Saw a commercial abou Innova?
I hear so often about high quality dog foods using cheaper ingredients, making it a lesser quality dog food. It used to be the reason they WERE so high quality is that they didn't spend money on advertisements, so they put the money into making a better quality food. I wonder if Innova's ingredients will be cheaoer now that they have to spend money on commercials? Just wondering.
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One reason you've started seeing a change in Innova's marketing might be because their producer (Natura Pet Foods) was bought by Procter & Gamble in the spring of 2010. Procter & Gamble is the producer of the Iams and Eukanuba brands of pet food, which are known for being lower-quality. Procter & Gamble wanted to expand into the premium pet foods market.
They've implemented a few changes in their Innova dog food line. For instance, they've replaced garlic with pumpkin as an ingredient, since studies have shown that garlic can be bad for dogs. So this is arguably a good formula change (though it's questionable about whether the amount of garlic in the Innova line before the change was high enough to affect dogs).
At the same time, Procter & Gamble isn't known for putting much emphasis on maximizing dog health, or it would have improved Iams' and Eukanuba's formulas. In addition, P & G has been associated with rumors about animal testing and animal cruelty.
In sum, Innova has the ability to do more marketing because it is now owned by a larger company who can afford to devote more money to marketing.
The decision you have to make is whether you want to support a company who has been associated with animal testing and possible cruelty, and who finds it ethically sound to produce pet food brands which can negatively affect many pets' health. Many people are switching from Innova and other P & G brands to other natural brands of pet food for just this reason. They also are wary about the possibility that P & G will change Innova's formula in the future or perhaps lower the quality of its ingredients.
One more factor to consider is that Innova food contains some grains. Some dog owners believe that grain-free formulas are the best for maintaining dog health, since grains weren't really part of dogs' ancestors' diet. So if you do decide to switch foods, you might want to look into grain-free brands of dog food. (Note, however, that EVO, a popular grain-free brand, is also now owned by Procter & Gamble.)
Good luck!