Today I went to Costco to buy dog food. I buy the Kirkland Signature Lamb & Rice in a 40lb bag. It is good quality at a good price. When I wheeled my cart down the dog food aisle, I saw no distinctive green bag. I went back the other way - nope. I went back looking for the Chicken & Rice version in the red bag - nothing. I asked - looks like we're out. I thought OK, I'll order the Diamond Naturals 40lb bag from Amazon or Chewy this month. It's basically the same thing - same manufacturer, just minor ingredient variations. Amazon had none. Chewy only had the 6lb bag - the rest was out of stock. And, the CAT dry food is ALSO out of stock... I ended up buying a bag of the Kirkland grain free salmon and rice. Same price as the lamb and rice for 5lbs less. Should get me through until next month. After leaving the store, I called Diamond Pets and asked what was going on. The woman said there is no shortage and they are not discontinuing any of their foods, including the Costco versions. When I got home, I checked Petco online. They only have the 6lb lamb and rice version, and none of the chicken and rice. I suspect something is going on. This is not normal. The majority of their dry dog foods are "out of stock". There is currently no recall for Diamond Pets foods. But now I'm second guessing feeding my dogs the bag I just bought. There is one dog food manufacturer with a current recall due to salmonella - did Diamond Pets pull back on distributing products before shipping due to salmonella? Is my new bag of the salmon and rice actually older stock and safe? If stores are restocked in the next few weeks does that mean everything is good? Fortunately, I have enough of the cat food to get me through March - I bought the bag last month and just opened it the other day and the cats have been eating it with no issue, so it's good. But I only have enough of the prior bag of dog food for tonight's meal. So tomorrow I will have to open the bag of salmon and rice... I guess I'll be watching the dogs very carefully over the next week.
If you’re really concerned you could always go buy another brand of food and return what you’ve got. Certainly a frustrating situation. I’ve found a food my dogs seem to do well on and I’d be really frustrated if it was unavailable. Not sure what I’d switch them to. I buy two 25lb bags at a time.
I thought about that. Costco had Blue Buffalo (which I don't trust after they lied about their ingredients) and a cheap food that I didn't trust. But, if Diamond didn't distribute bags due to the potential of contamination, then that actually gives me more trust in them. I just hope this is a very temporary situation and by next month it will all be back to normal. Like you, I don't know what I'd switch them to. They do great on the kirkland. And I worry that Punx won't like a new dry cat food. She really likes the kirkland and I worry a new food will have her not eating again. I just hate when they mess with things that work.
That is frustrating. I agree that there must be something going on when multiple stockists are all out of stock at the same time. I wonder whether they could be using imported ingredients - the majority of bulk tankers are avoiding the Red Sea at present. Do you have any small producers? (non multinational). We are lucky that there are production plants in Staffordshire, Lancashire and North Wales which all have reliable products. (The Lancashire one makes products under several labels). I have been happy with Tally's Welsh low-calorie food, though I think she prefers the flavour of Turkey to Salmon. Beagles are so greedy that it makes very little difference though, and she gets a meat topper anyway.
I did get an email response from Diamond. Dawn, Product Specialist, states: Some retailers may be temporarily out of stock at this time, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We encourage you to keep a close eye on the inventory for both local stores as well as online retailers. We are doing our best to meet the growing demand and get available supply to our retail partners. We take this supply issue seriously, which is why we are building a new pet food manufacturing facility which will be completed in Fall 2024. This will help us provide even more quality pet food to our growing Diamond family. We are not discontinuing any formulations and are working hard to get everyone restocked. We are not having a recall or any clusters of concerns on any batches. So, there is apparently a current shortage due to increased demand, but they are working on it. I feel much better now. I'll use the salmon this monthvand can hopefully go back to our usual next month.
I don't know of any non-multinationals except for maybe some extra expensive boutique foods - and I'm not sold on those. It could be a supply issue, although as Dawn indicated they were adding a new plant, I wonder if it's just that they have become more successful and just couldn't keep up with demand. They are more affordable than many of the other quality brands. And they do have a good assortment of varieties. My two are actually pretty relaxed when it comes to meals. Cat-dog is a slow eater (she actually chews her food) but doesn't leave until the food is gone. We had to work on that in the beginning - her foster home kept feeding her hot dogs and cream cheese because she wouldn't eat the dog food... Tornado-dog likes to eat a bite and then come say hello, then eat a bit more, then check out something, then eat some more... They switch bowls mid-meal (sometimes several times) and he is always barking to go out before she has found that last little kibble. It took a while to work out amounts because of that. We finally have it so Tornado-dog is slightly square and Cat-dog looks great. If I fed less, Cat-dog got too thin; if I fed more, Tornado-dog got too fat. Bat-dog was my beagle... She inhaled her food. Moose-dog would take all day to eat if he could. But Qthe amounts are weird: Cat-dog (85lbs) - 3 cups daily. Good weight. Tornado-dog (60lbs) - 1-1/2 cups daily. A bit square. Moose-dog (85lbs) - 5-1/2 cups daily until he was about 5 years old and then 4-1/2 cups daily. And he was always declared "at perfect weight". Bat-dog (65lbs) - 2-1/2 cups daily. She was usually a bit square too. But her energy level was much LESS than Tornado-dog's. I knew Moose-dog had a very fast metabolism. But I never expected Tornado-dog to be healthy on less food than Bat-dog.
My boy will only eat chicken breast done in the microwave and then has days where he'll eat nothing. On the days he does eat and eats well, he'll graze on Harringtons dry food. Believe me, I've tried everything with this little lad even, on vet advice to leave the food down over two or three days and he'll eat it. She doesn't know my lad. Five days in, losing weight and he still wouldn't eat bloody dog food. Ted was certainly sent to try me
Oh what a brat!!!! That is my fear with Punx - that she'll get too persnickety and not eat at all for days. Cat-dog was headed that direction. The foster home was giving in to her. She has since learned that eating her food means she gets the bedtime cookie and occasional people treat. Tornado-dog has declared that bedtime cookie is actually "if the cats get fed, we get a cookie" cookie. Those nights that Punx wants an extra meal or two, he sits at the cookie bin waiting.
His problem stems from a breeder who had 5 dogs, put one plate of cooked chicken, one of lamb, one of scrambled eggs, one of something I couldn't identify and a small one of kibble. The dogs were allowed to graze at will or not as the case may be. I've spent a fortune on different dog foods both wet and dry and the chicken and small bits of Harringtons are the only combination he'll eat. Fortunately at around 7lbs, he doesn't need huge amounts to eat
That's tough. I don't understand how people can think up all these ways to screw with a dog's mind. I've been fortunate in that any bad eating habits my dogs came home with were easily banished.
