California Natural...help please

I switched my dogs from Nutrisource (because it had menadione)to California Natural Lamb and Rice. Since then ALL of the dogs have had explosive almost water like diarrhea. I know upset tummies are possible on new foods, but it never got better. Has any one else had problems with CN? Found it weird that all 3 had gotten sick on this food. But I can't find anything that they all would've gotten into that could've caused this. They are all up to date on vaccines also.

They have all been to the vets who couldn't figure out what the problem was he suggested I try different food after a few days of a bland diet. They are on a bland home cooked diet for now which has stopped the runny poops. I will be looking for another lamb and rice formula shortly. Any advice on what food? I was feeding Eagle Pack Holistic but the price went way up...I was trying to find something that was just as good but not as expensive.

I fed California Natural for a couple of months and encountered this as well about 3 months ago now. I wasn't sure if it was a bad batch of food or if they changed their formula or what. The ingredients on the side of the bag are good but the results were quite icky! I woke up to explosive diarrhea when it happened, it was terrible.

I switched to Innova Evo and have had perfect results from it. It isn't the cheapest in the world, there are other things to try though. Wellness, Orijen, Taste of the Wild are all ones that I've also liked in the past.

That's kind of weird since CN is usually a really easy food for dogs to switch to because of the really simple ingredient list. I used to work at a dog day care/boarding facility and it was our house food due to ease of digestion. If an owner had to leave a dog overnight last minute we could feed CN and the dogs did fine.

In 4 1/2 years I only saw it do dogs wrong a handful of times (and that could be easily attributed to stress).

Could be it was a bad batch or it could be that your guys just don't take to it well. Or they could have changed their formula, which would really, really suck. Just do whatever works for you and the dog, that's my opinion.

p.s. the Kirkland lamb and rice is essentially the same as CN for a cheaper price.

I would report it to them.... I never had that problem.

Hmmm...
I would take a stool sample to your vet and have them check for an overgrowth of bacteria.

Auggie had an overgrowth of bacteria and I think it was about three months ago - and it started right after we opened a new bag of Cali Natural. He got antibiotics twice a day for a week and then he was fine. We still feed Cali Natural and will continue to in the future - I just assumed the problem was that we switched flavours and, though we've done that many times in the past with zero problems, this time the switch just triggered something. (We are not going to switch flavours anymore, just in case.)

I wonder, though, if there is something that went on with the bags...
Of course, Auggie didn't have explosive diarrhea... just runny pudding poops...

Hmmmmm....

i'm actually switching to a home cooked diet because i'm loosing trust in dog food manufacturers. i've been feeding california natural for about 6 months now. ohm started off well but the last few months have been dicey, including recently a bout of the runs.

I would try giving plain canned pumpkin with their meals to see if that helps them regulate. Some plain yogurt might be a good idea as well. Did you switch them over gradually?

In my situation, when we did this they told me that both of my dogs were lacking some vital bacteria. We got all kinds of medicines after that to take care of that issue.

Typically I switch gradually to a food. When this happened, I hadn't switched in awhile. After it happened, I switched instantly and experienced firm poop results within 24 hours (of course they were also on medicines as well)

Hey all, thanks for the replies

They did go to the vets who took samples and nothing turned up the vet was stumped. I did email CN but haven't gotten a reply back yet.

I switched them gradually but still had problems. They are not on that food any more as of right now they are the home cooked chicken/rice/plain yogurt and some pumpkin diet to help with the upset tummies.