How do I go about changing my dog's food?

Currently I am feeding my dog a food called In-Pet's Choice which I get at Soldan's Feed Store. However, she is a 5 year old Belgian Malinois (Shepard) and I am seeing a lot of dry, flaky skin and she is shedding and itching a lot. I am looking into changing her dry dog food to something more holistic such as Innova or Evo. How do I switch brands for her and which brand do you recommend to help her skin and promote a healthy coat?How do I go about changing my dog's food?Read up about dog foods at

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

It is a web site that rates dog foods.

It is one of the most informative sites I have seen.

When you find one you want to feed start out with 25% new food to 75% old food for at lest three days then move to

50% old 50% new for a few days then on to

25% old 75% new for a few more days than on to all new food. This should take about two weeks or so to switch if your dog has a sensitive stomach or gets the runs go slower taking up to a week at each stage.

Make sure the food you are looking at feeding has a good balance of Omega3 and Omega 6 fatty acids this will help with skin and coat issues.
How do I go about changing my dog's food?
Innova Evo is fine. I reccomend a gradual change by decreasing the smount of old food and increasing the amount of new food every couple days. and adrupt change can result in stomache upsets and dierrea.heres how to make a proper switch.



Put in a large amount of old food and a few peices of new food for the first day. then the next day give him bit more more new food bit less old food. soon within a week or so soon enough you will be at the point where your dog is eating mostly new food and a bit of old. A couple days more and you can trash the old..



so basicly in a nut shell.



day 1-2 mix 90% old %26amp; 10% new

day 2-3 mix 80% old %26amp; 20% new

day 4-6 mix 60% old %26amp; 40% new

day 7-8 mix 50% old %26amp; 50% new

day 9-10 mix 25% old %26amp; 75% new

day10- 13 mix 10%old %26amp; 90% new

Two weeks. 0% old %26amp; 100% new
How do I go about changing my dog's food?
Start by mixing the foods - about 25% new food, 75% old. Over the next few days, if you haven't noticed any ill effects, gradually adjust the proportions until it is 100% the new food. If the dog does develop runny stools, drop back slightly on the ratio for a few days until the system has adjusted and then pick up where you left off. I've heard that Bil Jac is also a good food for skin problems but none of my dogs has ever had skin problems so I've no personal experience with this.
some people say that you shold introduce the food to her slowly but i dont think its really nesessary... you can just give the food and if the pup is hungry he will just eat
Gradually change by adding a little more of the new food to the old food each day. Some cold pressed flax seed oil might help with the coat. Use a small about 1/4t to start and gradually build up more oil so you don't upset her digestive system.

I feed Inova, Prairie and sometimes Newmans plus home made e food so they have the nutrients and enzymes from raw, unprocessed foods. The homemade is raw and balanced for recommended canine diet.
Innova and Innova EVO are both excellent choices for food. Here is some information about dog food:



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There is no single food that is %26quot;best%26quot;. For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on.



I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It's healthier for the gums and teeth.



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On choosing a good dog food:



Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don't digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of %26quot;by products%26quot; listed.



Here is an article about byproducts:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?鈥?/a>



And an article on what ingredients to avoid:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?鈥?/a>



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Some GOOD foods are :

* Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/

* Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/

* Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/

* Timberwolf - http://timberwolforganics.com/

* Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/o鈥?/a>

* Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/

* Chicken Soup brand - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssou鈥?/a>

* Blue Buffalo - http://www.bluebuff.com/

* Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.a鈥?/a>

* Innova EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp



Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_鈥?/a>

(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)



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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)



Beware %26quot;premium%26quot; foods. %26quot;Premium%26quot; does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)



Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told %26quot;this is good food%26quot;, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.



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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.



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%26quot;Big box%26quot; petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells %26quot;Solid Gold%26quot; brand, which is a quality food, but most of the foods aren't.)



Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.



Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:

- small, locally owned petstores

- dog boutiques

- farm supply stores



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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:

25% food A, 75% food B

50% food A, 50% food B

75% food A, 25% food B

100% food A

.
My dog has never had a problem switching brands. The best way to go about it is by only using 1/3 of a portion of the new stuff and 2/3 yuor old stuff. Grasdually increase the food amount Until you are solidly on the new food. I would suggest Ignovia as your new food. No matter what anyone says, don go with Iams. They are very unhealthy for a dog.
It may not be the food. Your dog could have fleas, mites, or skin problem from the shampoo you are using for example. If you want to change the food I always give one cup of new food with one cup of old food to avoid diarrhea, you should do this for about a week and gradually taper out the old food. Good luck.
slowly start mixing the dog foods and each day start adding in more of the new brand and less of the other.
gradually and the foods that give my canines a shiny coat is Hills Science Diet
Like playerette, I too am beginning to question whether or not it is absolutely necessary to do the tapering off one and increasing the other. Recently, I have had occasion to switch my dogs' food three or four times, and I have just fed them the old stuff one day, and the new the next. I will note, though, that these are all high quality foods, so in some ways they may not be that different from each other. I don't know about the In-Pets Choice, but if it has a lot of wheat, corn, soy, various glutens, or other things of that sort and you suddenly go to EVO, for example, which has no grains, and is a very high protein content food, it might cause some upset.

I think almost any high quality food would help with the coat, but you might paricularly look for something with Omega-3 and Omega-6, particularly if it's from a fish source. Those should help the coat.

The dog food analysis site has a lot of useful information, as does the dog food project site. Both of those have been mentioned.