[Canyx]

I am in the process of switching from Orijen to Victor Ultra Pro. It's been one week and I'm currently feeding 50/50. I'm taking it slow because I'm in no rush to switch over, and I have a lot of Orijen left.

So far, I am happy that the dogs (stool-wise) are doing equal (Soro) or better (Brae) on Victor than on Orijen. Brae did well on Orijen, but his stool is more consistently perfect on Victor at the moment. On Orijen, his AM stool was formed and hard enough to not leave residue on grass. But his PM stool was usually softer formed. Nothing I was concerned about. On Victor, all of his stool is even tighter than what it's been on Orijen. And there's less of it. I am actually really surprised and I wonder what it is about Victor that makes it better for Brae... Anyways, I'm sure you're dying to hear more about poop but....

I have a lot of Orijen left (2.5 bags of the largest size) and I am in no hurry to make the transition. Seeing how well Brae's doing on Victor, I am hesitant to go back to 100% Orijen. I wanted to do 75% Victor and 25% Orijen. But I kinda want to keep it 50/50 to use the Orijen quicker so I can switch all the way to Victor. My question is, if my dogs are doing well with 50/50 for let's say a month, could I expect them to do well with a sudden switch to 100% Victor when I am done with Orijen? Also, more for curiosity, for those of you who have switched through foods that your dog has done reasonably well on, were you able to switch cold turkey between different ones since they've had it/done well on it in the past? IE, theoretically if my dogs are doing well on Victor, could I do 100% Orijen until it's done and then cold turkey to 100% Victor and expect good results?

I know every dog is different. And this is largely semantics (one way or another I'm gonna finish up the Orijen and then go onto Victor). I'm curious to hear your experiences about transitioning though! I feel like I never really thought about it for Sor. I used to just dump the remains of the old food into the new food bag and go from there, no problems. Now I have a chart and I am scoring poop every day

 

[DaySleepers]

I confess I switch cold turkey (or do a sloppy transition like you, mixing food bags), even with new foods. Sam will pretty much eat anything and rarely has any trouble with new kibble or treats. I don't know if that's just him, or if it has to do with us rotating a wide variety of kibbles since he was a pup, or both. It is certainly NOT something I'd suggest for people transitioning for the first time, of course, and we were very careful and did slow transitions when we first had Sam, but after six years we know him well enough that for him, specifically, I don't fuss too much about it.

 

[MarieLovesChis]

I am also a cold turkey switcher. I've switched Onyx's food around so many times I honestly do not know how many brands she has been on in the past lol. I would see something interesting at the store and just go ahead and try it with her. Now I currently stick with 2-3 brands. I mainly only use 1 but I have 2 back ups that I know she does good on. If there happens to be a sale on one of those back ups, occasionally I will buy that instead. She has never had any problems switching between the foods she does well on. She has never been a particularly sensitive dog though.

 

[Francl27]

Ditto on cold turkey lol. I mean, when there is just a bit of food in a bag and it's hard to get out, I'll just dump it in the next one and mix it up a little... but that's pretty much the extent of it.

I don't remember my dogs ever having any issues with food changes. But yes... definitely depends on the dog. In your case I'd just keep doing what you're doing until you're out of Orijen.

 

[ForTheLoveOfDogs]

I generally have a 50/50 switch going on for a couple weeks then forget to add more of the new one before completely switching over. I have never had a problem.

I've also switched cold turkey with no problems and sometimes just do with same brands/different formulas. My guess is it always comes down to the dog and how sensitive they might be. Also how well they tolerate the new food.

I was also surprised to find my dogs do better on something else when I thought they were doing just fine before. I also think switching it up every once in awhile is just a good idea. Glad Brae is having good results so far. I do keep hearing good things about Victor.

 

[Mutts]

I'm a very cautious switcher, haha. Even if I'm doing same brand/formula 2 bags in a row I'll do a few days of 50/50 just to account for any natural variations in batches. With that said, I usually switch over the course of 2-3 days of 50/50 and don't do the whole 25/75, 50/50, 75/25 thing.