July 14th, 2010
Discussions over dog food center around BOTH what’s in the food and how often you can/should change your pet’s diet.
The Dog Food Rating Tool we talked about in last week’s post can help you grade your dog’s food quality. Now, I want to know what kind of rotation schedule you use … if any.
Dog Food Loyalty
I admit it. I’m a pretty loyal consumer. When I find a product or company I like, I tend to stick with it. I’m confident that companies dig that about me.
So, yes, my two canine sweeties have pretty much eaten the same food their whole lives. Oh, I share my people food with them all the time. And, they get raw, meaty bones as treats once in a while, but when it comes to mealtime, I’ve been dishing up the same old, same old for years.
Isn’t that the underlying message from traditional dog food marketing efforts? Pick us! Feed this! And, feed it for LIFE.
Since we now know that my dogs’ food gets a failing grade (despite my best efforts), we’re on the hunt for a better option … or options (plural).
Dog Food Rotation Schedule
So, if you mix it up, tell me:
- What do you feed?
- What’s your food criteria? (different protein sources?)
- How often do you switch things up?
For example, do you mix a few foods together all the time?
Or do you buy different brands every month, every few months? If so, how many different dog foods do you keep in the rotation?
Maybe you feed both a variety of kibble along with raw (frozen, freeze dried, or otherwise).
And, where do bones and/or treats come into it? Do you actively switch those around too?
Being such a loyal, routine-driven girl, I’m uber curious at your timing and methodology. I’m sure others are too. So, share your insights? Won’t you?
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Tags: dog food, dog food rating tool, dog food rotation, dog food variety
Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, K9 Nutrition | 20 Comments »
20 Responses to “Dog Food Rotation Schedule”
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
When I’m talking to people about feeding kibble, I always ask one question, “Can YOU imagine eating one food, the same food, every single day of your life, for your entire life?”. Most people say something like, “um no.”
Then I point out that dog foods are “scientifically formulated” for the “average” dog. So, if for YOUR dog, there happens to be either an excess of a particular ingredient or nutrient, or a deficiency of a particular nutrient or ingredient, that’s probably going to have negative health consequences down the road.
So my advice for those that feed kibble is to rotate every bag of food. i.e. one month feed chicken, the next month lamb and the next month fish.
My dogs eat a diet consisting only of raw meaty bones, and almost never eat the same thing two days in a row.
My old girl will be 15 years old tomorrow. =)
Oh, Jim! I’m so glad you visited and shared your insights. I’m actually gearing up to write more about RAW in the coming weeks, and I’d love to tap into your knowledge, if I could. I’ll email you a note.
Fire away Roxanne. =)
I sent you a private email. Holler if you don’t get it. Thanks so much!
OK, actually more questions related to this …
So for YOU, it’s a change in protein source that’s important. What about brands? Since formulas are likely very similar (even if the protein changes), would you recommend switching around top-level brands too?
My 7-year-old Golden has a number of food allergies: grain, chicken and beef. I feed her commercial raw novel proteins–mainly pork and rabbit, occasional venison–along with fresh fruits (apples, bananas) or cooked veggies (canned pumpkin when it’s available, cooked mashed yams). I rotate every five meals or so. So far, she’s doing very well.
Interesting, Susan … so you’re mixing things up as often as once a week for Allie? Lucky girl!
A couple of things you should be aware of. Many foods are not the same batch to batch. The better foods are more consistent. It is impossible to get adequate nutritional information off of most pet food labels and that is no accident. Many dogs and cats become finicky and changing foods may put them off their feed, or upset their stomaches. And as far as eating the same food day in and day out, you may say yuck, but remember, many dogs are happy to sniff a dog butt or two during the day and I say Yuck. (not belittling any dogs, but we must remember that they are not humans) Finally, I caution all of my clients against raw foods. (ready to duck and cover here). Not debating the nutrition, simply the safety to pets and people of handling raw meats in the kitchen. Salmonella and E. coli are everywhere and I have seen sick pets and people from raw pet diets over the years.
Keith Niesenbaum, VMD
Thanks, Keith, for adding your input. I appreciate your perspective on this.
Roxanne,
The purpose of rotating foods frequently is to provide a wide array of nutrients (not just proteins). A varied diet is a diet that canines evolved to eat. Rarely if ever would wild/feral dogs eat the same food items two days running. In fact some days they wouldn’t eat at all, and I factor this into my dogs’ diets as well by fasting them once per week. It is nature’s way, and I know how much veterinarians and pet food companies like to spout off about science, there is a ton of research out there that has shown the benefits (with respect to longevity) about calorie restriction in humans and animals.
And yes, for people that feed kibble, I do recommend that they switch up their dog’s foods – regularly. Doing so may cause diarrhea for a few days or it may not, but in any case, this is more of a problem for the owner than for the dog, unless it becomes chronic (which can lead to dehydration) at which point the dog should be evaluated by a veterinarian.
Addressing Keith’s comments;
Again, carnivores did not evolve to eat the same foods every day. The seasonal and regional availability of an animal’s (in this case wolves, the domestic dogs closest relative, and other wild dogs) food dictate that in order for its species to survive it must be able to adapt to changes in food availability. By being able to derive nutrition from a variety of food items, the chances of survival of that species are greatly increased. Mother Nature “built-in” food rotation into the diets of carnivores and most other animals and it’s obviously a system that has worked and is working quite well for wild canines, as it is for their domesticated raw fed cousins.
So when I talk about how lousy it would be to eat the same thing every day of your life, I speak to the ABSOLUTE NEED for a carnivore to eat a varied diet that provides a varying nutrient profile as per Mother Nature’s design. And contrary to the suggestion that dog’s will become “put off” by variety is exactly the opposite of what happens. I talk to people every day that tell me that their dog has stopped eating its kibble. This is bad because the dog needs to eat, but because veterinarians and pet food companies recommend against changing foods (a great tactic for keeping a customer on a specific brand) pet owners are reluctant to change their pet’s food. I’ve fed three dogs a diet of raw meaty bones, and individual tastes aside, rarely do they ever not “wolf down” their food in the morning, a different food every day.
Sensitive stomachs. This one really gets me. Humans have a stomach pH of between 4 and 5 and dogs have a stomach pH of between 1 and 2 after ingesting meat. As a point of reference, pH1 is the equivalent to 0.4% Hydrochloric Acid – seriously corrosive stuff capable and designed to digest meat and bone.
Also the GI tract of a carnivore is much simpler and shorter than that of an omnivore or herbivore, designed for quick transit of raw bone and animal flesh through it. The shorter transit time of ingested animal flesh and bone from point A to point B, minimizes the risk of complications occurring from any bacteria, let alone Salmonella which healthy dogs have evolved to deal with. Think digging up and eating raw bones days after they were buried. In the 6 years I’ve been feeding RMBs I’m not aware of my dogs ever having contracted salmonella poisoning, and if they did, there were no visible or long term complications.
If anything, suggesting that dogs have “sensitive stomachs” is anthropomorphism.
As for the handling of raw meats in the kitchen, should the procedures be any different than when handling your own food? Of course not, the procedures should be exactly the same. Wash dishes, utensils, countertops and your hands after handling any food, raw or otherwise, human food or dog food. It’s really as simple as that. It is true salmonella and e.coli are everywhere, yet people and pets are not falling ill left and right to these bacteria. Use common sense!
I should have just written another blog post. LOL
My dogs don’t tend to adjust to new foods well. I’m like Roxanne, when I find a good food I stick with it. My dogs get “cannded food days” to help mix it up a bit.
My Shih Tzu has the typical finicky stomach that is characteristic of the breed. If I vary her diet, it comes right back up. She gets a combination of softened Newman’s, green beans and chopped up chicken hot dog. She is 13, and it has taken over 10 years to hit on this winning combination.
Our dog was fed a high end dog food for almost his entire life (lived to almost fifteen) and any time we made a change or someone gave him table scraps, he immediately got sick. He never showed any boredom or lack of interest in his food. In fact, he knew exactly what time of day to sit by his bowl with pleading eyes. I just don’t think he would have behaved that way if he was tired or bored with his diet. He always gobbled it up enthusiastically.
Raw food diets are all the rage right now, aren’t they? Well, I have a few points to add.
First, let’s remember that our dogs are dogs, not wolves. They have evolved for more than 10,000 years and are behaviorally much different than their predecessors. This leads to me to think some physical changes may have occurred along the way as well. So, I would caution comparing a dog’s stomach to a wolf’s.
The second thing I want to add is that dogs who have been on a kibble-based diet for their entire lives may not agree with a switch. Dogs can get attached to the texture. A friend of mine tried to switch her dog to dehydrated foods and her dog wouldn’t have it. When my dog’s food allergies reared their ugly heads earlier this year, we first tried switching to a homemade diet. He went on a hunger strike for almost three days (it was horrible!). We are now purchasing a prescription kibble diet until we get through food trials.
I’m not very well-researched on raw diets or home diets and I won’t act like I am. Personally, I am uncomfortable with a raw diet and will choose not to feed my dog raw meats. It does seem to work for some folks, though. I do plan to research home diets, however, after we get through food trials. No matter what we end up feeding him, though, every meal will have to have a kibble component in order to get my dog to eat it …
Wow! I have two fur kids that I raw feed and two more that do half raw and half kibble. My kids never get the same thing every day. I myself hate leftovers! I think my fur kids feel the same way. I also believe in the adage that if you are looking at dogs in the wild, there are times where they do go without meals. I do not fast mine for a whole day, but they do miss a meal at least once a week. With raw feeding, my fur kids do not need dentals. They have pearly white teeth. They have more energy and healthy coats and skin. Truth be told, in the wild, dogs to not cook their food over a campfire. They do not eat corn or wheat. Maybe the occasional watermelon for liquid, but these guys are carnivores! Mine enjoy fruit or veges, but it is not really something I give them all the time. It’s more of oh, I’m eating a banana and gee, Bailey wants a piece. Okay. Some of my fur kids turn their noses up at veges, but love the kefir I give them and the cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. Scrambled eggs get me lots of love and kisses from my fur kids.
I also believe there is a difference from feeding raw and feeding table scraps. Raw does not come with salt, pepper, seasonings. Table scraps tend to have seasonings and tend to be the fattiest portion of the meal that you won’t eat yourself. Why feed it to your dogs? Variety IS the spice of life. But we need to choose wisely. Mine love pork, beef, chicken, turkey, salmon, Mackerel Jack, and the list goes on. It is always lean, never cooked. Same with those meaty dog bones, lean and never cooked!
My two girls who have half kibble half raw, get a change on the type of kibble every week. But I am very careful with the kibble I give them and it is only a quarter cup of kibble twice a day. I am slowly lowering the kibble amounts and raising the raw amounts. They should all be on raw soon!
Last comment is that none of my fur kids have a weight problem. And my vet does not see my dogs for emergencies but rather that twice a year for wellness checkups!
I loved reading all the posts here! I have truly learned something today!
Thanks,
Debbie
Hi Roxanne,
Right now Davinia and Indiana are eating Keen from the The Honest Kitchen it is a dehydrated food its neither raw or kibble and when you mix it with warm water it comes out like stew. My girls love it as in sit and stare at the bowl while it is re-hydrating. I have started adding an Omega oil to it because it didn’t seem to have quite enough fat for them and I want to work on coat condition anyway. I also give them some steamed broccoli or mixed vegetables as a treat when I make myself dinner. I mix their treats up whatever I happen to have at the moment. They even get raw bones once in a while as a treat not a meal.
I switch out their food whenever I see it isn’t working for them or me anymore. Indiana can’t do high fat high protein foods or treats and Davinia hates lamb. Pork is completely out of the question food treat or otherwise for either of them as a breed specific food issue. They both need to eat the same food or we move on to something new completely.
Felissa (and the Two Little Cavaliers)
All three of my girls eat Natural Balance, canned and dry, I mix the canned and dry food to have a variety of tastes because I would not want to eat the same thing day in and day out, so why should they? I give raw treats; carrots, peas…and so on. They love carrots. I also give dog treats that are made with natural ingredients.
I switch up for multiple reasons.
First, there has been here (Israel) a case of babies dying from baby formula that was missing some vitamins. Rotating the dog’s kibble ensures that if something is missing from one formula, he has a chance to get it from the other food(s) in rotation.
Second, and the locally manufactured dog foods here are worse than crap, we rely on imported foods. It more than once happened that a brand wasn’t available for a while, or even gone completely.
Rotating foods ensure that “I don’t put all the eggs in one basket”, and if one food where to be gone from the market (or like the case of Orijen, the importer being so problematic that I stopped feeding it as it was impossible to predict who will have it in stock and when), I know my dog is used to multiple foods and to switching foods, and won’t start a hunger strike when I change foods.
Case in point- I know someone who’s dog is a very picky eater. Some time ago, there was a bureaucratic snafu, and Pro Plan (the brand that dog ate) was unavailable in the whole country for a few months, until Purina/the importer untangled it with the local Gov.- No ProPlan was imported into the country.
As you can imagine, the dog’s food ran out, and when she tried to give him another brand, he simply refused to eat it. It was a hard few months for her until ProPlan was back on the shelves.
As for how I rotate- every two bags or so (so, somewhere between 2-3 months) I switch the brand I buy to one on a shortlist I created.
If a new brand comes to the market, I will take note of the label- if it looks good, I might add a bag to the rotation. If the dog does ok with it, there are no issues and the importer is decent (and it isn’t overpriced, like one line here, which is similar to Orjien in quality but costs 50% more, and Orijen ain’t cheap), it will be added to the rotation short list.
In addition, I will give my dog a raw turkey neck on occasion instead of his daily meal. Too bad that beef here is way to expensive (I don’t buy beef to myself either) and even the price of Turkey necks has gone up to be pretty high.
One of my dogs eats kibble, and I talked with my vet about rotation. She advocated limited rotation but keeping my dog away from certain protein sources so that we can use them later if he develops food allergies. So, I feed Natural Balance Limited Ingredient kibble and we switch back and forth between the chicken and venison protein sources. We’re not using the duck or fish to “save” those for a rainy day if our dog develops food allergies.