Food Variety Question

[buster!brown]

Buster's on the roasted water fowl Taste of the Wild. I was wondering if you have to follow the "switching food" steps if you're switching between the same brand, but different variety. I ask becasue I've noticed the store I buy TotW from seems to run out of the roasted water fowl but not the Pacific Stream.

Thanks!

[jlphilli]

It all depends on the dog. My little guy can be switched to any food any time with no problems, but Falon gets the runs if you try to switch anything at all abrubtly (even between brands).

If you are unsure of how your dog will react and want to try a cold-turkey switch, try adding some whole yogurt or a digestive enzyme supplement...it certainly can't hurt.

[pacopoe]

If I ever have to switch a dog suddenly I'll do a 24 hour fast.

Remember that while it's a "flavor" to us it's actually a different protein source for the dog so, depending on your dog's tolerance, they may need the time to adjust.

As mentioned above, it wouldn't hurt to add a little yogurt when doing do

[spammie]

Like the others have suggested, it's better to transition slowly to a different type of food, even if it's the same brand. It will avoid the splarts

[buster!brown]

spammie...splarts - that is so gross

Thanks for the info - I'll be sure the do it slowly and use the yogurt (ha! that's what she said! ) I mean I'll transition the food variety slowly if I can't find the right variety at the store!

[mtlu]

I would still transition slowly since the ingredients are different. Also, if I remember correctly, the Pacific Stream formula has a lower crude protein amount than all the others but the kcals per cup are fairly close.

[buster!brown]

Yeah, I just looked up the ingredient differences...it looks like they're almost different types of diets all together. I guess I'll have to make sure I stock up on the roasted water fowl when I see it in store!

[jrsapbt]

If you are going to add yogurt, add it to the current food first to see if he has a reaction to it. You don't want to add 2 new food items at the same time. You won't know which caused the reaction.

[bullheaded]

I feed Natures Variety which also has the different protein sources. We were told(I think by the rep) to rotate the protein sources but NOT to mix them together. I don't remember why though.