HELP! Calbee doensn't like Innova Puppy!

[musky hunter]

Hi,

i got a 4 1/2 month old Toy Poodle that will not switch foods. He is currently on Nutrience Puppy and will not switch to Innova Puppy. We tried the slowly adding more innova and less nutrience but it didnt work. Calbee will only eat the nutrience, he will spit out the innova. He at the innova for a few days but now refuses to eat it! We tried to wet the kibble but the same thing! We tried taking away all the nutrience but he will just stop eating, did this for 2 days. So i went back to nutrience puppy. What should i do? Help!

 

[Bobsk8]

I bet he will eat Natural Balance...

 

[Herschel]

Bob, do you get paid to promote that stuff?

musky hunter, some dogs are just picky. Try any (or all) of the following:

-Use the Innova Puppy as treats for a couple of days. Train him and give him one piece of kibble at a time.

-Pour some of the Innova out on the ground and see if his is more interested.

-Switch cold turkey to Innova, add some water and some flavorings (we use a few drops of olive oil and ground flax seed)

-Try a different food. Canidae, Innova Adult, Nature's Variety, The Honest Kitchen, etc. etc. etc.

 

[musky hunter]

Hi,

1. I tried that already. He wont touch the kibble even if i use it as a treat or play with it.

2. I tried switching cold turkey, he didnt eat the kibble. He just pushed the bowl away.

3. I will bring the food back and see if they will allow me to switch it out to smth else.

-Use the Innova Puppy as treats for a couple of days. Train him and give him one piece of kibble at a time.

-Pour some of the Innova out on the ground and see if his is more interested.

-Switch cold turkey to Innova, add some water and some flavorings (we use a few drops of olive oil and ground flax seed)

-Try a different food. Canidae, Innova Adult, Nature's Variety, The Honest Kitchen, etc. etc. etc.

 

[Herschel]

3 sounds great. Just try to make sure you switch with something of the same caliber.

 

[Mordy]

I'd suggest emailing Natura for a sample of Innova Evo. That way you don't have to buy a whole bag to test it out.

Most dogs love the taste of this food, and for a small breed it would be really great.

 

[musky hunter]

My puppy is only 17 weeks..is it okay to feed EVO?>

 

[Mordy]

Yes, Evo is only a problem for large/giant breed puppies.

 

[Sush]

maybe add a little chicken broth to the kibble and warm it up

 

[Bobsk8]

Bob, do you get paid to promote that stuff?

musky hunter, some dogs are just picky. Try any (or all) of the following:

-Use the Innova Puppy as treats for a couple of days. Train him and give him one piece of kibble at a time.

-Pour some of the Innova out on the ground and see if his is more interested.

-Switch cold turkey to Innova, add some water and some flavorings (we use a few drops of olive oil and ground flax seed)

-Try a different food. Canidae, Innova Adult, Nature's Variety, The Honest Kitchen, etc. etc. etc.

No but I should!!!!... I have a store near me that sells every kind of Dog food that is mentioned on this forum, among the "Elite types". I have tried a bunch of them that are talked about here all the time and Smokeys response has been, " Yawn, if that is all there is I might eat it, but I wish you could come up with something that tastes good!!!! ....... "

I brought Natural Balance home and no matter which kind I feed her, she licks and licks the bowl to the point where the finish is starting to wear out, kibble with canned mixed in, kibble plain right out of the bag, doesn't make any difference. I have a Kong toy which she didn't pay any attention to no matter what I placed in it . A couple of small slices of the Natural Balance Dog Food roll placed in the Kong toy, and she will chew and tear and gnaw on it it for hours trying to get that food out of it

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/DFRolls.html .....

My friend who has 2 dogs experienced the same thing feeding NB to his dogs........ It's pretty healthy stuff as far as I can see, and apparently dogs love it.. hard combination to beat... I read so many posts stating that the "popular foods" that are mentioned here , either don't appeal to some dogs, or they have to be spiced up with something else to get their dog to eat them, or their dogs get upset tummies and or diarrhea from eating them... That is why I always mention NB since it doesn't seem to be one of the "In foods" here for some reason, but it sure rates 5 stars with my dog..

 

[Mordy]

Taste isn't everything.

Of course if a dog refuses to eat a food period, that's no good, but palatability doesn't necessarily equal quality.

Just as a drastic example: my dog adores cat poop and would love to eat it whenever he possibly can, but it's neither healthy nor particularly nutritious.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that NB food has anything to do with cat poop, and I'm also not saying that it is a bad food, but the protein and fat content of most of their products are too low for the average dog, at least as long as it's fed unsupplemented.

 

[misticaleclipse]

What about a broth/gravy type mix on top of the foods mixed together in small amounts until its just innova?

Is one brand chicken and another fish or something? Maybe they like fish taste better and your new brand is chicken?

When Charlie does not want to eat I sometimes put peanut butter in small amounts mixed into the food. (though you need to get the non fat kind that most people would not eat if you want it to be healthy)

 

[showpug]

I recommend trying something else. There is a food out there that your dog will eat, you just have to find it. How about feeding just Innova Puppy canned food and avoid the kibble all together.

Just because a food is good, doesn't mean it's the right food for every dog.

 

[PoodleMommy]

Shouldnt have gotten a toy poodle

Just kidding of course, I have two of my own, but they sure can be picky eaters. I tried everything on my dog and eventually just HAD to add stuff to it to get her to eat. Everyone says not to do it, but it worked and the vet said it is fine. I had fish, hamburger meat, steak, chicken, etc.

Good Luck

Elissa

 

[girlbuffalo1]

2 days

So eventaully your poodle would eat it if you just didn't feed it anything else wouldn't it? I mean 2 days without food wouldn't hurt a dog would it. If it is hungry enough it will eat it even if it doesn't like it. Wrigley on the other hand would eat a moldy purina kibble with bitter sprayed on it (LOL just hypothetical)...

 

[Bobsk8]

Taste isn't everything.

Of course if a dog refuses to eat a food period, that's no good, but palatability doesn't necessarily equal quality.

Just as a drastic example: my dog adores cat poop and would love to eat it whenever he possibly can, but it's neither healthy nor particularly nutritious.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that NB food has anything to do with cat poop, and I'm also not saying that it is a bad food, but the protein and fat content of most of their products are too low for the average dog, at least as long as it's fed unsupplemented.

I seem to find quite a few posts that mention problems with Innova Foods, like the dogs won't eat it, indigestion, loose stools, etc... I guess it could be the most nutrious food in the world, but if the animal won't eat it or it affects the animal's digestion in a negative way, it isn't worth much to either the pet or it's owner. I discovered these issues when I took a couple of the very highly recommended foods that are metioned here, and tried them on Smokey. I might as well have fed her kibble made out of rice cakes and styrafoam. I threw out about 4 almost full bags of the stuff, because it just sat in the bowl.

Again we get into the protein discussion. I still don't see the big difference between 22% and 24% protein comparing Natural Balance and either Innova or Canidae. Solid Gold Hundenflocken and Eagle Pack Holistic also has 22% protein, and yet I don't hear them compared negatively to foods that contain 24% protein. I could see the concern if the difference was 5 to 10%, but 1 or 2 %... Just doesn't make sense to disqualify a food because of that.

 

[Gillian]

Trust your dog. That stuff can't be good if a pup will go two days without food to avoid eating it! Get something more natural or learn to cook healthy meals for your dog. Alternatively feed raw.

Gillian

 

[Mordy]

I seem to find quite a few posts that mention problems with Innova Foods, like the dogs won't eat it, indigestion, loose stools, etc... I guess it could be the most nutrious food in the world, but if the animal won't eat it or it affects the animal's digestion in a negative way, it isn't worth much to either the pet or it's owner. I discovered these issues when I took a couple of the very highly recommended foods that are metioned here, and tried them on Smokey. I might as well have fed her kibble made out of rice cakes and styrafoam. I threw out about 4 almost full bags of the stuff, because it just sat in the bowl.

Of course the best food is no good if the dog doesn't tolerate it, but overfeeding is one main cause of dogs having issues on Innova. The fat content can be another issue - some dogs just do better with less fat. Luckily, with the new items in the line, people have choices now.

Again we get into the protein discussion. I still don't see the big difference between 22% and 24% protein comparing Natural Balance and either Innova or Canidae. Solid Gold Hundenflocken and Eagle Pack Holistic also has 22% protein, and yet I don't hear them compared negatively to foods that contain 24% protein. I could see the concern if the difference was 5 to 10%, but 1 or 2 %... Just doesn't make sense to disqualify a food because of that.

You need to take into consideration that those percentages are only minimum levels - the minimum percentage of protein is guaranteed by the manufacturer, but not the quality or digestibility. The simple fact that two different foods contain a minimum of 22% or 24% or whatever protein doesn't automatically make them equal.

Another factor that plays a huge role for me in forming an opinion of a food is how forthcoming and honest the manufacturer is with information about their products, and in that department Natural Balance is far behind a number of other brands.

 

[ToscasMom]

I gotta go with Bob on this. He is not exaggerating. Tosca DIVEs for Natural Balance. I also use pieces of the dog food roll for her training treats and let me tell you, she will do ANYTHING for that stuff.