# Innova Formula Change?



## TwoSweetBabies (Apr 28, 2008)

I am surprised to not see any posts about this yet.
I recently saw on another board that the Innova regular has changed their formula slightly, with new packaging and smaller bags. From what I can tell, the only change was the removal of garlic and adding pumpkin. Which would not, in theory, be a bad change.
I have yet to purchase/try a new bag since the store I purchase it from has yet to start carrying the new ones. 
I switched to Innova after Canidaes formula change and am hoping to not have to do it again!
Has anyone tried the new formula?


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

I wasn't aware of this. I feed Innova and Wellness brands. Next time at the pet store I'll check into it. Thanks for the info.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Yeah, this went by me, too. I knew they were changing the bag, but I didn't know about the formula. I have a bag of the senior plus formula that I was considering using in a rotation with Eagle Pack Holistic Select in the future, so I checked it against the new senior plus ingredients on their website. It is different! No garlic, some things are moved around on the list and the calories are less. Not a bad change, I suppose...but interesting! Why would they change the formulas and not announce it? What is going on these days! Just tell us already. I will still try to use Innova. IMO it is one of the best foods and companies out there! But it does make one wonder.....


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## Falkon (Aug 21, 2008)

I saw a new Innova food when I was at the feed store. It was a large bites food and was a 30lb bag rather than a 33 lb bag. The price was a bit less and I think was the same price per lb.


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## Henrietta's Dad (Oct 25, 2008)

Dog food has/had garlic in it? garlic? I've always heard garlic is bad for dogs!

We recenlty switched from Nutro natural choice lamb & rice (2 stars), because I found out it was only 2 stars, to Blue Buffalo Lamb & rice (4 stars). But we are thinking we will switch to Innova EVO (6 Stars)


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## Wynpyp (Sep 19, 2008)

If I remember correctly garlic is good... it's onion that's bad. I may be wrong though.


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## Henrietta's Dad (Oct 25, 2008)

Wynpyp said:


> If I remember correctly garlic is good... it's onion that's bad. I may be wrong though.


I heard both Garlic & onions are bad - for Dog's anyway. 
and of course chocolate is bad. and some kinda nuts too. I don't remember which nuts only that they were a kinda I never eat anyway.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

Henrietta's Dad said:


> I heard both Garlic & onions are bad - for Dog's anyway.
> and of course chocolate is bad. and some kinda nuts too. I don't remember which nuts only that they were a kinda I never eat anyway.


*Macadamia nuts *are bad for dogs.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

onions are bad. garlic is bad if there is too much, a little is fine. i heard that all nuts are bad, except peanuts, which are not actually nuts. raisins are really bad and so are grapes.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

Here's a list of toxic food etc for dogs

http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html


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## kenRC51 (Mar 7, 2008)

hmm, Is the change made in the Innova EVO product too? I stock up on Innova EVO so I do not go to pet store regulary to buy dog food. Last time I was there was in June. I hope they did not change the dog food because Stitch seems to love her food and she does really good on it.

I just check the EVO site and they didnt make any changes in the EVO line. Althought there are a little change in the Innova line (not the EVO). I like the new looks thought, they older bag looks so old fashion, haha. 

How many people here feeds Innova or Evo?


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## shets114 (Sep 10, 2008)

garlics good, garlics bad, It is getting worse than take an asprin a day, no don't, coffee is good, coffee is bad. 
Why is it that dogs lived just as long years ago eating what we now consider the poorest of foods and now we feed them better than most families can eat and they have twice the issues and allergies etc.

Now we go with grain free diets. What happens when in 5 years we figure out that it doens't work and more dogs have cancer than prior.

Of course most vets are like doctors the more tests and hysteria they can stir up the more people will flock to alternatives and products to prevent or treat them.

Maybe we should all go back to feeding the lower quality foods for the betterment of the dogs. Build there immune systems back up and then the strongest survive.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

shets114 said:


> garlics good, garlics bad, It is getting worse than take an asprin a day, no don't, coffee is good, coffee is bad.
> Why is it that dogs lived just as long years ago eating what we now consider the poorest of foods and now we feed them better than most families can eat and they have twice the issues and allergies etc.
> 
> Now we go with grain free diets. What happens when in 5 years we figure out that it doens't work and more dogs have cancer than prior.
> ...


Good post with lots of good points. I've been wondering that myself....


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

shets114 said:


> Why is it that dogs lived just as long years ago eating what we now consider the poorest of foods
> Maybe we should all go back to feeding the lower quality foods for the betterment of the dogs. Build there immune systems back up and then the strongest survive.


Years ago most people gave their dogs table scraps. Even if they used a kibble, they'd "supplement" with raw horse meat or hamburger, or just plain leftovers. I doubt many dogs got a diet of 100% kibble. I think feeding a cheaper kibble would be OK if you gave them meat and table scraps, too.


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## c-parrish (Jun 4, 2008)

I have spoken to some reps from Natura (Healthwise, Innova, CalNat, EVO, Karma) and found that ALL of the foods containing garlic are being switched to pumpkin (Innova is immediate, CalNat will be occuring in 1-3 months, unsure on other products). Garlic IS toxic in larger quantities, but they found that customers weren't likely to understand that a smaller amount was okay. Thus, the switch. Another important factor is that you don't know exactly how much garlic is in it, so if you are to supplement additional garlic for flea prevention, you wouldn't know how much to give to avoid those toxic levels.

I do not know anything about other ingredients/levels changing, but Innova Red Meat is a new product and the bag sizes are changing on all but the large breed formulas.


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## shets114 (Sep 10, 2008)

If no one can give a difinitive answer on how much it would take to actually harm a animal, then why so much concern. Dogs have been eating garlic for years and I have never heard of a reaction. 
To me it just seems to be another hype on a new idea to make money and seperate yourself from the others. 
One day we will all get a little smarter and start looking at our own animals and what woks for them and stop listening to every opinion that is posted on the internet. 
Years prior to the internet people fed what was local and what worked. Now we have every expert with a internet connection determining what is the best for everyone to do. Then there are those that read way to much into it and put another spin on things. 
For me I take a look at what works for my dog, I don't get worried if there stool gets a little soft for a day or so. (does your always look like tootsie rolls?) Take one thing at a time and think a little, after all they lived in the wild for years prior to us screwing them all up. They are tough and can take it.


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## KarlKatzke (Oct 15, 2008)

shets114 said:


> For me I take a look at what works for my dog, I don't get worried if there stool gets a little soft for a day or so. (does your always look like tootsie rolls?) Take one thing at a time and think a little, after all they lived in the wild for years prior to us screwing them all up. They are tough and can take it.


Funny that -- I work in Information Technology. There's a note stuck to the computer monitor in the server room: "Your problem just got bigger. Think, what did you change?" It's there to remind us all to make changes slowly. We also back up our configuration files at each change point and save them to a central place that makes it easy to compare them. That way, we can quickly roll back whatever broke everything ... of course, we don't find out it broke everything after an entire weekend's work until all the office employees get in at 8am on Monday and can't print... 

I feed Innova because Eo stopped shedding, with the exception of normal seasonal coat changes, almost completely two weeks after I bought a trial bag. I went from sweeping up an entire dog's worth of fur every two days to hitting the corners of the wood floor with the vac's hose once a week.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

Patt said:


> Here's a list of toxic food etc for dogs
> 
> http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html


Thanks for the link, Patt.


Here's the part about garlic:


Large amounts of garlic will produce similar toxicity problems in both dogs and cats. I think that the amount required is not likely to be eaten by a cat but there are probably a few dogs who would lap up a container of spilled garlic.


Makes sense, since I've added garlic to my dogs' and cats' food for decades. 
I think Innova is simply being prudent by removing garlic from it's food.


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## KarlKatzke (Oct 15, 2008)

I confirmed today that the store I buy my dog food at is stocking the new Innova formulas. The bags are definitely different. Gimme a few and I'll post the large breed side by side so that we can compare...

---- 
OK, pictures transferred and cleaned up as much as I can. This will forever cement my nerdiness... 

First, here's the old front and new front: 
















THE FOLLOWING LINKS ARE NOT LOW-SPEED INTERNET FRIENDLY ... these are multiple megabyte pictures. 
Old Back Panel (3mb), New Back Panel (3.5mb)

Old Ingredients Only (555k), New Ingredients Only (218k)

Old Analysis (579k), New Analysis(311k) - I can't read the old bag very well (sorry, I don't have it anymore... the picture is old), but it looks like the calories per cup actually went *up* by 30/cup or they stayed the same.

Again, as was posted above, the changes seem pretty minor.


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## c-parrish (Jun 4, 2008)

The old calorie content on the LB Adult is 350 cal/cup, so it appears the calories have gone up (which I like...I have a 75 pound, high energy dog that is athletic injury prone, so calorie density + glucosamine/chondroitin is a plus for us).

I say follow the same rule as if switching foods, but I sure hope that this change goes over better than the Canidae change did. If not, get your money back! Natura backs all their products 100%.


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## Hallie (Nov 9, 2008)

It sucks they changed formulas too! I used to feed innova and I'm suprised i didn't hear about it, it seems like a good change but good or bad they should be very public about the change! The Canidae change shook us up a bit!


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