As more and more new findings about diets for dogs come to light, many dog owners will begin to consider changing their dog’s diet to the best one available so that their dog will have good health and live to a ripe old age. However, it‘s very important for any dog owner to take precautions when trying to change their dog’s diet. The following steps are suggested as a way that it can be done without throwing the dog’s digestive system out of balance.
Step 1: When changing your dog’s diet, it should be done in stages by replacing 25% of the old food with the new. Most dogs will not notice any difference if the old and the new are mixed well enough. They should eat the new mixture the same way that they did the old diet. Although a small percentage may notice the difference and not be as enthusiastic about eating it, patience should be exercised to allow the break-in period to be completed. Once the dog has accepted the new mixture, for about a week and has shown no sign of an upset stomach, or any other adverse reaction to the new diet, then you can proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Mix and replace 50% of the old diet with the new diet and don’t be as careful to ensure that the mixture is completely blended. In this way the dog will get the odd bite of the new food without any of the old food mixed in. Do this for about a week, keeping an eye on the dog for adverse reactions to the new food. If the dog shows no sign of stomach upset or adverse reactions you can then proceed to the next step.
Step 3: This time mix 75% of the new food with 25% of the old one. Again, make an even lesser effort to hide the new food from the dog. Watch for upset stomach or adverse reaction. Also make sure that the dog likes the new mixture. Feed your dog this new mixture for a week and if everything is OK then you can switch completely to the new food. Keep an eye on your dog for a few days to ensure that there are no adverse reactions.
At this stage, your dog should accept this new diet without any fuss. If, however, the dog shows some reluctance to eating the new diet you can continue to mix a little of the old food in the diet and slowly decrease it or you can just use patience and see if the dog will take to the new diet in a week or so. The new diet should contain more nutrition than the old diet, so your dog may not need as much food to fill him up. A change of diet is a stressful thing for some dogs to go through and a lot of patience will be needed. In other cases you will find dogs that have no problems changing diets regularly. However, mom and dad have found that sudden changes in diet usually result in upset stomachs, diarrhoea and loss of appetite if the switch from one type of diet to another is done too quickly. Just like humans, dogs are uniquely different and some are bound to require more patience and attention than others. Therefore, don't become discouraged too easily when the dog is not fitting into the new diet in the beginning. After all, changing a dog's diet is often a time consuming process that should be done with care and understanding.
If the dog is changing from one owner to another such as when you purchase a dog from someone else or you buy a new dog from a pet store or the local SPCA, make sure that you do not change the dog’s diet for at least a month. The change of ownership is stressful enough, without messing with the poor animal’s diet too. Let the dog settle comfortably into its new environment and then after he or she is fully settled and happily enjoying the new family, you can start at step one and change to a more healthy diet to ensure that your new family member remains a healthy and happy member of your household.
Until next time,
Teia
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