Question on switching food from very low quality

[kayboxer]

Hi everyone. I have a friend who just adopted a beagle pup and will be bringing it home in about two weeks or so. The pup is being fed Beneful. I told her about the dogfoodanalysis site and she was sick when she read the reviews about it. Her question is can she switch straight away to a different food instead of having to buy a bag of Beneful and then switching gradually? In other words, can she switch cold turkey or does she need to buy two different foods and do a gradual. I told her, if it were me, I'd probably switch cold turkey instead of buying a bag of Beneful ( 1 star food by the way) and then her other choice also, which will be Innova. I told her I would get other opinions for her. Any other opinions out there??

 

[Emmasfam]

As i understand it the gradual changes are just to ease the tummy, Cold turkey might upset the dogs belly for a few days, but i don' t know of any other detriments other than that. However, with the stress of a new home added to it, maybe a small bag of benefulmixed 1/2 and 1/2 might help the overall tansition

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Many would say gradual as the above poster said gradual is only to keep the dog's stomach from becoming upset and getting diarrhea and/or vomiting, however personally when I brought my puppy home the breeder had given me a bag of the Purina food she was feeding and I just couldn't stomach the thought of feeding him that so I gave him the Canidae and switched him cold turkey without any issues. It was a risk, for me it panned out, for others it doesn't.

What she could do is feed the new dog chicken and rice for a couple of days (bland diet) and then gradually mix in the Innova into that and make the switch over 5-10 days from the bland diet to the Innova which should keep any stomach issues away if she doesn't want to purchase the Beneful (which I can understand).

Good luck!

 

[Jan]

I would just switch cold turkey.

 

[kayboxer]

I would just switch cold turkey.

Thanks! I will tell her that. She just didn't want to waste her money on crap food. I'm a boxer lover to the end, but I'm telling you that beagle pup is adorable!!

 

[sararay]

I will be adopting two adult boxers (3 and 9 years old, taking them home a week from today!!! YAY!). They have been fed purina all their lives. We met them and they are a healthy weight and their coats are shiny. Their previous family said they have never had any stomach problems. They said they know other dogs from the same litter that were fed the "expensive food" (as they put it) and they look sickly and have weight problems.

I am confused because I have been researching boxers for a while now and I was fully prepared to buy the more costly food as an investment in their long-term health because I know that boxers tend to have touchier stomachs. At the same time, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", right? I don't know if I can convince my husband that we have to wean them off of the purina and feed them a more expensive food after he heard what the previous owners had to say.

I will probably wait to change anything until they are adjusted to our home, but I am doubting now if I should. I don't want to make them sick, but I don't know if I trust the previous owners either.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

The best analogy I have come up with along the way is feeding your dog a crummy food is basically the equivilent of you eating McDonald's on a daily basis. Could you survive on that? Sure. Could some people stay at a healthy weight and stay looking good doing that? Of course! Is it healthy regardless of what that person may look like? Absolutely not.

Feeding Purina to your dog is basically like feeding McDonald's daily to your human child or yourself. Unfortunately your dog cannot tell you when they don't feel good.

I fed my first dog Dog Chow for the 6 years we had him, he also died of a brain tumor at the ripe age of 7-8, where the food may or may not have contributed it surely didn't help having cancer causing ingredients in it.

Take a look at the ingredients and read the definitions online, it contains corn which is a high allergen ingredient that's non digestible, it contains BHA which is a known carcinogen, by products which is allowed to have eggs, blood, and feathers in small quantities in it, really if you write down the ingredients and find the definitions I think you will answer your own question. The thought of feeding those kinds of foods now truly makes me want to vomit.

Please switch ASAP, for the health and happiness of your pup. Forgetting about sensitive stomachs, etc do it for the sheer long term health of the dog.

 

[Murf]

We feed our pup RC and I know its not a so called six star food but its certainly not the worst either.He enjoys it his stools are good and is growing like he should.So was wondering why alot of people seem to diss this food?..(no i don't work for them LOL).I have read alot of threads on here with people having more problems with Wellness and that is suppose to be a "preimum" food.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

We feed our pup RC and I know its not a so called six star food but its certainly not the worst either.He enjoys it his stools are good and is growing like he should.So was wondering why alot of people seem to diss this food?..(no i don't work for them LOL).I have read alot of threads on here with people having more problems with Wellness and that is suppose to be a "preimum" food.

Some have isues with Wellness but the ingredients are good ingredients. Some dogs just can't tolerate certain ingredients same as some people can't tolerate certain ingredients. So you switch to a different brand that still uses good wholesome ingredients but different ones that may agree better with certain dogs.

RC food is a poor quality food due to poor quality ingredients. I can eat McDonald's and have solid stools and look healthy, doesn't mean that I am giving my body an appropriate fuel choice, but I also wont' have any outward appearances that I am unhealthy per se.

It's about choosing a food with wholesome and healthy ingredients, THEN finding a food with ingredients your individual dog's stomach can tolerate. There are people like me who can only feed one brand of food due to allergies or colitis or IBD or any number of issues, and then there are people who can feed their dog anything, but there is ALWAYS a health choice out there, what it is differs, but it is always there it is simply about finding it.

 

[Murf]

Some have isues with Wellness but the ingredients are good ingredients. Some dogs just can't tolerate certain ingredients same as some people can't tolerate certain ingredients. So you switch to a different brand that still uses good wholesome ingredients but different ones that may agree better with certain dogs.

RC food is a poor quality food due to poor quality ingredients. I can eat McDonald's and have solid stools and look healthy, doesn't mean that I am giving my body an appropriate fuel choice, but I also wont' have any outward appearances that I am unhealthy per se.

It's about choosing a food with wholesome and healthy ingredients, THEN finding a food with ingredients your individual dog's stomach can tolerate. There are people like me who can only feed one brand of food due to allergies or colitis or IBD or any number of issues, and then there are people who can feed their dog anything, but there is ALWAYS a health choice out there, what it is differs, but it is always there it is simply about finding it.

The first ingredient is chicken meal so should the first 2 or 3 ingredients be meat based?