question about Innova

[Kristen Kuhn]

I am in the process of switching my dog Tommy (a heinz-57 mutt) over to Innova. I have heard great things about the food and am transitioning him slowly (~10% a day). However, I have noticed that his stools are really soft (even with only 20-30% of the Innova). I have seen others mention this and was just wondering if this is something that will pass once he has adjusted to the new food or if it will persist. I live in a town house and have to pick up after him all the time, and this is not the easiest thing to do. Any suggestions?
Thanks-
Kristen and Tommy

[Maria Juliano]

[QUOTE=Kristen Kuhn]I am in the process of switching my dog Tommy (a heinz-57 mutt) over to Innova. I have heard great things about the food and am transitioning him slowly (~10% a day). However, I have noticed that his stools are really soft (even with only 20-30% of the Innova). I have seen others mention this and was just wondering if this is something that will pass once he has adjusted to the new food or if it will persist. I live in a town house and have to pick up after him all the time, and this is not the easiest thing to do. Any suggestions?
Thanks-
Kristen and Tommy

How old is Tommy?
Are you feeding any treats besides the Innova? The reason I'm asking, it's that when I switched my pups to Innova Puppy, I was feeding them treats that contained wheat. It turned out that it was the treats that were causing the loose stools.

It took about 2 weeks after they were eating 100% Innova Puppy for the stools to firm up. You could try adding a bit of pure can pumpkin to their kibble. I still give my doggies, 9 months old, pumpkin: a great source of fiber, every other day. Now they are both on Innova Adult kibble, can food and EVO and they have solid stools.

I too can relate with living in a townhouse and how difficult it can be to drag them out to potty and cleaning after them in my three floors townhome.

Innova is one of the best foods on the market. I would give it four weeks. If the problem persists, I would find another Super Premium food. Some dogs cannot tolerate the high protein, fat ingredients.

Let us know how he does.

Best wishes,

[Maria Juliano]

I am in the process of switching my dog Tommy (a heinz-57 mutt) over to Innova. I have heard great things about the food and am transitioning him slowly (~10% a day). However, I have noticed that his stools are really soft (even with only 20-30% of the Innova). I have seen others mention this and was just wondering if this is something that will pass once he has adjusted to the new food or if it will persist. I live in a town house and have to pick up after him all the time, and this is not the easiest thing to do. Any suggestions?
Thanks-
Kristen and Tommy

Kristen- :oops: I'm so sorry about posting my reply in here. I pressed the "edit" key instead of the "quote."

[Kristen Kuhn]

Thanks for the reply. Tommy is now 4 years old and extremely active. He gets the same treats as always (I don't know if they have wheat or not). He was on Science Diet (I know......), but he did well on it. After reading up on different foods, I have decided to change it to give him a better diet. He loves pumpkin so that may be an option. I will continue the slow transfer and give it a month or two and see how things do. Thanks again.
Kristen and Tommy


How old is Tommy?Are you feeding any treats besides the Innova? The reason I'm asking, it's that when I switched my pups to Innova Puppy, I was feeding them treats that contained wheat. It turned out that it was the treats that were causing the loose stools. [/b][/i][/color]

It took about 2 weeks after they were eating 100% Innova Puppy for the stools to firm up. You could try adding a bit of pure can pumpkin to their kibble. I still give my doggies, 9 months old, pumpkin: a great source of fiber, every other day. Now they are both on Innova Adult kibble, can food and EVO and they have solid stools.

I too can relate with living in a townhouse and how difficult it can be to drag them out to potty and cleaning after them in my three floors townhome.

Innova is one of the best foods on the market. I would give it four weeks. If the problem persists, I would find another Super Premium food. Some dogs cannot tolerate the high protein, fat ingredients.

Let us know how he does.

Best wishes,[/QUOTE]

[Chris Smith]

Maria,

Just curious how much pumpkin do you give your dogs? (tablespoon, etc.) And I believe your dogs are fairly small right? (under 20 lbs.?)

Do you mix it in with their dry kibble?

And why do you give it every other day?

[Maria Juliano]

Maria,

Just curious how much pumpkin do you give your dogs? (tablespoon, etc.) And I believe your dogs are fairly small right? (under 20 lbs.?)

Do you mix it in with their dry kibble?

And why do you give it every other day?

Chris,

I give them about less than a tablespoon mixed with their kibble. Lina weighs 12 lbs and Giotto 15 lbs. They are both finicky eaters... so I rotate between pumpkin and plain yogurt with their morning feeding. It gives them variety and it helps their system, not to mentioned firm stools.

[Suni Brown]

Kristen

I am in the same boat as you right now. I have been switched Gwen from Science Diet (see, I do understand!!) to Innova. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now. She rarely has loose stool anymore. Keep mixing the two. If you notice it getting worse, lower the amount of new food. It can be a long process but normally about 2 weeks and your dog should be ok. Good luck!!! Trust me, I feel you on this!!!!

[Kristen Kuhn]

Suni,
It has been a week now and Tommy is doing much better. He is all back to normal. The transition from Science Diet to the new Innova is going slower than I thought (we are now at 35% innove: 65% SD) but as long as h is tolerating it, I plan to move slow. Thanks-
Kristen and Tommy


Kristen

I am in the same boat as you right now. I have been switched Gwen from Science Diet (see, I do understand!!) to Innova. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now. She rarely has loose stool anymore. Keep mixing the two. If you notice it getting worse, lower the amount of new food. It can be a long process but normally about 2 weeks and your dog should be ok. Good luck!!! Trust me, I feel you on this!!!!

[Renee]

I'm switching my dog over from Wysong to Innova. It has been a week now, and we haven't really had any problems...

[Suni Brown]

I switched Gwen from Science Diet to Innova, now I am moving her to Large breed Innova. The regular Innova puppy said she needs 1.6 cups per day (at 11 weeks and 15 lb). The large breed now says she needs 4 cups a day! I feel like I have been starving my poor baby!!

[Grace Erick]

The girl in my natural pet food store says it has taken her two weeks to switch to Innova where her dog's stools have finally become firmer. I asked her why there seems to be a problem with switching to this food. She says the food is rich so I asked what is so rich about it. She said it was the turkey??? I feed Capri the canned Innova w/turkey on and off with no problems.

[Rebekah Hartman]

I don't think it's the turkey - it's just calorie dense and the dogs are able to assimilate a lot more of it than many other foods. When switching, the dog's system has to get used to all of this and that's probably why so many have trouble initially.

The man I buy our Innova from is good friends with the owners of the company and has been a distributor for years now, so I get a lot of good information from him about the food.

The Innova Large breed puppy (and adult dog for that matter) contains more grains/starches which are less calorie dense than protein - 366 cal/cup instead of 500 cal/cup - so that is the reason for the difference in how much to feed. If you feed for the right amount of calories, the amounts vary a lot with different foods.

[Maria Juliano]

I switched Gwen from Science Diet to Innova, now I am moving her to Large breed Innova. The regular Innova puppy said she needs 1.6 cups per day (at 11 weeks and 15 lb). The large breed now says she needs 4 cups a day! I feel like I have been starving my poor baby!!

Hi Suni,

The formula in the large breed is different than the regular...here is a link to read why:

http://naturapet.com/display.php?d=produc t-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5 B@id%3D%271259%27%5D

The Innova Large Breed Puppy has 366 Kcals/cup, The Large Breed Adult, 350Kcals/cup, versus the regular Innova Puppy which has 500Kcals/cup.

Natura has a great customer service...you can either call them or write with your questions. I just got back a reply from them about EVO.

You are doing a great job!:)