Advice on changing Dog's food.

Pimlico

Hi all,

I have a four and a half year old Border Collie and at the moment is being fed on tins of Pedigree. Now, before everyone has a go at me for feeding her Pedigree, I was simply ignorant of how bad it actually is, it was really only from reading the ingredients on the tin that I realised that it's not great, also lurking around this forum has become quite educational for me

I've had Collies all my life, they've always been fed the same and they all seemed to do well, however I am going to change to dry food. My budget is somewhat limited though so after much research I am going to opt for Whites Dog Food. So here's my question, how exactly do I make the transition onto dry food, seen as shes been on tinned food since she was a few months old (we had her on dry food for a few months after we got her).

I obviously don't want to make her sick by making the transition too quickly so I guess for starters I'll have to mix some tinned food with the dry food to get her used to it, but how long should I do this for?

On a side note, my dog is very hyper at times which I know is usual for Collies, however, I wonder if I'll notice a difference in her hyperactivity levels once shes on dry food, another thing is that shes been itching like mad for the last couple of weeks, she gets like this maybe a couple of times a year. My vet says its an allergy, to what I haven't a clue but a friend of mine did suggest that it could be something in the tinned food. either way I'll be happy to have her off the stuff! Anyways, Sorry for rambling on and hopefully some of you will have some advice for me.

Bullseye1

You will have to do it gradually probably half and half and then ween her off the wet food althogther. Just make sure she has access to plenty of water. Some dogs need a supplement for conditioning during the switchover. Most good pet stores have these bottles similar to cod liver oil.

Sigma Force

Yeh just switch slowly, just mix in a few nuts at first in with her food, and build it up everyday, keep an eye on her poops they'll be able to tell you how her tum is coping with the change. The change will be significant after week or two, the poop should be more solid.

The itching could be a slight mite allergy, treating with advantage or washing in a neem based shampoo might help. The vet could always do a skin scraping to see but see how the change in food goes first. Give it a few weeks because the itching could be food related either. If you haven't in a while and your dog has had it before perhaps treat her with advantage or similar spot on flea/mite drops.

No harm in putting a teaspoon of fish oil in her food for the next few weeks as well, seven seas do a great skin tonic/coat conditioner for dogs but even a tin of salmon in sunflower oil or makerel in oil once a week could help with the coat.

Food can effect their energy levels, she might calm down a bit on a different food. But being a collie she'll still be nuts a lot of the time. She's only young so there pretty much is no making them tired lol. Our border collie is 12 and is only starting to slow down a bit now, she's still got the same amount of energy as your average 7 year old dog would have. Have been feeding ours Burns for years, but it's so expensive so for now ..we have to mix in a cheaper brand with it which I hate to do but hopefully it's just temporary because she was doing fab on the Burns he coat is great and she doesn't have any stiffness in her joints or hips, she's in great nick for her age and I think it's partly down to her diet.

If you check out zooplus.ie you'll find lots of dog foods that if you can, buy in bulk. A 15kg bag of dry food should last you 6 weeks on average with a border collie.

gerbio

Try putting salmon oil onto the dry food & take the pedigree out of the diet

mymo

I sometimes mix in a tin of sardines in oil (never in brine its too salty), or give some left over veggies or rice from dinner, you could try adding that kind of thing.
Another way is to use the dry food as treats, get him to sit and give him some, get him to lie down or give the paw and give him more. Then after he gets used to that put it in his bowl and do the same, giving treats from the bowl. Leave a small amount in the bowl and put the bowl on the ground and walk away.
Just remember to cut down his meals by the amount you are giving, try and do this before or after the usual food.
After a few days (7 to 10 of gradually increasing the amount of dry food), you can cut out the old stuff all together.
The above method is what my friend used with her dog that refused to eat dry food, it worked he now thinks he's getting a bowl of treats and sits and waves the paw for his dinner:D 4 months and he hasn't turned his nose up at it yet! After 3 years of refusing dry food.

Pimlico

Thanks to everyone for their replies, really informative. The treat idea is sounds great so might give that a try also. Will definitely get some Cod Liver Oil, a few people have said that to me. Just hope she'll make the transition easily, I'll wean her off the wet food and onto the dry food slowly as recommended. Thanks for your advice.

DogsFirst

Re adding cod liver oil...many people put this on top of their dry food but it important to remember that vitamins are included in dry food at the minimum required for growth (AFFCO, 1995, set the standards for dry food worldwide). Vitamin E is essential to this whole "adding oil" process. Dry food has the fat sprayed on it after it is formed and there the fat sits for the months/years until your dog is fed the stuff. This is why dry foods use so many chemical preservatives to keep the slowly oxidising fats from killing the dog. So vitamin E is really important but is shown to be severely lacking in any dry food stored for more than 6 mths (Hoffman La Rodue 1995). So, if you simply add in oil into your dogs food you will increase the amount of fats hanging around your dogs system (which essentially ages the dog beyond his years).

Now horror story over, if you want to add essential oils you must add extra vitamin E found in loads of fresh ingredients to help the dogs system process them. Also by including fresh ingredients you slash your food bill!! So win win. Tins or sardines cost 40cents in lidl!! Tin of pink salmon (€1.19 for 400g). Buy oily fish (mackerel / herring) by the kilo from a fish factory (make sure they have been frozen for more than 24hrs as it will destroy and parasites in the fish) and now your dog has the best protein available, dirt cheap, saves you worrying about the fish oil also etc. Fresh chicken drumsticks/thighs (€2.80/kg). Buy a bag of green beans (€1.29/kg), lightly cook and add in a handful here and there (best vitamin boost) etc etc. The more of this stuff you add in, the less your food bill and the healthier your dog.

Also diets containing a high quality source of protein are proven to be less agitated in 8wks. I used to work for a group in Australia that wouldn't tackle dog aggression cases that weren't being fed fresh food. Behavior and coat condition are the first two changes to expect to see.

Hope this helps!