My name is Andy and i have recently agreed to adopt dog called Sammy who is a Border Collie aged 10-12 months, i am collecting him on Monday from a rescue home.
He is currently been fed on dry food only and would like to have him eating a mixture of dry and wet (tined) food. what is the best way of doing this? should i replace wet for dry by 10% per day or just go strait for 50/50? im not sure how much food he is been given at the moment but i will ask on Monday when i go to collect him.
It is hard to say without knowing if Sammy has any digestive sensitivity but to be honest, I just completely switched without any problems. I was so long in deciding what I wanted to feed, that by the time she had finished her old food, I was still waiting for the new to be delivered. She even had a couple of bowls of Gusto donated by a neighbour while we waited with no adverse effects.
I now feed a mix of things with no problems. I think people are coming round to the viewpoint that you don’t have to stick to one kind of food now. That said, it might suit some dogs better not to chop and change.
The dog food directory will also show you how much food to give for whichever food you choose. It isn’t the same for all foods.
Edited to add: Congratulations on adopting him by the way. I think you may have your hands full for a while with a young Border
Another hello and welcome from me. I expect that the rescue will give you a supply of his usual food so maybe stick with that for a few days while he settles down. Like Tinyplanets, I don’t tend to do the transition thing and my dogs have been fine but many companies suggest that you gradually change over to the new food.
Anyway, on the subject of choosing a food, at that age he should be able to have adult food. If you go to the main website home page you can put the dog’s details in and it will give you plenty of suggestions. The better quality foods are not found on the supermarket shelves so if you can, locate a specialist pet store and have a wander round. Look for products with a named single meat/protein source (unless it is one with several types of meat and/or fish) and it needs to be first on the list of ingredients. Foods with more meat tend to have smaller amounts of carbohydrate/fillers so they are usually the best ones. Some people prefer grain free kibble and these days there are plenty of options for this type of food. Again, you can filter this out on the left hand side of the ‘Foods’ tab. Once you have selected a few foods that interest you, you can check them out in the directory of the site. There you will be given an appraisal of them so that you can narrow it down further. There is also a ‘compare’ tick box in the centre of the description box for each food and you might find that quite useful.
With kibble you don’t need to add tinned meat because they are complete in themselves but some people do use a small amount of it as a topper to make the dry kibble more palatable. It may be best to concentrate on getting the kibble right before you add the tinned food so that you know what suits and what doesn’t. Don’t forget that you can also top the kibble with a little bit of mince or perhaps oily fish such as sardines, mackerel etc. Those sorts of things are nutritious. You can also pour a spot of warm water on it to bring out the aroma of the food - dogs enjoy smelly food.
Your new dog is a very active breed and he is quite young so choose the best food that you can afford. If you select one and want an opinion or advice, we will try to help. BTW congratulations on your new pal. I hope that you enjoy each other’s company and have lots of fun together.
