Feeding Different Brands of Food Daily; Good Idea?

I feed Lillie Purina Proplan Selects for breakfast and Taste of the Wild for supper. 2 reasons I do this. I certainly would get tired of eating the same food all the time and I couldnt decide which one I wanted to feed her so I picked both.

Now the other dogs get the same foods but different flavors. 

I think it would be fine as long as the dog could tolerate all that change.  Willow eats three different things a day but it's always the same stuff.

I'm not so sure this is necessary, and it would drive me NUTS trying to keep track of what they ate when........

Why would you have to  "keep track" ? Do you keep track of everything you eat daily ? Yet I'm sure you know how to feed yourself a healthy diet so why wouldn't that also apply to your dogs ??  It's been proven that a varied diet is preferred for truly  "balanced" nutrition and that feeding the same things on a regular basis actually lead to nutritional deficiencies.

And for Willowchow.... "all that change"..... well, if they're eating a rotational varietal diet on a regular basis there is no "change".  My dogs have been eating this way forever.  They eat a different combination of foods for EVERY meal... not only rotating between dry, canned, frozen raw and raw but also from fish to fowl to game meats. Same w/my cats and between 8 animals there are absolutely NO problems at all with regards to tolerance, allergies or gastro-intenstinal problems. 

 I try to vary my dogs diets as much as possible, but 3 different thing a day?  Hardly ever happens, unless you count things like Chicken Breast, Chicken Wings and Chicken Liver to be 3 different things.  Now occasionally they have a day that is something like a Chicken Leg, some ground beef and a couple of eggs, but other days their meal consists of an entire chicken.  They prefer to eat once a day rather than twice, its a recent development and I'm not sure why, but that makes it harder to get a good variety in daily. 

In any event, I'm not a big fan of looking at nutrition on a daily basis, for dogs or people, or anything for that matter.  It gets much too nitpicky and I would rather look at it on a weekly basis.  Much less discouraging.

Perhaps I'm just mentally deficient, but, if I've gotta give my dogs THREE different meals each day, well, first off, they would rather eat TWO times, and second, I'd get confused and end up feeding them the wrong blasted thing at the wrong time.

I rotate kibble.  I homecook.  When I homecook I vary my protein source and I vary the veggies and fruits so that they ALWAYS get a great variety.  I make two pots every week, and those two flavors are alternated, plus they get raw at least once a week, often more.  They frequently get raw egg on their morning kibble, or a dollop of yogart, just to add a bit of variety.  According to my vet, and according to each dogs bloodwork they are in excellent condition and their diets are the prime reason for that.  So yeah, I do think I know how to feed my dogs.

And yes, I do have to keep some sort of track of what I eat or I forget to eat.  One day, not a problem, but several and that's not so great.

  I agree that feeding a varied diet is good; today Jessie had kibble, home cooked, and canned, but the what the book is suggesting is feeding 3 different brands of food daily; sorry I didn't make that clear before. The idea is to stimulate the dog's body to produce different digestive enzymes for the different foods.

Interesting idea....but goes against the SWITCH   DON'T MIX  WDJ goes by.

It would be hard to judge the Coat, Stool, overall health and energy if any of the diets was not working.

My feeding philosophy is at least 80 %  of a majority diet. The rest between canned, table scraps(Meat Only) , and the cookie treats.

A better workout I am not sure of. Lack of enzymes in cooked food makes the liver and pancreas work harder, but is that better ? These are organs not muscle. I would think it would work the opposite in the aging process. The more those organs work the less the life span.?

jessies_mom

 ... but the what the book is suggesting is feeding 3 different brands of food daily; sorry I didn't make that clear before. The idea is to stimulate the dog's body to produce different digestive enzymes for the different foods.

Could you tell us which book/author this is?

It sounds intriguing at first glance ... but doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.
I actually do feed several different commercial brands/products throughout the day ... but not for this particular reason.

I mean ... how many different enzymes does the author expect to be produced by the pancreas?
There are 4 principal digestive enzymes in the canine system:
proteases, which breaks down protein; lipases, which breaks down fats or lipids; amylases, which breaks down carbohydrates (principally starch and sugars); and cellulases, which breaks down vegetable matter, including fiber.
from: http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/the_importance_of_enzymes_in_a_diet.htm

In a conventional/balanced diet (whether commercial or home-prepared), these enzymes would all be stimulated into production on a regular basis.
Does the author give any scientific/technical references for this assumption - that different brands of food can stimulate different enzymes? If so, which enzymes specifically?

ottoluv

.  That doesn't mean however that they are deficient in making any enzymes.  As far as I know there is no evidence to support that claim, but I'd always be interested to see what they are basing their assumption on.

   The book is "See Spot Live Longer" by Steve Brown and Beth Taylor. Neither author is a nutritionist, so I'm reading it with that in mind, but this idea seemed intriguing. There are many references listed in the back of the book, but no specific references for this particular idea. No specific enzymes are mentioned.

"A better workout I am not sure of. Lack of enzymes in cooked food makes the liver and pancreas work harder, but is that better ? These are organs not muscle. I would think it would work the opposite in the aging process. The more those organs work the less the life span.?"

  fish n dog; Your comments reminded me of something I know is true from studies on humans; as we age, we produce less digestive enzymes, which is why it's a good idea for older people to take an enzyme supplement, and the same idea probably applies to dogs.

  Thanks to everyone for your great input.
 

Thats great for you.  Willow would be in the hospital if she ate like that though. 

But Willow is an exception.  Most dogs don't have the kind of digestive issues that she does.

Kle can I ask you which formula your using for Lillie of the Pro Plan Selects line?  Dublin ate that the first year..the turkey barley puppy food.  They didn't have any other puppy food till now.  We had to switch to the Pro Plan Salmon Sensitive Skin Stomach formula since nothing else we tried including the adult formula Turkey Barley PP Selects would work for him.  I tried Blue and Fromm and Wellness. He has a super sensitive stomach and has runny stools on so many things I have tried so far.  I was wondering if the Selects Salmon would be okay for him with the brown rice but.....he seems to do best on fewer ingredients.  All the extras in there that I like don't work on his gut.  Was curious what another setter is using. I stopped trying new foods for a bit to settle him down.  He is doing well on this food but I feel like I need another food at least.  Also once off the Turkey he no longer has goopy eyes that he had for the first year.  I had no clue it was diet.  We thought it was all the dirt at the dog park bothering him.  Now that the spring weather arrived we shall see if it is enviornmental or food related.  Thanks so much...Sue