learned that Natural Balance has been bought by Del Monte. That is a brand that has been in my rotation. I'm not panicking; I'll keep an eye on things like the ingredient list.

I do realize that there can be a big difference in the quality of ingredients, too. I don't see how the average consumer can really know much about that other than to keep up on the latest news and research and rely on websites and publications like the "Whole Dog Journal" to do that kind of investigation for us.

I buy my dog food from an independent retailer, just because I like them and want to give my business to the local people, but we have plenty of the chain stores around, too, and I have noticed that they are all starting to carry what most of us would consider higher-quality brands. I'm sure that's due to consumer demand, which means consumer education, which is a good thing.

I guess we'll see. He seemed pretty frustrated by the fact that he was going to have to switch all his boarding, day care dogs and his own Bouvier's after using Canidae for so many years. Didn't seem like he'd go to all this trouble for nothing