Innova (and Nutro Ultra) Dog Food

So our breeder started us out on Eukanuba Puppy, and we stuck with that for a few weeks. Seemed fine. But then I started reading up on the different kinds of food out there. It makes sense--feed your puppy better food! I mean, I eat hotdogs and other barely-human-grade meats, but I also make sure I eat healthy and go out for sushi when I can, etc. Why not the same for your puppy--especially if she's going to eat the same stuff every day?

But the I also was reading in the Dog Bible about the increasing rates of cancer in dogs these days--and they pretty much narrowly speculate that it has to do with food. Nothing else has really changed in the way people care for animals--except that people have pretty much all switched to processed food diets. Even high end foods, e.g., Eukanuba, have switched their recipes over to lower-grade ingredients.

So upon recommendations and grading dog food brands, we've been feeding her Innova Puppy, which ranks A+ and is one of the highest graded foods out there.

Since, I don't know how much of her improvements are attributable just for the food. She's gotten older. She's more used to the environment. We're feeding her a lot of different things: a lot of natural treats, all meat treats, fish oil, yogurt, etc. But all in all caring about what she eats I think counts. Her coat is shiny and super-soft. Her eyes have gotten better--less gunk and swelling. Her paws feel great, etc.

But this isn't all just about Innova. I clicked on an add for Nutro Ultra--I've been considering it since it's available at Petco, but Innova is only available at a small, local store. If that store ever goes out of business, I might switch to something like Nutro Ultra (or Newman's Own). I haven't graded it yet, but on the web site, I noticed that in all its super-biased comparison charts, it ranked Innova closest to itself while, of course, Ultra blows everyone else away. (Also, I'll note that after Ultra, Innova was the best-tasting, too!)

http://www.ultraholistic.com/performance.shtml

I also noticed that usually when I see food comparisons, I rarely see Innova compared--and I wonder if that's because Innova is high enough quality that any brand-by-brand comparison would lose to Innova. But this is pure speculation--almost fan frenzy, I suppose.

So takehome, Nutro Ultra looks potentially interesting, but it was really a confirmation that Innova's still pretty damn good.