Home / Dog food / Canidae / All Life Stages High Protein Salmon & Ancient Grains Recipe

Canidae All Life Stages High Protein Salmon & Ancient Grains Recipe package official product image via Amazon

Canidae · brand facts & recall history →

Canidae All Life Stages High Protein Salmon & Ancient Grains Recipe

Dry food · all dogs

A formulated-to-meet, salmon-first dry food that's cheaper per calorie than 85% of the dry foods we've priced and denser than 100% (you feed fewer cups) — $1.23 a day for your 40-lb adult dog.

THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-10-18

$59.99 · 27 lb $1.23/day as of 2026-10-18 Check price →
Tell us about your dogevery number on this page updates live ↓
40 lb
For a 40-lb adult: 1¾ cupsper day $1.23per day 48 daysbag lasts passes 2 fit checks ↓

Joint, kidney, dental or heart concerns? Labels can't honestly answer those — that's vet territory. Why we don't checkmark them →

The evidence

The Verified Label

Every food on this site gets this exact panel — same fields, same order, sourced from the official label — so brands finally become comparable. Dots show where this food sits among all 494 dry foods we've verified.

Verified LabelThe standardized pet-food panel
VPFD № CANIDA
verified 2026-10-18

Composition — dry-matter basis

why dry matter
Kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%, so as-fed numbers are on two different scales. As-fed values shown small. How the conversion works →
Protein 33.3%label: 30% min higher than 75% of dry foods
Fat 22.2%label: 20% min higher than 96% of dry foods
Fiber 4.4%label: 4% max lower than 69% of dry foods
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimate ≈31.1%computed anchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: DHA 0.03% · Ω-3 0.85% Not yet verifiedcalcium/phosphorus no ratio to anchor

Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog

Calorie density 564 kcal/cup3914 kcal/kg denser than 100% of dry foods (median 388) — you feed fewer cups
Daily serving1¾ cups
Cost per day$1.23
27-lb bag lasts48 days

Cost per 1,000 kcal: $1.25 — cheaper than 85% of the 360 dry foods we've priced (median $1.93). Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.

Standards & ingredients

AAFCO statement
what this means
Two claims exist: formulated to meet a profile, or fed to real dogs in an AAFCO trial. Which is stronger, and how rare it is →
Formulated to meet · all_life_stages
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Salmon · Turkey Meal · Chicken Meal · Chicken Fat · Whole Grain Sorghum
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyYes
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)2 (pea protein, peas)
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
A preservative added by a fish-meal supplier need not appear on the finished label, so no label can prove its absence. Why we show gaps →
None — no fish meal in this recipe

Safety

FDA recalls — Canidae, since 2023None on record
ManufacturerNot confirmed from label
Label transparency 9 of 15 standard fields
Green = verified favorable · amber = gap in the record · red = verified unfavorable · gray = not disclosed / neutral fact.
Source: official label source (official)· price: Amazon, 2026-10-18 · anchors: 494 verified dry dog foods (360 priced) · how to read this label

The fit

For your dog, specifically

Checked for a 40-lb adult with a sensitive stomach — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your dog above and these update.

✓
Validated for adult dogsAAFCO statement covers adult maintenance.
✓
Passes our sensitive-stomach checksNamed animal protein first, and no unnamed by-products in the ingredient list.
·
Contains chickenNot selected as a concern for your dog — shown here for reference.

The source material

The full ingredient list

Every flag above is computed from this list. Why order is by pre-cooking weight, and how splitting bends it →

Salmon, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat, Whole Grain Sorghum, Millet, Pea Protein, Dried Yeast, Peas, Oatmeal, Flaxseed, Canola Oil, Pork Meal, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Salmon Oil, Natural Flavor, Threonine, Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Tryptophan, Mixed Tocopherols, Potassium Chloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Sodium Selenite, Thiamine Mononitrate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Dried Lactobacillus Casei Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum Fermentation Product, Green Tea Extract, Rosemary Extract

9 ingredients in this list are ones we hold sourced evidence on , and 2 of them are genuinely contested rather than merely unpopular online.

  • Pea protein · ingredient 7ContestedA concentrated protein fraction extracted from peas, used to raise a food's protein content without added meat. As a pea-derived pulse ingredient it falls within the group of legume ingredients examined in the FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM; metabolomic work has flagged pea-related compounds, but causation has not been shown.
  • Peas · ingredient 9ContestedA pulse (legume) used in many grain-free foods as a plant protein and carbohydrate source. Peas are central to an open FDA investigation, begun in July 2018, into a possible link between diets high in peas, other pulses, and potatoes and canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); 93% of reported products contained peas and/or lentils.
  • Named Meat/Poultry Meal (e.g., Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal) · ingredient 2Well supportedA rendered, water- and fat-reduced concentrate from a named species (AAFCO, e.g., 'chicken meal'). Because most moisture is removed it is a dense protein source (poultry meals commonly around 57-69% crude protein) and it names the species for allergy avoidance.
  • Fish oil (EPA + DHA omega-3) · ingredient 15Well supportedMarine-source omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from fish oil. A randomized, double-blinded controlled trial (Roush 2010) found improved weight-bearing in dogs with osteoarthritis, and a 2022 meta-analysis identified clear clinical analgesic efficacy for omega-3-enriched diets and supplements.
  • Mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin E) · ingredient 24Well supportedA blend of vitamin E forms (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-tocopherol) used as a natural-source antioxidant to slow fat rancidity, commonly chosen as an alternative to synthetic preservatives. EFSA concluded that tocopherol-rich extracts are safe for all animal species and the consumer and are efficacious antioxidants in feed.
  • Rosemary extract · ingredient 51Well supportedA plant-derived natural antioxidant (active compounds carnosic acid and carnosol) used to slow fat oxidation, frequently chosen as an alternative to synthetic preservatives. It is an authorized food antioxidant in the EU (E 392); JECFA established a temporary acceptable daily intake for rosemary extract expressed as carnosic acid plus carnosol.

Nutritional twins

Cheaper close matches

Verified foods with a closely matching label at a meaningfully lower cost per 1,000 kcal.

33.0% protein (DM)$0.87 / 1,000 kcal31% less per 1,000 kcal
35.6% protein (DM)$0.90 / 1,000 kcal28% less per 1,000 kcal

Label-composition matches only: same species, form, and growth stage; same primary protein where both are known; grain-free preserved; protein within 4 points and fat within 4 points, and estimated carbs within 8 points, on a dry-matter basis. Not a medical or quality recommendation.

The maker

Who makes this — and how they back it up

The five questions the WSAVA nutrition guidelines tell you to ask a pet-food company. Every answer is sourced or marked as an undisclosed gap — never guessed. This is the "is it made competently?" axis that star-rating sites skip.

Owns its manufacturing Owns its plants

Brownwood, Texas has been Canidae’s own long-standing manufacturing facility since 2012 (now also producing for merger partner Natural Balance) — recorded as owns.

source →
Employs a qualified nutritionist Undisclosed

CANIDAE did not respond to the Pet Nutrition Alliance’s 2023 manufacturer questionnaire (petnutritionalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Pet-Nutrition-Alliance-Pet-Food-Manufacturer-Report-2023.pdf, listed under "Manufactures that did not respond").

AAFCO feeding trials Undisclosed

No feeding-trial AAFCO statement found on the 64 labels we’ve verified for this brand, and no company-wide claim was found either. Most pet foods are only "formulated to meet" AAFCO profiles (a paper calculation) rather than fed to real animals in trials — this is common, not necessarily a red flag.

Publishes quality-control testing Yes — sourced

covers: pathogen testing, toxin testing, finished-product nutrient analysis. Applies to the Pure Farm to Bowl line only, not the whole brand; canidae.com/faq has no concrete QC statement.

source →
Peer-reviewed research Yes — sourced

1 PubMed paper (animal/pet filtered) list CANIDAE Pet Food Company in an author address; we checked 1 and 1 really name the company. A floor, not a total.

source →
Parent company Ethos Pet Brands (co-owned 50/50 by L Catterton and Nexus Capital Management, following Canidae’s 2023 merger with Natural Balance Pet Foods) ↗ Founded 1996 ↗ FDA recalls on record 1 on record

Full company scorecard, sources, and every SKU we've verified for this brand: Canidae brand page →