[nagdu] may be changing dog food

[Raven Tolliver]

Hi,
For those interested in ordering their dog food online, chewy.com is
an excellent website. Free shipping is applied to all orders over $49,
Also, an auto delivery can be set up, and the first time you set up an
auto delivery, you get a discount off your first order. Shipping is
usually fast. I get all my orders three-four days after ordering.
Right now, Natural Balance Lamb and Rice cost about $45 on this
website. But no worries, this website does flat-rate shipping, which
is only $4.95 extra.
I personally encourage people to feed grain-free, but also take
caution when changing your dog's food. Sometimes, changing over
gradually doesn't solve certain problems. If your dog is just
sensitive to certain ingredients, there is not much you can do except
change the food again.
I changed my golden guy's food 2 months after returning to my parents'
place from the guide dog program. The program was feeding their dogs
Iams Proactive Health Lamb Meal and Rice, which is not healthy when it
comes to proteins, nutrients, and probiotics. I had not known this at
the time though. I had just wanted to switch because: (1) I learned
that large stools meant that my dog wasn't absorbing much nutrients
from his food; and (2) I believed there was a solution to needing to
have his anal glands expressed every 6 weeks. So I switched him over
to Acana Pacifica; and Acana is a well-esteemed brand. It didn't fix
the anal gland problem; and can we say: ear infection central? It took
me several months to figure out why I was having to clean my dog's
ears out every three days, and that if I missed a beat, bam! another
ear infection. I almost lost my mind, I spent hours and days of
research, learning about the meanings and ratings of countless dog
food ingredients, pouring through websites, dog food reviews, and
recommendations for golden retriever diets. I set restrictions for the
first several ingredients, and made a list of all the horrible
ingredients that were no-nos, all the healthy ingredients that were
must-haves, and searched for a dog food that met these requirements.
After going through the ingredients' list of countless recipes, I
found my perfect dog food within my price range and changed the golden
guy's food again at the end of July to Wellness Core Ocean Grain-free
formula. So far, it's been totally worth it. I can finally just clean
his ears once a week.
I feed him 1/4 cup of cubed pear every three days to help firm up his
stool, and the anal glands seem to be fine, so I'm keeping my fingers
crossed.
If you do switch your dog's food. It is best to do it over a period of
7-10 days, increasing the amount of the new dog food every few days.
It is recommended to feed a mixture of 25% of the new food and 75% of
the previous food for a couple days, then 50% of each food for a few
days, then 75% of the new food and 25% of the previous food for 2
days. What measurements you decide to use depends on how much you feed
your dog.
I feed my dog just over 3 cups of food per day, and this is how I
would execute the switch.
Days 1-2: 1/2 cup of new food, 2-1/2 cups previous food
Days 3-4: 1 cup new food, 2 cups of previous food
Days 5-6: 1-1/2 cup of new food; 1-1/2 cups previous food
Days 7-8: 2-1/2 cups new food; 1/2 cup previous food
And the next day, he would be switched over to the new food completely.
If at any time during the switch, your dog starts vomiting, has loose
stools, or appears constipated, slow the rate at which you are
switching the food by a day or two.
Hope that helps.

-- 
Raven