Changing Foods, How much to feed?
Currently Ella is eating 1 cup of Iams Natural Chicken dry dog food. She does well on this food, but we have been considering changing her to a "grain free" dog food. I live in a rural area, so very few dog foods are readily available. A pet store has opened up in the next town over, so I was going to check there for their variety. And there is also a local "tractor supply co" chain, which I've never been in, but they are supposed to carry Taste of the Wild now.
She eats "chicken" flavor now and likes it, so we had thought the TOTW "fowl" flavor would be a good switch trial. If we end up getting this higher protein/no grain food, how much should we feed?
As I stated she gets 1 cup of food now, plus a large handful of either frozen carrots or green beans. She is 2 yrs old and weighs in at 23lbs (and is fairly standard sized).
Thanks
She eats "chicken" flavor now and likes it, so we had thought the TOTW "fowl" flavor would be a good switch trial. If we end up getting this higher protein/no grain food, how much should we feed?
As I stated she gets 1 cup of food now, plus a large handful of either frozen carrots or green beans. She is 2 yrs old and weighs in at 23lbs (and is fairly standard sized).
Thanks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on
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do check the feed stores near you. i was surprised when i went to this po-dunk feed store near my house that they had all sorts of high quality dog foods, and some dog foods i'd never heard of anywhere.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I know what you mean as we live in a rural area and good food is also hard to find. I would start with 3/4ths her old and 1/4th her new and then after 4-5 days go to 1/2 and 1/2 etc. It does not pay to go to fast and have them get sick. I learned the other day when I was talking to a Canidae rep that since my vet carries this food , I can order other kinds from there and get it. This is nice since I would like to try a different flavor! As Sarah said do check out other feed stores but if you live like where I do...I have 2 options that are 20 miles or I have to drive 60...it's frustrating but I also find the food is cheaper than at the "pet" store! Staying with the veggies is great too! Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Heather and Ella on
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It can be frustrating in a small area. Walmart and Meijers are within 20 miles of me, but their dog selections are very lacking. Walmart has lots of toys, clothes, and leashes but not much variety in the way of food. Meijers has even less in dog food and limited of everything else (and is usually more expensive). That's why Ella was on Iams, since both stores carried it.
Her vet is 10 miles the other way, and that road has had major construction this summer, so I didn't even think to check with her. But I bet they do have stuff as they also run a "large animal" supply store behind the vet office.
The pet store ended up being mostly fish and small rodent stuff, not much dog selection.
I was surprised at the Tractor Supply place, that I've never been in, but pass all the time. They had all kinds of food from Puppy Chow and Iams to Blue Buffalo and TOTW, it was literally 2 big aisles. Had I only looked before, lol.
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I was pretty surprised too the first time I went into the feed store. Then I was like, duh!
If you have work animal and show animal feed for birds, horses, cattle, rabbits, etc. etc. why not dogs? I mean... they're work and show animals too!
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Great point! It was funny though, I was in line with a small 5 lb. bag of dog food and the lady behind me had a 20 lb bag of pig food. I often think Ella eats like a pig, but it would take a long time to go through 20 lbs. of feed.
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I have one day's worth of her Iams left, and I'm not sure if I really want to buy another bag of it. As she only eats 1cup a day, it takes forever to go through even a little 3.5 lb bag.
Thanks for the advice everyone.
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Update: I weighed Ella today and she is 22lbs. I also picked up a 5 lb. bag of "Taste of the Wild: Roasted Fowl" at Tractor Supply Co.
To test out the new food, I mixed a little of it with a little of her Iams. Well she picked out the TOTW and ate that up and looked for more. I ended up dumping out the cup of Iams we have left, as she was uninterested in it. I ended up feeding her 1 cup of TOTW, 1/2 cup at a time (10 mins apart).
I didn't give her any green beans tonight, since I want to see if the new food agrees with her tummy.
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Permalink Reply by Renee Kovacs on
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I'm a bit of a rebel, I guess, but I often find "conventional wisdom" to be questionable. It never made sense to me, this business of acclimating a dog to a new food ...where else is that bit of convention applied? Not to people, not to animals in nature - why dogs? The other thing that I never thought was logical was to stick with a single brand - what if it's missing some key component, and what of the boredom factor? I was totally astounded when I found this to be the recommendation from our holistic vet (exactly what I was doing - rotating amongst all variety of quality foods).
Anyway - I have always fed my dogs a variety of brands, never sticking to one. I buy grain-free, both canned and dry. I do stick with smaller bags of dry (that's for breakfast, 3/4 cup) and I do NOT mix dry foods with other brands (in case I get a 'bad' bag, or it's recalled, etc). Dinner is 1/2 a can, from a full spectrum of protein sources - except for Ed, I don't get rabbit, it gives him gas. He's a boxy Cardigan boy - 32 lbs and fit/trim, just big.
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Thanks for the input. I also stick to smaller bags of food, it takes a corgi forever to go through a bag of food.
It's funny how Ella decided that I wasn't mixing the food. I'm just glad that I hadn't purchased another bag of Iams, as she likes this much better. TOTW has 3 different flavors, so I may play around with that. But she doesn't like soft food for some reason. She more of a "play with my kibble and chase it around the dish with my nose" kind of dog, and that doesn't work with soft. :)
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