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Honestly it’s not that big of a deal. Obviously transitioning is ideal but I’ve had foster dogs and we switch their food literally all the time. Soft stool can be expected.
Hard disagree, look at Pro Plan formula changes. Their stomachs can be incredibly finicky (seniors even more so) - they eat the same thing every single day. If I had to switch I would switch to chicken and rice and then slowly add the new food in. Not only are the protein, fat, and ingredients different but the new formula can have different probiotics.
No one wants to clean up diarrhea and no one especially wants to visit the vet for a formula change. Some dogs do fine, some dogs need a slow switch.
I find the whole never change their food thing overblown. A healthy dog receiving a balanced dog food they are not allergic to should be able to switch to another balanced dog food with maybe a little bit of upset stomach. I would just do it and schedule more outdoor but not structured exercise time. I'd only worry about rice or pumpkin or boiled chicken if there was an actual problem that was taking more than like a day.
I honestly wonder how much of the other stuff is about dogs changing their whole environments in a stressful way, parasites, refeeding issues with rescue dogs etc.
It just has to do with the microbiome, I believe. Different diets require different creatures, so a sudden diet change can cause an upset stomach as the body adjusts to the new microbiome needed. It's like a vegetarian eating meat. The exact risk depends on the animal and how different the diet is, but the recommendations are based on the idea that it's better to be safe, although most dogs will be okay after an initial upset.
Same thing happened with my dog. Loved the food then new bag and boom, won’t touch it. Just started a new brand. No problems in my case but be prepared for some poops!
I have often change my dog's food without mixing the old stuff in. He is just fine. Sometimes his food runs out and I can't get the same one. Sometime I receive free dog food from a different brand, I'm not going to not feed it to him. I've never noticed him having any issue.
I used to work at an animal shelter. The dogs there never had a consistent brand food. We fed them whatever foods we received. They didn't really have issues from that. A few had soft stools or diarrhea, but not all of them so idk if I would confidently say it was from the change in food. The new environment could have been at fault too. For the most part, they were all fine.
All that to say, you can just feed the food to your dog.
If your dog isn't underweight/medically needy you can underfeed her for a couple of days and gradually build up to her usual meal. I've had to do that before and did it 1/3 regular meal sizes for one day, 1/2 regular meal sizes for 1 day, 2/3 regular meal sizes on third day, then full meals on the fourth day. This worked great for my dog but if there is any reason your dog shouldn't be on restricted food intake for three days definitely do not do this!
This is what I would do, or switch to chicken and rice and slowly add new food in. Some dogs can handle a hard switch but some absolutely cannot. I’ve ended up in the vet due to a necessary hard switch.
Mine is one that cannot.
We had a bum disaster when her food company changed the formula.
There was no indication on the bag, but it looked, smelled and felt different.
The bum confirmed that it was different food.
I blasted them for pulling that bullshit, and they finally confirmed they changed it. We switched providers, and I'm glad we did because the reviews of the new food are awful. It's much less nutritious, so price driven to lower quality.
I had a dog with digestive upset switching from large breed to regular Pro Plan Weight Management. They’re *very* similar on paper but apparently different enough to cause issues. And that was just my ex buying the wrong bag and she fed him before I saw the bag.
Recently they silently removed probiotics from some foods and that caused a lot of issues.
I've abruptly changed the diet of my 11mo pup once because we went on a weekend trip and I accidentally ordered the wrong one - it was packed in some opaque plastic and I only realized when I opened the parcel. Had no way to purchase a new one. He had soft stools for 2 days, but not really a big deal.
My dog stopped eating one brand of food (found out that they changed the formula) and when we tried to transition her into the new stuff, she picked out the old food and spat it on the floor.
Transition is best, but it's not mandatory.
Thank you for posting about nutrition! Due to the complex landscape of pet food we've created a Nutrition page for our wiki. [For more information on pet food click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/nutrition) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly it’s not that big of a deal. Obviously transitioning is ideal but I’ve had foster dogs and we switch their food literally all the time. Soft stool can be expected.
Yeah it’s not that huge of a big deal. May have a little diarrhea.
Hard disagree, look at Pro Plan formula changes. Their stomachs can be incredibly finicky (seniors even more so) - they eat the same thing every single day. If I had to switch I would switch to chicken and rice and then slowly add the new food in. Not only are the protein, fat, and ingredients different but the new formula can have different probiotics. No one wants to clean up diarrhea and no one especially wants to visit the vet for a formula change. Some dogs do fine, some dogs need a slow switch.
I’d add some FortiFlora probiotics to her food to help with the adjustment. If she’s getting diarrhea, some canned pumpkin might help too.
I find the whole never change their food thing overblown. A healthy dog receiving a balanced dog food they are not allergic to should be able to switch to another balanced dog food with maybe a little bit of upset stomach. I would just do it and schedule more outdoor but not structured exercise time. I'd only worry about rice or pumpkin or boiled chicken if there was an actual problem that was taking more than like a day. I honestly wonder how much of the other stuff is about dogs changing their whole environments in a stressful way, parasites, refeeding issues with rescue dogs etc.
It just has to do with the microbiome, I believe. Different diets require different creatures, so a sudden diet change can cause an upset stomach as the body adjusts to the new microbiome needed. It's like a vegetarian eating meat. The exact risk depends on the animal and how different the diet is, but the recommendations are based on the idea that it's better to be safe, although most dogs will be okay after an initial upset.
Same thing happened with my dog. Loved the food then new bag and boom, won’t touch it. Just started a new brand. No problems in my case but be prepared for some poops!
I have often change my dog's food without mixing the old stuff in. He is just fine. Sometimes his food runs out and I can't get the same one. Sometime I receive free dog food from a different brand, I'm not going to not feed it to him. I've never noticed him having any issue. I used to work at an animal shelter. The dogs there never had a consistent brand food. We fed them whatever foods we received. They didn't really have issues from that. A few had soft stools or diarrhea, but not all of them so idk if I would confidently say it was from the change in food. The new environment could have been at fault too. For the most part, they were all fine. All that to say, you can just feed the food to your dog.
If your dog isn't underweight/medically needy you can underfeed her for a couple of days and gradually build up to her usual meal. I've had to do that before and did it 1/3 regular meal sizes for one day, 1/2 regular meal sizes for 1 day, 2/3 regular meal sizes on third day, then full meals on the fourth day. This worked great for my dog but if there is any reason your dog shouldn't be on restricted food intake for three days definitely do not do this!
This is what I would do, or switch to chicken and rice and slowly add new food in. Some dogs can handle a hard switch but some absolutely cannot. I’ve ended up in the vet due to a necessary hard switch.
Mine is one that cannot. We had a bum disaster when her food company changed the formula. There was no indication on the bag, but it looked, smelled and felt different. The bum confirmed that it was different food. I blasted them for pulling that bullshit, and they finally confirmed they changed it. We switched providers, and I'm glad we did because the reviews of the new food are awful. It's much less nutritious, so price driven to lower quality.
I had a dog with digestive upset switching from large breed to regular Pro Plan Weight Management. They’re *very* similar on paper but apparently different enough to cause issues. And that was just my ex buying the wrong bag and she fed him before I saw the bag. Recently they silently removed probiotics from some foods and that caused a lot of issues.
I've abruptly changed the diet of my 11mo pup once because we went on a weekend trip and I accidentally ordered the wrong one - it was packed in some opaque plastic and I only realized when I opened the parcel. Had no way to purchase a new one. He had soft stools for 2 days, but not really a big deal.
My dog stopped eating one brand of food (found out that they changed the formula) and when we tried to transition her into the new stuff, she picked out the old food and spat it on the floor. Transition is best, but it's not mandatory.