Why Rotate Foods

[Tanya]

It's an idea that has always intrigued me and I have always been ... considering. But I don't truely understand "why" one would rotate the dogs food (and brands).

For the first time I bought a new "flavour" of the dogs current food. Penny's poops have been a wee bit off but I also have been adding soem canned food (mostly as I had them, got them on sale awhile back and need to get thru them so using them at some meals and now in their kongs).

I do like that with teh same food you can generally get a bag free at some point but wouldn't not rotate just because of that.

So - why? haha
Is there a time you would not do so (Rocky is holding me back a little - we thought he had kidney issues but those seem to be fine for now so I moved him to Penny's food and his last blodo test was mostly good though we need to follow up on his thyroid)...

[JenC]

I change a lot because I want to try new things. Or I find out that something might work better. Jack was on Earthborn bison but it had a lot of calories with being high protein/high fat. He's heavy. I also had to weed out anything with chicken or lamb in it. So through trial and error I found something now that I think is lower in calories and is made with ingredients that shouldn't aggravate his seizures. I tend to prefer Pro Plan (good middle ground and I am in their breeder program so I save the circles for stuff), but Grace needed to lose weight too and I didn't find that she was doing that on PP's weight control food, so she's been trying Fromm's whitefish and Evanger's whitefish. Then I'll change it all again because I want them to rotate their protein source. I don't think it's good for them to eat the same thing day in and day out. I don't really apply the "wolf" theory to dogs much, but wolves probably don't eat rabbit every day. Nor should our dogs eat chicken kibble every day. I certainly would be pretty annoyed if all I got 3 meals a day were Cheerios. Variety is good for the diet.

[doubledip1]

I rotate because I don't eat the same thing every day, so why should my dog? I also rotate so she doesn't miss out on any nutrients, though a complete food should have everything anyway. I also feed raw.
I rotate between Nutrisource Lamb, Chicken, Heartland and Seafood, so Luna gets a variety of proteins.

My store lets me rotate flavors and still get the free bag. I just get the cheapest of the 4 free, but they range only by a couple bucks, so to me it's negligible.

[Snowshoe]

Even though Jet lived all her 14.5 years happy and healthy on the same food I decided with Oban that perhaps it was tempting fate to expect the same for him. My thoughts were that each main protein and filler source used different fertilizer, pesticide and disease prevention agents in it's production, that these, some at least, might stay a bit in the food, thus in my dog too and eventually build up in him, the top of the food chain. I do know fish, lambs and chickens don't get the same vaccinations but I did not research and am completely guessing at the filler part. So I started to rotate.

Now, having done the Nutriscan saliva test on Oban, I would have another reason and that would be to avoid build up of sensitivity to the foods themselves. And that has apparently happened because his test came back with the highest numbers on turkey which was in *none of his kibbles but was the only protein he ate on his recovery diet. And Dr. Jean Dodds does recommend rotating and feeding a variety of different foods for just that reason. She also says one food cannot be nutritionally complete and advises rotating all foods or feeding a variety.

Dr. Jean Dodds' Pet Health Resource Blog | Food Transitioning versus Food Rotating: What is...

* I emailed Dr. Dodds as part of results confused me and she sent me back a paper showing analysis of different foods in Europe and how many actually had foods in them that were not on the label.

[janedoe]

I couldn't give the dogs chicken for the first couple of years after I took them off kibble because it was such a main component of their food that none of them could tolerate it anymore. Now I can feed them chicken in moderation but if Nikki gets it more than a couple of times a week in any quantity, it will start coming back up. I rotate their proteins constantly now that I prepare their meals so that that doesn't become an issue again.

[POPTOP]

I started rotation diet after reading about it here. It makes sense that the dogs would appreciate change. They have done very well on a rotation of Fromm. I tend to feed the white fish in the winter when Mardi gets less exercise to help keep her weight down.

[Tanya]

thanks We may do more rotations. Still hesitant about impact on Rocky. But he gets bloodwork done regularly so we'd proably pick up if there was an issue.

I've been on the fence about feeding raw. I had started as I found an affordable ource then Rocky has potential kidney issues so I stopped. plus kibble is easier. I would be more ilkely to do a mix (a raw meal here and there, or kibble before work and raw after work). but i can just start with rotation diet.

With two dogs I'd probably do two bags at a time then switch.

Rocky seems to love whatever he eats haha. Penny has slowed down big tiem recently, i am thinking it may be age related but am monitoring. As for me - well I actually do eat the same things for long periods LOL! I am very routine. Same breakfast for years, have been eating the same lunch for almost 6 months now and dinner is generally a variation of the same thing, but I"ll eat he same thing for a week.

[ZoeysMommy]

I suppose I rotate for a few reasons, most important being recalls. If anything goes weird I have other choices immediately and I don't have to put any thought into it.

I also rotate just to give them variety and I like to try new things.

Truthfully I have fed probably 10 different foods, some with grains, some without and I have not seen a difference with any of them, I think mine can eat cardboard and do well so I don't think rotating is really necessary for my girls other than my fear of recalls

Maybe its important to mention that I don't feed kibble exclusively. Its maybe 60 percent of there diet

[Maxx&Emma]

I rotate not only for variety but to avoid problems as mentioned above. I will add that I did keep Maxx on the food recommended by his breeder for the first 2 years. My 2 eat grain free, 6 different manufactures and protiens. I also add in fresh fruits, veggies and meat. They get a nice variety of things.

[voodoo]

I rotated foods so chili would "not" like different flavors as a pup hoping he would then not develop any allergies. Also in the back of my mind I was thinking if any 1 food was bad for him, I would put "all my egs in one basket" so to say.

gonna try raw soon and see how that goes