Innova...too much of a good thing?

Hi everyone,
Hopefully someone can give me a clue on what I'm doing wrong.

I have a 6 month old Neapolitan mastiff. He is currently weighing in at 100 lbs. When i got him we were feeding him Nutro Large Breed puppy. 3 cups in the day and 3 cups at night as suggested by the breeder. His stool was firm,even though he went potty 3 or 4 times a day. His coat was getting flaky and he had runny eyes.

I went looking to switch to Eagle Pack Large breed dry food, but was told that it was not legal to sell in Texas. So they recommended Innova Large breed puppy to me. Everything was great for the first month, he loved the food, his stool was still somewhat firm, and his coat looked gorgeous. Now after about 2 months his stool is getting extremely loose, and just recently it has been nothing but diarrhea. I am only feeding him 2 cups in the day time and 2 cups at night. He has gained a lot of weight but still looks very lanky.
My two other dogs, a bullmastiff and a pug, are also on Innova. The bullmastiff is also getting diarrhea recently, but the pug is okay. What am I doing wrong?

I'd suggest for the quick fix, giving a half-cup or so of canned pumpkin. Just be sure it's plain pumpkin and not the pie filling. That will firm things up for now.

The next thing I think I would suggest is moving to the Innova all stages food instead of the large breed puppy food and see if that doesn't work better. With the Innova, too, you need to be sure you don't overfeed.

Have you had a Giardia Antigen (not the regular Giardia fecal but the Antigen) run?

My friend has had the same issues with Innova Large Breed with her 5 month old shelter mutt...normal-ish stools on Nutro but very "soft serve" with the Innova...I wonder what's up?

Odd - I feed an Innova mix (75% Innova and 25% other premium food that changes every month or so) and we have firm stools here!

Yes,
I will try the pumpkin pie suggestion, Renee, thanks.

I have not heard of Giardia Antigen? What is it?
I'm willing to try anything, it's not much fun coming home from work at 9pm and finding doody sprayed all over the walls.

Should I switch to a different type of dog food, because it might be too rich for my dog?

I would switch to the regular Innova adult for all stages . . . and do have the vet check done. Explosive diarrhea is something that needs to be checked.

I just don't understand the raves about Innova and yet I read so many posts with dogs that are eating it having digestive problems.. What is the point?

Natural Balance and Happy

Ok.. I have a 2 year old Saint Bernard and a 18 month old Cane Corso.. I had the same results with the large breed puppy formula. Loose stools and after a while they didn't want to eat it anymore..

I tried Solid Gold and had the same results.. Maybe this food just isn't agreeing with your pup. Like suggested I would try the regular all life stages innova first. If that doesn't work out, then try another brand. It just might not work for your bunch.

I feed Canidae, Eagle, Natural Balance, and Flint River Ranch now (rotating them every few months) and I haven't had a problem with any of them. Their stools are firm and coats are great!

Innova is a premium line, but the best food is the one that works for your dog.

Have you thought about dropping Flint River Ranch from that rotation? It really doesn't compare to the rest of them in terms of ingredient quality. They have amazing marketing skills, though.

I've had my dogs on Innova for over a year. recently they just don't seem to want it. I don't overfeed.......I dole out the recommended amount, pick up what they leave. at first......amazing results. shiney coats...less stool. lately...I'm not impressed at all. my Hammie seems too lean, coat seems dull again, he is looking 'lanky'. Addie still has signs of redness between her paw 'toes'......which I thought was poor diet. (per what I read on here) all the rave for a 'quality' food to cure those types of problems....well, Innova leaves me cold. I am going to try something else. researching it all again. I gave Innova a long trial......so it's not like I'm giving up early on. it's not all it's cracked up to be I think. what I am trying to say is........I agree that it is the brand that works for your dog that is best. maybe too much has been said about Innova on this forum. it IS a quality food no doubt...but I must say it isn't working for my dogs. I've had to 'treat' the Innova with anything I had on hand to even get them to eat a VERY small portion....be it chicken...or spaghetti. now...you could say they are just being picky......NO. it doesn't appeal to them in the least. and it hasn't for months. my point is to say that for every dog.........Innova is NOT premium. I am only willing to feed quality food, but I'm disappointed in the Innova being promoted as 'the' food.

You might want to try switching to an adult food. I had a similar problem with my last dog. As a pup, he had horrible diarrhea after a few months.

The vet told me to switch him to an adult food. He said that puppy food is usually very rich, and some dogs can't handle it. That fixed the problem beautifully.

I agree.. I don't think that FRR comes close to most of the Premium foods. I have only actually fed it on one rotation. The dogs liked it and did well on it, but I don't have any plans to put them back on it. It didn't impress me very much, however they did do better on it than they did on Innova. I have thought about adding Timberwolf Organics to the pot, but haven't found a local dealer yet.. I could order it online, but with shipping it will cost almost twice what I'm paying now for Canidae..

I'll tell you...just decided to give Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken and Rice a try and all my dogs have perfect poop now! Even during the switch over...so much better.

From what you are describing though, I would seriously consider a fecal exam and giardia test.

I use Innova Adult for my other dogs and they all do fabulous on it, great coat, firm stools and not a lot of them, exactly what you're supposed to get with a premium food. Perhaps something with the Lg Breed Puppy formula has something to do with it. I'll get my friend to switch to the ALS formula and give you an update.

Debi,

How do you store your food? I hope it's not in a none air tight container that hasn't been washed with hot water and soap before putting the new bag into it ~

Anyways, Dog food can get tasting nasty if not kept in a air tight container, and food from previous bags can remain on teh sides on the container if not washed off.

This happened to me after awhile on a dog food, but after I got a new container and washed it before every new bag my dogs remained loving thier Innova `

I keep it in the bag..in a dry place. trust me......I can open a new bag...they don't like it. my shepherd is getting thin from hating it. it's not like I'm bashing Innova......I'm saying it's not right for my dogs, as may be the case for other people. they started off liking it, but that ended quickly. now...I'm just starving them by trying to feed it. I'm trying something else...maybe Canidae (sp?) I won't feed them garbage, I just want something they like.

Wow!!
Really great replies. Thank you to everyone for all your comments, from everything that I've read, I think I'll go ahead and try the Adult Life styles first to see if it makes a difference. I'm also going to get the fecal exam done just to be sure. I do leave a big bucket of water outside for them to drink in, even though I change the water every morning. Could that be how they get giardia?

It's good to know I wasn't the only one going through this. This site is awesome w/ everyone being so helpful.

thanks again.

My boy has had loose stools on Innova evo and recently I am trying regular innova with still inconsistent stools . I think I am going back to the Natural Balance next bag. His stools were always firm on that

Maybe the Innova Evo is just too rich for his sytem. A friend of mine has complained about the same thing. Have you tried Canidae? It may be too rich as well but might be worth a shot.

The good news is that you aren't feeding Nutro anymore since so many Nutro products contain Vitamin K3 (Meniadone). It can cause liver problems and can weaken the immune system.

Good to hear you are considering the Giardia antigen test just to be on the safe side. Dogs can pick that up from deer feces or streams or whatever...food and water bowls have to be sanitized by boiling daily so dogs don't become re-infected.