Transitioning to a Raw Diet

There are a few different ways to transition your dog to raw and no one way will suit all dogs. Ho you choose to transition your dog should depend each individual dog, take into consideration age and how sensitive your dog is.

STRAIGHT SWAP this may work well for dogs that don’t have a sensitive tummy and some puppy’s, if in doubt go for a slower transition.

To do a straight swap simply feed current food one day and change over to the raw diet the next.. SLOW TRANSITION this works well for dogs with a sensitive tummy and older dogs. You can do this over a few days or few weeks depending how sensitive your dog is, bit normally over a week works well. Simply take a portion of the current food from the bowl and replace with raw, increasing the amount of raw you add to the bowl until you have fully transitioned to raw.

FRESH FOOD SWAP another way to transition if you have a very sensitive dog is to start adding some lightly cook foods to the dogs food for a little while before you transition to raw. Simply adding some lightly cooked foods your dogs current food, once you dog is tolerating the cooked foods well you can then slowly start introducing raw till eventually they are having all raw.

WHAT PROTEIN TO START WITH

When starting out raw feeding I always recommend using a good quality pre made mince this way every is done for you, as you become more knowledgeable you can start adding more DIY raw to the bowl should you wish. Normally I’d start with a light meat like turkey or chicken if you know your dog tolerates these, if not choose something you know your dog is fine with, go for a minc that does not have a high bone content no more than 10%, for sensitive dogs it might be a good idea to feed an offal free mince first but this isn’t absolutely necessay While transitioning I normally recommend feeding the same protein for a week, if tolerated well add in the next protein, again for a week and so on until you have tried all the different proteins this way if something doesn’t suit it’s very easy to pin point what it is. Ideally when when transitioning feed single protein minces. Feeding single proteins is extremely important for dogs with any food intolerances and allergies, check out our elimination diet blog.

I would recommend waiting for a month before feeding whole bones to give the gut time to adjust to a raw diet While transitioning, If your dog has a tummy upset, don’t just give up and assume that raw doesn’t suit your dog, it maybe that your dog needs a slower transition or the protien you are feeding doesn’t suit, go back to basics and start again some lightly cooked bland foods for a while until things are settled and re try, the beginning it can be trial and error.

Good luck!

Karla Pearson No Bull Just Natural Health For Dogs