# How many times have you....



## Sean Rescue Mom (Jan 24, 2004)

changed your dog's food, that is assuming you have made one or more changes since he/she has lived with you.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Ha--I couldn't even begin to count. Chama has been with me for 12.5 years and I'd say she's eaten at least 15 different foods/varieties.


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## DSudd (Sep 22, 2006)

Not sure how many different foods in the past two years. I am sure we have tried 6 or 7 different ones at least.


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## ozzymama (Jan 17, 2005)

Three, Solid Gold to Holistic Blend to Summit by Go Naturals. I had Holistic Blend recommended to me, but eventually decided I wanted something different than just chicken or lamb.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

In Onyx' first year(We got her on Christmas)went from nutro natural lg. breed puppy(breeder recommendation)then all dogs to CSFTDLS, to RAW supplemented w TWO Ocean Blue to RAW-they will not eat TWO unless I add something to it... Now old girl Clover is having a hard time digesting, so looking to change her diet a bit...


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## Achielles UD (May 26, 2001)

I'm another one that has changed foods too often to count. Though, with the dogs I currently have, the newest ones have only switched foods two times (AvoDerm to Pinnacle).


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Twice. Started with Nature's Variety and gave Solid Gold a try....meh. Good quality, but she kept losing weight and the poops never got firm. Then I tried EVO and that was a mess!! Poor girl was waddling around the yard in a squat all the time. I know you're supposed to give it a few weeks, but I couldn't put her through that so I donated the bag to a rescue after day 3 of the runs. Now we are back to NV. Our other dog was also on NV before we adopted him, and he has quite the sensitive stomach, so we are sticking with it. It keeps the weight on without excessive grains and fillers and it's not too rich for them. Kenya also gets fish and raw eggs and I am pleased with her coat. The NV line we use has several varieties that are interchangeable, meaning I can go from one bag to the next without dogs getting sick. That way, we rotate protein and carb sources every month or so. It's sort of expensive, but right now I'd rather pay more than deal with sick dogs!


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

Over the years my dogs went from Nutro Natural Choice to Canidae, to Chicken Soup to finally Health Food for Dogs which they are still eating to this day.


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## GrandJan (Aug 11, 2006)

I switched once. My dogs were weaned to raw, but then for convenience sake, I switched to Innova for a 2-week vacation, but then back to raw ever since.


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## Shandril2 (Nov 26, 2003)

Bought him with Diamond Puppy Kibble.
Promptly changed him to Chicken Soup Adult. Was on that from 12 weeks to 3 1/2 years old.
Recently changed to California Natural Lamb Meal & Rice Adult.


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## grmnshpd21 (May 5, 2005)

I accidentally voted for twice, but now I remember it was more than that. She came to us on Pro Plan from the breeder. I had then put her on Eukanuba Lamb and Rice puppy formula. I found this site and learned more about Eukanuba and switched her to Chicken Soup. She did well on that for a while and then things went south and we switched to Solid Gold Hund-n-flocken and then a final switch to Solid Gold Wolfking which she has been on for almost a year now. Wow, I really had a brain fart if I accidentally voted for 2!


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## JenM66 (Jul 28, 2005)

I said "other" because I didn't choose to change Gracie's food. She came here eating Chicken Soup, I changed to Canidae All Life Stages. We played the food game for several months due to digestive issues until we found out she has SIBO. She's been eating Eukanuba/Iams Low Residue Veterinary food since September '06 and I have no intention of changing that.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Nike and Brazen were both kibble fed puppies when I got them and I switched them to raw. Alexis and Vala have always been on raw so have never changed. 

I guess technically Nike has switched twice. Kibble to BARF (veggie mash, supplements, RMB) and then to just raw (no veggies and very limited supplements).


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

I won't count the times a Hooligan has been on vet prescribed foods for an extended period of time (LR for Kelly and Venison for Mac), just the major changes.

When I moved to Florida in 1995 I was feeding the Hooligans Pedigree and happy with the results. They changed the formula, and the puppers started looking bad with dull coats, etc. so I switched to Innova. 

I fed Innova for about 8 years with a one year interval where I fed a complete, frozen, raw diet which I liked but could not afford since it ran a little over $500 a month. Okay, back to the Innova. Again, the dog's coats started looking poor, I found out some minor changes had been made to the formula so I switched to Chicken Soup.

I was happy with the Chicken Soup until a couple Hooligans started having gunky ears which I took care of with Zymox and one was getting a dull coat. I found out that the formula had been modified so I switched to Eagle Pack Holistic _fish food _ which they're currently eating and so far doing well on it. I changed wet food recently to EVO since I had been looking for a 100% meat formula as a little treat at meal time (it's 95% meat which is the best I've found) but they only share 1/6 of a can so they don't get much.


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## CertainlySpoiled (Dec 2, 2007)

We've changed their food severeal times, because we have picky eaters....Anyone else got a picky eater, and what do you do about it? Keep changing food?


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## Sean Rescue Mom (Jan 24, 2004)

When we adopted Sean he wouldn't eat anything, we tried multiple types of food. I'm sure part of it was due to the stress of being abandoned and brought in as a stray. I can't even remember the brand of dog food we started out with but it did contain preservatives. The brand we finally switched to and have been happy with ever since is Solid Gold but we definitely used more than 3 brands.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2007)

Well I first started feeding dogs back in the '60s. Of course my folks were buying the food then, but it was my job to make sure all the dogs were fed and groomed. I also was first to notice anything that could be a problem for them and made sure my dad knew. In those days we fed the dogs Blue Seal. It was commonly available at local farm feed stores and a good value then. We had no health problems for decades. Then in the early '90s I had two dogs in row develop cancer. 

Sieg died very quickly from lymphatic cancer but I was able to save Willie from lung cancer (yes, _lung cancer_ and I don't smoke) by recognizing the signs in time and aggressive chemo treatment. When Willie got sick I was so confused as to how this could've happened to two dogs in a row I asked my vet what she thought. She told me that she didn't want to go down on record as saying so but that alot of empirical evidence was suggesting it was low grade dog food. Evidently Blue Seal had declined over the years and I was unaware of both that and what effect it could have on my dog. I switched to Eukanuba and had no more trouble for years. Down south I found it hard to find where I was and switched to Sunshine Mills Holistic Dog Food because it had great ingredients at a good price which was important when I was so very broke then. Then the recalls hit and Sunshine Mills was on the list. It was their biscuits and not their dog food but I didn't want to take the chance. I had just moved back to Vermont and needed a new dog food anyway so I chose California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato since it's made by Natura, the same folks who make Innova (the best dog food there is probably but beyond my price range at the time) and was less expensive although still not cheap. I was also interested in seeing what effect the fish would have since Odin had had skin and coat issues crop up recently. It was a very wise decision. All the dogs flourish on it and Odin's problems are just a memory now.


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## CashMom (Jan 6, 2008)

My critters get a different food every time we open a new bag. We revolve through several foods, all holistic, but we're constantly changing their diet. Pet nutritionalists that I've talked to highly recommend changing their foods because they can get the different elements from each type. In the wild, dogs will eat chicken, beef, fish, venison, etc... each type of food has different types and levels of nutrients. In this regard, changing their food gives them a well-rounded diet.


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## Shannon923 (Jan 7, 2008)

We've changed Beau's food twice, and we've only had him a few months. He was sent to us on Diamond, but once he was here, he still didn't have solid poop after 2 weeks. 

Then we tried Nutro Lamb and Rice, and not only did he not want to eat it, he would throw up daily. 

We're in the process of trying to find him a good food, that he will actually eat. Any suggestions?


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## 1211meeka (Mar 1, 2007)

I've only changed Meeka once. She came at 11 weeks old on iams, and I decided to use diamond dry kibbles. She started with their puppy formula and at 6 or 7 months she switched to their high energy formula. She hasn't ever given us any trouble as far as being "finiky".


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## DanL (Jun 30, 2005)

Once, from kibble to raw.


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## WinitheGSD (Sep 21, 2008)

bud was on biljac when we got here, then we switched to purina- that was the worst thing to do ever, she almost died. we didnt know what was wrong she lost so much weight and wouldnt eat. then we switched her back


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

in the 15 years that i've been responsible for making the food decisions we've gone from the amazing alpo's come n get it... to nutro... to canidae... to wellness core... to raw!!! and quite a few in between, but always improvements.

as far as my current dogs -- 
gia is 9 and has been on 6 foods before going raw.
tilden is almost 2 and he's been on 4 foods before going raw.


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## MayzieGSD (Aug 28, 2006)

Mayzie started on Iams... I switched to Canidae once I found out there were better foods out there. Switched to Royal Canin GSD forumla when Mayzie stopped eating the Canidae. After all the recalls, I wasn't comfortable on Royal Canin, so I tried Fromms, but Mayzie's ears started to gunk up (think it was the barley)... and then I settled on California Natural and she's been doing great on it. The vet just commented on how nice her coat is.


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## Wolfie (Jan 20, 2006)

Only once.

I switched Yukon from Nutro Natural for large breeds to Royal Canin for German Shepherds.

His coat was dull and flaky on Nutro, with Canin his coat has a nice shine and no flakes.


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## JeffM (Dec 19, 2005)

Once. From chicken & rice to lamb & rice.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

I went with 3 or more although Otto has been on Canidae his whole life.

Morgan is 7, she ate wellness puppy then wellness for about 3 years. Luther had allergies and did best on Wellness, he also stole her food so they had to eat the same thing. After he died, I tried to save some money and put her on Purina One. It made her fat so I put her on wellness light. She didn't like it so I put her on Chicken Soup light. Then she went on Canidae before the puppy came home. 

Occasionally I've fed her dog chow and alpo (that's all the corner market sells) in a pinch when I couldn't go far from home because the kids were infants.


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