If you’re switching dog food brands, or even switching to a different food within the same line, it’s imperative you do it the right way. (Trust me, we learned the hard way.)
The Wrong Way
Lucy was on puppy food for just about a year, but after that, we wanted to follow the manufacturer recommendations and have her graduate to adult food. (They grow up so fast!)
Our timing wasn’t the best. We were at the end of our current food supply when we decided to switch, and had maybe one or two puppy food meals remaining. So we picked up the new food and gave her a half-and-half mix of old food/new food for two to three. By that point, she was out of puppy food and entirely on adult food.
For the first couple days, everything was fine. “This was easy!” we thought to ourselves, not so much tempting fate as we were laughing in its face…
On the third day or so of the new diet, we ran into trouble: runny bowel movements and, more noticeably, vomiting.
(Fun store there: Lucy was standing on the floor, her front paws on the couch between my boyfriend and I. She had the oddest expression on her face — with the corners of her mouth turned up, she seriously looked like she was smiling! And just as I was thinking we were having a lovely little family moment, she turned around and threw up everywhere. And did so several times afterward. The joys of raising a dog, right?)
After a call to our vet, it was clear we did the switching much too fast. As rough and tumble as dogs are, their stomachs are actually very delicate and respond to even the slightest changes in diet.
If you run into the same issues we did, don’t fret; it’s pretty easy to get your dog back on track. Per our vet’s recommendation, we gave Lucy a mix of rice and hamburger. (Of course, don’t season the rice or meat in any way. Either brown or white rice is fine, and chicken is also good if you don’t have hamburger around.) We fed the bland meals to her for two day.
The Right Way
When we were ready to try the switch again, we did it SLOWLY. It’s recommended you do it over the course of 5 to 7 days, but given our previous experience, we wanted to ease her into the new diet as much as possible. We spread it out over seven to nine days.
Sure enough, slow and steady won the race — Lucy has been on the adult food ever since, without any troubles.
Have you run into trouble switching your dog’s food? Tell us about it in the comments!