Rotating the Dog's Food

I'm wondering if I should rotate Kingston's food to give him some variety. He's been on Canidae Chicken & Rice for almost a year. Is it a good idea to change foods periodically?

I'm just worried because Kingston had tummy issues for a while and changing to Canidae made his diarrhea disappear completely. But I'm sure it's no fun eating the same food all the time. I also read somewhere that staying on the same food for a long period of time can cause allergies. What do you guys recommend?

This is probably moot but back in the days when I fed kibble I kept several different varieties in the house. It just worried me that by giving the dogs the same kibble day in & day out, for year on end, that they a) might not be getting all the nutrients they need, and b) that perhaps toxins or carcinogenics in that particular food might build up. Well for what it is worth, we don't do kibble any more.

Personally, I think that a wide variety of different foods is the healthy way to go, so yes if I was doing kibble again I'd definitely be offering variety.

I guess you just have to try it out & see if your little one gets an upset tummy from it. Again, just my own opinion..... but I feel that by keeping a dog on the one food all of his life is just asking for trouble & sensitive tummies. It is my view that by being offered a variety of foods the dog then can tolerate variety. But as I say that is just my humble opinion and is based in no scientific evidence whatsoever.

One alternative is simply to add some 'real' food to his kibble and keep that kibble as a base. I rarely give my dogs a meal that is just kibble -- they get something else added in or else I feed homecooked meals. I like a variety. It is recommended by the Whole Dog Journal that people rotate kibbles -- the same food all the time is not necessarily a very complete diet though it may satisfy the basic requirements. At the same time if he really has tummy problems it may be best to stick to the same kibble and just add real food variety to it.

Also a lot of puppies that have tummy trouble outgrow it by age 1.

Another thing you could do is switch between varieties in one brand (or 2 or 3) that you know don't upset his tummy. Just switch over slowly.

For my cat with IBD, I actually just mix 2-3 brands together that don't bother his tummy so I never actually "switch" brands.

Karlin, what types of things do you mix into the kibbles?

I mix in chopped-up roast chicken, and sometimes shredded cheese. Beef doesn't agree w/ Sasha.

Any other ideas?

i thought jadan was allergic to all poultry as when he was a pup this used to give him terrible runny tummy so i would check out all labels for its content as even some labeled beef etc would still have chichen in them...even royal canine.....however!!!!! wheh we were out dog walking with family who also have dogs one of the other owners was feeding jadan chicken while i went to get the coffees!! omg did i freak when i got back and saw him tuck in, she had brought it along for her dog and didntwant to leave him out!!! well needless to say that i spent all afternoon waiting for the inevitable and blow me down it never happened!!! it was all fine and i have slowly introduced it back into his diet without any effect at all. i geuss he grew out of it and i just never realised. rawhides and certain chews/pigs ears etc were also off teh list but im not bothered about those anyway. so to go back to the question as i do go off track. i suppose trial and error is the only way to go. see what suits and what doesnt nd leave the ones tht dont for a while but i suppose never give up on them.........unless its something gross like a pissle stick which i still dont want to go anywhere near his mouth never mind how many of you love them!!!!