Take things slowly

Your dog’s digestive system may need time to adjust from one food to another when changing its diet. That’s likely to be the case irrespective of what that change might be. That said, this particularly applies when changing from a commercial diet to a homemade diet or to raw dog food. Once your dog is used to variety in its diet, you can happily make changes at will thereafter without giving it any further thought. Here’s how you go about changing a dogs diet.

To avoid unnecessary tummy upsets, it’s best to effect any change gradually over the course of a week or so. If your dog tends to have a sensitive tummy anyway, take things more slowly. Perhaps double this transition time.

Check your dog’s stools

It’s not everyone’s favourite pastime I know, but checking your dog’s stools is the best indicator of how he or she is coping with the dietary change. Your dog’s digestive system will need to produce different enzymes to manage his or her new food. If the stools start to become much softer than usual, take things more slowly. Once they become firm, press on. (Trust me, the rewards will be well worth the effort)!

Once this initial transition is completed, you’ll find your dog’s digestive system can happily cope with anything you throw at it!

How to begin

Start off by feeding your dog 75% of its normal food mixed with 25% of his or her new diet. Mix the food together so he or she can’t just pick out the new food and leave the old. This is not an exact science, by the way. It won’t matter greatly if you are slightly over or under at this stage.

Feed this combination for a couple of days before introducing a 50/50 combination for a day or two. After a further day or two, feed just 25% of your dog’s old food and 75% of his or her new diet.

At the end of a week, your dog’s tummy will be fully adjusted to his or her new diet. That’s how easy it is to go about changing a dogs diet.

I sincerely hope you found changing your dog’s diet went without a hitch. If you want to learn how to change your dog’s diet to either homemade dog food or raw food, each of my DIY Starter Plans comes complete with a Transition Diet Plan.