Change of food for dogs. How do you enter a new food? | senado.online

Each caregiver for dog or cat will be faced at least once with the concept of moving to another type of food or changing the animal’s food. This can be related to the adoption of a puppy/kittens, with the appearance of food intolerances, diseases or desire to change the animal’s diet.

Whatever the situation, it is useful to know the principles that allow you to move on to another food in the simplest way.

The wrong introduction of a new food in the menu of a pet can cause an avalanche of negative consequences in the form of intestinal and gastrointestinal disorders, vomiting, abdominal pain and skin allergies.

Presentation of new dogs for dogs

Change your dog’s food must be done gradually and slowly, taking into account the so -called transition period. The aim is that the body, in particular the digestive system, gets used to the new food. This minimizes the risk of abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting in dogs or cats. The transition period should last between 5 and even 10 days. Depending on the animal and its tolerance to the new food, we can easily accelerate or prolong the process. Always follow the reaction of the animal.

When you change dry food, it is recommended to change only a brand or aroma:

In the first 2-3 days since we give the dog the new food, we introduce about 10-25% of the new food and 90-75% of the existing food. Increases the percentage of new foods every day. Over the next 2-3 days we feed about half of 50-50%. If worrying symptoms do not appear, we can end the mixture and give the dog 80 – 100% of the new food and only a minimum amount of the existing croquettes.

How does the dog pass to dry food?

Passing a dog to dry food requires a little more patience from the custodian. Dry food tends to be less aromatic than wet and its consistency may not be initially suitable for pretentious dogs. However, there are some tricks to help your dog accept the new form of food:

• Mixing dry food with favorite wet food
• Add a little water to the dry food to soften it
• Topping granules with dog sauces – available in pet stores
• By adding a small amount of animal fat to dry food, for example the goose.
• Adding some herbs e.g. Algae – Spirulina

If your animal accepts dry food, no transition period is needed. You can immediately give the dog a dry food and give them food wet only as a variety, for example, as one of the meals.

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When changing the food, always look at your dog or cat and react as soon as there are worrying symptoms. May include:

• Apathy
• Reluctance to play or take a walk
• Avoid contact
• diarrhea
• Vomit

Diarea in dogs after a change of food?

Note that the success of your dog’s passage to a new completely different food or diet depends to a large extent on the type of previous food: the quality and frequency of its administration.

A dog that has eaten not very healthy for a long time or low food consumption needs more time to adapt to better quality foods. This is often the case of dogs fed with cereal products, if the digestive system of these dogs has been strongly stressed and needs regeneration. The diarrhea in a dog, after passing from lower food, is a symptom of the digestive tract. Therefore, the dog conversion process can be slowed down. However, if the situation persists for more than 24 hours, the dog should be brought to the vet.

Diarrhea in a cat after a change of food can occur when it changes too quickly or, as in dogs, when moving from low quality food to good quality. However, diarrhea in cats after receiving wet food is more common than dogs after they have gone from dry food. This is linked to the much higher humidity content of this type of food and with the greater tendency of cats to dehydrate. We will write more on the passage of cats to wet food in a separate article.

Dogs and cats are adapted and tolerate foods with a high meat content, without many unnecessary additives. The large quantities of proteins, fats and few carbohydrates are the key to a healthy and powerful dog and cat. When choosing a food, we must adapt it to the needs of the species, but above all to the individual, including his preferences. The visible effects of a new and improved diet will be visible after about four weeks, so it is not recommended to change the most often animal menu.

Karolina łuszczyk