Innova, Soft Stools

[RSQRottweiler]

I've heard from several people that Innova is one of the better brands -- when we first adopted our girl back in April we we started feeding her Eukanuba (I know it's *GAG*). At the time, I thought that was THE ultimate, premium, top-notch food. I recently found a store that sells Innova and California Natural. The place just opened but it's not well-advertised and just doesn't look like it will last. I don't want to start Gretchen on a new food and then have this place go out-of-business a month later. At the same time, I REALLY want to get her off this Eukanuba stuff. Does Innova ship direct like some other companies? If I'm going to go that route, are there any other companies you would recommend that deliver? Any help appreciated!

RSQRottweiler

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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
Author unknown

[Von]

RSQ,

The website for Innova is www.naturapet.com . The site also includes a feature that allows you to find a store near you that stocks their products.

Von

[This message has been edited by Von (edited March 11, 2000).]

[LisaS]

I use it and like it best of all I've tried. Use the distributor finder at the website - and FYI, it tends to be found in feed stores or independent stores, rather than big-name pet stores. If you cannot find a distributor, it may be that a nearby feed store will order it for you. I also used to get it from an independent "deliver to your door" distributor (she delivered many different brands).

[RSQRottweiler]

Thanks for all the help -- I just bought some today from a local store that sells only Innova and California Natural -- the lady was VERY impressed that I even know what Innova is. Of course I gave credit to all of you online Rottie people. . .this is such a great site!

Audrey

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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
Author unknown

[Killfactor]

I use it, its great food, and they like it better than Nutro L&R which they ate previous.

[Blade]

RSQRottweiler,

Eukanova was referred to me as a good food for my Rott for this is what she started eating when I adopted him and so does his mom too.

Can somebody please let me know what's wrong with this stuff so that I can check on other better food for my Rott...and what are other better dog chow you t=believe I should consider...Many thanks.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Do you mean Eukanuba not Eukanova? If you mean Eukanuba you'll see ground corn as a main ingredient. Also, read carefully it gets really tricky and I'm too new to break it down for you. But I too used Eukanuba and thought that was the best I could do for my dog and found it was little better than grocery store brands. So I moved to Precise and it was difficult to get and when I found I could get Innova down the street from my house I was thrilled. It smells great and my dogs love it. It did give them horrible gas for the first few days but it seems to have passed. The best part is it is almost the same price as Euk and some other brands that just aren't as good.

[Killfactor]

heres a simple approach, read the label, would you eat the food? Innova is human grade food, actually my dogs eat better than I do.

[THE ROCK]

Rock is about 1 year old ( not sure of his age since he was a stray we adopted)
I've been back and forth (gradually) between Nutro chicken then lamb now we are using California Natural chicken and Rock still has very loose stool, i also mix about 1/4 of innova can, since Rock won't eat plain dry food. I've also tried the yogurt (didnt seem to help). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Otherwise, his coat is beautiful and he is very active & healthy, could this just be normal for him to have loose poop?

[CarolineS]

Rock,

Loose stools are not normal. Since this has been going on for quite a while and your dog appears active and healthy (and, I hope, checks out okay at the vet's), I'm going to hazard a guess that your dog probably is suffering from the same thing mine is.

It's called IBD, inflammatory bowel disease, quite often caused by food sensitivites or allergies. My dog's symptoms started the same as your dog's, but got a little worse every year (she's 5 1/2). I tried every good dog food on the market in a vain attempt to get rid of the loose stools, horrible gas, and, most recently, vomiting.

My dog has a mild case of IBD and, as such, still manages to stay healthy and active. I would bring up IBD with your vet and see if he thinks it may be the cause. You probably don't want to hear this , but the thing I have finally done that is having quite a bit of success, is to take her off of all commercial dog food. I am now home cooking all her food. I wouldn't say she's 100% yet, but she definitely 80% better than she was. She's been on a home cooked diet for 2 months now and I'm hoping that continued home cooking, and gradual introduction of different foods, to rule out the allergenic ones, will have her at 100% soon.

[LisaS]

Rock - When I adopted Titus - he had pretty loose stools too, even on good food (Innova). Then one day I noticed a tapeworm segment in his poop. Got him treated - and voila, no more loose stools. Just something to think about.

[Killfactor]

Innova is not known as producing super firm stools, Jade is the same way, and my breeder had nearly 2 dozen of her show dogs on it, same deal.

[frontierrots]

nope Innova is not known for those really solid stools. They do not add any type of stool hardener into the food like most other companies do so you end up with a different stool texture than you may be used to seeing.

Also if you are feeding a bit too much Innova you will get very sloppy stools

My own dogs range from a firm formed stool to very soft semi formed stool both of which are considered normal by the natura company that makes Innova

In talking with Dr Ian Billinghurst (author of Give your dog a bone and Grow your pup with bones) he told me that hard firm stools are NOT normal for canines and that natural canine stoolshould vary as my dogs do but rarely if ever be firm enough that you could kick it into the scoop without getting any on your shoe! Even the occasional cow pie stool is natural as long as it is not an everyday thing!

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Diane
Frontier Rottweilers & Shiba Inu
www.frontierrots.com

[THE ROCK]

Thanks all for your advice, this place is so cool! CarolineS, what kind of food do you make for your rottie? Hopefully, Rock doesnt have IBD but to be sure i will make that vet appt! I'm kinda thinkin its just the same thing that killfactor & frontierrots are going through (great web page, diane)
I am also curious what German feeds his dogs! He seems to be THE MAN!

[CarolineS]

Rock,

I probably should have been a little more specific in my answer to you. You did mention, though, that your dog had soft stools on all the other brands of food you tried as well which is what brought IBD to mind. Along with the stool consistency, there are some other symptoms that indicate IBD. If your dog has an abnormal amount of bowel movements per day, bad gas and occasional vomiting, this completes the picture.

If none of these other symptoms is present and it's just that the stools are loose, it may indicate your dog just has a sensitivity to one of the ingredients in the food and not IBD. You should try to get to the bottom of it though, because food sensitivities, if left unexplored, over time can cause IBD.

Since my dog has full blown IBD, caused by numerous food sensitivities, I have to keep her food choices very simple. Right now she gets ground turkey, with either rice or potatoes for the carbohydrate source. She is supplemented with a multi-vitamin. She's just been on this for a few months and I'm just now starting to introduce new foods, one every two weeks, to see what she can tolerate. I just started with the rice and the next thing I'm going to introduce in two weeks, is carrots. She loves them and sure has missed them.