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wow, innova evo

judy

Well-known member
i've had several kinds of premium kibble around the house, and have been dissatisfied because zack never seems to like any of them, he just eats them begrudgingly. I had settled on California Natural lamb and rice. but i decided to do one of those taste test things like they used to have on TV commercials, like where people were blindfolded and ate different kinds of butter.

since he doesn't love his kibble, there's always some sitting in his bowl, most of the day. he does finish it each day, about a half a cup twice day, but it sits there for a while. So, i got another (identical) bowl (i have a bunch of identical bowls that came with the air tight containers i have) and put Royal Canin in right next to his bowl with CN Lamb and Rice. He perked up and ate about half the Royal Canin. but then, he left it there and later finished the CN, and the Royal Canin just sat there the whole next day while he continued to eat the CN. OK, so check off the Royal Canin.

Next i put Canadae all life stages in a bowl next to the bowl with the CN. Again, he showed more interest in the new food but didn't finish it and later finished his CN. The Canadae sat there into the next day, so i got rid of it, and marked it off the imaginary list. Actually the second one i tried, before the Canadae, was Grammys Pot Pie Merrick kibble. He didin't even touch that. So, good bye Grammys.

Yesterday at the pet store i got Innova Evo, the Chicken/Turkey one, for him to try, and i put it in a bowl next to the bowl with what was left of the Canadae and what was left of the CN, so now there were three bowls on the floor. He just wolfed down the Innova. Way different from how he reacted to the other kibbles. I waited to see if he would eat the other brands, since he was acting hungry, but he didn't. They have sat there until today. I gave him a little more Innova last night and he ate it all. I gave him more this morning and he ate most of it. this is the first time he didn't eat just part of a new kibble and then return to the CN.

So i'm happy about this, because i kept thinking "Isn't there a healthy kibble that will taste good to him?" i wanted to give him something healthy that he would enjoy. So, since he seems to really like this kind,
i can now adjust how much to give him so he won't overeat and gain weight.

it may be premature, we may be in a honeymoon phase with the Innova. but i think i'll stick with it from now on anyway based on its good reviews and the philosophy behind it.

Coincidentally, when i first got Zack, the woman i got him from was feeding the dogs Innova and i bought some on my way home with him, but i don't remember now if she used the Evo or a different Innova. At that time, one Innova was the same as another to me, and the people at the store sold me the Innova Puppy food. Because he had diarrhea from the beginning, i ended up trying all these different kibbles. but i never tried the Evo. I think i'll get the red meat version and switch him off between the two kinds of Evo for variety. He sure seems to appreciate variety.

uh oh. while i was writing this, i smelled something awful. It smelled like somebody pooped in the house. :yikes I got up in trepidation to go look, and as i got up, zack came out from behind the chair. Gas!! It looks like Innova Evo gives him gas. He's never had gas before. :?

i was going to get some Evo for the cat too...

now that i think about it, he had a big poop this morning. I thought it seemed kind of soft... ok, i'll stay tuned and play it by ear.. or by nose. maybe he'll adjust, or maybe it's back to the CN.
 
Hi Judy,

Sometimes it can play havoc with their digestive systems by changing foods all the time. Give the Innova a trial period and if you want to change again then do it gradually by mixing in bits of that with the new food.

I buy two bags of food every 6-7 weeks and what I do is buy 2 different flavours. They have one for breakfast and one for dinner. I wouldn't want to eat the same thing every mealtime and I doubt my boys do either :lol: Wouldn't you get bored if you had the same flavour every meal time? :yuk:
 
Judy I just switched King to Innova EVO...He really seems to love it...Prob just like Zack does...Also from what I've seen the reason why dogs liek the EVO so much cuz its rich in flavor and it also kinda smells like "cat food"...also from what I've compared in the store...EVO dog and cat are pretty much the exact same so u could prob let both Zack and ur cat eat each others foods..but I prob wouldn't let them eat each others foods cuz dog food is for dogs cat food is for cats.....but I've seen dogs eat only cat food cuz its taste better to them....But good luck with switching foods
 
Is Innova Evo available at Petsmart/Petco or do you have to find a specialty store or order it online or something? It sounds great. Our current food has great ingredients, but our dog occasionally gets sick from it...
 
Judy I'd really settle on one and just feed it consistently for at least 2 months before switching him to new kibbles, if you really feel you need to switch at all (personally I think supplementing the kibble with 'real food' is a much better option then switching around kibbles -- dogs hardly chew them most of the time and I don;t think ponder the taste too much! :lol:). N Zack's case I would not be switching kibbles at all, nor feeding several varieties. Why? Feeding one consistent choice of food and not shifting around so much is very important for a dog that has a history of serious digestive problems; it is simply asking for problems to recur to keep moving him around from food to food and also is going to train him to be a very picky eater, though I know you are trying to find what he likes. Two important tips: Don't worry about what he seems to like, and only put his food bowl down for 15 minutes, don't leave it there for the day.

What he has now trained you to do is allow him to freefeed at his leisure, and to make you keep switching his kibble which is great fun for him. Here is what MOST dogs like: the cheapest, junkiest foods on the market. Why? because just like human snack foods they are highly processed and then coated with strong flavourings and enhancers to make them extra palatable. So what a dog likes in a kind of taste test really isn't all that important. He may just choose one food one day and another the next quite randomly, not because he prefers one to another.

If you want him to enjoy his food more, just blend in some finely minced boiled or baked chicken or cooked ground beef or some tinned sardines etc so that it is spread thru the food. Or make one of the stew recipes I have posted in the Library section and add some of that daily to the kibble and mix well.

But again, put it on the floor for 15 minutes then that is it. And just pick a kibble whose ingredents suit you and have suited his digestion in the past and use that. I wouldn't even be moving a dog like Zack at all to new kibbles full stop -- I'd just use one and stick with it.
 
Maxxs_Mummy said:
Hi Judy,

Sometimes it can play havoc with their digestive systems by changing foods all the time. Give the Innova a trial period and if you want to change again then do it gradually by mixing in bits of that with the new food.

changing foods on zack never showed any digestive symptoms before, and i've switched around a number of times. but for the first time, it looks likely that switching him to the Evo has caused symptoms. I think it's because the Evo is so different in composition from the others. the others have some differnces, but seem basically the same. Anyway, their effect of Zack has seemed the same. But the Evo clearly appealed to him more, no doubt about it. But i did smell gas, he's never had it before, and then at the dog park he had a really loose stool, which he hasn't had at all since switching to kibble. It's very likely from the Evo.
So, i will try mixing it with the CN Lamb and Rice that he's mainly been eating for weeks. I put a small amount of Evo in with the CN tonight. I'll try to switch him over gradually. I hope he can eat the Evo, but if it continues to cause symptoms, i'll stick with the CN.

I buy two bags of food every 6-7 weeks and what I do is buy 2 different flavours. They have one for breakfast and one for dinner. I wouldn't want to eat the same thing every mealtime and I doubt my boys do either :lol: Wouldn't you get bored if you had the same flavour every meal time? :yuk:

i think this is true for Zack, he has shown behavior suggesting he likes a change. So, i had thought i would switch off between the two kinds of Evo. but now i will have to wait and see if his body agrees with the Evo after gradually switching over for a couple of weeks.
 
Kingofthehouse86 said:
Judy I just switched King to Innova EVO...He really seems to love it...Prob just like Zack does...Also from what I've seen the reason why dogs liek the EVO so much cuz its rich in flavor and it also kinda smells like "cat food"...also from what I've compared in the store...EVO dog and cat are pretty much the exact same so u could prob let both Zack and ur cat eat each others foods..but I prob wouldn't let them eat each others foods cuz dog food is for dogs cat food is for cats.....but I've seen dogs eat only cat food cuz its taste better to them....But good luck with switching foods

thanks for that info aaron. I was warned not to let zack eat fluffy's food because it would be too rich, too much protein and fat, so that makes sense. No doubt about it, he sure likes her food better than his. no wonder he showed a different degree of attraction to the Evo. did you switch King over gradually?
 
RockNRollCav said:
Is Innova Evo available at Petsmart/Petco or do you have to find a specialty store or order it online or something? It sounds great. Our current food has great ingredients, but our dog occasionally gets sick from it...

I'll bet they have it at PetSmart/PetCo. I got it at Centinela Feed and Pet Supply, which is the same kind of store as those.
 
Well Judy yes and no....i mixed the evo in he was eatin more of the EVO and less of the Beneful....but 2nit his totally ignored the Beneful in his dish and ate all the EVO he even licked all the Meaty Mix Chicken off the Beneful..which he never did..He spit all the Beneful kibbles on the floor and ate the EVO..So goodbye crappy Beneful!!! Hello wonderful Innova:EVO!!!
 
karlin said:
Judy I'd really settle on one and just feed it consistently for at least 2 months before switching him to new kibbles, if you really feel you need to switch at all

it's not that i want to switch just to switch. I never switch the cat's food unless i can't get to the store where they have the kind i was using, and i never switched my other dogs' foods. It's just that Zack has seemed so unhappy with his food. the cat seems to like hers. My other dogs ate like they liked it. It's been different with Zack.

What i was doing with the taste tests in the past week was, i have all these kinds of kibble taking up space and i wanted to get rid of the ones that weren't his favorite, and as you've encouraged before, just stick with one. So, before throwing them away, i was trying each one, and i know now from this experiment, that he likes the CN Lamb and Rice the best. But i tried the Innova because of what i heard about it, that it's really different from all the others, and was pleased to see he actually likes it, like the cat likes her food. It's good to see him liking it. If it agrees with his digestion, i will sitck with that. but it did affect him, i guess because it's richer than the others. so, i'll try changing it gradually. Otherwise, CN Lamb and Rice it will be.

(personally I think supplementing the kibble with 'real food' is a much better option then switching around kibbles -- dogs hardly chew them most of the time and I don;t think ponder the taste too much! :lol:).

zack does chew them. He often takes them bite by bite into the living room, lays down on the floor and slowly chews them up bit by bit.

As for mixing in real food, you should see how he picked the cottage cheese out from the white rice that i made for him a few times before. Can you believe he managed to lick the cottage cheese off and leave the grains of rice?! :? That's why i stopped cooking for him--it was making him a picky eater who would only the part he liked, so that he wasn't getting all the nutrients.

N Zack's case I would not be switching kibbles at all, nor feeding several varieties. Why? Feeding one consistent choice of food and not shifting around so much is very important for a dog that has a history of serious digestive problems; it is simply asking for problems to recur to keep moving him around from food to food

His digestive problems went away overnight when he got the worming medication so i don't think of him as having digestive problems. He hasn't shown any sensitivity to any food before, except just now, today, from the Evo. But i haven't expected those digestive symptoms to recur because he was thoroughly dewormed and it was apparently worms messing up his digestive tract. If he really was prone to digestive problems, wouldn't he show some kind of reaction to various foods, or to having his food switched all at once, or in general? He never shows any symptoms of digestive problems.

and also is going to train him to be a very picky eater, though I know you are trying to find what he likes.

i have been convinced by your opinion on this, and it has completely put a stop to what was a tendency toward getting picky a few months ago. I was changing foods because he was not eating anything but boiled chicken and rice, everything else he was rejecting, and i kept trying to find a kibble that would appeal to him, but as soon as i changed my behavior by just giving him one kind of food, he adapted the same day and just like that, there was no more picky eater issue. I was prepared to just give him that kind of food whether he ate it or not, but as it is, he ate it. The only reason i've been switching kibbles is because of that earlier era when i ended up with a supply of several kinds and nothing else to do with them except try them on Zack. So in the past week, this was my final process of elimination to get the extra foods out of the way, and it was looking like CN Lamb and Rice hands down, i got rid of the others, there wasn't much left of them anyway. but someone had been discussing Evo on a mail list, and it seemed like a good thing to feed a dog so since my pet store will let me return it if the dog doesn't like it, i though i would let Zack try it. I really didn't expect him to like it as much as he did. but Aaron has explained why that happened--it's like cat food, it's more rich. and this also probably explains why he had loose stool the following day. That is definitely a food i should change to gradually. Anyway, i hope it's more clear how i ended up offering him so many kinds of food, and that i have been at the end of this process, getting rid of the ones that he doesn't like in order to settle on just one.

Two important tips: Don't worry about what he seems to like, and only put his food bowl down for 15 minutes, don't leave it there for the day.

Yes, i agree with this. i have not implemented it because he has free run of the house during the day when i'm not here and i don't want to leave him hungry for fear he might be end up exercising some nervous behavior if hunger is bothering him, such as chewing my stuff instead of his toys. But when i saw how much he liked the Evo, i had visions of feeding him two meals a day, not leaving the food for free feeding anymore, because he would eat the Evo and i wouldn't worry about him chewing my stuff if he was having a gnawing in his stomach making him on edge. The transition to him having the whole living room etc to hang out in during the day has gone so well, better than anticipated, and maybe it's because of doing things like making sure he has food, toys, and exercise/play. but not free feeding is a piece of the ideal dog care picture that i'm working toward.

What he has now trained you to do is allow him to freefeed at his leisure, and to make you keep switching his kibble which is great fun for him.

I see it as my choice rather than his--what i mean is, whatever i decide to do, he will go along with. he will eat what i decide he will eat. I am trying to find a food that he will enjoy the way the cat enjoys hers, if i can, but until gettign the Evo yesterday, i was about to give up on that goal. As far as it being fun for him for me to switch his kibble, i wish you could see him with these kibbles. the word Fun does not come to mind. He is very unimpressed with them. He will eat them. He is just not glad to get them, ever, at all, until i gave him the Evo yesterday. He seemed to like it the same way he used to like boiled chicken and rice.

Here is what MOST dogs like: the cheapest, junkiest foods on the market. Why? because just like human snack foods they are highly processed and then coated with strong flavourings and enhancers to make them extra palatable.

yes, i've been aware of this. Those flavorings must not be very healthy because the healthy kibbles i've been getting don't seem to have those appealing flavors. I was just about to resign myself to choosing healthy but unappealing kibble as of yesterday morning.


So what a dog likes in a kind of taste test really isn't all that important. He may just choose one food one day and another the next quite randomly, not because he prefers one to another.

He did show a clear consistent preference for CN Lamb and Rice over Merrick, Candadae and Royal Canin. But he still didn't seem to enjoy it. He just chose it when he had the choice. The Evo, he clearly enjoyed. And that seems legitimate to me, that he should get to enjoy his food if possible.

If you want him to enjoy his food more, just blend in some finely minced boiled or baked chicken or cooked ground beef or some tinned sardines etc so that it is spread thru the food.

He's demonstrated the ability to lick off the stuff he likes and leave the rest. And, when i feed him that kind of stuff, he tends to be even less pleased with the kibble....

Or make one of the stew recipes I have posted in the Library section and add some of that daily to the kibble and mix well.

I will look at those. Maybe there will be some way of mixing it with the kibble so he can't lick it off.

....I wouldn't even be moving a dog like Zack at all to new kibbles full stop -- I'd just use one and stick with it.

If his digestive system was infested with worms and he had no more problems after the worms were eliminated, why would he be seen as a dog with digestive vulnerabilities?

Thank goodness he hasn't shown any sensitivities to anything, until now where it seems that the Evo threw him off, full stop like you say. Since he likes it and it comes highly spoken of, i hope i can gradually switch him over to it, but if not, at least i know he will tolerate the lamb and rice california natural and can fall back on that.

Your suggestions make good sense and are much appreciated. Again, it was great to get some perspective on the whole merry go round of trying different foods, thinking he was going to starve if i didnt find something he liked. That was all in my imagination, which i was able to see from what you said. :lol: he was just following along, doing his part of the dance i was unwittingly creating. then i ended up with all those containers of kibble that were taking up so much space.

i'm glad to get him on just one food, like all my other animals that i've had. Not because he is calling the shots but because of my own feelings, i am hoping to find something he can enjoy, the way my other animals appear/ed to enjoy their food. but either way, i now have more space on the kitchen floor, and only two kinds of kibble to think about. :)
 
I've never seen Innova in Ireland.

The best foods here are in my opinion:

Burns
Royal Canin
James Wellbeloved
Clinivet

There are a couple of more unusual foods as well but you will have a harder time finding a distributor. Burns and Clinivet can be quite hard to find as well. The dog shows especially on St Pats day are a good time to go get an overview of available foods and find out where they are available.
 
Judy - Busta is a really picky eater - but he loves James Wellbeloved, but even now he sticks his nose up at it sometimes, I just talk the dish up and he will either eat it later when he barks at it - or it goes back in his jar and then I give it back to him in the morning which he will always eat.

I don't think you should keep changing his food (he did have a funny belly in the beginning), buy a really good quality food as per Karlins messagne -and try him on it (introduce it slow to the current one he is having) - if he does'nt eat miss that feed, try again half an hour to an hour later or try again in the morning.

I am sure he will wolf it down then.
 
Judy how's Zack liking the Innova:EVO??? King absolutly loves the stuff...Tonit he had the Evo wit grated carrots, grated NBL turkey roll, and lil Vets Choise Meaty Mix Chicken all mixed up he ate faster then I've ever seen him eat..he enjoyed every bit of it... I also gave him a couple of dried cranberries only like 2-3 he sniffed them for a sec then gobbled all 3 in one bite....lol so now i found a food that King loves and is healthy for him at the same time
 
Claire said:
Judy - Busta is a really picky eater - but he loves James Wellbeloved, but even now he sticks his nose up at it sometimes, I just talk the dish up and he will either eat it later when he barks at it - or it goes back in his jar and then I give it back to him in the morning which he will always eat.

He barks at it? :)

Anyway, you're right, i think that is the key to the whole thing, as Karlin says. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Take the food away and when he gets fed again, it will be a happy reunion between him and the food, he will show the otherwise missing pleasure. It's understandable that he doesn't feel the same way about kibble that he feels about boiled range free chicken and rice of course, but things can get better between him and kibble...

I don't think you should keep changing his food (he did have a funny belly in the beginning),

the thing is, i'm not sure it's accurate to think of him as having sensitve or troubled digestion or difficulty with foods. He's never shown any difficulty with any foods, canned food did cause softer stools, but that's normal from what i hear. But the digestive problems he had in the beginning, in retrospect, seem to have been caused by an infestation with some parasite or something which was allowed to get worse and worse by misdiagnosis. If he had been corretly diagnosed the first day i took him to the vet with the diarrhea, he would've been properly treated and his diarrhea would've lasted two days and then become a thing of the past, vomiting never would've developed, and the concept of Zack being a dog with tendencies toward digestive problems never would've been born. Or, if instead of listening to the vet, i'd just taken the advice of the woman i got him from who felt sure it was parasites/worms, provided me with medications that would've immediately gotten rid of the diarrhea for good, but instead i put her medications aside and followed the vet's advice and gave him the worthless ineffective medication the vet prescribed. And so, Zack came to be seen as a kind of dog who has digestive problems. but it seems that the only problem his digestion had was being clogged with worms. :yuk: that, and it taking a month and several switches of vets to find that out and fix it.

I hope im right. I haven't seen any evidence that he has an abnormally sensitive digestion. So far anyway. i don't want to see him as having a problem he doesn't have. There are enough real problems in the course of a lifetime...

buy a really good quality food as per Karlins messagne -and try him on it (introduce it slow to the current one he is having) - if he does'nt eat miss that feed, try again half an hour to an hour later or try again in the morning.

I am sure he will wolf it down then.

yes, i believe this. I've just been reluctant to do it because i've been worried if i leave him hungry when i'm off at work, he might chew inappropriate things out of emotions related to being hungry. But i'm ready to do this now. It's excellent advice, which i would give to others myself. It's the last piece of normalizing his eating after that bizarre beginning with all the problems, which left me (not him) traumatized.
 
Kingofthehouse86 said:
Judy how's Zack liking the Innova:EVO??? King absolutly loves the stuff...Tonit he had the Evo wit grated carrots, grated NBL turkey roll, and lil Vets Choise Meaty Mix Chicken all mixed up he ate faster then I've ever seen him eat..he enjoyed every bit of it... I also gave him a couple of dried cranberries only like 2-3 he sniffed them for a sec then gobbled all 3 in one bite....lol so now i found a food that King loves and is healthy for him at the same time

wow, what you gave him sounds almost appetizing to ME. you really pamper that guy. and he deserves every bit of it.

after the gas yesterday and the loose stool in the afternoon, which followed eating only Innova Evo in the morning and evening the day before and in the morning yesterday, last night i have him his previous main food, California Natural Lamb and Rice, and i mixed just a little Innova Evo in with it, and he has eaten that mixture last night and this morning. I haven't seen a stool today, doesn't mean there hasn't been one in the backyard (time to go hunting), but last night, seemingly too soon to be the result of reducing the Evo and giving mostly CN, he had a firm stool so, i'm less sure that the Evo caused the gas and loose stool. but i still tend to think so.

so, he does like it, but right now my plan is to just gradually phase it in over the next week or two, and see whether once he's completely transferred to the Evo, he still gets any gas or loose stools. No gas or loose stool since mid day yesterday. I hope it will agree with him, since he likes it and since it sounds like some very healthy stuff.

The info on it says it's as close as you can get to feeding raw with a kibble. I dont' know if that's hype or if there's truth to it--that's their marketing claim.
 
Judy, when I switched my three to Evo, I had to do it gradually for the same reason. Since they've been eating Evo everyday they all have firm poops all the time, which is really wonderful when I'm on yard cleanup duty every evening! :lol:
 
Hi Judy - I put it up on the side for him to see and then he barks and we put it on the floor - hold the other two and then he wolfs it down in one go..... we are probably wrong for doing this but it works.
 
Judy it could be the reason Zack is having gas and loose stools is because of the double the amount of protein in the Evo and his body isn't used to it...King rarely has loose stools and the gas part....well lets just say he's gasy enough...but I dont think its from the Evo, mayb its just him :lol:
 
Cathy Moon said:
Judy, when I switched my three to Evo, I had to do it gradually for the same reason. Since they've been eating Evo everyday they all have firm poops all the time, which is really wonderful when I'm on yard cleanup duty every evening! :lol:

:lol: i do relate. as of today, i've worked up to 50/50 old kibble and evo, and since the loose stool and gas following a day on pure evo for the first time, there have been no more of those things. excellent tootsie roll stool today. :flwr: the flies sure seemed to like it. :yuk:

the more i increase the proportion of evo, the more positive he acts toward his food. i'm so pleased there is a kibble he actually likes, not that he just tolerates and puts up with but appears to enjoy, and which actually is supposed to be highly nutritious. very cool.
 
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