Raw and Innova Evo

Hello everyone. As some of you might know, I have been switching Riley to a primarily raw diet, and things are going great. I previously had him on Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. I had been planning on switching him to only raw, but after some thinking, I would like to keep him on about 25% premium dog food.

My question is this...would it be ok to feed a 6 month old puppy Innova EVO RM? I know the protein is sky high, but what would be the difference between that and a raw-only diet? I know people feed puppies his age just raw, and the protein amounts must be at least that in the raw diet.

He has some trouble with itchy skin, and my guess (although I'm not sure) is that it is from a grain allergy or intolerance. The reason I think this is because it improved quite a bit after the introduction of raw, which he is now on for about 50% of his daily intake. I doubt it is any of the protein sources because he has done fine with chicken, turkey, beef, tilapia, mackeral, eggs, and cottage cheese in his raw.

The Innova EVO has no grains and also contains some meat sources that I am not able to get ahold of around here (venison, lamb, etc.). My only concern is that my puppy is still growing, and I do not want to put stress on his joints and bones. On the other hand, I am not really seeing the difference in protein levels between the Innova and a raw diet, which is highly recommended for all ages of dogs. If anyone has any words of advice, I'd appreciate it!
Kari and Riley

What breed is your dog?

You may want to email Natura and ask them.

Riley is a lab. He currently weighs 52 pounds and is 5 1/2 months old. Sorry, I should have included that info.

Well, he's a large breed not a giant breed. I would think it would be okay given you are just using it to supplement a raw feeding program. But, I am far from a nutritionist.

You may want to send Mordy a PM or email Natura Pet Products. I email Natura a lot and they always get back to me with the information I asked for. Mordy is a great source of information as well and could probably help you a lot with this.

Good Luck

I'm currently feeding my puppy Innova EVO. The protein really isn't a big deal IMO, since raw is mainly protein anyway. It's calcium you want to watch, and the EVO does have a little too much calcium for a pup. I just balance it out by mixing about 1/3 muscle meat with 2/3 EVO, or by giving more meat and less bone in her raw meals.

maybe look into the Timberwolf organic, or something other foods that are designed to mix in with feeding raw? I was told not to feed EVO to a large breed puppy by Natura themselves. They instead sent me samples of the large breed puppy formula, which is NOT formulated to mix with raw meats.