How to Transition Your Dog onto ROCKETO from other foods and how to Switch between recipes

Changing your dog’s diet to a raw food diet is a great step for your pet’s health. Some dogs take to this transition like a duck to water, but for other dogs (and owners) it can be more challenging.

Here we will give some tips about how to make this as easy for you and your dog. Whether you are transitioning from another form of raw, kibble or home-cooked you will find great tips below. Rocketo can also be fed safely alongside other food, as many people choose to feed Rocketo anywhere from 100% to 10% – every bit of organic food makes a difference.

There are 3 Main Ways to Transition:

1. Immediate Swap!
   Why: As we know Rocketo is the best food available for your dog, along with raw home-prepared, most dogs are fine doing a straight swap. After all, why would you want to keep them on anything less nutritious for longer! To do this:
   How: Feed your dog their evening meal of their current food, then start the next day on Rocketo.
   Suitable For: all healthy adult dogs; dogs that are not fussy with their food; dogs that have been used to a varied raw / home diet.
   Caution with: dogs that are very fussy or have been on their existing food for a long while with little variety; dogs with serious health complaints.
2. Gradual Introduction:
   Why: Like children, if your dog has only been fed one food for a long while, or is cautious with food, their taste buds will need to adjust, as they can get addicted to chemicals in another dog food. Also, if your dog has a very sensitive digestion, you may want to introduce the food gradually.
   How: The speed of introduction for each dog will vary – find what works best for your dog. A typical example would be anything from a pinch of Rocketo to ¼ of the feed Rocketo on day 1, and increase gradually each day, but only increase when your dog is happily accepting the current amount. This can take between 4 days – 3 weeks for dogs that have been on a processed diet for a long while. This is a model that works well for many dogs:
   Day 1 just replace 10% of his normal food with Rocketo (moistened)
   Day 3 25%
   Day 5 50%
   Day 7 75%
   Day 10 full transition
   If all goes well feel free to speed this up.
   Top Tip: Some dogs like the new food mixed into their existing food, whilst some like the new food in a separate bowl – experiment and let your dog choose what works best for them.
   Suitable For: nervous dogs; very old dogs, dogs that are very fussy with their food or have been on a highly-processed diet for a while, such as any kibble, dogs with very sensitive digestion.
   Caution with: this model should be suitable for all dogs.
3. Puppies:Why: When puppies leave their mother for the first time, this can be a stressful time for some pups. To make this process easier, we advise feeding the same food that the puppy has been used to for the first week, or until your puppy is settled with you. Once your puppy seems happy and settled in their lovely new home, then you should be able to do a straight swap, as detailed in 1 above, as the sooner they are on a great diet the better, for both their physical and emotional development.How: Puppies grow very quickly, and have small stomachs so need feeding little and often, initially, at least 4 times per day. Typically, a puppy will need 1.5 *(for large breeds) to 2 x (for small breeds) the total amount of food per day that an adult dog of the same weight would need! As your puppy grows remember so will their food needs! Let your puppy guide you to how much they need; each puppy is beautifully unique.Please see our Additional Guidelines for feeding puppies here
   Suitable For: all puppies

 

What Might I notice if I transition from a processed Kibble or tinned diet to raw?

Poop Quantity and texture! Poop is a great indicator of internal health. When you transition onto Rocketo, sometimes the dog’s body will detox out processed food. This may mean some dogs, when transitioning, may have loose stools if they are detoxing. As long as this does not last longer than 7-10 days this is fine. Many dogs will go straight to great looking and smelling poos! These will look moist but firm, and are generally much smaller than kibble poos’!

Drinking Less Water: You may well find that your dog drinks less water on the ROCKETO food. This is due to the fact that, when rehydrated, Rocketo has water content similar to natural prey. There is also less salt and dry carbohydrates. Though it may initially seem that your dog has gone off drinking, rest assured this is all perfectly natural. On a kibble diet, dogs drink large amounts of water. The dry carbs especially need hydrating before digestion can begin. Water is drawn from your dog’s system to make this happen. Water quality is also very important – more on this later!

Detoxing: If changing from a highly-processed diet, or your dog has any toxicity issues, you may notice some minor side effects that can happen when you change your dog’s food to raw, natural food. Please remember these symptoms are relatively rare and almost always short-lived.

The Top Symptoms:

· Diarrhoea

· Constipation

· Vomiting

· Bad Breath

· Itchy Skin

These symptoms are probably some of the many reasons you are switching to raw organic dog food. They present themselves very rarely (in extreme cases they can get a little worse before they get better).

Diarrhoea

This can happen as your dog’s digestive tract gets used to the new, nutrient-dense, natural food, and their microbiome recovers.

Rebalancing the microbiome: the previously fed processed food is much higher in sugar & starch. These can feed certain bad bacteria which are not beneficial to your dog. The new organic starch-free Rocketo diet effectively starves these bacteria. As the bacteria die they can release some toxins which the dogs expel in their faeces. Better out than in!

Constipation

Again, this can reflect the microbiome rebalancing, as well as if your dog moves from the ‘high filler content’ found in processed food, to a lower volume, nutrient-dense meal.

Vomiting

This is far less dramatic than it sounds and happens rarely. Some dogs love the food so much they eat it too quickly – and then sick it up and re-eat it! Some vets suspect this again reflects the microbes rebalancing and settles very quickly. This will soon adjust.

How best to avoid this? Ensure plenty of water is on hand and stay calm. Serve food at room temperature.

Bad Breath

Bad breath is a sign of dental issues and / or an unbalanced microbiome. As our dog transitions onto Rocketo and their microbes rebalance their breath will improve rapidly! If you suspect any dental issues please inspect your dog’s mouth regularly and if in doubt ensure your vet checks, as dental issues can cause pain and serious health issues.

Itchy Skin

This is one of the main reasons that many transition to a raw diet. Rest assured you are making the right choice! As the body detoxes, there may be a short-term worsening of skin issues, as the skin is one of the main organs that toxins are excreted from. Better out than in! You will soon notice a big improvement in your dog’s skin and coat, so persevere.

Switching Between Rocketo Recipes

As each recipe is carefully balanced there is no need to gradually transition between recipes. Dogs need variety in their diet so we encourage you to swap regularly between the recipes for this reason and to avoid boredom. However good the food no dog wants to eat the same food every day.

What to Do If Your Dog Won’t Eat the Food? 
Here is a blog post about Fussy eaters to help you understand why this happens and how to deal with it.