Guidelines For Changing From One Food To Another

Question:
 This question seems to come up often, so perhaps a sticky is in order? If anyone disagrees, please post!
It's typically done over the course of a week, however I have done it over three days when my lab was in severe distress on his old food (licking raw, badly infected ears, etc.)
I would aim for 5 days:
Day 1: 3/4 of their old food and 1/4 of the new for 2 meals.
Day 2: 2/3 old and 1/3 new for 2 meals
Day 3: half and half
Day 4: 2/3 new and 1/3 old
Day 5: 3/4 new and 1/4 old
Then full new. This should reduce the chance of stomach upset.

Answer:
 If you feel the need to switch the food you feed your dog, please consider being systematic about it.
Here is why:
You feed brand x food and for whatever reason you do not like the results.
You switch to brand y and your issues clear up in a swift fashion.
Brand x is then given a bad rap, and brand y is the godsend.
In this scenario you don't know what was causing your dog's issues.
What I see happen many times is people will switch from, for example, chicken/corn brand x, to lamb/rice brand y. If the switch worked, again you won't know why. Was it the chicken, the corn, the beef, or the rice that made the difference? And could you not have switched to brand x lamb and rice and possible cleared your problem up?
So what do I recommend? With labs if you are noticing food issues such as loose and runny stools, back off your food offered by 1/3. Wait 3-4 days and see what happens. If no imporvement occurs, feed some boiled burger and rice for 3-4 days and the reintroduce the dry kibble gradually. If your original issues show up again, switching the kibble may be warranted. When you do this, switch one ingredient at a time, and try using a food of the same brand.
Also consider, before you switch, things like:
1.) Are other family members feeding things they shouldn't like hot dogs, bread, chips, candy ect? If they did can they feel safe enough to own up to it?
2.) What is available in your area/yard that the dog could eat. Grass, flowers, garden vegatables and fruits?
3.) What sort of treats to you feed? Processed dog biscuits/treats can be packed full of wheat and sugar, both of which are not good for pets.
4.) What chemicals do you use inside and outside your home? Have looked at the labels and considered side effects for pets?
I apologize for the lenght of this post, but I feel strongly about the topic, and frankly you could spend a fortune switching from food to food and still be stuck at sqaure one. Hopefully being systematic about your situation will improve the situation for your dog and with lasting impact, and at the same time reduce the blow to your finances.

Answer:
 I think both duckbagger and ZenCat share us their great experiences about this topic. Food, treats and whatever our lab eats are related to the healthy condition, I agree. I love to read what each of you have posted which it's always helpful to me.

Answer:
 I have a question sorta along these same lines. How often should you switch their kibble? If I'm using brand x and the dog is doing great on it, do I keep her on it for the life of the dog? Or, will the dog need a change at some point even if things are going great? 15 years of the same food doesn't sound very good to me :)
Thanks,
Jon

Answer:
 I have a question sorta along these same lines. How often should you switch their kibble? If I'm using brand x and the dog is doing great on it, do I keep her on it for the life of the dog? Or, will the dog need a change at some point even if things are going great? 15 years of the same food doesn't sound very good to me :)
Thanks,
Jon
This is exactly my question . . . I read an article in the Whole Dog Journal that suggested that you should change your dog's food every 4 months or so. According to the article introducing new forms of protein into the dog's diet would increase actual protein absorption. I ran the concept by my stepmother who is a nutritionist and she confirmed that this is correct. Does anyone do this? Would you recommend it? Also, the article said not to mix the foods, but to just switch one day to the next. It then recommended a series of "high quality" foods. We're currently using the Eagle Pack Holisitic, which was on the list and it seems great. Phoenix is growing at a good rate but not too fast and her coat and teeth are doing well. Thanks for your expertise!

Answer:
 This is exactly my question . . . I read an article in the Whole Dog Journal that suggested that you should change your dog's food every 4 months or so. According to the article introducing new forms of protein into the dog's diet would increase actual protein absorption. I ran the concept by my stepmother who is a nutritionist and she confirmed that this is correct. Does anyone do this? Would you recommend it? Also, the article said not to mix the foods, but to just switch one day to the next. It then recommended a series of "high quality" foods. We're currently using the Eagle Pack Holisitic, which was on the list and it seems great. Phoenix is growing at a good rate but not too fast and her coat and teeth are doing well. Thanks for your expertise! And the other thing I don't understand is why you have to gradually transition to a new dog food when owners using the BARF diet, change to different foods every meal.

Answer:
 And the other thing I don't understand is why you have to gradually transition to a new dog food when owners using the BARF diet, change to different foods every meal.
Reason is because raw or slightly cooked digests hold their own digestive enzymes making it for a quicker and easier digestion. It takes approximately 15 hours for commercial dog food to be fully digested, but it takes raw diets about 4 to 5 hours. This allows for less chance of the potential intolerances in the kibble to just sit in the system causing problems. Plus, less chance of intolerances equals better chance of tolerances to a variety of raw foods.
How long does it take for raw food to digest, compared to cooked, or even kibble?
According to Kymythy Schultze, in her book "The Ultimate Diet," raw stays in the stomach 4-5 hours, cooked about 8-10 hours and kibble takes approximately 15 hours to be broken down and move out of the stomach. http://www.njboxers.com/more.htm#digest

Answer:
 I apologize for the lenght of this post, but I feel strongly about the topic, and frankly you could spend a fortune switching from food to food and still be stuck at sqaure one. Hopefully being systematic about your situation will improve the situation for your dog and with lasting impact, and at the same time reduce the blow to your finances.
I haven't checked in lately. duckbagger makes a good point. When I have changed my dogs food, I have always looked for a common denominator, i.e. wheat, to see if they did badly on everything I tried that contained wheat. Or corn. Or chicken. I generally print the ingredient lists out and compare them side by side.
With my boys it turned out to be grains. Now if they start having issues with the potatoes, my options are limited. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Answer:
 today I went and bought a small bag of Wellness dogfood--lamb formula. Also bought some Wellness peanut/honey treats. I mixed the new food with their old food tonight for dinner. they didn't seem to mind--gobbled it up as usual. Hope it works out for them and maybe this well help Roxie with her paw-licking problem.

Answer:
 I hope so too Allison. Fingers crossed!

Answer:
 I saw mention of it here in this thread, but didn't see an answer. And one pet store I went to also mentioned it. But does changing the protein source at some interval help? The folks at the store said that having the same protein source all the time is bad and that they'll develop an intollerance to it (they said allergy, but I'm not sure I agree).
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Mike

Answer:
 I feed a wide variety of foods: dehydrated, canned, dry, raw. Beef, chicken, lamb, duck, pheasant, etc. All organic, if possible. I switch my dog's food several times a week, abruptly, and rarely feed the same food more than 3 times in a row. No sickness or vomitting.
I suspect that eating the same food for long periods of time leads to something of an inability to digest other foods properly.
I know people are not dogs, but if you ate Mac and Cheese every night for 2 months, then suddenly started eating Broccoli, you would get sick too, right? So it seems VERY unnatural to me that an animal designed to eat a variety of scavenged food in all sorts of stages of decay, as well as freshly hunted meat, would need to be switched slowly, UNLESS it is unhealthy and unnatural to eat the same meal day in and day out to begin with.
So my point is that maybe dogs shouldn't eat the same thing so often as to require a "switching" period.

Answer:
 I agree on the same proteins thinking. We are going thru it again. We've run the gammit on all proteins. Going to give lamb a try now. My lab does best on 1 protein, 1 carb type foods.
She was just on Calif Natural chkn & rice for 7 months - did fantastic!!!! Then diarrhea explosion all over. Brought to vet - checked her stools - ok. Gave me something to stop the diarrhea and recommended chkn & rice or beef & rice for 2 days. Again when we back to food it came again. Brought her back - gave antibiotic and diarrhea pills again. After script ended - back to regular food - water today again :bang:
I just ordered Eagle Pack Holistic Lamb & Rice - she hasn't had lamb in about 2 yrs. Maybe this will help. No matter what protein I choose - I try to avoid wheat, corn, etc. Had great success w/ NB Duck & Potato for about 13 mos - then same problem. I don't like to assume it's the food and avoid seeing vet in case something is wrong. Now that I know it's not - we're moving on to a new food.
Question - I am stopping her food and giving Beef & rice until new food arrives (Tues). Once it does - should I just give new food? I mean why mix it w/ food I know isn't agreeing w/ her. I usually mix w/ the old food - but in this case watery poop all over - don't think I should. Can anyone guide me?
Hey Zen - long time no speak. How are your guys?

Answer:
 When we had this problem about a yr ago - he did say some animals develop an intolerance to a protein after several months. He said ride it out as long as I can - then change. He did point out that developing an intolerance to chicken - doesn't mean the dog can never eat chicken. It's true. The first time she had chicken about 6 mos old - she ate it for 8 months, then problems and we switched to Duck. about 2 yrs later we went back to chicken and she was fine for 7 months.
It's extremley frustrating! I feel bad for her - poor thing...going 4-5 x a day. Hope the lamb works. I don't remember her doing well on it when we tried it about 2 1/2 yrs ago but, then again w/ this issue I guess that doesn't mean anything.
Wish us luck.