is innova really worth it?

chausiefan

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Hello

Im from Ontario Canada, i feed my cats Innova because aparently its the best food out there, i mix it with the vets perscription t/d because one cat has bad teeth. THis way everyone does well... but omg this is so expensive I just bought a big bag of innova for 60 bucks today!

Am I really doing the best thing? This food is not suppose to make my cats "fat" yet one of my cats who is an indoor/outdoor cat is gettting fat anyway..

is td from the vet office really the best for their teeth?
 

russian blue

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I honestly don't believe there is one 'best' food out there. Every cat, like every human, will react differently to each ingredient. For this reason, I usually try to find a happy balance between food variety, cost, quality and what my cat will actually eat.


I'm a believer in variety so I will mix up the rotation of foods to balance things out (between wet and dry). Also, your cats own metabolism will decide if it will gain weight or not (it's not just the food choice alone). Dry food (over wet food) is known to add weight to a cat because its a high calorie, concentrated food source.

If you want to introduce more exercise or even more wet food, both will play a role in slimming down your cat. Also, you can make your cat hunt for its food. Instead of placing the food in a bowl, why not hide it in smaller portions around the house? This has been mentioned many times by vets to provide some alternative 'hunting' type games for your cats and they get some exercise as well since they have to go to various areas for the food. You can also place the dry food in treat balls and make your cat play with the ball in order to get the food out. Oh, just read your post again and saw that your cat goes outside as well. Maybe the cat is eating other food sources outside the house as well?

I haven't compared them recently, but isn't Innova higher on the calorie count? Not quite sure. I'm also from Ontario and my jaw dropped when I saw the price you paid. That can get quite pricey, especially mixed with the t/d so I see your concern!


Personally, I wouldn't stick with only one brand, unless your cat has specific dietary concerns and can't tolerate other brands of cat food.
 

sham

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Mixing foods isn't really helpful beyond providing variety and then I would suggest rotation where you feed each food seperately for a certain amount of time before switching back to the other. Different brands are formulated differently to meet their needs. All vitamins and minerals interact so more of 1 means you need more of another or less of 1 may make another useless. Some foods also concentrate more on 1 thing like extra oils to improve coat health and by mixing you can mess up the ratios they aimed for so it's not as effective. I also doubt most of the suggested prescription diets are really going to improve their teeth more than innova. Last it's very easy for animals to get fat on foods like innova. They are easily digestible and full of good energy sources. You need to adjust the amount they are fed to match the individual. That's how it should be. Having an animal eat lots of a food and not get fat is not a sign of a quality diet. It means the food lacks so many nutrients or is so hard to digest that the animal is barely meeting it's needs. It's easier and healthier to cut down on a quality food until you find the right amount than to try to convince them to eat more of a cheaper brand to keep enough weight on. Reason there are suggested feeding amounts on the bag and a feeding calculator on natura's site: http://www.innovapet.com/tools/

Saying innova is the best food is arguable. You can say it is generally considered one of the best but there are several dry or canned foods that come out equal to or higher than innova on most people's lists. There are also a few people against innova for various reasons and that's not even touching freeze dried or raw diets. It's a matter of opinion that comes down to your animal's and your situation. Not all do the same on the same diet. Mine do better on California Natural than innova or evo because they have sensitive stomachs. If your having trouble with 1 getting fat and the others are maintaining their weight you may do better with a food that's a little lower in calories or you may just have to feed the others extra meals such as more canned food while limiting the dry that's out during the day. It entirely depends on what works for you and them.
 

momofmany

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Innova works very well for some of my cats. Muddy's coat has turned into pure silk since we started them on it 2 months ago. Wellness didn't have that effect, nor did Felidae. I haven't noticed a change in any of the others.
 

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Originally Posted by chausiefan

This food is not suppose to make my cats "fat" yet one of my cats who is an indoor/outdoor cat is gettting fat anyway..

?
I think Innova is worth it. By far. Normal healthy cats can get fat by eating too much and not getting good amounts of exercise. Easy to fix. A high quality diet is very important. Feed less, play with them more.
The cat with special needs, well I would feed that cat apart from the others so that cat and that cat only gets what he needs. Some say mixing isn't good since each mostly diet is formulated to be fed alone. I say do your research and see what works best on your own cats. I wouldn't mix kibbles though personally.
 

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We love innova/natura pet foods at my place. I really like the company and their philosophy, and they do produce high quality food. It can be a bit nutrient dense, it's true. Usually owners find they have to feed slightly less than with other maintenance diets.

Regarding T/D... the thinking is starting to change about dry foods and dental health. As the Animal Protection Institute puts it, "humans do not floss with crackers, and dry food does not clean teeth." There is no AAFCO guideline for a "dental diet." Hills conducts their own clinical trials to make these claims, but a lot of people question the scientific method (and lack thereof) of their feeding trials. Here's the API's article about choosing a diet: long, yet interesting article

Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins thinks these prescription dental diets could actually be harmful, as she explains in her new book, that their high levels of carbohydrates could cause an "unnatural burden on the cat's gastrointestinal tract". Indeed, T/D's "patented fiber matrix" is really just powdered cellulose (a wood-derived indigestible fiber), and other grain fibers.

At any rate, there are all sorts of debates about "dental diets." I suppose the best you can do is find a source you trust and follow through!
 

yosemite

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Just have to throw my 2 cents in.


I'm in the Toronto area and I've recently changed our cats' food. Bijou was getting seriously heavy (18.5 lbs). I started feeding Merrick's wet food twice a day and changed the dry to Orijen. Since July Bijou has lost 1.3 lbs and is slimming down nicely and Mika is maintaining her weight and they both have nicer coats. I've also cut down the amount of dry food. I was feeding Performatrin and that's what I believe put the weight on. Both cats seem to eat less and are not begging for food so I believe they are getting good nutrition.

If the special diet the vet has you buying is for dental reasons only, my personal opinion is that it won't do a thing for their teeth. Cats do not chew, i.e., their jaws move up and down only - not side to side as we humans can do. When cats take the hard pieces, they break them with the tip of the tooth and swallow. That means those dry pieces are not going anywhere near the gumline and are therefore not doing anything for their teeth.

I compare it to me eating dry crackers versus beef stew. When I've finished eating the cracker a lot will be stuck in my teeth (mixed with my saliva) whereas I'll have cleaner teeth with the beef stew.

A wet diet is much healthier for your cat but I also enjoy the benefit of feeding some dry in case I were late getting home or had to go away overnight, they would have the dry to eat.

I don't believe most vets know much about nutrition. They often recommend what the sales people who are pushing their goods in the vet offices tell them. There are however, instances where a special diet is needed if the cat has health issues, but IMO a healthy cat will just do better on more of a wet diet and good quality dry food.
 

sharky

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EVO is one of the best ... but Innova IS NOT IMHO one of the best ... I prefer Natural choice or califonia natural
 

ninacaliente

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I fed Innova for quite awhile, and my cats did well on it. Several months back I switched to Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul because of the cost, and my cats seem to still be doing well on that.

My vet doesn't make strong recommendations about kibbles. What he does say is that he likes cats to have at least some wet food each day, and that dry food does absolutely nothing for their teeth.
 

mnjulz

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Mine switch back and forth between Innova and Wellness (both soft & hard). I tried Calf Natural for a switch for something different and they ate alot more and were starving at meal time.

It may have been cheaper but they went through more. So in the long run between going through more food and using more litter I don't know how much cheaper it was. Although I agree, $60 is an outragous price and I probably wouldn't pay it.
 
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chausiefan

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what is the diff between innova and evo?
 

aquarius

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Originally Posted by chausiefan

what is the diff between innova and evo?
Both are made by Natura, and use high quality ingredients. But EVO is grain free, and therefore higher in protein, much lower in carbs.
 

sham

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Evo is basically Natura's grain free version of Innova. More costly and a bit harder on their stomach but considered to be better quality mostly since it uses more meat and less grains. Some do very well on it but mine just threw it up and everything else they ate for that month. Much too sensitive of stomachs. If you've got the money it's worth trying but there is no 1 food that can be claimed as the best for every animal so it may or may not work out for your animals. I also rather like felidae and if you order in bulk straight from timberwolf's site (can always freeze the extra to stay fresh) you get free shipping but again the one with the most sensitive stomach did not keep it down. The only other 2 foods mine will eat are Natural Balance and California Natural. The latter being Natura's formula for allergies and sensitive stomachs and everyone keeps that down without any diarhea either. Occasionally I feed some natural balance canned for variety. They flat out refused Merrick after only licking up a bit of gravy.

I would never recommend any of nutro's foods (natural choice and max). Despite the fact they have better than average ingredients I've never seen an animal, dog or cat, do great on their foods. They do better than various grocery store brands and the common chain store foods like eukanuba but I haven't seen one with impressive health like you can get with other foods including some of similar cost. Nutro also has a tendency to use some cheaper ingredients like corn when there are better things out there. Generally companies that use things like corn are just trying to cut costs and not thinking so much about the health benefits of their ingredients. If you can't get anything better it's a step up from grocery store brands but that's about the only good thing I have to say on it.
 

aquarius

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Originally Posted by Sham

I would never recommend any of nutro's foods (natural choice and max). Despite the fact they have better than average ingredients I've never seen an animal, dog or cat, do great on their foods. They do better than various grocery store brands and the common chain store foods like eukanuba but I haven't seen one with impressive health like you can get with other foods including some of similar cost. Nutro also has a tendency to use some cheaper ingredients like corn when there are better things out there. Generally companies that use things like corn are just trying to cut costs and not thinking so much about the health benefits of their ingredients. If you can't get anything better it's a step up from grocery store brands but that's about the only good thing I have to say on it.
Yeah, Nutro has been a bit of a disappointment ... and nutro probably won't be a step up from grocery store brands for long...

they were just purchased by Mars (who also owns Royal canin, IVD, and a lot of human foods). It seems like whenever the multinationals buy pet food companies, the quality goes down. Look at what happened to Science Diet (purchased in the '70's by Colgate Palmolive), or Iams (purchased by Proctor and Gamble in 1998), or Purina (purchased by Nestle).
 

sham

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It wouldn't surprise me if they started using lesser quality ingredients to cut costs and try to appeal to the people who just want a cheap food. They've lost nearly all their customers in my area. The buy out was the final point that got a few breeders I know to switch to Natural Balance from nutro. Also alot of the smaller petstores in the area that did not have room for another food have decided to switch from carrying Nutro to Natural Balance or Blue Buffalo. When I went looking for dog food a year ago all I saw in every petstore window was Nutro Products Sold Here. Now there's no signs.
 

littleraven7726

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My cats are doing quite well on Nutro Max adult kibble. Their coats are nice and they are bright eyed and bushy tailed and frisky and all that stuff. The only other food we've tried that they did this well on was Sensible Choice Chicken Meal & Rice, which is owned by the same company that just bought out Nutro btw. For my cats the simpler formulas work best. And no, they don't like California Natural (we had samples of it that they tried).

I think blanket saying one food is better than all others is incorrect. I've met cats who had absolutely unbelievable coats and friskiness on (of all things) Whiskas. We asked when the cat was picked up by her owner because her coat was just beautiful. Some cats do great on Science Diet, for others Iams does it, and yet others the very high end food agrees with them best. I worked at a shelter for several years, and I've seen cats that have been on just about everything out there. The only foods no cat (or dog) seems to do super well on are the generic store brands, which we always recommended new adopters stay away from anyway.
 

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NOT one food works for all.... I have seen ingrediants that IMHO are inferior in things like Innova... but I have a different desired result...

Mine use orijen , nutro and wellness ... the first is well I am going to have to ship in the later are easier to find... Nutro ingrediants all have a purpose and FOR MANY are easy to get and easy to afford ... I have yet to find a PERFECT food as all have faults but any thing without by product s and a lot of grd corn is far better than the majority

EVO is FAR FAR better than Innova ( which is grainy and well to me compareable to Nutro Max ) ... It s draw back is NOT UTI friendly and can be too rich for many ... OHH and the High protein levels affects over the long haul being unknown.. I prefer many of the other grain frees... wet is the best option of any food IMHO especially in Grain free as the protein is readily avail to the cat
 

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Hi! I'd like to jump in on this topic b/c I have a lot of questions surronding this. I have been reading up on different types of cat foods in order to educate myself and keep my 6-month-old kitties in the best of health.

I recently bought a bag of dry EVO. I wanted something natural and without any of the grains or other stuff that is not helpful for cats. The bag of EVO was actually cheaper than Science Diet! My cats seem to like it, but the "end product" is quite stinky if you catch my drift. I don't think they have diarreha, it's solid and maybe a little soft... but it smells BAD. Also, it seems like my kitties get a little gassy (again, very stinky). (sorry if that grosses anyone out!)

I was raised on the "dry is better" philosophy, but now I am reading that wet isn't bad for them. Also, I've been leaving the dry out (about a cup and a half for the two to share, following the guidelines of 3/4 cup per cat per day) for them to graze on all day. I am concerned that one is getting heavy too soon. But, they are only 6 months old, so I don't want to deprive them.

Are the predominant opinions now that wet food is better? No dry? less to graze on? I understand there isn't one "best" brand. Is there an article/book/website somewhere that rates all of the brands and their pros and cons for cat health? I want to research this further, I just need some help on where to look.

Thank you for your time,
LK.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by LondonKat

Hi! I'd like to jump in on this topic b/c I have a lot of questions surronding this. I have been reading up on different types of cat foods in order to educate myself and keep my 6-month-old kitties in the best of health.

I recently bought a bag of dry EVO. I wanted something natural and without any of the grains or other stuff that is not helpful for cats. The bag of EVO was actually cheaper than Science Diet! My cats seem to like it, but the "end product" is quite stinky if you catch my drift. I don't think they have diarreha, it's solid and maybe a little soft... but it smells BAD. Also, it seems like my kitties get a little gassy (again, very stinky). (sorry if that grosses anyone out!)

I was raised on the "dry is better" philosophy, but now I am reading that wet isn't bad for them. Also, I've been leaving the dry out (about a cup and a half for the two to share, following the guidelines of 3/4 cup per cat per day) for them to graze on all day. I am concerned that one is getting heavy too soon. But, they are only 6 months old, so I don't want to deprive them.

Are the predominant opinions now that wet food is better? No dry? less to graze on? I understand there isn't one "best" brand. Is there an article/book/website somewhere that rates all of the brands and their pros and cons for cat health? I want to research this further, I just need some help on where to look.

Thank you for your time,
LK.
ALL charts are IMHO biased to what they like... Even my recommendations are jaded toward basic and natural ... over the typical "holistic"... do you know how to do a search??? on this site... type in BEST cat food and alot shows up...

IMHO wet is FAR FAR better than dry .. but my current kitty prefers dry to wet
 
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