CANIDAE SUSTAIN DRY DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 2.8/10, this is considered a high risk dog food. There are 4 recipes that average 24% protein and almost double the carbohydrates at 44% as calculated, which is excessively high. 

This line loses ingredient quality points for its high carbohydrate content. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of low quality foods as it’s used to keep costs down. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance.

This line loses significant ingredient quality points for excessive added vitamins and minerals. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed raw ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes.

The line also loses ingredient quality points for including plant protein and seed oil. Plant proteins are a low cost substitute for quality animal protein. Animal sources of protein are preferred because they contain a wider array of amino acids and are more digestible. 

Seed oils like canola, safflower and sunflower are highly processed and are inflammatory as they’re rich in omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause systemic and gut inflammation. 

The ingredient safety score for this line is low, with many concerns. Like all kibbles, Canidae Sustain is ultra-processed. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Ultra processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

These foods also use foods in the top 5 ingredients known to be high in pesticide/herbicide residues including barley, lentils, peas, chickpeas, oatmeal and sorghum. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. Foods with the largest reported amount of residue will be penalized, including crops like legumes that are known to be spray-dried with glyphosate. There are also known GMO foods in the top 5 ingredients including potatoes, alfalfa and canola oil. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops and they lack nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, increase pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off.

Another ingredient safety concern is the use of rice. Rice naturally absorbs arsenic and the water it’s grown in can be contaminated with arsenic. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. Finally, points are lost as natural flavor is used in each recipe. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, which is a very low quality ingredient with limited safety studies.

One recipe in this line uses ingredient splitting which is a technique of splitting ingredients into sub-categories (like peas and pea protein) to move certain ingredients higher or lower on the ingredient list. This is often used to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food.

The company states that the salmon used in these recipes is wild-caught which has a healthier fatty acid profile than farmed fish. However, they don’t state that other fish ingredients are wild-caught, so those are likely farmed. 

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral.  

But it’s worth noting that Canidae does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Some of the foods are described as being “environmentally friendly” with “cage free chicken” but these are purely marketing terms and have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.