Homemade dog food - more variety, frequent transition to different foods - would this cause stomach upset?

Question

We have always been told to feed our dog the same food every day and that if we change his food, we must change it gradually so that it does not upset his system. I have seen what a quick change in diet can do!

How does that work with homemade diets? We could gradually switch to homemade, but then after that he will get different homemade foods all the time... will this constantly upset his system?

Why do they tell us that dogs have to eat the same thing every day so that they won't get sick but humans can eat a variety of different things.

Is eating human food on a consistent basis enough of a pattern in itself to avoid stomach upset?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Dogs who only eat one type of food only have the bacteria in their gut for that type of food. Changing foods at that point is rather like a human raised on a bland diet of beef and potatoes suddenly having a meal of Afghani food. The intestine just isn't set to deal with it... yet millions of Afghani people eat it without an issue.

Dogs who go through their lives eating MANY different things develop intestines that are nearly indisruptable. Right now my dogs are busily eating fermenting blackberries off the bushes.

I feed a primarily raw meat/bones/organs diet. I use high quality kibble as "treats" and because I train extensively they get a LOT of treats. I rotate what sort of kibble constantly.

My treatment for an upset tummy is 12-24 hours of fasting with only live culture yoghurt mixed with Lactobacillus (Acidophilus) given. I've never had it not work... even when I've been at shows where everyone else's dogs came down with giardia.

Yes, if I were starting a dog on a new food I would do it slowly.. but you also need to realize that often one of the symptoms for decontaminating the body of toxins (of which non-premium dogfoods are riddled) is diahrea.

Answer 2

When you start a homemade diet you do start with one thing. Feed that for a week, then start another, and so on. You keep adding different things.

Once you know your dog doesn't have a problem with any of the foods you are feeding you can change them up all the time.

For example my dogs might have chicken today, rabbit tomorrow, beef the next day. They never have a problem.

For my dog on kibble I rotate between Canidae and Evo and switch between every bag, or every other bag, and I don't switch gradually.

No problems with any with of them.

If you'd like more information check out the Raw and Homemade diet forums over on http://www.dogster.com and 'rawdogs' over at http://www.livejournal.com Both are great resources for people wanting to start these types of diets, and the people in the groups are great helpers as well.

Answer 3

Most dogs adjust well to changes in diets. It's actually worse to feed them one food over and over, because when they do get ahold of something else and eat it, it will upset their system. My dogs eat a variety of dry and wet dog foods, as well as human / homemade foods, and they don't have any trouble with it at all.

This is just another old wive's tale, there's so much bad information out there about dogs. I would give your idea a shot and see what happens. He should adjust in a few days. If he's having severe diarrhea you can get him some Pepto Bismal (1mL or mg per pound of body weight) to help smooth things over.

Answer 4

Here is a link of toxic foods that dogs should not eat and you can work around it for your dog.

http://www.missouriscenicrivers.com/baddogfoods.html

This is a link that will show different products that are toxic to dogs.

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/dogs/safety/toxicproducts.html