# Best way to change puppy's food



## silverbeetle (Jul 17, 2009)

Hi Everyone - what a great forum this is - such helpful advice for a novice puppy owner!

We have had our westie puppy Freddie for 3 weeks now and he is fantastic - he is doing so well and is such a lovely dog.

We now want to start to change his diet - we have stuck to the diet suggested by the breeder since we got him. I know we have to do this very gradually so as not to upset his tummy. He is on a raw food diet at the moment and we want to get rid of the raw meat as we do not really like feeding it to him. 

At the moment he has:
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with goats milk
Mid-morning: Wainwrights puppy compete and 2oz raw mince
Lunch: 3oz raw mince and 1 raw egg
Afternoon meal: Wainwrights puppy complete and 2oz raw mince

After researching foods (mainly on this forum!) we want to change him to either Arden Grange or Royal Canin along with Nature Diet. 

I am unsure of the best way to do this - should I firstly take him off the raw mince (on a gradual basis) and replace it with Nature Diet or would it be best to change him to a diet of dried food first and introduce some wet food at a later date. The main thing is to get rid of the raw mince and replace the Wainrights with a better quality food.

I have spoken to the vet and she recommended to change to Hills Science Plan over 2-3 days. I thought the change of food had to be more gradual than this - I thought over 2 weeks?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and advice with this

Many thanks


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## Fleur (Jul 19, 2008)

Mine were never on such a complicated diet.
But what I did was 3/4 existing food and 1/4 new food in same bowl then over a period of 2 weeks gradually increased the proportion of new food until they were switched over.
I went from Pedigree to Burns so it was alot simpler than cutting out eggs etc although the principle would be the same


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## Buggles (Jul 14, 2009)

Yikes, what a complicated diet! All he needs is dry biscuits!

Cut out the rubbish (aka eggs and mince), straight away and give him just the wainwrights. If you are changing from wainwrights to something else, do it gradually over about 10 days.


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## casandra (Aug 1, 2008)

You don't have to cut out the eggs and mince. I fed my Dobermann whole raw eggs (shell included) a few times a week and he also had yogurt and cottage cheese with Royal Canin.

When changing a kibble, I recommend going very slowly, over a month long process. First, make sure you take note of your puppie's stools on his current diet. (I know, gross right, but being able to spot changes in your dog's poop can often be an early warning sign that you need to get your dog to a vet ASAP)

I start out with a mix of 1/4 new food to 3/4 old food over a week long period. Make sure there are no adverse reactions to the food mix before moving on to the next step. If everything is going well, move on to 1/2 new to 1/2 old food. Keep on this for a week, then if your puppy is doing well, then move onto 3/4 new to 1/4 old for another week. Keep checking that your dog isn't getting runny stools or constipation due to the diet change. Then after another week, your puppy should be safely weaned onto the new food.

Vets are not the people to ask about food choices, sadly. Most are in partnership with a certain brand and Science Diet is one of those brands!! I would never switch to that food and never switch over a 3 day period.

I would however take the mince out of the kibble being fed. Kibble and meats/veggies digest at different rates and when fed in the same sitting can give puppy upset tummy (sort of like heartburn or indigestion in humans).

There is no reason why you can't keep feeding scrambled eggs or mince, I would just feed them separately from the kibble.

My Wookie gets a helping of kibble in the morning first thing and then he'll get something like a lamb chop, fish fillet, sheep kidney, egg etc for his 2nd meal at around 1:30 or so in the afternoon.


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## Buggles (Jul 14, 2009)

casandra said:


> There is no reason why you can't keep feeding scrambled eggs or mince, I would just feed them separately from the kibble.


She said herself that she doesn't want to feed raw food.


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## casandra (Aug 1, 2008)

I understood that. I only meant to say that she could continue offering them if she wanted either in the diet or as treats.

I also meant that they are not rubbish, as there are several benefits to feeding raw items or eggs with shells. :001_tt2:


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## pets-life (Jul 28, 2009)

Hi there,

You might find these articles of help and interest to you. Good luck.

Articles On Dogs Food And Diet


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## silverbeetle (Jul 17, 2009)

Many thanks for help and advice


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