Question about transitioning to a new food

[Dahlia]

How long should it take from start to finish? I'm about to start switching Sophie from Puppy Chow to Nutro puppy food and was just wondering.

[twinmommy]

Safest bet would be to stretch it out over 7-10 days. Divide the ammount that you feed her into 7 parts and replace one seventh each day with the new food. If she has a bout of the runs one day, back up to the mixture of the day before and remain there until her stools are normal.

Of course if for whatever reason she should react adversely (trust me you'll know!!) then discontinue it completely and return to the old food, but Nutro's is a great food, that's highly unlikely.

[coppperbelle]

This is the advice I received in a pamphlet from a dog food supply store.

Day 1- 3 75% old 25% new
Day 4- 6 50% old 50% new
Day 7-10 25% old 75% new
Day 11 100% new

[coppperbelle]

While you are right that Nutro is a good food, my dogs got very sick on it. It took awhile for the problem to start but both dogs would vomit bile on a daily basis. I was advised to increase the amount of feeding they received which worked for a few weeks and then the vomiting started again. Once again I did as advised and increased the amount of food they were receiving. It was okay for a few weeks and when they began vomiting at the same time everyday a few minutes apart from each other I changed their food back immediately.

[BMDLuver]

Originally Posted by coppperbelle

While you are right that Nutro is a good food, my dogs got very sick on it. It took awhile for the problem to start but both dogs would vomit bile on a daily basis. I was advised to increase the amount of feeding they received which worked for a few weeks and then the vomiting started again. Once again I did as advised and increased the amount of food they were receiving. It was okay for a few weeks and when they began vomiting at the same time everyday a few minutes apart from each other I changed their food back immediately.

if you chose the lamb and rice version as opposed to the chicken and rice version. Some dogs cannot handle lamb in there stomachs at all. Most dogs that we have introduced it to in rescue have done so much better on it and there coats have just glistened from the change in about two weeks. Funny how some dogs don't do well on it. It's not the first time I have heard of problems.

[coppperbelle]

My dogs had beautiful coats when they were on the Nutro but their stomachs couldn't handle it. They were on the Natural Balance formula, not the lamb and rice.

I recently changed them to Solid Gold, Wolf King. They both have beautiful coats.

[ScottGoodburn]

Some nice people on here convinced me to change Buddy from purina dog chow to Nutro and I thought it would take awhile, but Buddy has changed very quickly without any diarreah or vomitting. We actually changed him to Nutro Maxx and he loves it, thanks to all who contributed to my thread about the dog food choice

[Dahlia]

Thanks, I will watch for any signs that she's not tolerating it well. I got the lamb and rice puppy food because that's the only one our store carries. It has a guarantee on the bag that says if you're not satisfied to return it for a refund, so I'll remember that.

[Prin]

I did a lot of research on foods when one of my babies got allergic to our Lamb and rice food... What I learned is that when you go from a commercial food to a more natural food, it may be hard for the dog at first because the more natural foods have less digestive aids in them. The commercial ones (like anything purina makes) have stool hardeners and stuff that makes the stool come out perfect.

When I switched my dogs to Solid Gold Wolf King, they said my dogs have to "detoxify" and their stools would be huge at first and loose and then go down slowly. It's been a month and a half and they're back to normal finally and I know it's not because of chemicals..

One of my dog takes about 5 days to switch while the other hugely sensitive big guy takes a little over 2 weeks (it's almost like you change 5 kibbles/day...).

It makes you wonder though, if the foods are full of hardeners and digestive aids, how sick does your dog have to be to produce loose stools?

[Dahlia]

Thanks, prin. I'm in no hurry, so I'll take it slow. She still has plenty of Puppy Chow left so I'll start now and just add a little of the nutro at a time until the puppy chow runs out. It'll probably take a couple of weeks.