Biologically Appropriate Raw Food for Pets

Transitioning Your Dog or Puppy to Raw Food

Deciding to feed your dog raw food is the best decision you can make for their long term heath and well-being. The process is simple, natural and if you feed PaleoPet Pure, perfectly safe. We have some simple advice for a seamless transition from processed to natural food.

Depending on your dog, you may want to do a quick switch or a slower transition to raw food. Healthy, adult dogs do not usually require much of an adjustment period and will happily transition to raw food with no digestive issues or upsets. Some other dogs and young puppies will do better when new food is introduced more slowly.

If you happen to be one of the few people who has a dog who is not keen on raw food then there are a few things to try before abandoning your raw food efforts.

Who Should Transition Slowly?
Young puppies under the age of six months that have been raised on commercial food.Dogs who are prone to weight loss or Working Dogs.Dogs who will be fed a combination diet of raw food and commercial food.
Who Should Do a Quick Switch?
Healthy, adult dogs and puppies over the age of 6 months.Dogs with digestive issues like IBD or IBS or ‘sensitive tummies’.Dogs with allergies, issues with yeast or persistent itching.

The Slower Transition

Transitioning slowly involves replacing a meal each day over a period of time with new food. How this works will usually depend on how many meals are fed daily.

Adult Dogs

In adult dogs that are fed twice a day this can involve replacing one meal a day with raw food for a period of up to seven days. After that time, if you choose to feed a completely raw diet, you can then feed both meals as raw food. We usually recommend beginning with a simple product like our 100% Chicken or 100% Duck for some of this period (at least the first few days) and then introducing the same protein in the form of a Complete Meal like our Chicken Meal or Duck Meal. After your transition period we advise rotating and varying proteins as often as possible. If you intend to mix raw food with commercial food, then you can begin doing so after the transition period. We always recommend the use of a probiotic during transitioning and also advise adding them to raw food.

Puppies

If your Puppy is under the age of six months and has been raised on commercial pet food, then we recommend you transition slowly. You can begin feeding your new puppy raw food after they have settled at home, this usually takes a few days and we don’t recommend changing their food as soon as they arrive. If your puppy has been raised on raw food, then you will not need to do any transitioning, but we do recommend beginning with our 100% Chicken or 100% Duck for the first few days to help with nervous tummies.

Puppies under the age of 6 months should be eating at least three meals a day and so you would begin by replacing one of those meals on the third or fourth day after they arrive in their new home. Be sure you have enough of the food they are used to for these initial days.

For the first 2 days you would replace your breakfast meal with PaleoPet Pure 100% Chicken or 100% Duck. The following 2-3 days you would replace your next meal with the same. How many days would depend on how many meals you feed per day. By day 7 you should be feeding all your meals as raw food. After day 5 you can introduce a Complete Meal of the same protein for one meal a day. After day 7 you can feed all Complete Meals or a combination of 100% and Complete Meals, you can also introduce new proteins at this point. Again, we advise you use a probiotic and we don’t advocate mixing raw food with kibble in very young puppies (under 6 months), it is best to feed them in separate meals if you choose to feed both.

Replacing Your Puppy’s Meals with Raw Food
PaleoPet Pure Transitioning
The Quick Switch

Most adult dogs will happily begin eating Paleopet Pure raw food without a transition period and you can begin feeding them immediately without ‘weaning’ them off their old food. We just advise that you start simple. The best product to begin with is our 100% Chicken, this is bland and quite digestible and it is unlikely your dog will experience any tummy upsets. If runny stools are present for a day or two, don’t be alarmed, this shouldn’t last long. If your dog cannot eat chicken, then we recommend our 100% Duck. We advocate for the use of a probiotic, which should aid the transition. After a few days of 100% Chicken or 100% Duck, you would then introduce a Complete Chicken Meal or Duck Meal for a few days. Try to stick to one protein at a time in the beginning for a short period. Once your dog (and you) are comfortable with their new diet, then we recommend rotating and varying proteins as much as possible.

Dogs Who Don’t Want to Eat Raw Food

Occasionally a dog doesn’t want to eat raw food. We find the most common reason for this is that these dogs are overfed. It is most typical in small breeds that require very little food and are very easy to overfeed. Some things that may indicate your dog is one of these dogs may be a reluctance to eat most types of dog food, meaning you are constantly ‘trying new foods’ for them, they are often perfectly keen to eat treats, your food or whatever new food you bring home. Over time their enthusiasm for their food wanes and you are back to trying ‘new foods’.

The key to solving this issue is portion control, they may still be slightly fussy, but will often become enthusiastic about eating most things:

  • Use a scale to weigh your food and only feed what is recommended.
  • In fussy dogs we recommend no more than 2% of their ideal weight is fed.
  • If they need to skip a meal or two before they are hungry enough to try new food, this is okay – many dogs will ‘self-fast’ when they are not that hungry.
  • A hungry dog will eat raw food. An overfed dog will pick and choose what it eats.
Yorkshire Terrier

If after skipping a meal or two your fussy dog still doesn’t want to try raw food, then we recommend feeding something they will eat, but at half the portion recommended per day for a few days before trying raw food again. If that doesn’t work, then while still working with reduced portions, try cooking your raw food lightly for a minute. Over time, try to cook the food less and less until ideally they are eating it raw. In almost all instances quantity is the culprit in dogs who don’t want to eat raw food.

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