How to transfer a dog to dry food?

Each owner wants his dog to eat healthy food. This can be realized either through natural nutrition, or using dry food. Each method has its own characteristics.

Often, picking up a puppy from the kennel, they begin to feed him a natural cow, believing that it is more useful. In natural nutrition, if, of course, it is not from the general table, there is nothing terrible, it just requires a more thorough approach to creating a balanced diet. For example, for puppies of small breeds, the ratio of Ca and P should be 0.6 to 0.8, and for adults as 1 to 1.

An increase or decrease in one leads to poor absorption of the other component, and this is certainly important, especially during the change of teeth.

For adult animals a balanced diet is also important, as metabolic disorders can lead to health problems. To normalize metabolic processes in the body when feeding a natural cow, the introduction of vitamins is a prerequisite.

Everyone can make the right diet with due responsibility, but there is a significant minus - this is the time you spend on choosing products and on everyday cooking. And in the summer, natural nutrition spoils quickly, and you won’t leave it in the pet's bowl for a long time.

As soon as the owner decided to transfer the pet to a dry diet, he begins to look for the pros and cons on the Internet.

The network has a lot of controversial information about the proper nutrition of dogs, and there are still plenty of reviews about dry nutrition, supposedly it harms the health of the pet. When the famous pediatrician Komarovsky E.O.on one of the broadcasts they asked if it was harmful for the child to wear diapers, he replied that there was nothing terrible in them, and the diapers were not created for the baby, but for the mother, to free her from the daily washing of the diapers and to devote more time to herself and her relatives.

The same can be said of industrial dry dog ​​foods. Feeding the four-legged dry food frees the hands of its owner. Now there is a very large selection of food for dogs, and they are all balanced in terms of basic mineral and nutrients. Only depending on the class, these substances can be contained in different amounts in dry food, which can be understood by studying the composition on the back of the package.

To introduce or not to introduce dietary supplements in food will depend on the degree of feed absorption. Bioadditives are usually administered with economy-class and less premium feeds.

Summarize. Let's start with the pros:

1. the correct ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, macro, trace elements and vitamins;
2. the nutritional composition of the package meets the characteristics of the breed, age and sex group and the constitution of the animal;
3. products for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation therapy;
4. dry balls help get rid of plaque on the teeth, which can lead to tartar and gum inflammation;
5. free time appears;
6. no need to develop a diet;
7. unlike naturalk does not spoil for a long time.

Minuses:

1. in the economy class feed the type of protein is not always indicated;
2. always control the presence of water in a bowl;
3. products with a high degree of assimilation are expensive, although at the moment, in terms of pricing, the issue is controversial.

The main criteria that you need to pay attention to when choosing dry granular nutrition are composition, pricing policy and the ability to buy it at a nearby pet store. To decide on the choice of feed, you need to turn to the features of the composition.

There are various classes of feed.

Distributed everywhere, they can be purchased at any grocery retail network: Pedigree, Darling, Our Brand and others.

In the composition of about 4% of meat processing products, and the source of protein is often the producer in the composition does not indicate and the main nutrition is supplemented with cereals, which are introduced in large quantities, beet pulp is a source of fiber. From the analytical composition of the feed it can be seen that all nutrients and minerals are in the right ratio and provide the daily requirement of the animal.

These are feeds like Royal Canin, Pro Plan, Hill's, Avva Premium, Brit Premium and so on.

The feed uses offal and meat in an amount of 15-30%. The meat ingredient is found in the form of meat meal, feed moisture 10%, or fresh meat, humidity 20%. Due to the higher humidity, the food becomes more aromatic and this will undoubtedly appeal to fastidious dogs. Cereals (corn, wheat) and rice complement the overall nutritional value of the feed. The composition takes into account physiological characteristics: puppies, adults and elderly animals.

Specific features, for example, in Royal canin There is a whole line of pedigree feed. And the prevention of various diseases: caring for digestion, skin and coat, for large animals caring for joints, for allergy sufferers of one type of protein. The assimilation of such nutrition is about 80%. Vitamin-mineral fertilizing is also necessary, but less often, mainly in stressful situations or during illness.

Subdivided into super-premium and holistic. The first include: 1st Choice, Brit Care, Grandin, Eukanuba and others.

From 40 to 80% of meat, the composition contains cereals and rice, but in a smaller quantity. Feed absorption is about 92%. Due to the high meat content, the feed is rich in all essential amino acids. In the composition you can see a huge number of ingredients that also carry the prevention of various diseases. And such useful things as yucca Schidinger, which prevents digestive disorders and reduces the smell of feces, the latter property is relevant for owners who do not walk their pets.

To holistic include: Acana, Now Fresh, Avva Holistic, Orijen and the like.

These feeds use high quality ingredients that can be used as food for humans. There is a lot of meat, and cereals are replaced by vegetables and fruits. The assimilation of such feed is up to 96%, the daily rate is lower than that of previous feeds. The use of vitamin and mineral supplements is optional, the food is fully absorbed by both puppies and adult dogs.

Such feeds are of high cost.

To carry out the transition of a puppy from natural to industrial nutrition, you need to know a few nuances.

1. Taking the puppy from the breeders or from the nursery, it is necessary to clarify its age, find out what was fed, whether vaccination and other treatments were carried out.
2. You need to feed the baby for a week or two with the same food as in the nursery. Since a change in food, along with a change in environment, can cause serious stress in the animal and health problems.
3. If the puppy was not vaccinated in the kennel, and it is planned to do it, then it is better to switch to another feed after re-vaccination. Since vaccination is carried out twice in the first year of life with an interval of 3-4 weeks, the animal is also not recommended a change of diet. Changing the feed is a restructuring of the body, and if you have health problems, you will have to skip the vaccine.

You can find many translation methods on the Internet. Unfortunately, not all of them are correct and effective. And the older the animal, the more capricious it perceives the transition. According to the advice of veterinarians, the transfer of the animal must be carried out gradually over a period of 7-10 days by mixing the dry food with the usual food for the dog.

This is due primarily to the fact that there are differences in the assimilation of wet nutrition and dry. Natural nutrition has a moisture content of 75-80% and begins to be absorbed already in the tongue, dry food has a moisture content of 10-20%, and in order to start working, they need to get into the stomach. In the stomach, liquid with the enzyme pepsin is poured to the feed, the feed softens, and only after this its assimilation begins. Mix the food in the following proportions (natural nutrition / dry food):

• 1-2 day 75% / 25%;
• 3-4th day 50% / 50%;
• 5-6th day 25% / 75%;
• 7-8th day 15% / 85%.
• The 9th and further full daily rate of new nutrition.

In order not to burden the digestive tract, daily rate should be divided into 3 parts. Each feeding into porridge must be mixed with granules, waiting for the dry food to soften, but not completely, and the middle of the granule remains solid. So the new food will give taste and aroma to the old, and even slightly hard granules will help to accustom the dog to the new consistency of the food.

It is important when switching to dry food to provide the animal with fresh water. Based on the characteristics of assimilation, the animal will need more liquid when feeding industrial food, so you need to take more bowl under water. The norm of water consumption is about 50 ml per kilogram of weight, and when eating dry food - 100 ml per kilogram of animal weight. Ideally, the water should always be fresh, so it is advisable to replace it a couple of times a day.

When changing a food, you need to clearly understand that this process is long, and you may have to try a lot of feed before you find the right one. Even during a smooth shift, various problems can arise.

They can be expressed by problems with the skin and coat, and digestion problems and sensitive intolerance to nutrition components are possible.

Decision. In case of allergic reactions and food intolerance, it is necessary to choose food on another type of protein or switch to preventive hypoallergenic food.

There are several reasons for failure.

Dogs that have been eating natural foods for a long time or have tried some refreshments from the owner's table often refuse to eat ready-made food. Since wet nutrition is more aromatic, and the process of its assimilation begins already in the tongue. The dog falls into a trap, and on a subconscious level does not understand dry granules, because they are not so fragrant, and in order to get nutrients from them, the body needs to make some efforts.

Decision. Here you need to be patient, as the translation process can be delayed. It is better not to create stressful situations for the pet, so that the animal does not have any negative associations with respect to dry food. It is permissible to lubricate the granules a little, for example, with a favorite paste from a pet store.

If the dog refuses to feed categorically, then most likely the pet does not like the taste or smell of the feed itself, and here there is only one way out - try a different taste or different food.

It is more common in dogs in old age and in dogs eating a long time natural. After eating wet food, feed particles remain on the teeth and gums. Bacteria develop in the oral cavity, plaque forms on this place, and subsequently tartar, which grows under the gum and causes a local inflammatory process. Eating dry food causes a painful reaction, so the animal refuses food.

Decision. Contact a veterinary clinic for qualified help, and postpone the transition to industrial feed for the duration of treatment. For aging animals that have irreversible problems with their teeth, you should abandon this venture, or try Senior food for aging animals, the granules of which are fragile, sometimes in the form of pillows with a filling (paste) inside.

And also, so that there are no difficulties in the translation process, use the advice of specialists.

1. At the time of changing the nutrition, goodies must be excluded. A hungry pet is more accommodating.
2. Select a bowl under a larger volume of water.
3. Do not soak the feed pellets with kefir or milk. If there is such a need, only water with a temperature of 50-60 degrees.
4. It should be noted that dry food is smaller in volume than wet food, therefore, adherence to dosage is strictly necessary.Uncontrolled consumption can lead to digestive disorders, and subsequently to obesity.
5. Feeding a diet for cats is not recommended, as there are large differences in metabolism.

See how to switch your dog to dry food in the next video.