Often our pets are fed the same foods (kibble or canned) every day. There is no variation. This is thought to play a role in encouraging digestive issues. We know this digestive issue as “sensitive stomachs”. This usually triggers a trip to the veterinarian.

The best way to provide a better bowl for your pet and to reduce the risk of digestive problems is to create variety at mealtimes.

Offering Variety in Their Bowl

This is often referred to as “rotational feeding”.

Digestive Issues

• Over time pets with the same thing in their bowl every day create a digestive tract designed to deal with those ingredients and not much else. Any addition to the diet can disrupt the digestive system and produce GI signs, such as excess gas, bloat, diarrhea, and vomiting.
• Getting the digestive tract used to changing the diet regularly encourages many different friendly bacteria to inhabit the digestive tract, capable of properly digesting a variety of different food ingredients without upsetting the gut.
• Pets that eat the same protein every day for years have an increased risk of developing an allergy to the protein in their diet. Long term use of the same ingredients can also increase the danger of food sensitivities.

Add Excitement

• Eating the same food day in and day out can quickly become boring. Variety enhances anticipation and excitement at mealtimes, which helps to improve the human-animal bond.
• If your pet eats a variety of foods this allows you a greater selection when shopping.
• Different food-types can better support your household lifestyle, too. There are foods that are great for traveling and foods designed for a specific purpose. Some specific purposes could be weight management, hydration, appetite stimulation, etc. 
• A diverse diet consisting of varied proteins and food brands and recipes is critical to keeping a pet enjoying optimal health and allergy free. By rotating the protein sources in food, you can reduce the risk of a pet developing an allergy to it. By switching recipes and brands, you can ensure that a pet is receiving a diversified assortment of nutrients over time.
• Rotating a protein source and food recipe every 2-3 months is a strategy that makes sense. This is the same period used for elimination diets that are used to isolate food allergies.