Tips for Switching Dog Food with Nature’s Recipe

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine.

There are a lot of us out there who consider our precious pets a part of the family, right? My husband and I are no exception. Our rescue pup, Lucy, is the third pea to our Haines family pod. So just as Rick and I make conscious decisions in terms of healthy products to eat and purchase, we make the same decisions for Lucy. Recently we made the switch to Nature’s Recipe Grain-Free Dry Dog Food, available at Walmart, and couldn’t be happier with our decision for Lucy. So today I want to share with y’all some helpful tips for switching dog food.

Since we rescued Lucy almost three years ago, we’ve noticed she’s generally a grazer. Meaning, she will rarely eat food right away when we put it in her bowl for ‘breakfast’ and ‘dinner’. Because of this we never got her on a super firm eating schedule. Sometimes she’d graze on it and then come back later, other times she’d surprise us and eat it 10 minutes after we scooped the food into her bowl. A few times she wouldn’t touch the food for over 12 hours.

This habit obviously didn’t settle well with Rick and I. We wanted to be sure she was nourished and liked the food we fed her. We’ve hopped around between a few different specialty brands with little success here and there.

I’d heard about Nature’s Recipe and seen it at specialty pet stores, so I decided to give it a try from my local Walmart store. Not only was it low-priced but easy to find too. We opted to try the Nature’s Recipe Adult Grain-Free Chicken Dry Dog Food and couldn’t be more pleased. It’s safe to say Lucy is happy too! She’s actually eating on a regular schedule and licks the bowl clean.

Nature’s Recipe at Walmart offers high quality protein with no corn, wheat or soy. There’s also no artificial flavors or preservatives and no poultry by-product meal. As a dog owner, I’ve learned that products that look great on the shelf really aren’t so when you take a look at their ingredient list. However, Nature’s Recipe makes purposeful recipes with ingredients from nature with added vitamins, minerals and nutrients to provide exactly what your dog needs to feel like their most vibrant self, each and every day.

But, let me tell you, there are definitely some helpful tips for switching dog food and making the entire process a lot easier for both owner and pup.

First, I chose to switch Lucy’s food gradually.

For about a week I created a mixture of her old dog food and Nature’s Recipe food that was new to her, and each day a little more of the Nature’s Recipe food and a little less of the former food were mixed together. If you know your dog has a sensitive stomach or you’re worried as to how they’ll like the food, gradually making the change helps.

Second, I removed her bowl of food if uneaten after 20-30 minutes.

 As I previously mentioned, we know Lucy is a grazer and haven’t really ever achieved a schedule. On the first and second day of introducing Nature’s Recipe to Lucy within a mixture of her old food, she still didn’t touch it. Mind you, there was more of her old food in the mixture, than the Nature’s Recipe food. So in an effort to try and set some sort of routine and schedule, I removed her bowl of food from the area and put it up on the counter when she left it untouched.

She is great at letting us know when she has to go outside or is hungry, so she ultimately let me know that she wanted the food by whining. So on the third day when I placed the bowl down with the food mixture, she ate it right away and has since done so every day even after we made the complete switch to Nature’s Recipe. Happy dog-mom over here, as I was finally able to establish a routine, along with finding two helpful tips for switching dog food.

Lucy loves to live her life to the fullest every day. She’s such a happy and loving dog who has brought so much joy to Rick’s and my life together. She loves to play fetch with her ball, chase lizards in the backyard and snuggle up to her ‘humans’. After making the switch to Nature’s Recipe dog food at Walmart, we know Lucy is happy and in turn we can be happy, too.

To find Nature’s Recipe at Walmart, mouse on over here. Nature’s Recipe also provides many ‘Grain-Free’ options. If you have any questions on the above tips for switching dog food or want to know more about our experience in switching Lucy’s dog food to Nature’s Recipe, feel free to ask in the comments!

*Lauren Rathburn photography