transitioning new puppy off of a crappy food....

 I'd just switch cold turkey if that's what you want to do. I did with Joker and he did just fine.

I would start transitioning him right away.  75% current food:25% new food.  Do that for a couple to few days then 50/50 for a couple to few more days.  25/75 for a few then 100% new.

Don't let their current feed sway your decision to take him...you'll fix it, and he'll be just fine.

Rivers, my almost 2yr old pup, came to us at barely 4mnths old having been on Pedigree and highly infested with fleas, ear infections, etc.....we switched him cold turkey, he did just fine. In fact, within a day or so you could tell he was feeling a lot better.

I normally switch my fosters cold turkey. Most of the time - I have no clue what they were eating before I got them anyways - so I don't bother.

We have a little bit of the soft poops, and then everything is all good. I wouldn't even bother transitioning, IMO.

I don't know why a breeder would feed such a bad food. Stanton- your poor puppy came from awful conditions!

 I'd go cold turkey but add some canned pumpkin and maybe a probiotic for the first week.  The pumpkin will help keep his stools in better shape and the probiotics will help his system adjust more quickly as well (and they allow the dog to digest food better, etc.).

Luvntzus

I don't know why a breeder would feed such a bad food.

 I don't know either.....Makes me wonder what the parents are eating and if it's compromising their overall health.

Luvntzus

Stanton- your poor puppy came from awful conditions!

 He did....he's improved a hundred times over. We're really big on getting our dogs from rescued type situations; he was actually one of the healthier ones we've adopted, and one of the youngest too.

Our chihuahua came from death row at barely a year old, was healthy aside from not knowing how to eat, or what grass felt like; our Pom was found in a dumpster in Wyoming around 9mnths of age, VERY mistreated, malnourished, matted, etc., our other pom was a *left over* female from a backyard breeder who put her in the paper free to good home; didn't know her conditions until we arrived to get her. She had just had a c-section as they tried to breed her and discovered she was too small to carry the pups to term; she had 7 extra teeth, baby teeth that never fell out, and weighed in at 1.5#.....vet didn't think she'd make it to see her 2nd b-day.

Kaiser's breeder sent a bag of food along with him and I tried to transition him -- but he just picked around the old stuff and only ate the new food, so I gave up and just started feeding him the new.

Noel came to us on Walmart food and Turbo had been eating sprout Both were switched cold turkey to Fromm and never suffered from it.

Tena

I'm in the cold turkey camp.  The pup is likely to have some tummy upset from the change in his location, new water, etc, so just go ahead and do the switch and add a bit of pumpkin to his meals. I won't have garbage foods in my house, so when I get a foster, s/he gets what my crew eats with added pumpkin to sooth the tummy during the transition.

I wonder if because I've always been in the must transition camp...that's why my dogs tend to have more sensitive stomachs.  I'm beginning to think after reading this thread that the best thing may be to dive right in and get it over with.  Hmmm. 

 I've also had to cold turkey many foster dogs and my approach was to go with a "senior" formula of a high-quality food and supplement with probiotcs - NOT yogurt - don't feed dairy to puppies as it can easily unbalance the mineral content of their food, and meanwhile you can create a dairy sensitivity or even allergy down the road.  Instead, use a human quality probiotic like the kind you'd find in the refrigerated section of the health food store.

Eagle Pack Holistic Senior is a good food for this - it's very easy to digest - I use it for my youngster with a touchy tummy when she has to be boarded.

Just buy a small bag, and a bag of whatever you will eventually transition to.  Then follow the usual transition regime, as if the intermediate food were the one the pup was eating.

Yes, the kcals are very low - it's just temporary and will not harm your puppy during the week it will take to transition - besides which, the pup will be on an inclining nutrition plane during the time he's settling into the new situation.  That will avoid the whole "my puppy can't eat rich food" problems faced by a lot of people who start feeding their new puppy slam bang high energy diets while the pup is stressed with tons of new things. 

Interesting.....never knew yogurt could be harmful.....used to give 1 or 2 tablespoons to Rivers in his kong at least every other day, mainly just cause he liked it. This was during his growing phase....now you've got me wondering if I've harmed him in some way??

I stopped giving yogurt a few weeks back, mainly cause it seemed all the dogs were having slightly loose stools.