# how often can you change puppy food?



## BellaWella (May 2, 2010)

I am feeding Wellness for puppies right now and want to change to merricks puppy plate once the wellness is almost finished... and then go back to wellness when merricks is gone or maybe to another quality brand. Nothing wrong with wellness, just want variety so later on she wont get bored with her food. She will be 4 months by the time I switch her, prob want to switch her between 2-3 different brands every month..... ex/... June have her on merrick, July on welness, August on merricks etc etc

is that dangerous for a young puppy or really no point in doing it until she decides to stop eating the wellness....Of course I'll wean her off and not just switch in one day, but i just want her to enjoy her food.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

It can be hard on their digestive systems to switch foods often, especially puppies. I would research and find a brand you want to stick with permanently, or 2 brands to rotate -- but I would not rotate monthly because it usually takes a week to convert to a new food, and you would only keep the diet consistant for 2 weeks out of each month if you rotated monthly. Rotating every 3 months or so is probably okay, but I wouldn't choose more than 2 types.


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## MaryH (Mar 7, 2006)

I would stick with the food she is eating for now. Changing foods can cause stress to her young body and can cause a finicky eater in the long run. How is the itchiness doing? Did your vet appointment shed any light on that issue?


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## SugarBob62 (Nov 9, 2009)

Yeah I wouldn't keep switching back and forth. Can't you just mix 2 types of foods? That is what I do with my dog and cat. 
Nelson eats Wellness and Chicken Soup
And Spencer eats Chicken Soup and Eukanuba. And he also gets wet food for a treat every once in a while. Haven't started doing that with Nelson yet, maybe I will at some point for extra snacks.

I mix some premixed in a container, so its always ready to go, and they get variety that way. Except you aren't giving them potential digestive problems in the process. 

I started mixing food when that dog food scare happened a few years ago I guess now? I figured it's best to just use 2 types all the time, god forbid 1 of the brands they eat gets recalled...and you only fed them one type, what would you switch them too immediately? Or what if they were picky eaters and didn't want to eat some other new food you tried in an emergency type situation. So I figured I'd never have that problem with 2 different brands...unless they'd both be affected. That and I think they like the variety in the bowl...the cats food is even different shapes, and I'm sure one might have better things over the other and vice versa...so that way they get stuff from both brands.

But I would just stick to 2 or 3 at the most, and just mix them all...don't keep switching back and forth. Maybe you can give healthy people food for snacks or mix up different kind of dog treats. Like Nelson eats the Wellness puppy soft treats, and the Mother Hubbard hard dog biscuits. So basically he eats 4 different things...which I think is way enough! They don't need as much variety as you'd think...like we do!!! hahaha :HistericalSmiley:


Like everyone said...switching foods is a process. But if you do end up doing a mixture, add the new food gradually, until it's an equal portion of each brand used.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

For a puppy, changing foods is not necessary unless there is a problem with the food.

Once they are adults, changing up foods is encouraged. It is good for them to have a variety of foods - but not for boredom, but to ensure that the dog doesn't develop an allergy, and to ensure they are getting a wide variety of nutrients, according to my holistic vet. 


BTW, Wellness is a better food than Merrick's, IMO.


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## Delilahs Mommy (Nov 22, 2009)

Delilah is on Nutro Ultra wet and dry. I hope to get her onto dry, but miss picky pants likes her wet. So I give it to her 2-3 times per day and leave the dry out all day and she nibbles on when ever she wants.

The only time I plan on changing her food- for variety reasons and not to get bored with the same ole stuff- is when she is closer to 1 yr old. Then I will probably use Blue Buffalo,Evo or Wellness. We'll see.


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## BellaWella (May 2, 2010)

thanks for the replies........

All great advice that why I ask before I do.. Ill just keep her on the Wellness dry and canned mixed... about a tad less then 1/8 cup of dry mix then I grind it down then add 1/4 of teaspoon of Wellness wet just to make little meatballs.. She eats that 3 times a day with Wellness soft puppy treats and will found another hard treat to add variety.... and a very small about of unrefined coconut oil a day.. everyday I give her just a slight little more of the oil til she gets about 1/4 of a teaspoon. I hope that's enough for her .... I cut the Wellness soft treats into 4 pieces because the one square soft treat is pretty big for her.. so every time she potty's she gets 1/4 of the treat and she potties about every 1 1/2 hour... Ill found a nice hard treat to put in her kong...


As for the itching... she has no mites no fleas....Vet still says shes just growing into her skin and maybe be a seasonal thing.... she itches her face a lot and that most likely because of the tear stains, but I wipe her face daily. Hopefully as she stops teething that also will go away... Vet still says her skin looks good..coat is nice..weight is fine...she everything is great.... now just have to get this housebreaking training down!!!!!


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## Kitkat (Mar 24, 2010)

BellaWella said:


> thanks for the replies........
> 
> All great advice that why I ask before I do.. Ill just keep her on the Wellness dry and canned mixed... about a tad less then 1/8 cup of dry mix then I grind it down then add 1/4 of teaspoon of Wellness wet just to make little meatballs.. She eats that 3 times a day with Wellness soft puppy treats and will found another hard treat to add variety.... and a very small about of unrefined coconut oil a day.. everyday I give her just a slight little more of the oil til she gets about 1/4 of a teaspoon. I hope that's enough for her .... I cut the Wellness soft treats into 4 pieces because the one square soft treat is pretty big for her.. so every time she potty's she gets 1/4 of the treat and she potties about every 1 1/2 hour... Ill found a nice hard treat to put in her kong...
> 
> ...


Hi BellaWella - glad your pup is doing well. How old is she and how much does she weigh? I ask b/c my pup is almost 8 wks and is on wellness too but I don't grind it down, I add a bit of water to make it mushy - I hope that's ok. The breeder did wellness dry mixed with ceasar's but I don't like the ceasars as it's not good quality so until I'm able to find Earth's Best baby food meat to mix in with the dry, I'm using wellness canned for puppies too to mix in. He loves it but again I'm mushing it up with water and he seems to be able to eat it...hope that's ok. I don't think I'm measuring correctly though. I think I may be overfeeding. Yikes. P.S. I do the wellness soft puppy treats too - he doesn't seem to be interested in any treat right now. Cheerios was suggested on here and I have yet to try it...we'll see.


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## BellaWella (May 2, 2010)

Bella is about 14 weeks and weighs about 2.7 pounds.... I use a measuring cup for the dry food and use 1/8 cup 3x a day b/c that's what my vet recommended.. and mix 1/4 teaspoon NOT Tablespoon of canned food with it... I grind it and mix the two soak my hands in warm water to moisten it then make little marble size meatballs and put out 2-3 meatballs at a time or else she'll eat the own thing in less then 60 seconds... this way it take her about 3-4 mins to finish her meal.... I will also have 3 or 4 kibbles out while shes waiting for me to roll the meat ball she her teeth can get a little crunching in. She loves the coconut oil too.. ANd becareful with the Wellness Puppy soft treats...In my opinion those are to big of pieces to be giving a puppy if you are housebreaking or rewarding a lot in a day....breaking one piece into 4 smaller pieces..

I don't know if I am really doing it right, I am really new to small breeds so dont take my advice Im only telling how I do it... A lot of experts on this forum will know better then me.


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## lilc5 (Dec 6, 2009)

I havent used Wellness dry since my Shih Tzu was a pup (5 years ago). So I dont remember the size of the kibble. I had to take her off Wellness because she was allergic to it. She is now on prescribed food with limited ingredients. As for my 7 month maltese I decided to feed her dry merrick puppy plate. My Shih Tzu likes the wet varieties and I was hoping that when the Malt gets older I could just stick to one brand. Also, since Wellness presented a problem with one dog in the past I did not want to take the chance to have that same issue again. My Malt likes Merrick and even if I dont give her a little of wet on some days she still eats the dry no problem. 

As far as switching foods as an adult dog - i was never able to because of the allergies from my first pup but I am able to pick and choose from different wet foods to add to the dry which makes a difference and keeps her happy from being bored. I plan on continuing this routine instead of the hassle of switching the dry. I also dont want to deal with the upset stomachs.


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