Mage pet bug?

[H0och]

Level 27 mage using lvl 24 water pet +using focus.
I regularly recast for over 30mins trying to get a pet that does 26dmg. (lvl 24 pet dmg range is 18-26 according to pet guide)
I mainly get 16 dmg pet and then I get excited when I finally get a 22 dmg pet.
I have not seen a 24+ dmg pet yet.
Have the mage pets been nerf'd or is this a bug?
At lvl 20 I was easily getting a max dmg pet after 2 or 3 re-casts.
Anyone have any knowledge of this?