Canidae All Life Stages Dog Food Review – A great base diet!

Website Canidae
Available from Pet Circle  

Sick of reading reviews? Tired of searching for a decent dog food you can afford? I think you’ve come to the right place!

Canidae are a company I have come to trust. Very rarely do I hear a complaint about the company or their products, which suggests reliability and a good standard of manufacture.

The grain free PURE range is excellent but comes at a premium price, which makes the All Life Stages offering a good option for those on a tighter budget.

If you’re looking for a decent dog food which doesn’t come at such a high price, then this is probably a very good choice.

Canidae All Life Stages review

You’ll find other dog foods on the best rated list with a higher meat content, but for a much higher price. Especially the top freeze or air dried brands, which, although wonderful may break your bank account.

What I like most about Canidae All Life Stages is it’s a practical option for most dog owners. Feeding this as a base diet, or your go to kibble, will help you keep the cost of feeding your dog down, and there’s no reason you can’t feed one of those more expensive foods to boost nutrition. Best of both worlds?

Canidae All Life Stages Dog Food Review - A great base diet!

The main ingredients are a combination of different meats (chicken meal, turkey meal, and lamb meal), combined with a selection of rice (brown and white rice) as well as some peas, potato, and oatmeal.

It’s good to have a mix of ingredients, and the protein of 24% is above average. I find 14.5% fat a little low, but combining this with another food (air/freeze dried, BARF patties, meaty bones etc) will sort out that problem.

Canidae only use “human grade ingredients” which is likely the reason consumer feedback has been so good over the years. I can’t think of an Australian dry food which does that, which makes Canidae All Life Stages stand out from the crowd.

Canidae All Life Stages Dog Food Review - A great base diet!

Even when we look at the more minor ingredients there’s a lot of good stuff to be said. Flaxseed, ocean fish meal, alfalfa, pre and pro biotics, and preserved naturally with rosemary extract.

For the price, Canidae All Life Stages will be a really good choice for many, which is why I consider it one of the best dog foods available in Australia.

Related: Canidae PURE (More premium, limited ingredient, higher price)

Ingredients

Ingredients of Canidae All Life Stages dry dog food:

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, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, suncured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta-carotene, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, yucca schidigera extract, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, cobalt proteinate, papaya, pineapple.

Guaranteed Analysis

Guaranteed analysis of Canidae All Life Stages dry dog food:

Protein(min) 24%
Fat(min) 14.5%
Crude Fibre(max) 4%
Carbohydrates *Estimated 43.5%
* May be estimated. Read how to calculate carbohydrates in a pet food.

Calling Aussie pet lovers – join the mailing list!

8.5 Total Score
Canidae All Life Stages Dog Food Review

You can pay more money for a kibble with a higher meat content, but if you're looking for something more affordable and reliable then Canidae All Life Stages makes for a really good dog food.

PROS
  • Mixed ingredients
  • Reliable reputation

50 Comments
  1. Hello,
    Thank you for the informative review!
    We are having major problems ongoing with our nearly 12-month-old Great Dane!
    Initially he had dermodex mites when we first got him – he was on Stay Loyal, which has really not gone away.
    We’ve tried Advance and even Orijen Large Puppy biccies.
    He has just come off antibiotics again, as he has hive-like white bumps, with a secondary staph infection.
    We did try him on our go-to for our other Danes – Taste of the Wild Salmon, but he doesn’t like it, and as it is an Adult food, he starts limping on his front legs straight away.
    Would you recommend this?
    We’ve sent away some of his fur for analysis, with results pending, but we’re pretty sure he is allergic to chicken.
    He doesn’t like roo or fish, seems to like lamb, but we are at a loss! ‍♀️

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) February 13, 2023 at 10:23 pm

      Hi Suzanne, if it’s a chicken allergy then that makes life really difficult with dry foods as most contain chicken (even if it’s not the main meat ingredient). If he’s picky with any fish/roo/lamb formulas then have you tried enticing him by adding something – broth, eggs, mince, some kind of stock?

      Do you know what he was weened on by the breeder? I think in terms of dry foods Great Danes are usually restricted on protein intake, but I have to say I’m not too clued up on Great Danes.

  2. Are you able to comment on using this for a large breed puppy? I’m trying to feed my staghound/mastiff puppy quality food and so far I’m in middle of switching from Hills Science he was on at the pound to BlackHawk large breed puppy. I’d like to give him variety but there seems to be few high quality large breed puppy brands around. I’ve done some reading on keeping fat content low, calcium/phosphorous % and ratio correct to avoid musculoskeletal problems but am a novice at this.

    • There’s a few large breed puppy formulas. This may help – http://sniffout.com.au/Search?q=large+breed+puppy

    • I’m not too sure about this one but Ivory Coat has a large breed formula, pretty sure Holistic Select does also and apparently so does Wellness.

      I thought that there was more companies who listed large breed puppy but there doesn’t seem to be that many from the good brands, I guess the rest that I’ve seen are from the cheap trash brands. Well I mean the raw or freee dried brands are all life stages as well, so I was probably remembering them also.

  3. I have a problem with my puppy that is a toy poodle. She is extremely picky with her food, to the point where she she eat grass and dusty wood that she finds in our backyard, and only is little bits of her kibble once she is absolutely starving, and even then go back to hunting scraps of rubbish elsewhere. I really need help. I want her to enjoy eating her food. I’ve tired so many different brands, and she will eat them once and then not want it again. I would appreciate any help!

    • Hi Marina, how old is she? Appetite can vary a great deal in the puppy phase due to growth spurts, teething, familiarity with a food and so forth. In early stages you can add a liquid such as chicken stock or broth to a food to entice them. If you feed other foodstuffs like meat or treats she may just be ignoring the dry food because she believes she can wait for something tastier instead.

      • Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! She is 7 months old. I think you’re right about the treats – I do tend to feed her while I’m having dinner some of mine. So now when she is hungry she will go to the dining table and just cry. I’ve started to ignore that and she eventually eats her dry food thank God. Could i ask your advice on kibble? Is it okay if I only feed her kibble? Or should I be adding different things to her diet? I read on a Facebook page that kibble should just be a treat and raw food should be given most of the time? I fed her a raw diet for about a month, and she really didn’t do well on it – she seemed unwell and down, little energy etc so I started feeding her kibble again. Just need some reassuement! Thanks again!

        • Follow Rodney Habib on Facebook, some interesting stuff is usually mentioned there, he talks about adding fresh food to kibble to reduce cancer rates as were in quiet an epidemic with cancer, diabetes and obesity.
          A dog was completely cured of cancer following a ketogenic diet, so diet works but that’s kinda a common sense that’s been lost over the years.

          Dr Robb is also good to follow based on vaccines, he talks about how overdoing it is leading to a lot of pet deaths or unnecessary diseases.

          I feed a lot of different things and I feel my dogs are better for it, then they would ever be on just kibble.

    • Go on Dogs on line Forum and ask for help lots of people over there

  4. For those that may be interested: after a few weeks of experimenting, I have established that it is grain based dry dog food that creates the diarrhea issue with my BC. I am now feeding him grain free and maintain the weekly chicken necks and chicken frame, without any re-occurrence of the loose stools. (Hope this information may be helpful to others).

  5. I had my very active eleven month old border collie on Black Hawk Chicken and Grain for three months and although he appeared to be doing well on it, he constantly passed very soft stools and diarrhea.Over the last two weeks I have weaned him onto Canadae All Life Stages and the same issue exists. I also feed him chicken necks once a week and a chicken frame once week, as well as any left over vegies.
    Can you suggest a quality dry dog food that may alleviate the stool problem?

    • Hi Hewie,

      What food was your BC on prior to the Black Hawk, and were his stools fine until then? I find soft stools to be common for Black Hawk foods (the comments on the Black Hawk reviews show this), but not that common with Canidae.

      If your dog has an allergy or intolerance the easiest starting point is to try a grain free food. If that doesn’t solve the problem then it may be an intolerance to chicken or another foodstuff. As Amateria has said, you could opt for a grain free which doesn’t have chicken in it and see what happens.

      At a later date if the problems subside then it’s worth reintroducing the fresh meats (chicken necks, frames etc).

      • I got my border collie at 7 months of age from the breeder. He was on Advance puppy food and I think his stools were okay at that time. I weaned him off Advance and put him onto Black Hawk Chicken and Rice for three months. (20 kilo bag goes a long way). He is now on Canadae All Life Stages, plus the chicken frames and necks once a week to vary his diet.
        I am going to delete the chicken frames and necks for a couple of weeks and if the problem persists, I will then try him on red meat based foods. As I said earlier, I realise its going to be a case of trial and error.
        Apart from his sloppy craps, all is good, he is a very happy and active young dog.

    • Perhaps you could try putting him on a basic raw diet of lean beef or kangaroo etc. for a few days and confirm that his stools improve, then using this diet as a baseline, experiment with introducing the various processed foods until you figure out what’s causing this. Many, if not most of the major companies will provide samples if you ask which can be helpful for your testing, without ending up with piles of 2kg bags that go to waste. I was lucky enough to have a pet supply place nearby which had samples available from 3 or 4 companies, and several varieties of each.

      I should add though that a lot of these samples are dinky little quantities that are only really enough for a taste test, but the Black Hawk and Taste Of The Wild sample packets are of a decent size and probably contain enough to see how it passes through his system.

      • Thanks Alan. Coincidentally, I already thought about doing what you suggested and will give it a try this week. I have a feeling that feeding him red meat or meat based kibble, rather than chicken may be the answer. Time will tell. Cheers.

    • Depends on what’s causing the soft stools, could be the extras your giving, like us not every dog can eat everything some just can’t handle some foods, could be an ingredient in the kibble or various ingredients and finding which ones are the culprit is the worst of the worst based on someone’s testing on dog food advisor if your dog no matter how many foods you try gets soft stools it can take literally years to find out what’s causing it.

      You could however try Ivory Coat it’s ingredients are simple and don’t choose the chicken formula, choose a meat protein he hasn’t had yet.

      • Thanks for your reply, I appreciate your advice. The first thing I’ll do is stop the chicken necks and frames for a couple of weeks and see if things improve. If not, I’ll definitely try the other dry food products you have suggested. Unfortunately I guess its a matter of trial and error. I’ll give it some time and let you know what happens.

  6. My Pet Warehouse has 50% off for Black Friday on this, online only. I haven’t got Facebook but thought I’d share so maybe you could post on yours.
    Enjoy, Cam

    • None of the stuff I bought 2 days ago are on sale thank goodness! Otherwise I’d have been quiet the angry beaver that they couldn’t have told me about it sooner and that the $120 I paid could of been half price :p

      But yeah it’s good that it wasn’t, that way I can stay calm as a cucumber.

    • No worries. I knew you’d be onto it 😉 I got the boy a few half price Xmas prezzies whilst I was at it!! Haha

    • Hi , What a great deal, I just ordered 2 , Chicken& rice, and the chicken, Turkey, & Lamb.
      Thanks for the Info.

    • Already shared Cam 🙂

      And I bought a couple of bags myself!

  7. Hi. I introduced Black Hawk Lamb & Rice formula to 5 of my dogs but had to cease it after two weeks as it caused terrible, unremitting diarrhoea in 3 of my 5 dogs. I suspect it might be the rye that is so upsetting to their systems?? I now want to try Canidae All Life Stages, but I’m a little wary of the rice bran causing similar issues. Is this likely? Are there many dogs who experience gut reactions to Canidae?

  8. HI, I would like your view on fermentation products in this food, is it for
    every day use, or only when dog has an upset tum?
    I will bring home a toy poodle soon and reading your reviews is very interesting, is it good to feed probiotics everyday or will the stomach get use to it and not balance their own natural probiotics?
    I MUST CONGRATULATE YOUR CALM REPLY TO NEGATIVE COMMENTS.
    THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT EFFORT YOU HAVE PUT INTO THESE REVIEWS.
    CAROLINE.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) March 29, 2016 at 1:21 pm

      Hi Caroline, generally I don’t recommend feeding an animal the same food every day. I’m an advocate for mixing or rotating foods which will offer a more balanced diet than feeding a single brand. But to answer your question I wouldn’t be concerned as the amount of probiotics in the food is gauged for daily feeding.

      • Hi, I am a new dog owner and have given my 1 and half year old great dane X this food since he was a puppy. I am very pleased with this product as he is slim, never has a horrible dog smell and his coat is very shiny. I was just wondering though how I could offer variety into his diet, or if I should. Occasionally we crack an egg over Sam’s dry food but that is as interesting as it gets. Any advice would be great.
        Thanks, Alison

        • Pet Food Reviews August 31, 2016 at 9:42 am

          Hi Alison,

          Excellent advice by Amateria. It’s the manufacturers who want you to feed their products exclusively, but I see variety and rotation as the #1 best way to offer your dog a balanced diet.

          With Great Danes you’ll find many concerns about high protein/high fat foods causing problems with rapid growth. What people overlook is there are many types of protein, and a vast difference between meat proteins and plant/grain proteins. Feeding cheaper kibbles comprising of grain proteins will likely cause more harm in later years than a higher protein meat diet which will greater support growth and joint health.

          Supplementing a dry diet with fresh meats and eggs is a great thing to do. You have many options, and it’s worth taking advantage of human-grade meats when they’re reduced at the local supermarket. Chicken necks, frames, meaty bones, organ meats, and if you can stomach the smell anything like green tripe if your local butcher sells it. Fruits and veggies are great too, even if they’re leftovers from dinner. It’s worth researching a bit as a number of foods can be bad for dogs.

        • Haha I wrote like a pro, I also wrote that faster than any comment that size ever it was a feat for sure.

        • Good job!

        • With Rusty because Anja is picky and generally doesn’t really like food all that much, she eats only because she has to … I swear she’s so weird.

          Anyways I add yoghurt, kefir, raw milk or lactose free milk if there’s any to his food, Ziwipeak canned, K9 natural freeze dried, hoki fish freeze dried by Sunday pets, Ivory coat kibble, Ziwipeak dried and the water that’s used to rehydrate the freeze dried and I don’t give it all, all the time because than he tends to get gassy and really fat from too much food :p

          Variety is generally very important, there’s a lot of people on dog food advisor who feed a rotational diet every time their old food runs out, so different flavour for kibble totally different protein source, maybe even different brand altogether, raw feeders will change the meat they use and so on.

          Rotation allows your dog to never truly get accustomed to one type of meat protein and thus he should never get any allergic reactions from eating it his whole life, I’ve personally never witnessed this but apparently it happens a lot. (It also makes for a less picky dog I’ve heard)

          Eggs are awesome for dogs so keep doing that, add raw meat to his food and maybe even some organs from time to time, buy a can from a good brand and use that for a week, buy a small bag of air dried or freeze dried and use it 2-3 times a week or something like that small portions though don’t need to overdo it as those foods are usually pretty expensive and you don’t want to run out continuously.

          If you do feed organs ever take caution with liver too much is toxic, especially long term use of it even small amounts, it is highly beneficial for eye health though.

          I’ve seen people also add apple cider vinegar and coconut oil, I didn’t have any good results with the oil it made the dogs puke every time I tried to give it to them and it wasn’t even a big dose just a smidgen on my finger … Odd.

          Also be sure to look up dangerous foods for dogs if you haven’t already as there’s quiet a few out there.

          If you have the time scour both my pet warehouse and pet circle to see all the different options out there.

          We have plenty of food variety here to be honest so I’m sure you’ll find other foods to add if you go down that route, hope I helped and have a good day I am officially going to sleep now.

  9. Hi, I have a mini long hair dachshund and was wondering if the size of the kibble will be ok for her to eat or are they quite large?

    • Hi I just order this formula Life Stages & the kibbles are nice & small like the Pure formulas are, the size of your tiny finger nail, what kibble should be for dogs…Smaller kibble better & easier to digest then the real big size kibbles, especially if your dog scoff down his kibble & doesn’t chew….
      Patch has tried pretty much all the kibbles on the market & Canidae Pure grain free & Canidae Life Stages kibbles both smelt so fresh & are very good quality kibbles, heaps better then some kibbles I have tried with Patch……The Canidae kibbles both brands Pure & Life Stages digest easy……Patch has IBD so I do my kibble test when I buy a new kibble or I get samples, I put a couple of kibbles in a glass of very warm water, I see if the kibble floats that’s a good thing, then I see how long it takes for the kibble to swell & soften….a good kibble should only take 15-50mins to soften….Canidae only takes about 20 mins….. cause Patch has IBD he wasn’t digesting certain kibbles & was vomiting them back up 8 hours later still formed, so vet told me to soak the kibble in warm water & see how long it takes to go soft….now I make sure the kibble is easy to digest….. Holistic Select, Taste Of The Wild, Canidae, Earthborn Holistic, are all good digestable kibbles…BUT I have found most of the Australian made kibbles were the hardest & took more then 2 hours to go soft & some sunk to the bottom of the glass & were still rock hard after 2 hours in warm water….no good if you have a dog with pancreas or stomach problems….

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) March 8, 2016 at 12:58 pm

      It’s hard to say. They’re average in size. I think the Canidae Pure kibbles are a bit smaller.

  10. I am TOTALLY confused about dog food.

    I have a 7 year old Retriever X Labrador, he is an ideal weight and been on Royal Canin all his life. More of a Slim rather than a Flabby Labby. He is a bit stiff so has Synovan injections once every two months and has a fish oil tablet every day and 3.5 mg of Mobic every day.

    I am willing to change his food but have no idea what to.
    So I am paralysed by too many choices and lack of expertise.

    Can you recommend something that would be good for him ?

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) December 6, 2015 at 6:06 am

      Hi Monica, hopefully our best rated list will narrow down your search – https://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/dry-dog-food/best-dry-dog-food/

      All those foods are well formulated with oils and omega fats to aid in joint care, although it’s great that you’re using supplements. Stiffness and joint problems can stem from a poor diet as a pup or young dog, but that said there are far worse foods you could’ve fed than Royal Canin. I think you’re on the right track with the supplements and choosing one of our highly rated foods.

      • Would it be possible to rate the best day foods list using either $ per 100 g or protein/ fa/carb ratios se that you can see who is on top Value-Wise or nutrition-wise as at the moment its only sorted alphabetically. That would be helpful, thanks

  11. I have 2 boxers, 1 year old and 4 month old. They are currently on the Royal Canin Boxer Junior but after reading the review on Royal Canin i’ve had a changes of heart. Would this be suitable for my puppies considering their age? Thanks

  12. Is it better to buy smaller bags instead of the big bags? You get a better price for the bigger bags. I now put their kibble into a sealed container once opened.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) July 30, 2015 at 8:53 am

      Hi Julie, it depends on how quickly your dog eats the food. I have no problems with a 20kg bag and a medium-sized dog.

      • I have a jack cross and maltese/shitzu cross. I like that I don’t have to keep buying 2 separate foods as my jack is 9 now, so have been buying a senior food for her. My other girl is going on 2, so although small dogs would make a medium dog between them.

  13. My two German Shepherds, Male & Female were both switched onto Canidae from Eukanuba at 6 months of age. Canidae, is by far the best dry food which I have ever used. My female, had a litter of 8 two months ago and had lost a lot of weight. Within two weeks of being back on solid dry food with the occasional rice and chicken wet food meal, she got back to her normal weight of 40kg after having weighed 27kg just after pregnancy. Their coats are excellent and have shown no displeasure ever towards this dry food.

  14. We recently lost our 9 1/2 yr old Mini Schnauzer “Gromit” to a severe & sudden attack of pancreatiis, we took the hartbreaking decision to put him to sleep after he lost over 50% of his body weight and after life saving surgery and complications with his gall bladder and high bilirubin count, he soldiered on for 3 months after the initial attack.
    I like the Canidae All Life Stages food, but when we make the decision for a new mini schnauzer, I notice it has a higher fat content than most, given the MS has a propensity for pancreatitis, what other grain free natural dry food would you recommend with a less fat content?

Leave a reply

Pet Food Reviews (Australia)
Logo
Shopping cart