Canidae All Life Stages High Protein Salmon Ancient Grains: our recipe review

Canidae · All Life Stages High Protein Salmon Ancient Grains · Dry food · All life stages

On the facts printed on its own label, Canidae All Life Stages High Protein Salmon Ancient Grains scores 88 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Salmon, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 30% crude protein it ranks 7 of the 30 Canidae recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 20%.

At 564 kcal a cup it is calorie dense: small measuring errors become extra meals over a month, so this is a food to weigh rather than eyeball. Legumes appear on 3 separate lines of the panel (pea protein, peas, suncured alfalfa meal). Read together they would sit higher in the order than any one of them does alone, and they carry part of the protein figure with them. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation: balanced on paper against the AAFCO nutrient profiles rather than fed to dogs in a trial. The brand carries one FDA posted recall event in our check, set out below with its date.

The panel runs to 48 ingredient lines. 6 of them are animal source lines and 9 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 4, so 3 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 18 of 48: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 22; the 27 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is All Life Stages Real Salmon Ancient Grains, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has turkey meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate), chicken fat, pea protein, where its relative has barley, brown rice, white rice. The full comparison is on the relative's own review page.

The label facts

How the score breaks down

Ingredient notes: the first ten, one by one

Definitions below are written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words. They describe what an ingredient is, never what a brand claims about it. Names that appear in our ingredient dictionary link to it; the dictionary counts how many scored recipes carry each ingredient.

• Salmon. Salmon is a named fish, bringing animal protein and, in oily species, omega 3 fats. Fish first panels suit dogs that react to land meats.
• turkey meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate). turkey meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate) is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
• chicken meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate). chicken meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate) is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
• chicken fat. chicken fat is rendered fat from the named source. Fat is the densest energy in the recipe and carries much of its flavor.
• whole grain sorghum. whole grain sorghum is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fiber or plant protein to the panel.
• millet. millet is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fiber or plant protein to the panel.
• pea protein. pea protein is one fraction of the pea, split out and listed on its own. Each fraction is a small share of the whole pea, so several pea lines on one panel add up to more pea than any single line suggests.
• dried yeast. dried yeast sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
• peas. peas is a legume bringing starch, fiber and plant protein together. Legumes help a panel reach its protein figure without meat, which is worth knowing when you read the protein line.
• oatmeal. oatmeal is a whole grain that digests slowly and brings soluble fiber, a steady energy source in grain inclusive recipes.

One pattern to see whole: legumes appear on 3 lines of this panel. Makers split one plant family across several named forms (whole, protein, starch, fiber), and each form is legal on its own line. Read as a family, they would rank higher in the order than any one line does.

The brand's recall record

2012: Four Canidae dry dog foods (All Life Stages, Chicken Meal and Rice, Lamb Meal and Rice, and Platinum) were recalled in May 2012 after Salmonella was found at the Diamond Pet Foods plant in Gaston, South Carolina, where those foods were made. The FDA posted the recall notice.

The 2012 event sits with the contract manufacturer that made those dry foods, and it is old. We count it because quality systems belong to the maker, and we say plainly that it was a manufacturer plant event so readers can weigh it fairly.

See the full dog food recall tracker for recent events across all brands.

Other Canidae recipes we scored

Those are the twelve highest scoring of the 29 other Canidae recipes we scored. The full comparison, flagship review included, is on the Canidae brand review.

Feeding it

Switch foods gradually over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. Portion by calories, not by the look of the bowl: our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight, and this recipe's calorie line above is the number it needs.

What that means at the bowl, for a typical neutered adult (resting energy 70 times body weight to the power 0.75, times 1.6; treats come out of the same budget):

Puppies, pregnant dogs and very active dogs need more; older and weight watching dogs need less. The calculator linked above adjusts for those cases.