Dr. Conor Brady and others recommend rotating two to three protein sources weekly rather than seasonally, mimicking how wild dogs encounter single proteins at different times. For sensitive dogs, stick with lighter meats and fewer options. Watch which protein your dog chooses first when given a mix to gauge what works best.
How often to rotate proteins? Different sources advocate different advice.
I make sure to vary it up a little bit. I stick in some sardines and I stick in a bit of this and the duck neck here and I mix. I do, I do think that way, but I don't overly stress too much about it. I think once there's 2 or 3 meat proteins going in there and a few organs, I think you're doing pretty good.
The way I look at it is that in nature, the dog is going to be presented with single protein over a period. Yeah, in spring it's going to be bunnies, in winter it's maybe going to be deer. Nature generally will offer a certain range of proteins and not very many probably. Now I'm not saying feed rabbit for 3 months during the spring and then feed goat or sheep or lamb during 3 months. I think that's too long. But what I'm thinking is to kind of move slightly in that direction would be a week of lamb, a week of chicken, a week of duck, a week of beef. So that's what I advise people to do. Yeah, try and do it in blocks, blocks, blocks, time blocks. What we actually do, and I don't do most of the feeding— Ellie's downstairs feeding the dogs now. She will just reach in the freezer, pull out the first thing. That's it in reality. And we do use, you know, duck and tripe and beef, for example, you know, and I think that's okay. If I had a dog who was not great, I would be, you know, doing food trials and then, you know, I'd be selecting the proteins and what have you. But, you know, most healthy dogs are pretty Catholic in their choice of foods.
If they're gut sick and I'm trying to do something just to settle them, and I don't want too much variation, I'll try and choose a light meat. I think it's really interesting some of the stuff that's coming in food energetics and, you know, people talking about I'll do this protein for that long and then I'll change over to this. And actually, as soon as they do that, they're choosing different foods that, you know, some are very heating to the body and some are very cooling to the body. And, you know, depending on what illness they've got, they actually can be profoundly affected by that change. Does it mean that I would religiously say they need— religion, you know, fanatically say that they need to just have one protein in the dish? Can I tell you, I have seen my dog working out on the field eating rats, mice, rabbit, okay, you know, and quite happily choosing between different proteins on the same day and then still having a bit of fresh goat. So I don't think that it's necessarily that they have to have— I think seasonality is great, especially if you're in touch with the farm and you're getting stuff seasonally, because there will be some variance in the food quality. It doesn't matter that it doesn't have to be lamb, then beef, then duck or anything like that. But seasonally could just be when those animals are culled, there's going to be a slight different nuance in the nutrients within them. So I think, of course, being seasonal to some degree with the foods, being mindful of what your dog can tolerate and eat and enjoys as well, giving them some choice is really good. Not necessarily every day, but just day to day, just picking up what they prefer.
Watching what he goes for first. You put down 2 or 3 meats and what meat does he go for first every time? It tells you all you need to know.
