My dog ate Carna4 for about 4 months (review-ish)

[thuyhien]

Carna4 is synthetics-free dog food that’s available where I live(Vancouver, Canada). They use sprouted seeds in their kibble which is apparently awesome, but I couldn’t really find too much online about it being good for dogs. It’s one of the kibble brands some raw food stores here recommend as a good alternative to raw, and I opted for this since it was cheaper than other raw-kibble alternatives (ziwi peaks, etc).

I was especially happy that they had duck, since my dog loves duck. I thought, ‘well it’s duck and raw, she’ll love it for sure.’ and bought their 22lb bag. My friend also bought the same size, and later i would take it off her hands since her dog didn’t like it.

Pros:
- convenient alternative to raw feeding
- cheaper than other raw kibble brands
- no synthetics!
- each batch is hand checked and tested thoroughly
- it feeds and nourishes my dog? idk
- not smelly(?? is this a pro?)

Cons:
- texture/crunchiness: not as crunchy as other kibble, kind of like a sad, hard shortbread cookie. if somethings crunchy, my dog will tolerate it’s taste for longer.

• smell/taste:
  My dog didn’t like this dog food. Maybe it’s the lack of smell which probably reflects on the taste. We got samples of their lamb, goat, and venison and she still liked the duck best, but also wouldn’t eat it.

She is half husky though, and I read they can be quite picky with food. Everyday I would mix her food with goat milk/chicken broth/freeze dried nuggets/etc so that she would reluctantly eat it. I’ve switched her over to Orijen(tundra, but looking to move to six fish. i live in Canada.) and she gets so excited when i start preparing her food, though i’ve continued to alternate different mixers in the kibble.

• She started scooting after she pooped.
  I didn’t think much of it, until her scooting abruptly stopped 2 days after switching her to Orijen. Me and my friend who bought a bag with me also realized that her dog had been doing a lot of scooting that stopped around the time she stopped feeding her Carna4.

My dogs poops were usually pretty soft(the shape held but it was easy to accidentally smush it when picking it up),so im guessing that her anal glands weren’t getting enough pressure to expel the liquid. Sprouted seeds have a lot of probiotics so it could be giving her goat milk with that was too much and made her poops too soft.

TL;DR: Personally don’t recommend, imo there’s not really a point of raw kibble if it tastes far worse than regular kibble. But your dog might not be as picky. If I ever try again, Ill try to monitor and make sure i don’t add extra fiver/probiotics next time.

p.s. Moka says hi

 

[sheba92766]

@thuyhien So. So. Much plant material. The issue with using no meals is they order everything by weight pre cooking. Duck muscle is 75% water weight. After cooking it would most likely be at the bottom of the ingredient list. Meaning this food is primarily seeds, potatoes, and lentils and with no vitamins re added it doesn’t even seem nutritionally balanced. I’m wondering how it even meets aafco standards without a vitamin mix.

 

[thuyhien]

@sheba92766 i feel like the magical answer is sprouted seeds

 

[needmyangel]

@sheba92766 Since Carna4 isn't extruded into oblivion like most kibble, the nutrients don't have to be rebalanced with a ton of synthetics sourced from China. That's why brands that are gently air dried (e.g., Ziwi Peak) have minimal supplementation, or in the case of Carna4, no synthetics. The longer the multisyllabic vitamin mix, the more nutritionally bankrupt the food was rendered by extreme temperatures...that's the theory, anyway.

 

[kwells]

@thuyhien Omg your dog graduated from Cascadia Dog Training so did mine

 

[timiboiy23]

@thuyhien it's not raw! my dog just started this and i did notice scooting too tbh. maybe it's just an adjustment period? She started a week ago.

Her tear stains are going away though.

 

[curiousj]

@timiboiy23 Yep it's "gently cooked" lol. I know there is some evidence suggesting fresher diets have higher digestibility than extruded ones, which is what I'm hoping for, and have experienced anecdotally with Carna4.

Curious as to how your pup is doing?

It was a definitely a few weeks of an adjustment period for me, but my pup is doing well on the lamb and fish now. Dark, solid poops lol. It's been a whole year feeding Carna4 now. I'll have to take take him to the vet to make sure his vitals are good, although last we checked he was fine 6 months ago. I just want to be careful since I'm still worried about DCM, and he is a larger breed, so always happy to hear other stories.

 

[timiboiy23]

@curiousj she’s doing well! no complaints. we do 2/3 carna 4 and 1/3 raw.

she’s gaining weight after being underweight for around a year

 

[eternaljesusfan]

@timiboiy23 My dog had some scooting too when we first switched. I'll be honest, I was concerned. We stuck with it and tried to support his switch with some meaty bones for an occasional treat and eventually his poop is pretty normal now. I just noted a slight change in colour with his poop to a lighter brown which I am wondering is the same for everyone else's dog that is being fed Carna4? Otherwise I also noticed a reduction in tear stains/eye gunk, and he poops far less now too.

 

[curiousj]

@thuyhien I’m glad to see someone sharing their review! I don’t see much on this brand.

I’m currently transitioning my almost 1year old silver lab onto the chicken Carna4, coming from a kirkland chicken puppy mix from Costco. It’s been a little over a month now, and so far he’s doing okay. He was experiencing a little bit of allergies (scratching) while on the Kirkland brand, so I wanted to explore less processed options for him. I have an engineering background and I’ve done some research on dog food. I’m not too sold on the big brands—especially since a lot of the production on dog foods all comes out the same imo.

Anyway, similar to your experience, his poops have been very soft. It’s been a month now, and I’ve been transitioning him slowly, feeding half of the kirkland brand, and half of the carna4. He used to not love love his food, but he does seem to like this one.

I also started feeding him with a slow feeder, so that could also be a factor. He wasn’t that picky of an eater before, just an anxious one, and I think the slow feeder is helping a lot. But he would often leave his food and now licks the plate clean.

The pros: I haven’t noticed him scratching at all (could also be from less allergens now that we are farther into summer).

The cons: beside the price of the food, I have noticed a couple days where he smells like fish—which I’ve read is also a symptom of anal gland issues. I’m hoping by adding more water into the kibble when I feed, it will help him process all of the fiber during the transition. I’m still open to other dog food options too, but we’ll see how he does.

I was skeptical on the Carna4 brand originally, but I have contacted the company and was able to get someone to speak to me about their products and they even sent me their official response to WSAVA guidelines and feeding trials etc.

I just wish more dog food companies were more open about digestibility, since it looks like it’s the big issue with Carna4 and the biggest concern for most dog foods. Thanks for sharing your experience though OP

 

[el_toast]

@curiousj Curious if you’ve stayed with Carna4? I’ve transitioned my dog on the chicken formula for the last three weeks and he really likes it. His stool has actually been a bit less quantity and blacker but otherwise okay/regular. But he’s had stinky gas the last week or so but additional Flora4 powder seems to be helping a little. Some days I can see undigested nuggets in his stool. The store told me to give it more time for his body to adjust but curious about others’ long-term experiences?

 

[curiousj]

@el_toast Hey! Yeah I’ve still been feeding him Carna4. We’re officially on our 3rd 20lb bag and have been feeding him it 100% for the last month. We’ve been serving it with warm water in his slow feeder twice a day. The transition has gotten better. We haven’t had any stinky gas anymore so that’s a plus— I think he’s gotten used to it now. His poops are still very soft, but they are much much smaller too which I think means he’s digesting it well…but I still notice some kibble in his poop too, like I noticed some today actually… so I’m not too sure what to think about it all.

I’m still not confident in what to feed him but I think he’s doing well, and no allergies I’ve noticed so that’s good. I’m thinking of transitioning proteins, but I might wait until after our checkup at the vet. I just want him to have the best kibble…

Have you thought of other brands?

 

[el_toast]

@curiousj Thanks for the update! That’s good to hear similar experiences. I did a ton of research before starting Carna4 so I’m hoping it works out. I’m pretty skeptical of most other small, natural brands because most still use vitamin premixes and I don’t want to do grain-free, so if it doesn’t work out I might just return to the big commercial food he was eating (he’s actually had zero issues with that) or try a freeze dried option. Most of the review content online and on YouTube seems super subjective… We need a Wirecutter or Consumer Reports for pet food or something.

 

[curiousj]

@el_toast I’m pretty much on the same page. Dogs obviously benefit from grains and have adapted to our diet in that sense. Seems the controversy now is around the type of grains added ie legumes vs soy/corn etc

I don’t think vitamin premixes are inherently bad, but I also believe that vitamins aren’t as digestible & absorbed into the body as well as whole foods are. I know there’s a lot of marketing bs on every pet food brand, but Carna4 seems like the only NA brand I can find with no vitamins that’s less processed as well.

I saw ziwi peak as an option in my research, its just even more expensive to feed for a big pup.

 

[curiousj]

@el_toast Yes exactly. Let me know how your pup does and good luck to y’all both

 

[el_toast]

@curiousj @curiousj Curious what Carna4 protein you're using? I've been doing the Carna4 chicken which the nugget is a bit larger and firmer so maybe that's why it's sometimes undigested. Their "Easy-Chew" lamb nugget seems more breakable with our sample and so wondering if I should just switch proteins.

 

[curiousj]

@el_toast Hey! Yeah I’ve been feeding my dog Rocco the chicken one so far. On my 4th bag now I think, but I just changed the subscription to the lamb one today. I wanna start switching it up every month or every other month so he tries new things.

I’ve read that undigested kibble could be from not thoroughly chewing the food or from allergies or something if it happens frequently. It doesn’t happen with my dog very often. I’ve heard lamb and chicken are usually the proteins with less allergens, but I could be wrong. I’d give the lamb a shot why not. I’m sure they’ll refund if it doesn’t sit well. I do think Carna4 sells an easy chew variant if you suspect that’s the issue, or perhaps soaking the kibble a bit might help soften it up. I also highly recommend a slow feeder too if your dog eats fast. So far he’s still doing well and licking the plate clean

 

[el_toast]

@curiousj Thanks for sharing @curiousj! I'm going to switch to the lamb because it's grain-inclusive with brown rice like the chicken. Also wanted to share what I heard back from Carna4 directly (amazing that they emailed me back; great customer service):

We do occasionally hear from customers who see undigested Carna4 in their dog's stool. Since Carna4 is pressed into a kibble shape before drying it is more dense than regular extruded kibble (intense processing heat and pressure make conventional kibble puffy like breakfast cereals are). Our process creates few pores for moisture to penetrate if not chewed up first and is why our nuggets don't readily absorb added water. Most dog's digestive tracts have no issue with the harder nuggets but some may pass a few whole nuggets from time to time. We find that this issue occurs more often in dogs that really gulp down a lot of Carna4 each meal and corresponds with periods of where the dog hasn't been drinking as much water as they normally do and/or during transition to Carna4. We also find this issue can be exacerbated when water, bone broths, or something like pumpkin puree is added to Carna4 regular-sized because it actually helps the dog gulp down more nuggets whole.

Fortunately, there are a few things that we recommend to combat this....

1. Try Carna4 Easy-Chew. The Easy-Chew fish, goat, venison, and lamb recipes are puffier and will absorb moisture and break down more easily if not chewed.

2. Increase moisture intake and slow feeding. If the dog really gulps their food, we suggest a slow feeder bowl or something as simple as putting a few tennis balls in the bowl with their food so the dog must move them around while they eat. If you'd like to add moisture to the food, our Easy-chew recipes will absorb moisture more readily.

3. Add Flora4. Some dogs require a boost of the same enzymes and probiotics that are naturally present in our Carna4. This primes the digestive system to digest Carna4 more completely. Flora4 is the same blend of sprouts used in our food to contribute the probiotics and enzymes so adding a small amount will give her system a beneficial boost.

 

[tinks]

@curiousj So its been almost a year since you made this comment. Are you still feeding Carna4? My pup was crazy over it but doesn’t seem interested as much anymore. I give him the duck recipe.

Also, if your pup has allergies. Check out TCM for dogs.

 

[tinks]

@el_toast So its been almost a year since you made this comment. Are you still feeding Carna4? My pup was crazy over it but doesn’t seem interested as much anymore. I give him the duck recipe.

.