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Boycott means New Food - Advice, please!

M

Mic

Guest
I have been feeding my dogs Nature's Variety Chicken Kibble and occasionally some of their raw/frozen. I've tried several brands at the recommendation of my favorite locally owned pet supply shop, but like the NV because it's good for all stages/ages. The thought of no longer buying, stocking and lugging three bags and types of kibble was VERY attractive to me, along with the fact that it looked like good, healthy food.

Fast-forward six months. I recently found out that "my" store's other branch is selling puppies. I couldn't believe it because the manager of the store I frequent is so active in rescue and all of the employees are long-time animal freaks, which I love. Anyway, now I have to find another place to get dog food. The only other decent shop doesn't sell NV, but they have Natura products, Innova. The woman recommended Innova Evo. I took her advice and all dogs like it, but I'd like a more unbiased opinion. For those who know about these things, how do the two compare, and what do you think about this EVO stuff? Thanks!

Innova EVO Dog
1. Turkey
2. Chicken
3. Turkey Meal
4. Chicken Meal
5. Potatoes
6. Herring Meal
7. Chicken Fat
8. Natural Flavors
9. Egg
10. Garlic
11. Apples
12. Carrots
13. Tomatoes
14. Cottage Cheese
15. Alfalfa Sprouts
16. Dried Chicory Root
17. Taurine
18. Lecithin
19. Rosemary Extract
20. Vitamins/Minerals
21. Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms


Nature's Variety® Prairie Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Medley
1. Chicken Meal
2. Brown Rice
3. Barley
4. Oatmeal/Rolled Oats
5. Chicken Fat
6. Montmorillonite Clay
7. Flaxseed Meal
8. Natural Chicken Flavor
9. Alfalfa Meal
10. Menhaden Fish Meal
11. Potassium Chloride
12. Vitamins/Minerals
13. Choline Chloride
14. Sea Salt
15. Sodium Selenite
16. Chicken Liver
17. Inulin
18. Flaxseed Oil
19. Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms
20. Apples
21. Carrots
22. Peas
23. Cottage Cheese
24. Egg
25. Freeze Dried Chicken
26. Freeze Dried Turkey
27. Freeze Dried Turkey Liver
28. Freeze Dried Turkey Hearts
29. Pumpkinseeds
30. Ground Chicken Bone
31. Squash
32. Broccoli
33. Lettuce
34. Spinach
35. Kelp
36. Salmon Oil
37. Apple Cider Vinegar
38. Parsley
39. Honey
40. Blueberries
41. Alfalfa Sprouts
42. Grapefruit Seed Extract
43. Persimmons
44. Olive Oil
45. Duck Eggs
46. Pheasant Eggs
47. Quail Eggs
48. Rosemary Extract
49. Sage
50. Cloves
 
Sorry to hear about your store! :(

Actually Innova Evo is an excellent food, and I've been feeding it to my three for a long time. There are several other members who feed Evo as well. :)
 
I switched to Evo after Kosmo had an allergic reaction to another kind of food.. I LOVE it!! It's the best food out there as far as I am concerned. Firm Poos = :w**h**: !
 
Mic

After trying almost every single quality food on the market including Natures Variety I also feed EVO to both my boys.

Dudley was the fussiest eater every or shall I say the best manipulator ever. Dudley had me wrapped around his paws for a longtime, I wanted the benefits of feeding RAW as he just would not eat anything RAW.

A year or so back, I got a scare with EVO by being misinformed by a uneducated employee that EVO causes kidney damage. I called Natura myself and was re-assured by them this is absolutely not the case and how could they possibly sell a RAW based kibble that would harm your dog.

The company asked for the store location and the employee who advised me of this very misleading information, which I gave to them not to get anyone in trouble but to educate them that just because that particular person did not believe in feeding RAW they should not of mislead me this way.

Anyway most of the time the poo is firm, I at times add fish, chicken, stewing beef and veggies to the EVO. Of late I have just been feeding straight EVO, Dudley will hold out to see if any other goodies are coming to join his EVO and if not he will eat it.

I just replenished my EVO last night, I was interested in trying the Red Meat but have heard that it can cause looser stool after speaking with the store manager she did say that this can happen as red meat is harder on the stomach than chicken. I chose to stick with the Poultry version of EVO for now.

If you do a search on CC for EVO you will also find many of the members on that board who feed completely RAW diets also feed EVO at times for the convience of kibble.

Hope this helps you a little.
 
Of those two, Evo looks the better ingredient list simply because they aren't using rice hulls/grain (NV has a heck of a lot of grains, though no corn) -- if that is something that bothers your dog.

Chicken is one of the meats more likely to cause problems in some dogs. But most do perfectly fine on it.

Mine have never had problems with grains, including corn, or any protein source.
 
Thanks for the input. I knew I'd get solid advice from this educated group. I use to feed Solid Gold, but got tired of ordering & shipping. And even though my vet sells Science Diet, I'm not a fan of their ingredient list (except for some of their prescription food). Here in Arkansas, we don't have a plethora of non-chain pet supply stores, and I really prefer to support locally owned businesses. That's why I know I'm going to have a hard time now that I can't shop at my regular store. I can get the EVO where my trainer works, but it's really not a store; they just sell some Innova products.

Thanks for the assurances. I'm going to do a search and see what else I can learn.
 
i've been feeding Zack EVO for a long time. It's the first and only kibble that we've stayed with long term. When i first started the EVO, zack got smelly gas which he'd never had before. I don't believe anyone else on cavaliertalk who's feeding EVO has had that issue. On the recommendation of the pet supply store guy, i sprinkled natur vet digestive enzymes on the EVO (rather than switch to another kibble) and no more smelly gas. Months later, a vet suggested mixing the EVO with a regular grain containing type kibble to address the gas, so i got regular Innova kibble and mix about half and half, stopped using the enzymes, and no smelly gas.

Looking at the two ingredients lists, the main differences i see are, EVO doesn't have grain, EVO doesn't have added salt (why add salt?), and EVO has far fewer ingredients. I'm not personally certain that grain is wrong for dogs (some people believe that it's unnatural), i don't really know if EVO is better because of not having grain, but the poops seem better in the sense that they're firm and easy to pick up, looks like the food is well digested, doesn't go through the body too fast. When i added the grain containing Innova, the poops got a little softer, but still what i'd call very firm.

I don't believe there's any reason to add salt to dog food.

The ingredients list for the Natures' Variety sounded yummy, l love blueberries, and all that stuff. But I'm inclined to think that's too many ingredients for one meal, in theory. If a dog does good on it, then that's the test of whether it's a good food. But while i liked all those ingredients, except the salt, i was thinking it was too much stuff, like overkill. that's just me.

If EVO is easy for you to get, you probably can't go wrong with it. most dogs do well on it just judging from the user reviews i read on line, i think it was amazon.com, not sure, but most were 5 stars although there were a few that were quite negative, so it's not for every dog.

i just noticed another difference--for EVO, the top two ingredients are real turkey and chicken. For the Nature's Variety, real chicken and turkey don't show up until number 25 and 26.
 
MathisGreen said:
I would keep on keepin' on!! Our vet recommends Evo and another brand called Science Diet.

Good luck!
That is a bit confusing as science diet is at the opposite end of the measuring stick in terms of ingredients and nutrition. They led off with grains for first few ingredients and then chicken or beef meal. Some varieties have a lot of corn products which can be an allergy problem for some dogs. Its sort of exactly what Evo set out to correct.
 
I had Wesley on Innova puppy and he wouldn't eat it. I had to hand feed him most of the time. After one bag of that, I just switched to Innova EVO and now he's SO excited to eat and just scarfs it all down!
 
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