How do I make the transition?Updated 8 months ago

The ideal for all dogs and cats, is that the transition is trouble free and there are no periods of excessive wind, diarrhoea, or constipation. In order to achieve this, the best way to transition dogs and cats from a high carbohydrate processed diet to a low carbohydrate, high protein raw meat and bone diet, is to do a gradual transition over 7-10 days.  

Day 1 - This is the exciting start!  Take a spoon, the size of which will depend on the size of your dog or cat.  For example a teaspoon is recommended for a toy breed and a tablespoon for a large breed.  Taking that spoon, replace a spoonful of your dog or cat’s current food with a spoonful of raw at each mealtime. 

Day 2 – Following on from day 1, we would recommend increasing 1 spoonful amount per day, for example, day 2 you would introduce 2 spoonful's of raw and decrease the equivalent of their current food. 

Days 3-10 – On day 3, you would include 3 spoonful's of raw so each day, you continue to gradually increase the amount of spoonful's of raw and decrease the amount of the current food until your pet’s feeding bowl is full of yummy raw food!

Good to know… 

If your dog or cat has a loose stool at any stage, we recommend reducing the amount of raw food for three days to stabilise the stool before returning to increasing the raw food levels.  

If your pet is elderly or dealing with any complex chronic disease e.g. end stage cancers, is on antacids or high levels of immune-suppressive drug therapy, then we would not recommend you begin the transition onto a raw diet without expert help from your vet. 

For the first month of feeding raw, digestive enzymes and probiotics can be added to the diet for dogs or cats that have any dietary issues or that have been prone to diarrhoea or constipation. Natural Instinct's Zoolac Propaste is great for this!