rotation feeding

[Codabear]

we just switched my boxer from Canidae Chicken and Rice to Natures Variety Chicken Meal formula as the new Canidae formula seemed to give her very pasty and smelly bowel movemets.

Natures Variety has some information on rotation diet but it doesn't go into detail about how to do it.

Coda has a very sensitive stomach so, do you still have to ease the new food into the diet everytime you do a rotation or after you do a few rotations can you make quick switches?

 

[gmacleod]

It depends on the individual dog as to whether or not you need to continue to switch gradually. In your case, with a dog with a sensitive tummy, the answer is probably yes. The dog having eaten a particular food previously doesn't really make any great impact on changing foods. In short, some require very gradual changes, some are just fine with cold-turkey - and most fit somewhere in the middle.

Rotating between foods is a very good idea - but do bear in mind that the purpose of switching is to feed foods comprised of *different* ingredients. That doesn't just mean different meat source it means all (or at least most) of the main ingredients. Given that the grains or other carbohydrates are typically (i.e. with rare, if any, exceptions) the majority ingredient in dog food, you do need to be sure to change to foods using different grains as well. There would be limited point, for example, in swapping between a chicken and rice food, and a lamb and rice food. It's not useless, but it's a long way from ideal (because the dog would be constantly consuming a diet of mostly rice). Nature's Variety does have a bit more variation between it's formulas than most brands - but there is no need to stick with foods within the same brand when you rotate. Here is a decent article on why rotating is a good idea, with some explanation of how to go about it: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/how-often-should-i-change-foods.html