Rotating flavors of dry dog food?

odckdo

Does anyone else do this? (I think people rotate raw diets but does this apply to dry food?)

Are there any disadvantages?

Staying with the same brand, I was thinking of rotating the flavors between chicken, salmon and lamb every month. My dog has tried all these before in smaller amounts and loves the new flavor. The ingredients are practically the same except for the meat so no upset tummies so far. Eats anything!

There seems to be alot of support for it online.

On the TOTW website: www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/faq/

"Certain manufacturers of pet foods are strongly advocating the rotation diet and since it is getting some time in the press, you are hearing about it."

"As a veterinarian, I feel that a monthly rotation would be the most frequent that I would recommend to my clients that would like to try the rotation diet"

"Are there great success stories behind the rotation diet? Of course. But there are also great success stories behind every feeding method. We receive testimonials on a daily basis from pet owners feeding our foods and often feeding only one recipe. There are millions of pets out there that eat the same food every single day and are happy and healthy."

tk123

I never had a prob with cereal free dry foods and could chop and change between brands

lorebringer

I change brand every time I change bag of food - have never had a problem with pickyness or dodgy bellies, rotate between a few brands that I know my dogs do well on.

ABajaninCork

I rotate my dog between Burns Duck and Rice and Burns Pork and Potato. No problems.

odckdo

That's good to know. Reading online though I can't make my mind up!

TOTW seem to be sitting in the middle with their advice, while Acana think it is a good idea.

For me I want to stay with the same brand but according to: www.dogfoodanalysis.com/how-often-should-i-change-foods.html this will only work if the protein aswell as the ingredients are significantly different.

With me the chicken and lamb flavors are practically the same, while salmon is a bit different with potato instead of rice. So I could go chicken, salmon, lamb, salmon, chicken,......would that work? I go through a bag every month. Whether there is enough variety in that I am not sure but at least they should enjoy eating different meats.

tk123

Do you have a crossover where you're almost at the end of one bag and buy the new one? If so you could always mix the same amount of the new one with the old one to be safe?

odckdo

I could do that alright. I am lucky because they are good eaters and no problems before when I tried out the different flavors with smaller bags.

I suppose what I am wondering is there any point in me rotating flavors within the same brand if some of the ingredients are the same?

The food I use is Barking Heads. On chicken at the moment and thinking of alternating with salmon and lamb.

Gael23

We don't change brand ever but would occasionally get food with different meats. Typically it's chicken but we would buy beef or lamb if they were on special offer or something.

boomerang

It's a very good idea to rotate brands, to compensate for any nutritional excesses or deficiencies in the food, especially with regard to added vitamins, minerals, herbs and supplements.

odckdo

Most of the stuff I have read online says that rotating is good.

Though a small number say rotating is not a good idea. (I don't know much in this area so I will probably be shot down for this next bit......!)

Supposedly one possible problem is that if your dog develops a food/diet allergy then it might take longer to work out the problem e.g. say you just finished off a bag of salmon and this week you started a bag of lamb, while the previous month you were on chicken. Which protein is causing the problem?

Also if you then start an elimination diet you would have to use a novel protein that you have never used before because you have already introduced the regular proteins.

Just wondering what people thought of this?

odckdo

I think have been reading too much into this!

There is only a small amount of online stuff saying to stick with 1 brand/flavor.

Anyways I have ordered a couple of bags of different flavors to see how we get on.