I rotate between homecooked and Addiction dog food. My dog has done very well on Addiction's formulas so I stick to the same brand but switch flavors from time to time. His current favourite is Addiction's raw dehydrated. Website for the food if anyone's interested: addictionfoods.com

Does anyone rotate foods?

[lil mutt]

I do... I sometimes try the recipes i find in forums like this.

I feed Blue Buffalo and I do rotate between their chicken, Lamb and Fish formulas every few bags. The dogs do very well on it!!

I just buy 1 or 2 bags at a time then when I run out of those I switch to a different brand. I remember hearing somewhere that it is good to switch a dogs food every few months.

Yeah. I try some recipes for dog food. I think it's better than canned dog foods.

I'd also read that its good to rotate every few months or so, although I know many people whose dogs eat the same food all their lives and they're perfectly fine. I just like knowing that my dog gets that variety too!

My dog's digestive system has a hard time changing foods-- it makes her stools a bit too loose for the first couple of days, but she does adjust eventually. I'm getting a bit irritated with our store, because every time I go to buy more dog food, they are always out of the kind I bought last, so I have to switch again (even though it's the same brand, just a different variety). I just hate that! This last time, though, I put dog food on the list when her bin was still 1/3 full, and dh bought just a small bag of the "new" kind, so I was able to stir the two different kinds together. That helps to keep from upsetting her stools.

Healthwise, its very good to rotate your dogs food. Imagine yourself eating the same exact food everyday......especially kibble. You're gonna develop some nutrient deficiencies. Yes, they may have some digestive issues at first, but the only reason they have these issues is because they have been eating the same thing everyday since they were born.

[Baxter]

“Healthwise, its very good to rotate your dogs food. Imagine yourself eating the same exact food everyday......especially kibble. You're gonna develop some nutrient deficiencies. Yes, they may have some digestive issues at first, but the only reason they have these issues is because they have been eating the same thing everyday since they were born.” Totally agree RetrieverGirl41!

We’ve been learning a lot about food rotation too, because Baxter’s allergies were crazy last year and our vet told us that some of his allergies could be due to over-exposure from certain foods. We found that even having him on expensive allergy meds didn’t help! He was a rescued dog, so we never really knew his full story – but we knew his poor health and malnutrition. Baxter was really underweight with sensitive tummy issues that never really seemed to get fixed until he had been on one food for months. Problem was, he then got worse allergies after staying on a food for a while! It was so sad to see him suffer, because he is such a happy dog and we were really willing to try to find a solution.

We were really excited to try a new food we found that we showed our vet, who ok’d it a couple months ago, that really seems to be working for the whole family called Rotations! It’s a really interesting concept because there are 3 foods in one box, which are three different recipes of dry dog food. It’s called Rotations because you can actually rotate between the recipes once the dogs are switched over, without any tummy issues! It really worked for Baxter – and it only took him 3 days to transition!

He actually loves having 3 different foods to eat, and his allergies are truly getting better as the weeks go by. This is the best way we can manage to rotate his foods for getting good variety, without the big backyard messes! Plus my older dogs who are known picky eaters love the variety too. Two paws up from Baxter for Rotations for sure, and two thumbs up from me since I am on backyard duty and I can see that it works!