How to make the transition in older dogs or dogs with sensitive tummies?
When we decide to take the step and offer our dog a natural diet, it is normal that we have doubts about how to make the change from feed to a natural diet. Although it is true that with a healthy adult dog the transition can be quicker, things can be different if it is an older dog or a dog with a sensitive tummy.
In these cases, we should be more cautious and make the transition in a more progressive way.
Why can imbalances occur if the dog comes from eating feed?
Dogs, as we already know, are facultative carnivores, which means that their digestive system is designed to ingest and digest meat. The stomach pH of dogs is usually very acidic to eliminate bacteria, parasites and other pathogenic microorganisms that may come from the prey they ingest.
With a natural diet, we help to maintain the acid pH.
On the other hand, if the dog consumes processed products high in cereals such as animal feed, this causes the digestive pH to alkalinize, making it impossible to perform basic functions such as releasing digestive enzymes, eliminating pathogens, performing a good digestion and having a strong immune system.
This significant difference between the feed and the natural food, makes that sometimes digestive alterations can appear when the change is made in dogs with more sensitive tummies.
Symptoms may include diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, mucus surrounding the feces, bad breath, itching, dandruff or rashes.
These symptoms are the result of a process called detoxification, which consists of eliminating chemicals and toxins accumulated in the body, which can also produce a slight weight loss, since many retained liquids are released due to the inflammation produced by the feed additives. This detoxification affects and manifests itself differently in each dog.
How to make the transition from feed to natural food
Bon Appetreat recommends a gradual transition from your existing food to our menus by feeding 3/4 of the existing food with 1/4 of our food for three days. The next step is to feed half existing and half Bon Appetreat for the following three days and finally 1/4 existing food and 3/4 Bon Appetreat for the last three days. At this point your pup should be ready to eat only our menus.
If during the introduction of Bon Appetreat their stools are not normal, we recommend contacting our team of nutritionists.
If you have any questions regarding the subject of this blog, the Bon Appetreat nutritionist team is at your disposal.