New to Rotating diets-any advice?

We put the puppies on adult food at 6 months and start feeding them twice rather than 3 times a day then. Shelties tend to gain weight easily and by then, they are ready for adult food. We also use a good all-around supplement like Vibrant Pets.

 

I switch my dogs every time they finish a 5 lb bag. And between two of them, that's pretty frequently. They seem to do fine. I do a little bit of overlapping to get them used to the new food, but not as much time as I would a full blown new food transition.

 

I don't rotate mine much, but that's because two of them are on specialty diets. I think it's fine if you want to do that, but I would be careful not to transition them all at once. Mix a bit of the old in with the new food and make the transition over the period of a week or so. That way you avoid gastric issues.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by rotating diets and what you are hoping to gain from rotating. I like to rotate myself but you do need to ask yourself why and how. I think using different flavours within the same line isn't really rotating, but it does at least add a little variety to a dog's diet.

My dog's get a broader selection of foods than most dogs. I like to do this because they like the variety and I know in humans its better to have variety because the metabolism becomes more adaptive. I have certain 'core' foods I give them - kibble in the morning and mince (usually roo) with a locally made premix in the evening. With kibble they get Eagle Pack as standard but we are always winning pkts of dry food at flyball so I often mix that into their EP. They may also get a bone or neck for breakfast instead. Several times a week they also get a different dinner, depending on what meat is available and I also keep tins of (the local) Nutro on hand for quick meals.