Innova EVO Cat & Kitten Dry Cat Food - Healthy Pet Foods?
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Ask Susan Peters Other Sites Of Interest:
Cat Food Review - Cat Food Ratings
Dog Food Review
Pet Food Danger Gauge - How it works
Cushings Disease - Starring "Harley" Information
Natura Pet Foods Reviews and News
Ask Susan Peters - Innova EVO Cat & Kitten Dry Cat Food Healthy Pet Foods?
Pet Food Danger Gauge 76% Dangerous and Toxic To Pets
Chicken Fat and Herring Oil are used to encourage pets to eat ingredients they normally would not eat.
Potatoes - cheap filler, much like the use of beet pulp.
Class Action - (comment deleted). Their pets became ill and many have died due to eating Pet Food. (comment deleted). Anytime I see a Class Action filed against a company and the products the company produces I would not advise feeding their products to your pets. (comment deleted).
Natural Flavor. (comment deleted).
Natural Flavors as defined by the FDA With respect to flavors, pet foods often contain "digests," which are materials treated with heat, enzymes and/or acids to form concentrated natural flavors. Only a small amount of a "chicken digest" is needed to produce a "Chicken Flavored Cat Food," even though no actual chicken is added to the food. Stocks or broths are also occasionally added. Whey is often used to add a milk flavor. Often labels will bear a claim of "no artificial flavors." Actually, artificial flavors are rarely used in pet foods. The major exception to that would be artificial smoke or bacon flavors, which are added to some treats. http://www.fda.gov/cvm/petlabel.htm
Animal digest. (comment deleted).
(comment deleted). Let me ask you to think on this issue for just a minute and then see what you decide. Let's take a person, for instance, When a person begins the "digestion" process food is placed in the mouth for chewing. Digestion continues as the food passes to the stomach and is broken down to pass into the intestines for further digestion. Digestion is complete once the person has had a bowl movement and fully evacuated the food from the human body. Why would obtaining animal digest be any different from human digest?
Milk Products should not be given to a pet past weaning age.
Potassium Chloride - used as the third of a three drug combination in judicial execution through lethal injection and used for making fertilizer.
The use of Corn, Wheat, and Soy are causing such awful conditions in pets including:
- Abnormal nail growth
- Bad breath
- Blindness
- Bloat
- Cancer
- CRF
- Cushings Disease
- Deafness
- Dental disease
- Dry and itchy skin
- Ear aches
- Ear infections
- Early pet death
- Fever
- Hair loss
- Heart conditions
- Hot Spots on the skin
- IBD
- Kidney conditions
- Liver conditions
- Moles and warts
- Seizures
- Sore feet
- Tumors
- Weight gain
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Natural Cat Food Samples (Evo Orijen Innova Wellness)
Current Bid: $9.98
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WET CAT Food Samples (Evo Innova Weruva ETC)
Current Bid: $67.98
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2 bags of Innova Evo Cat & Kitten food
Current Bid: $39.00
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Innova Evo Cat & Kitten food
Current Bid: $20.00
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Innova EVO Cat and Kitten Dry Cat Food
Price: $39.70
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Innova EVO Cat and Kitten Dry Cat Food
Price: $17.70
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Innova EVO No Grain Dog Treats
Price: $5.89
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Innova EVO Small Bite Dry Dog Food
Price: $14.24
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Pet Food Danger Gauge - Worth 30 Points
Innova EVO Cat & Kitten Dry Cat Food Rating
- Animal Digest -
- Animal Fat - Minus 1 point = chicken fat, Herring Oil
- Artificial Flavors/Colors -
- Beet Pulp/Pea Fiber/ Potato - Minus 1 point = Potatoes
- BHA/BHT -
- Brewers Yeast/Brewers Rice -
- By-Products -
- Cellulose -
- Class Action - Minus 1 point
- Corn -
- Ethoxyquin -
- Fermentation Products -
- Flavor - Minus 1 point = Natural Flavors (flavors of what?)
- Garlic/Grapes/Avocados/Nuts -
- Gluten -
- Hydrochloric Acid -
- Meat -
- Millet -
- Miscellaneous - Minus 1 point = egg (from what?), Alfalfa Sprouts, Cottage Cheese, Direct-Fed Microbials (inlcuded because I can't find any information on what this means)
- Oats -
- Pet Food Recalls -
- Phosphoric Acid -
- Potassium Chloride - Minus 1 point
- Propylene Glycol -
- Salt -
- Sodium Selenite -
- Soy - Minus 1 point = lecithin
- Wheat -
- White Rice -
Innova EVO Cat & Kitten Dry Cat Food Rating
Pet Food Danger Gauge 76% Safe - Healthy Pet Foods Total Score = 23/30
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Comments
At the top of this page it states Ask Susan Peters- "Innova EVO Cat & Kitten Healthy Pet Foods? Pet Food Dager Gauge 76% Dangerous & Toxic To Pets?" Ok, that led me to believe that this food is 76% dangerous & Toxic.
Then I read below your point score "Pet Food Danger Gauge 76% Safe - Healthy Pet Foods Total Score = 23/30"
So is this food 76% dangerous/toxic or is it 76% safe? Seems to me if it were 76% unsafe it would be taken off the shelves?
Pet Food Danger Gauge 76% Dangerous and Toxic To Pets
Chicken
76% Dangerous and Toxic
Animal digest is describing how the animal is processed, not literally what the animal has digested, its manure. Animal digest consists of animal-feed grade animal products that are processed using high heat, chemical or an enzymatic process which digests the material and makes it soluble so it can be added to pet food. The matter is supposed to be cleam and fresh animal tissue and is not supposed to contain hair, teeth, feathers, or hooves. It has nothing to do with manure.
Leslie,
I agree the formula can be confusing, can you think of a better way for me to state that this product is 76% safe? (I could use some help with this one).
I agree with you about products which are dangerous and toxic to pets should be pulled from the shelves. Look at Science Diet for which is only 50% safe or 50% deadly. Vet suggested and vet sold products scoring only 50% chance of any kind of life - what to do with the vet? Neuter him or pull his license since he/she vowed to protect the health of animals?
Ok, I'm done being ugly... sorry for that. A little help with the 76% issue, please?
Susan
Ann,
I find it to be really scary the company keeps 'the exact composition is proprietary' (secret) when the FDA and AAFCO tells you exactly where the stuff comes from. I've visited several rendering plants and I can tell you from personal experience that manure is manure. If the plant is working on horse, chicken, road kill, etc. the manure comes from the animal they are working on.
Adult Cats and Dogs do not produce enough of the enzyme to break down milk products, therefore dairy products and adult pets don't make good friends.
Potato Peelings and Green Potatoes (Contain Oxalates, which can affect the digestive, nervous, and urinary systems.)
Lecithin is included in your pet's diet as an emulsifier - which means it protects the pet food from breaking down. Kinda like a candy bar not melting. Not necessary in a pet's diet.
I don't have an opinion of cranberries in a dog's diet but in a cat's diet cranberries are not necessary and are possibly harmful. Cats are meat eaters and must have meat the grains and added fillers can be harmful to cats.
I wonder how careful this company can be if they allow Menu Foods to produce their wet foods. I find that exceptionally odd, don't you?
I notice on their web site they state they don't use corn or wheat but no mention of soy. No matter how altered or deranged the soy is - still it is soy.
Susan
My room mates and I are both on our computers reading and posting to your site. We all so surprised at what we are learning!
As for the safety % wording I guess if it would just state on one line all by itself "This product is considered ____% safe or This product is comprised of ___% safe ingrdients. The rest are not!
I was recently in a pet store where one of the sales people was trying to explain to a women that Science Diet isn't the quality food it may have been years ago. The women became VERY angry and insisted that she brings her pets to a top notch vet and he recommended Science Diet. So sad how we put our faith in these experts and what they are pushing on us is crap! Any other product that only had a 50% success rate would be taken off of the market. Imagine if only 50% of the automobiles sold worked or if only 50% of box of ceral was edible.
I agree with the soy issue. I have health issues and must avoid soy. The more I learn about it the more I don't want my pets to have it. This all so eye opening to me - very shocking. For years my husband and I have spent thousands of dollars on this pet food. We made the sacrafice to do so because we love our pets and thought we were giving them the very best available food. I even researched all of the information on their site before I made my first purchase. Looks like I'll have to research preparing foods myself. I tried this years ago and they refused to eat it.
Susan would you consider maybe one day having a site or a section here with what you feed your pets? All of this is so new to me so I would love to learn more.
Thanks again Susan!
Leslie,
I am working on building a site called PetFoodDangerGauge.com Here, I plan to do a mini series on cooking foods at home and what needs to go into the pet foods.
I am going to set this up as a video series. I've kinda started this mini series on this site http://hubpages.com/hub/Natural-Dog-Food-Recipe-Ea
I have taken some days off next week to get my new site launched and running. I hope to get things done by leaps and bounds (yeah, right!).
I'm open to any suggestions you may have.
Thanks,
Susan
Im shocked and im shattered...I know this food states for cats but i feed my 2 Rotties innova Evo for my 4.5yr old and Innova large breed puppy for my 15wk old.....I feed kibble in the morning and raw food at night...I have read what you have stated here and like some many i just to give my boys the best, my babies are my life! So what im asking is this:"is Evo for dogs doing my babies harm?
There is this site: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ that has rated Innova Evo 6* food....meaning one of the best foods.
Please help me to give my babies the best life has to offer them.
A huge thank-you in advance xo
Thank-You so much for the info Susan i have been searching the web and i have come across Orijen i seen that you have scored it 9/10 would this be a better path for me to take for my babies? Im not to sure about the puppy food as its 42.0% protein, i have read that too much protein in a growing pup is bad for them.
Im from Australia and we dont have a huge range of good foods so i am limited as to what we can get..... :(
Thank-you once again
Linda xo
I was told at my Vet's office not to give cat food to dogs. They said there is something in cat foods(can't remember the ingredient) that is toxic if fed to dogs. My dogs sneaks a little food from the cats bowl but never more than a few small bites. I use to let her eat whatever the cat didn't finish.
My cats don't do this but I was also told that cats should never be given dog food because it is too high in protein and fat for them.
Susan, I love the information on making pet food for your dogs! That photo of the dog is sooooo cute! I have been considering making my own foods for our dog and cats after learning that the expensive foods I have been feeding them aren't the perfect foods I thought they were. Alot of the information on the Internet is confusing and I am a bit reluctant since this is totally new teritory for me. I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly to give my pet a healthy food. I truly appreciate your dedication in providing the information on this site. I know it must be a labor of love because this certainly takes time from what I am sure is a busy life!
As for suggestions on what to include...I like the idea of a how to step by step video if possible. Getting an actual visual seems to help retain the information more for me. I have cats and a dog so I would really appreciate the how to's for making cat food. What to avoid, what is a must to include. Of course the safety issues and maybe a discussion on if parasites are an issue, quality of meats used(organic or not), what section of the meat should be used or not used(breast, thigh, wing...) It's almost impossible to get local organic meat where I live,is that a big issue for preparing my own pet food, maybe tips for getting a cat to eat the new food and finally how did you discover the problems in commercial pet food. Is that enough for suggestions. LOL!
I've heard from others that raw is best for felines(haven't researched if that is the case with dogs). Some people use several different individual supplements along with the raw meat. One product I've read that seems to be a good choice is a powder that you then mix with meat(do not use the bone with this) http://www.felinefuture.com/
There is even a reduce protein formula for cats with special health issues. The Therapeutic formula.
http://www.felinefuture.com/payments/?action=step1
There phone customer service is VERY helpful. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this product.
I look forward to learning more from you Susan. Thank you for letting us know about the problems with EVO. This is what my roomate and I give to our pets and I never would have learned about any potential problem if it weren't for your information. What's really sad is that compared to some(if not most)of the other pet foods this one, even with the problems is still better than most. So very sad!
Adding a few more suggestion - making food for pets with health issues - is it still a good choice,(I have a diabetic cat and one with previous history of crystal in the urine resulting in blockage), tips for discussing this with the vet. I am sure most aren't going to be very supportive of making our own foods.
One final question about EVO. My cats coat really improved when they started eating this food. It was healthy before but within two weeks of eating EVO it became truly beautiful. What ingredient in this do you think may have caused such a dramatic improvement.
Infact, I remember the pet store I purchased the food at had information on either a guarantee or a contest to enter before and after photos of your pet on EVO because the improvements were supposedly seen by ever pet eating the food. I'd love to include whatever it is(if it is safe)in my own home made food if possible.
My suggestion would be that there is some mention of what very little it takes to get a pet food to market. I believe I read some place on this forum that pets only have to survive - not thrive for 6 months when the food is tested to be approved. Am I right?
Linda,
Don't get taken in by the "puppy" foods. The main difference between puppy formula and adult formula is the price. The next point of interest is what you have pointed out that the protein content is higher in puppy foods. The sad news is that the protein comes from grains!
Find a nice adult formula dog food and provide an extra ration for your youngster.
Read the labels of the pet foods you have found available "down under" to see what might work out for you there. I've found some really nice foods (I can think of only one, called "Hi Life") that are not available in the States. Should you come across something you think looks good send a copy of the ingredient listing and I'll review it for you. More expensive is not ALWAYS better. Don't be afraid to look at the lesser brands.
Susan
Ann,
I'm excited to get started on this project! You have wonderful ideas and I will do my best to use each of those great suggestions.
Meat purchased at Wal-Mart is a poor idea since Wal-Mart injects their meats (Wal-Mart is not the only company to do this). Do your stores have a meat department with a live person who cuts the meats from roasts into stakes? Speak with this person to find out if the meat is injected.
I don't feel that an organic meat is a must but I do feel that a processed meat is a very poor choice in ingredients. I know that injecting the meats is not really processing them but the effects are the same.
I've not visited your country but I don't think you should have trouble getting most of the items needed to make home cooked food for your pets.
The raw diet is possibly the best for your cat but I feel a cooked meal (lasts longer in the 'fridge and on the plate) is nearly or equally as good if prepared in the proper manner. Simple steps, like putting a lid on the pot while the recipe cooks to lock in flavor, vitamins, and minerals, should keep everything on a even keel.
Ok, Miss Smarty Pants, help me come up with a name to call this video series on pet foods made at home. I need something good ... but I can't seem to come up with it.
The only ingredient in cat food that once was unique to cat food is taurine. Taurine encourages a cat to drink more water. Dog foods are now using this ingredient and studies have shown the added water intake for dogs is helping the dog's body cope with the added toxins in the diet. Taurine is not a problem for dogs.
Ideally, a cat's diet should be meat and water with a few minerals tossed in. A dog, over time, can't survive without his fruit and veggies so a steady diet of cat food could be harmful to a dog. My dog eats my cats' food with no side effects but always has what is required in her own dish. One word of caution is to watch for over eating. You have to watch to make sure your dog is not getting too much to eat. You dog, on a healthy diet, should eat only what her/his body requires and probably won't have a problem with over eating.
Of course, for my dog, if Angel and Boots has something Odie doesn't have ... Odie must have that, too! Kids, I tell ya' ! LOL
Thanks for your help!
Susan
Ann,
Remind me of the olive oil for the coat. Olive oil is much easier on the digestive tract and only takes a drop or two.
I think this recipe used Herring Oil but we don't know how much of it was to encourge the pets to eat and how much was actually planned for the sleak coat!
Susan
Leslie,
AAFCO will approve pet food if 8 dogs (cats) begin a 6 moth test of a product and 5 of them are still alive at the end of the 6 month study. No additional studies are required of the 5 remaining dogs/cats.
I would expect all 8 dogs/cats to live and then some! These cats/dogs have to just live, not thrive (as you said). No consideration for the actual health of these lab animals at the end of the study ... just if the experiement lived or not.
Please visit this site http://youtube.com/watch?v=cvtrCOu7aQs&feature
Susan
Unbelievable! Imagine if a food product for humans had those same standards for passing inspection. If only 5 people out of 8 had to survive.
are you a pet pro?you need to get your facts together and fast this is all crap and you know it,i think that you have no life and that all you can do is scare people to death,bad enough people had pets die because of the recall but evo is a damn good cat food the best in fact maybe you should read up on it some more i have sent this page to evo bacause i feel they should know about what people like you are saying about there product I HAVE NOT HEARD OF ANY PET'S DIEING FROM EATING EVO so i did email evo so we can get to the bottom of your false report's.
Totally confusing. Those who have had good luck and a good relationship with their VET should stick with their recommendations, period.
@Jordan: You are WRONG. Vets are human, they are not infallible. They can make mistakes, they can give bad advice. ScienceDiet (Hills) inundates them with product and propaganda as vet students and it carries over into their professional lives. Simple as that. I like my vet but he told me Evo was "too high in calories" for my cat, even though she is at her ideal weight and is in great shape on it, and tried to push Hill's garbage on me. I responded that feeding any Hill's product would be like allowing a child to live on porkrinds and potato chips. He didn't like that but maybe if enough people question it, it will start to change.
My Vet thinks its ridiculous to think that cat food can cause the cat to become ill. And she has become ill twice - with the last time he diagnosed her with kidney disease and said that she has to be on Science Diet KD for the rest of her life. I promptly put her on Innova and she is the picture of health now.
But Sophisticat cat food nearly killed her twice. I'll never buy that poison again.
It's my understanding the Vet's have a minimum amount of animal nutrition education during their training.
I have been notifying alot of Good animal food companies about Mrs Peters 3 of them so far are looking to sue her for every penny she owns... Plz people read up on all the info she gives.... You too might want to sue her
Wow, once again you post nothing but crap and lies! I agree with several others here that you should be sued for all the poor so called "reporting and research" that you do and post here.
It is so wrong readers of Ask Susan to believe any of her word. I read thru stuff with my jaw on the floor!
For Ann who posted the following quote near the end of her post: "The only ingredient in cat food that once was unique to cat food is taurine. Taurine encourages a cat to drink more water. Dog foods are now using this ingredient and studies have shown the added water intake for dogs is helping the dog's body cope with the added toxins in the diet. Taurine is not a problem for dogs.
Ideally, a cat's diet should be meat and water with a few minerals tossed in. A dog, over time, can't survive without his fruit and veggies so a steady diet of cat food could be harmful to a dog. My dog eats my cats' food with no side effects but always has what is required in her own dish. One word of caution is to watch for over eating. You have to watch to make sure your dog is not getting too much to eat. You dog, on a healthy diet, should eat only what her/his body requires and probably won't have a problem with over eating." (end quote of Ann)
Maybe I read it wrong and if I did, shame on ME but you are SO WAY OFF!!! Cats require higher nutrititon than dogs. A dog can eat a cats food without any poisening or ill effects other than the food may be too rich or heavy, the ill effect is usually a sour or upset stomach. My dog here regularly will sneak the cats left overs and then we all suffer with his gas the rest of the day/night. A dog can in deed eat and thrive on a cats food-it would just cost you a Huge bundle more to feed it that way.
Cats however CAN NOT survive and or thrive on a dogs formula. The protein is too low, the nutrients are also lacking what a cat's body needs. Yes cats can live eating a dog formula but they will not be as healthy or get near as much nutrition as they should.
How about some of you "Ask Susan" readers check out a little blog called: Green Little Cat (www.greenlittlecat.com) cause she has some really good info on foods and seems to have done HER HOMEWORK AND RESEARCH and had a goal of not only gaining good information for her cat but also to share with others. Here is some of the info she posted from a doctor visit, her cat had struvite crystals-what all cat owners fear:
1-What’s good for humans is NOT GOOD for cats. People benefit from seeds and plant oils such as flaxseed oil. However, these types of fats are not beneficial to cats because cats are carnivores. Cats are completely carnivorous and would do just fine on a diet of only animal protein. In fact, flaxseed oil could actually trigger pancreatitis because the cat’s pancreas is not designed to process this type of fat.
2-Cats should not be eating carbohydrates. This includes wheat, rice, corn, etc. As mentioned above, cats are carnivores. Carbohydrates have a higher pH level (lower acidity) which actually contributes to the formation of struvite crystals. Dry foods are full of carbs.
3-A higher acid diet (lower pH) helps to prevent the formation of struvite crystals. What this means from a natural perspective, is that a higher protein diet will naturally result in a diet with a higher level of acidity. Unfortunately, many commercial cat foods for managing struvite crystals raise the acidity level of their formulas by adding ammonium chloride to their products. I don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that ammonium chloride is not the same as animal protein.
4-In general, canned food naturally has more moisture and animal protein than dry cat food. While the label may say x amount of protein, this figure is determined by measuring what’s left over after the food is burned down to its basic composition. There’s no distinction between animal protein and plant protein, or melamine for that matter.
5-The moisture level and high animal protein in a quality canned food should be sufficient to help reduce struvite crystals. Even though we add large amounts of water to Furball’s dry food, it’s not the same as him getting his fluid from wet food. The water needs to soak into the dry food. This is better than him drinking the water because cats naturally metabolize their water better through their intestines. By drinking the water, the cat’s kidneys are forced to do most of the work. This can lead to kidney issues later on in life.
6-High heat rapid cooking alters the structure of the oils in food, making them not that healthy for your pet. Slow-cooking at lower temperatures is better. This is much like how olive oil is good for you unless you heat it at a high temperature.
So blow off Susan and search the net for various opinions and do your OWN research people. Don't take the word of some person who seems to be out to ruin good things that have been started with only the best goal in mind (such as Natura to make the best and healthiest foods). There is so much bad that is posted on the net (not just Hub Pages but others such as Itchmo) and it is wrong and a lot of lies. Use your heads and make decisions based on what you find, test and feed for yourself. Ask your friends, ask the same question about the same food at local retailers in your area and THEN decided what is best for you and your pet.
And Susan....hope you got lots of money put away for any law suits that you lose!
Sincerely,
Tater's Mom
Ann says:
17 months ago
Hi, once again thank you for all of your hard work with this site. I have been feeding my cats this food for several years and was surprised to see that it had the problems you mentioned above. I went to the Natura site and they have very detail information concerning their pet foods. Each food has a detail list that individual ingredients can be clicked on for a explanation of use. I saw your comment concerning the use of "natural flavors" and the cottage cheese. I located the following on the Natura site and thought you might be interested in it. http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1500
"Natural flavors are minimally processed flavor ingredients that do not contain synthetic or artificial components.In the Natura products that include "natural flavor" in the formula, the exact composition is proprietary. However, it is always made from the same animal species on which the formula is based. For example, the "natural flavor" used in the original EVO formula contains a reduction of chicken meat - much the same process as is employed to create a chicken stock in your home kitchen."
Cottage cheese - " Cottage cheese is the result of separating milk or cream into curds and whey. The curds are drained and pressed to form the soft, white, spoonable cheese.Cottage cheese is an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, protein and vitamins. Natura uses high-quality cottage cheese, straight from its retail container. The cottage cheese has only trace amounts of lactose and because of its limited inclusion in the formula, the ultimate amount of lactose in the finished product is insignificant and would not be in sufficient supply to cause an intolerance problem."
Personally I think if it is not a sufficient supply to cause intolerance problems but as you mentioned "Milk Products should not be given to a pet past weaning age" Then this would be a much better product if Natura would just leave it out. There is also detail information on the Natura site concerning their use of Herring Oil, Potatoes, and Letchin. I have two questions regarding some of these ingredients.
Isn't most of the soybeans used in pet(and human foods) currently GMO's(geneticly modified)? More info. is now coming to light about possibly health issues related to the consumption of soy foods. I would prefer it if this ingredient were not in my pet foods at all. According to the info. on Natura's site regarding Lecithin "Lecithin is a specific phospholipid and the principal constituent of crude phosphatides derived from oil-bearing seeds.Lecithin is essential for normal fatty acid transport within cells. It is obtained chiefly from soybeans, corn and egg yolk. Natura uses whole grains, fresh fruits and natural protein sources which provide all the essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals necessary for the life and health of our pets."
Lecithin is essential for normal fatty acid transport within the cells? Is this true and is this the only source for this process?
I am also unsure about the use of cranberries. I have read that cranberrie MIGHT be too stressful on a feline's kidneys. Especially if a pet has kidney disease. There are many things I like about EVO but I think if Naura would make just a few improvements on their ingredients they would have a much better product. In my area the large bag is sold for almost $45.00. At that price I would expect the absolute best quality. What's your take on this Susan?