Pet Blog November Archive

5 Steps To Change A Dog's Diet

By Fred Keebler at 11/12/07 13:23

Below are the top 5 steps to effectively change your dog's diet without throwing him into shock.

1. If a dog is switching owners or moving to a new location with the family, or just going through an emotional strain, it is best to not change it's diet. You should wait until the dog has adjusted to the new location or owner before changing his diet. Once your dog has taken up with the new owner or location, the dietary change should be set immediately.

2. You should always start out slowly changing the dog's food, I suggest starting at about 25% change from the old food to the new food. A dog will hardly notice the difference if the two foods are mixed well. Most dogs should eat this new mixture just as well as it did its old diet.

   Although, some dogs may not accept this new change, it is always best to just be patient and never rush the change. You can't expect a dog to change a habit it has been used to over night, when it took him months to get used to the old diet. As soon as your dog is eating its new 25% mixture as good as it did its old food, continue with step 3.

3. Just as you did in step two, you should only replace 50% of his old food with the new food, you should put a little less effort in trying to conceal the new food with the old. We are now half way there, once the dog accepts the 50% change in his food continue to step 4.

4. By now, you should see where this is heading -- yes, you guessed it only substitute 75% of the new food with the old food, and hardly any effort at all should be made to hide the new food, except to mix it with the old food. At this time, most dogs will take to the increased mixture when it is first fed.

5. At this point your dog should really be accepting this new diet, if it accepted the new diet at the first feeding during step four then this final step should be a breeze. All dogs are different and some require more attention and patience, don’t ever become discouraged, a dog can sense this and feel they are doing something wrong. Changing a dogs diet is a process and should be taken with care and understanding.