The Kibble Trails: Innova Red Meat Results

Today Conker finally finished off the last of the Innova Red Meat I've been feeding him. I got a bit impatient and started to give some to the Girls, so the 15 pound bag would have lasted longer than it did if I hadn't done that.

Anywho, Conker generally did pretty good on this food. So good in fact that he actually got a bit too chubby for my liking! Although, that could be due to his drastic drop in exercise (I basically cut almost all of it out when he had that eating problem) and the rise in temperatures which also put a stop to any outdoor activity during the day. So it's no wonder that Conker got a bit of flub here and there.

No picture of actual kibbles. They are shaped like triangles.

Conker would usually eat this kibble if it didn't have any additions to it, but he strongly preferred an egg be mixed in and would object if I did not include one. Due to the food's lower protein content, I usually did include an egg or a bit of ground meat.

Teeth stayed in relatively good shape, a bit of tartar here and there. Nothing huge, but enough to need a bone every now and then.
Poop was good, small, firm, non smelly. I was not really expecting that since this food is a grain-inclusive one.

Like all kibbles so far, Conker developed a doggy odor and slight coat grease. (He normally has neither.) But it wasn't bad and was hardly noticeable. His undercoat was mainly soft, the overcoat stiff, but it lacked the shine I see with his normal diet and was somewhat dry. Not even an egg and salmon oil just about daily would bring the shine back. He shed a lot, but I think that is due to the huge temperature increase that we had going on when I was feeding this food.

Conker had a quite a bit of energy on this food. Not surprising since it's so high in calories. He only needed around 1 cup a day to stay at a "slightly chubby" weight. I imagine 1 cup or slightly over would have been fine for his normal activity level.


Overall I liked this food. With the exception of the dryish non-shiny coat and flub, Conker's condition was pretty good. I probably wouldn't use it if a higher protein food were available, but if I could not find one, then I'd use this food in a pinch if I had to.

Innova has recently revamped their foods and packaging, so this trial is a bit defunct now. I might try the new version later and compare it to the old to see if there are any noticeable changes.