Many times we decide to make the change to natural food for dogs, but we do not know how to start, so from Soyunperro we will explain step by step how we must make the transition to displace the previous food (we will focus on the feed) and incorporate the new natural food, emphasizing possible changes that our dogs may experience.
When we decide to take the step and introduce our dog to natural food, we should know that there are many ways to do it. We will decide the most appropriate way based on the individual needs of each dog and his eating habits. We will focus on the transition from dry food to cooked dog food.
detoxification process
Before starting to explain the transition, we must know that, during the transition from one diet to another, our dog will experience a series of changes in his body. This process is called detoxification and consists of the body removes all accumulated toxins from processed foods.
These changes may not be visible in some dogs, but in others, they may show symptoms of a digestive nature such as diarrhoea, vomiting, feces covered with mucus, bad breath, and other external symptoms such as tearing, dandruff, itching and hair loss.
The adaptation of the body will affect each dog differently, it all depends on the state of its digestive system and the sensitivities that it may present.
This detoxification process is temporary, so we should not worry too much as long as the dog maintains its vitality and normal habits.
Dogs are carnivorous animals with a stomach pH between 1 and 2 to be able to digest well. This allows them to kill pathogenic microorganisms, release digestive enzymes, dissolve bones, absorb nutrients, speed up intestinal transit and improve the immune system.
Dogs that eat dry food have a more alkaline digestive pH, caused above all by the cereals present in its composition. This prevents neutralizing pathogens, as well as achieving proper nutrient absorption, bone dissolution, as well as being able to compromise your health.
During the transition process, the pH will normalize, becoming progressively more acidic.
How can we make the transition?
There are different ways to make this transition, depending on how our dog is and how his digestive system usually works.
One day to another
In the first place, we would have the simplest, for healthy adults, it consists of changing the food from one day to the next, leaving a minimum of 3 hours of fasting, that is, one day we give it feed and the next we already fully introduce the natural diet. .
For dogs with sensitive digestions
In these cases, we will opt for a soft diet, which we will prepare at home by cooking 70% lean white meat (for example: chicken, turkey or hake) and 30% easily digestible vegetables (for example: carrot, pumpkin or zucchini) which we will calculate from your daily food ration.
intermediate transition
The intermediate transition is the most recommended, and the ones recommended by natural cooked dog food companies such as Dogfy Diet.
The food will be introduced little by little as the feed intakes will move. We would do it this way, always in shots separated by a minimum of 3 hours:
Day 1 and 2: 25% natural food + 75% feed
Day 3 and 4: 50% natural food + 50% feed
Day 5 and 6: 75% natural food + 25% feed
day 7: 100% natural diet
We must bear in mind that the digestion of feed and natural food are totally different. The natural diet takes about 3 hours to digest, while the feed easily takes 8 to 12 hours. That is why we recommend spacing the feedings, for example, giving the feed intake at night and the natural food in the morning, to ensure that the digestion of the night food has finished well.
It is very important that before starting the transition we already start to include probiotics, since these will help to better carry out the detoxification process and facilitate digestion. To do this, we can give him a little kefir or 100% natural yogurt every day along with his food ration. The dose would be 1 teaspoon for every 5kg of weight of the furry.