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Is a rotational diet good for dogs? How often should I switch foods?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | Female | spayed | 5 years and 2 months old | 17 lbs

Is it ok that my dog has seven different flavors of food over the course of 21 months or would you do four flavors over the course of 12 months. I like the concept of a rotational diet. She's on duck right now. There is also; bison, lamb, chicken, salmon, boar, and chicken and egg. I wanted to try them all of that was ok. I would stick to one flavor for 3 months (2 bags) unless you think it's ok to rotate every 6 weeks (1 bag) I would be sticking to the same brand which is Canidae Pure.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on September 9th, 2017

It's actually not a bad idea to feed variety of food if she tolerates it well. The most important thing to do is transition the food slowly. This means that you add the new food into the old food slowly. You can do this over the course of a wee; where you increase the amount of new food until it is 100% by the end of the week.

It may also be beneficial to add probiotics to the food while transitioning. This can be found at most pet stores.

If you notice diarrhea and vomiting while transitioning food, then stop the new food and only feed the old one. You can attempt the transition again when the diarrhea stops. If she gets diarrhea or vomiting again, then it's best to avoid that particular food.

It's up to you how often you want to do this (6wks vs every 3 months), because I don't know of any strong reason to do it more or less frequently.

I've included a link below to a short article that may help you in selecting the best foods and gives good advice about feeding your dog.

https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/

I hope that helps.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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