I currently feed my 5-year-old GSD Evo red meat formula (large bites). When I went to the local store today to buy another bag, I talked to one of the workers there (seemed fairly trustworthy) and he started telling me that there are lawsuits against Innova right now and that EVO is only a medium-quality dry food. I asked him what he thought was better and he recommended me Country Naturals adult dog food (or NutriSource as a second best) and said that they were one of the better brands out there.

I've been reading about both brands online and they seem rather comparable and no serious complaints about EVO, so I wanted to get other people's opinion on the matter.

The only downside to feeding EVO is that my dog doesn't constantly eat his food. He eats once a day and only 90% of what's in his bowl. He also only generally tends to eat when I'm standing next to him (probably a behavioral issue :blush. He's probably slightly underweight at around 80 lbs. Though I have a feeling that he's not eating as much because he's not neutered and that he's probably thinking more about breeding than feeding. Also, he has loose stools once or twice a week but they go away with a spoon of yogurt.

Lastly, I know that majority of people here are RAW diet advocates, however, I'm not in a position to be feeding my dog RAW food at the moment. If you guys have any experience with these two dry foods (or any other high-quality dry food), I would really appreciate your response.

Thanks in advance.

Do you have links to the two foods you were told about?

The other issues: Have you considered feeding 2x a day instead? Loose stools are often triggered by too much food at one "sitting," and lack of weight maintenance can be related to inability to consume enough calories in one meal.

I also pretty much feel that breeds that are as vulnerable to bloat as GSDs probably should be fed twice a day rather than once (although this opinion is not universal).

I should add a note, since eating EVO his coat is FANTASTIC and his teeth are fairly white (some yellow spots). So it's not that the food is horrendous, but I'm just looking for better options.

Country Natural is loaded with lots of grains. Evo has none. That's the biggest difference along with CN having chicken as a main meat & the Evo having multiple meats.

Being a raw feeder, I would prefer the Evo, but I suspect that most raw feeders would.

Some dogs seem to do ok on some grains. Some do not. Some dogs that have trouble keeping weight do well on grains.

I have a hard keeper, but just add a bit more at a meal or add a 3rd meal for him when I need to add more then just a bit extra to hold his weight. But I NEVER add grain to their diets. ( I feed 2x a day -pups to 6 months get 3x a day)