Food Rotation Methods
I have been reading the forum for a few days now and have searched for items of interest. One thing I come across often mentioned is food rotation. Only thing I cant find and please accept my apologies if this has been discussed before. How do you guys go about rotating food? Just change? introduce gradually? Please explain your methods. Just for info we have just got our new puppy (Oscar) now 10 weeks old. This is my second OES but as my first was before the internet was available I'm finding lots of answers to problems I had to just muddle through in the old days  Many thanks |
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| I rotate just by switching. I have a group of foods that I like, and I rotate among them about every 3 months. When new foods come out or become available in my area, I try those too. I do a lot of reading of the ingredient labels on the bags, or look them up online. One thing I try to do is make sure the 1st 3 ingredients listed on the new food are different from the food I'm currently using. Sometimes I may switch next to a food from the same company, but usually I mix that up too. My dogs do really well. I have a very diverse group - different breeds and ages and activity levels - and all do great. I just switch - maybe I have a day or meal were I'm using up the last of the old food, and start to add in the new - but that's the extent of my transition period! Just yesterday I had 5 pound sample bag I wanted to use - so I am mixing it half and half yesterday and today to use it up. I'm feeding 6 dogs, so it doesn't take long  I have everything from rescue/ back yard breeder dogs to show dogs - and I have zero skin and stomach issues with any of the dogs...or any of the dogs I've had in the past either. It really works! I think with the length of time I've done this and the volume and assortment of dogs I have, this is more than just a fluke.  |
I do this too, though I typically switch week to week. I just switch cold. No gradual transitioning. Another breeder once told me there's no science to back this up, and that's true. She was concerned about how I transition my puppies to solids and felt I was exposing underdeveloped immune systems to too many different kinds of proteins (and other things, for that matter) and setting them up for gut issues in the future (and, at the core, I think she has some science on her side, though I forget the argument) Like Dawn I stick with what works for me. Maybe we're both wrong and we've just been really lucky with the dogs we happen to have. Maybe we're just doing it out of superstition. But there isn't a lot of incentive to change something that appears to work.  On the flip side, I figure if I'm wrong and my method is more likely to bring on digestive issues and sensitivies, better to find out. I won't breed a dog with a touchy gut. I don't want to live with it, period, end of story. That said, I din't start feeding this way thinking it was necessarily better. I just figure I would get bored as all get out, eating the same thing day in and day out, why wouldn't my dogs? Too, if one food has some nutrional deficiency in some regard (but may be superior in another), a different food may not have that particular deficiency, and it evens out a bit in the end. I don't think feeding like this will necessarily work with all dogs. If you get a puppy with a touchy gut, this won't fix it and may well aggravate things. So I'd still listen to the breeder first and foremost. They know their dogs. Kristine |
| I change my dogs food every few months. I've been lucky all seem to have good digestive systems so no problems so far...my oldest is almost 10. |
| I know that some people do this but from experience I know I can't. Gar would be fine...stomach made of steel. Simon...not so much. He has and would continue to have explosions. Not fun for either one of us. |
| Many thanks for the replies. At the moment I am just planning for the future and wanted to hear what others do. This forum is great for ideas and help. Quote: if one food has some nutrional deficiency in some regard (but may be superior in another), a different food may not have that particular deficiency, and it evens out a bit in the end. This is what prompted me to ask the question. My thoughts exactly. My first OES died at a young age (around 6 years old) from a heart attack and might have been from poor quality food or a lack of some nutrient or other. In the 80s in the UK there was very little quality dog food around and also a lack of knowledge didn't help with what might have been poor choices. It might also have had nothing to do with food but I want to give my new puppy the best I can offer. Again, thanks for the replies. Very helpful |
| Yes,in those days there was chappie,some strange dry mix you had to soak-went straight through Shep- or there was a meat roll that looked like a sausage. There were the tins of food,we used Chunky 'cos had a hairy dog on it,was cheap and nice looking gravey. Wonder if much goodness? All our dogs have live 10-12 years and seems to have been the heart that has given up on them,often due to having had anesthetic so Fred,our last sheepie didn't have any ops after 8yrs old,lucky had no bad grass seed to remove-he lived till 12.5 yrs and was fairly active untill the last day,bless him.x |
Quote: Yes,in those days there was chappie,some strange dry mix you had to soak-went straight through Shep- or there was a meat roll that looked like a sausage. There were the tins of food,we used Chunky 'cos had a hairy dog on it,was cheap and nice looking gravey. Wonder if much goodness? Chappie LOL that stuff was awful. I couldn't even open a tin without gagging. What I was put onto then was vitalin which is a weird dry mix muesli that you have to add water too. Contains corn and other grains but it was about the only food my dog could eat without getting a bad stomach. It was a breeder that told me to use vitalin when I was running out of ideas. It did seem to give the dog I had then good health and energy. Good coat everything. Never once needed to visit the vet for anything until the end that is, and then only to find out what happened. The vet couldn't really say what had caused the heart attack and it might have been just the fact that the puppy had been from a puppy mill and was the smallest (runt, can I use that word here?) of the litter. Its a lot easier now we have the internet and forums like this to help. |
Quote: I won't breed a dog with a touchy gut. I don't want to live with it, period, end of story.  I've never had a bad gut dog, but these oldsters are showing me what I've missed  |
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