How to successfully switch foods? Need Help Please!

[athena_weim]

I am so stressed with this new Royal Canin recall!!!

I SO want to get my dog off of Royal Canin!  She eats IVD Duck & Potato -- I took her off of dry when the original recall came out, but she is still eating canned. 

We've tried changing to Merrick French Country Cafe (their duck flavor) -- did the switch in ~ 1 week, but my pup got really bad diarrhea.  Other possibilities that I'm considering are Evangers Duck & Sweet Potato and Eagle Pack Duck & Oatmeal.  But I don't feel like I can try again until her stomach gets back to normal.  In the meantime she is back to eating Royal Canin.    I'm going to call the vet today and get some advice. 

How did you all manage the switch?  Any experiences on success and failures with switching are welcome.  (How much time did you take?  What ratio of old to new food did you use?  If you had a failure, how long did you wait before trying again?)

[sylvia]

Hi,
Most dogs will get upset stomachs or worse if you switch foods too fast. You should take about 8 to 12 days to make the complete switch. You slowly change the amounts from the old to the new. Ex 90% regular food to 10% new. In a couple of days 80% old to 20% new and so forth untill you are using only the new. If the stomach upset is bad put the dog on a pasta ( I like orzo or the small twisted shapes) and stewed chicken or turkey diet for a few days and then start adding the new food to that in the same way. It is not the foods it is the digestive system. Good luck.
PS My vet puts dogs on a pasta and stewed chicken diet for most stomach problems. Many breeders use this too.

[Cindy Nevarez]

When I fed my animals only one kind of kibble food, I would do a switch by replacing 25% of the food with the new for one week, then half for a week then 75% for a week, then all. Never had a problem unless there was a problem with the food itself...I knew it when the diarrhea would go then come back, then go and come back real inconsistant like that.

Now they get a combination of raw with canned. They get 2 kinds of canned and 3- 4 kinds of flavors mixed in with the raw every meal. Since I do this now they have apparently no sensitivities to different foods.

About 2 - 3 times per week they also get .25 cup's worth of kibble (it is also not always the same kind) in  a "busy toy."

Seriously, the only thing that causes intestional distess in these dogs now is extreme anxiety.