Diet: How To change type of food or brand

It may sound like its no big deal, but when your changing a food type or even just the brand of food you feed your cat or dog there is a wrong and right to do it. If your dog or cat is on an all dry diet then it is easy:

1. Feed 3 parts of the old food and 1 part new for 3-4 days.
2. Feed half and half for 2-3 days. If your cat or dog shows any signs of digestive problems, like increased pooing and/or peeing, runny bowel movements extend this period to up to 14 days, if the symtoms don't disappear then the new diet is unsuitable and you should consider another alternative.
3. Now you can cut back then mainly the new diet and a small portion of the old for about a week (or as long as the bag of old food lasts)

Now, if your pet is on a mixed meat and dry nuts diet then it is more complicated. It is recommended that cats should be fed 50% wet food and 50% dry, altought if your cats are outdoors and are known to hunt I personally feel it fine to feed an all dry diet. To change the a diet of meat and nuts you can follow the above method only start by first chaning the wet feed this way then wait for 14 days to see if there are any of the problems described in step 2, if not then you may start to change the dry feed, this is the only sure way to know what part of the new your animal is reacting to if a reaction occurs.

If your pet has been prescribed a specfic diet, then be sure to ask your vet for weaning instructions, in some cases it may be nesscessary to cut out the old diet straight away, in which case the dog may turn he's nose up at the new food, don't give in, he won't go hungry for more then a few days.

And remember 90% of cats are lactose intolerant, don't give your cat cow's milk, if you want to treat them give them a whiska's formula or some other "off the shelf" brand of cat/kitten milk. And dog's also do not need like in their once they've been weaned off mother's milk. Many of the meat brands sold in Pouches have an obsence amount of sugar in them and if fed to an animal as their main diet can cause hyperactivity (often seen as behavioural problems) and obesity. Always try to feed a brand that a 3% or less ash content (check the nutritional information box on the packaging), "ash" is things salt and other types of sodium and non-essential minerals.