One of the most important things for dog owners to know is to never switch your dog’s diet abruptly. It’s best to take 1-2 weeks to introduce a new diet to your dog by adding a small amount of the new food each day and reducing the old food over time, for example:
- 20% of the new food mixed with 80% of the old food in the first few days
- Gradually increase to 50/50 mix over a few days
- Increase to 80% of the new food and 20% of the old food until you reach 100% new food
Avoid high fat items such as marrow bones, roast beef, steak fat or BBQ grease.
Watch what your dog ingests throughout the day, especially if they find access to garbage, food on the ground or decide to drink salt water.
A healthy, balanced diet (AAFCO approved is a minimum standard to follow (most commercial dog foods have this approval rating and it will be reported on the bag).
Grain-free diets have been implicated in being unbalanced for dogs and associated with causing heart disease and congestive heart failure.
Raw diets are not well understood yet and have food safety concerns for both pet owners and pets.