dog food

[Lissa]

I've heard two different stories and hopefully your guys can give me some answers. I've heard that you should never keep your dog on the same food it's whole life and I've also heard that you should always keep it on the same food. Which is true and if I should switch, how often. Right now I feel bad because Layla is switching food a lot as I am trying to find something she likes better. She likes the Chicken Soup but that can some times be hard to find. The pet stores started carrying Natural Balance and those ingredients sounded good, but what are your opinions on it?
Thanks for your help once agian!
Melissa

[GoldenRetrLuver]

If your dog likes the food she's on, stick to it. :)
I've never heard someone say you need to give your dogs more of a "variety" by switching their food every once in a while. It could cause an upset tummy. Chicken Soup is a great food, I hope to switch to it one of these days.

[wolfsoul]

When you're feeding a dog food, because it's just one single food, a dog's body will become accustomed to it. If you switch dog foods, a dog's body may become upset. :) Switch her onto something healthy that she agrees with, and I'd say to just keep her on that.

I believe in variety, but only every-day variety. If a dog eats something different everyday, it gets used to it. :)

[binka_nugget]

I have no problem with switching my dogs' foods now and then. My dogs have great stomachs and have yet to get an upset tummy from switching foods. I think the raw diet helped with that a bit. I've switched kibbles at least 5 times (cold turkey) with no nasty reactions. We finally found a kibble the boys and I liked so we've stuck to it but..by all means, don't feel bad if you need to switch now and then. Just make sure it's a good food, that's all. If Layla has a sensitive tummy, you could do the gradual switch but I don't think it'd be too big a deal if you switch now and then.