Reply

I dont know about liver problems, but I do know that if a food is too rich for a dog they will experience digestion issues. (ie, acid reflux, diareah, gas, vomit/bile, etc.) Processed foods such as the ones you speak of can often be ot rich for many dogs systems. Dogs have a very short digestive tract, the belief that they should have no grains is not entirely true. (Although some animals, just like ppl, have sensativities to certian products, could be grain, protien, grass...the list is endless) Having such a short tract, dogs should have partaly digested grains and veggies, like they would get from the stomach of an animal they would eat in the wild. I know allot of ppl dont want to think of little fifi as a killer, but shes a dog at heart and in biology! EVO, was to rich for my dog too, not enough "binding agents" like veggies and such. Orjin uses tapioca as an ingreedient to resolve these issues. I dont know how well it works, but there are a few brands that are doing this now. Its like when every one stoped feeding beef and went to chicken and then stopped chicken and went to lamb. Now they are all on fish and that. I dont know what a dog needs tapioca for.... In my humble opinion, allot of this is a marketing ploy, the dog food companies can see the market in the human world rising in such things as health foods, raw foods, suplements, natural living, organics, no preservatives, etc. So they are jumping on that ban wagon, its big bucks. I have my dog on RAW foods, it works well for him, and just like I have just said....the market is moving towards natural products, it just depends how much you are willing to commit to it physcaly and monetaraly. (Okay, so I know stuff about dogs, not spelling and grammer! lol)

Reply

OK, I have used Innova, Orijen and RAW. I now do basically a half and half thing with raw for breakfast and orijen for supper. My dog tolerates Orijen better than Innova. Innova is a great food, and I mean really great, top quality but what works for one dog may not work for another. I found my vet was unhelpful in finding the right food because she was closed minded and only wanted me to feed the vets food which also gave my dog problems. I find dog nutrition to be a lot of trial and error. I had the same "stench" problem on Innova which is gone with the Orijen. Good luck, try some different things. You know your dog better than anyone, so you'll know when you've found the right food. :)

Reply

Hi, I had my greyhound on Innova and he did not do good on it and believe me when a food is not good to a greyhound you can see it.

Reply

I used Innova on my ferrets. Its one of the top recommended foods in the ferret community. I have not heard of any problems with it. It does have a very high protien content. I personally just feed my dogs mountain dog food (raw) and find it to be the best for them.

Reply

One lady that I pratice agility with has a schiperkee (sp?) who is a diabetic. She was told by a homeopathic vet that EVO may provoke the onset of Diabetes. She feeds raw now too. He is doing well and seems to be stable.

Reply

Hi there, I worked at a health foods store for pets and one main thing we tell people is that to be careful when feeding a puppy evo as well as orijen it may contribute to liver and bone issues as its very high in proteins etc. orijen is pretty much the same as evo and can cause the same issues but it usually starts off with feeding pups such a high protien diet can cause bone and liver issues as they are growing. i havent heard of it being bad with the adults though. good luck!! also never feed raw with kibble! If you feed dry kibble at the same meal as the raw meat, you are increasing the amount of time the food is in the body, and increasing the possibility of illness from microbes. raw is digest really fast while kibble takes time to digest.

Reply

As I understand it, you don't feed them at the same time. RAW makes a good breakfast, it's digested quicker and leaves the stomach in about 4 hours (in an average dog). Kibble takes about twice as long to digest so if you feed them at the same time, the RAW will stay in the stomach longer than it should. That's how it was described to me. I feed RAW breakfast and kibble supper but i've been feeding more of a homemade supper...and kibble only occasionally. I like to have her on some kibble just because some kennels won't feed RAW food to boarding dogs and if that was ever a situation I found myself in I don't want to shock her system. Also, some people are quite upset by the concept of RAW feeding and if she visits with people, I don't want them to be uncomfortable blah blah....

Reply

I have been feeding Evo for years to my Lhasa Apso, and he is in good health and loves the food. Never a problem... I can't imagine stories of "liver damage." You don't just get liver damage from eating healthy ingredients (have you seen the ingredients list for Evo - I have it stored on my computer in case anyone is interested). Anyway - I just don't understand that. I wonder if there is a competition or smear campaign somewhere among dog food producers, though I would not expect that from premium dog food producers. Ingrid

Reply

If you go on a website for raw food you are not supposed to mix kibble with raw because it is too hard to digest the two. Raw takes 2-4 hours to digest where kibble takes 9-12 hours. As for Innova EVO its a very good food (not for every dog) as is orijen and yes the protein in high but orijen is not that high as EVO I just had an Orijen rep come to my store and its less than EVO. She explained to me that the protein doesn't lead to diabetes its the food with grains which can produce chubbier dogs which intern turn to sugars and so on. Grain free has a lot of benefits but always talk to a vet or a store that specializes in these foods and ask for sample to see how you pooch will be. Just a note get a vet that is very knowlegable about these foods and raw most vets don't get that much info in school unless they do the research themselves. My dog is on Innova and he is fine as is my cat on EVO.

Reply

well i had marti on iams for 3 years and have in the past 6 month changed him over to innova and he loves it... i also feed him nutro dential care as treats... he coat is great, as for digestion problems havent seen anything but good results... marti always has had bad breath because his teeth are set right, but the tartar is going down because the food it so tough... innova seems to keep him happy... and at the price i would hope so...

Reply

recently switched memphis from eagle pack, tried orijen for 2 days...WAY TOO MUCH PROTEIN!!!!! i was SOOOO mad when i found this out, because our dog was there and we talked to the employee for a good amount of time. I guess he didnt understand that memphis is technically a growing puppy until he is 2. I finally did a very extensive research on the internet and decided on Innova large breed puppy... any objections?

Reply

Our new dane we rescued had a very bad grain allergy and the previous owners we found out fed him Innova...it took us awhile to get him balanced again but we ended up switching him to Nature's Balance ONLY because of his grain allergy. I feed my other dane and other dogs Science Diet...I find it is THE BEST food, I've switched them all over to Innova, Nature's and Pro-Plan in the past (slowly and for good amounts of time to ensure I was getting results from the food and not from food shock) and none of them compare to SD. I know from my vet and breeder that it is crucial for larger breeds (like danes) to be on a large breed puppy formula until they're about 2...or when they reach their adult weight (we kept ours on until he was 2.5)....and then switched him on to large breed adult. His coat is awesome and people always ask if we give him any additives or supplements...Just the SD! According to my vet the problem with a lot of these "Raw" and new products is that they don't have very much research behind them...you can't really compare it with 30 years of veterinary research behind products like SD and Purina and in most cases, domestic dogs don't need the raw diet of wild dogs...thus, this is why most dogs develop health problems later b/c they're not getting the vitamins and nutrients that have been included in many kibble diets but left out of raw diets for the pure canine in dogs (which in the wild, dogs get vitamins and nutrients secondarily through fresh meat (bunnies that just ate veggies, etc). That's just what I know from trial and error...Hope that helps!! PS-I think Origen is okay for smaller dogs (ie-my min pin as treats) but not for danes.

Reply

yeah the orijen thing just pisses me off. im going to try innova. is there a way to find out what your dog is allergic to? hes 9 months and just over 100 ibs, my vets says this is not normal. although his mother is rather lean. it is also summer and im told you are suppose to be able to see all of his ribs in this season..true??. im trying sooo hard to get him on the best food for HIM. which nobody seems to understand. he is soo tall, and hasnt begun to fill out yet.

Reply

could someone please tell me what the RAW diet is? i am unsure and would like to know what that includes.

Reply

RAW food!...no kibble. dont ask me on preperation. i know its exspensive, somewhat time consumming and not meant for every dog.

Reply

Also pinkpetunia, Is is Natures Balance or Natures Best???? i checked up on science diet. it look fairly good. and also do u know of the price good/bad? were currently paying 50-60 dollars per about 20ib bag

Reply

okay quick question...i make my own stew for my dog cause he cant have canned dog food...would this be classified as raw food or no? thank you.

Reply

not if its cooked..i dont think

Reply

Hey, I have a jack and a amstaff. and My roommates Pitbull and they all eat California Natural and then I add EVO high protein all red meat. I really like it. They all are a perfect weight and seem to be doing really good. Phee has a chicken allergy so life is really difficult. Any suggestions. The nice thing is we leave they're food bowl out all day long and refill if needed. That is another reason why I don't know if switching to raw food would work ( I have selective eaters, slow and steady at they're own pace.) As well as often as I can, I give them california natural soft lamb and rice. Now you have me worried about liver problems. However, I am on the side of the fence more protein the better i THINK.

Reply

Every dog is different and I know the giant breeds have some different requirements than the rest but I think the "general" consensus is that high protein, no grain foods are proving to do great things. This can be either a raw diet or a high protein kibble. Again, no one diet is right for all dogs so just experiment and find the right combo for your dog.