[raylene5]

Hi all,

Getting our puppy in a couple of weeks. He’s been on a “high quality” kibble (I know the breeder feeds a very good quality kibble but can’t remembe which one it is). We are switching to Primal Pronto once we get him.

Anyway, I was talking to the salesperson at the local natural pet store and she said that when she transitions her puppies, she just quits the kibble cold-turkey, feeds only Answers raw goat milk for two days and then starts the puppy on raw the second or third day. She said she also always adds goats milk to her dog’s raw food, at every meal. I’ve read this approach on other websites as well.

Opinions?

Thanks!

[theBCnut]

Leave the puppy on the food it came to you on for at least a week so it isn’t having to make too many adjustments immediately. If it doesn’t have any stomach upset from changing homes, then decide if you think switching cold turkey is a good idea. Personally, I think that going from all kibble to all goat milk to all raw sounds like a lot of abrupt changes instead of one easy one. Usually to switch to raw they say to fast the dog for 24 hours then just start feeding raw. I started feeding raw when I had a puppy and I didn’t want to fast a little puppy for 24 hours, so I started using raw like a topper on the kibble. It really worked great for us and it turns out I still use half kibble to appease the squeamish members of the family.

[raylene5]

Thanks Patty. I’ve heard conflicting things about it. On the one hand, I’ve heard that puppies are very resilient so they should adjust to a new food very easily. And that the goat’s milk is great for transitioning because it helps strengthen their stomachs and protect it from bacteria. But then I’ve also heard that it’s better to gradually introduce the new food so as not to make too many changes in their lives too quickly.

I guess that for me, I was hoping to keep kibble out of the house. I’m not one to say kibble is the devil or anything like that 🙂 It’s just that I really want to make raw succeed and sort of like with breast-feeding, you might not even want to have formula in the house so as not to rely on it in case of difficulty. Does that make sense?

Thanks for your help! 🙂

[theBCnut]

Many puppies are resilient and would have no problem, but you won’t know if yours is one of them or not until you get it home, and puppies are fragile too, getting seriously ill very quickly from diarrhea.

As for the Answers Goat Milk, adding it to the kibble is a good idea. It has probiotics and enzymes that really help protect the gut. For the first week I would only add it as a topper, less than 20% of the meal. If you see that your pup does not get soft stool from the move, then you can plan to move ahead with the switch a little faster, but I would still wait a solid 3 or 4 days.

[Author]

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