# why is it bad to feed mixed dog food



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

I've read in several places that it's bad to mix two different bags of dog food. The reasoning is that the dry foods are engineered so each component provides the necessary nutrient profile. For example, if duck is the main protein, the manufacturer might need to use some grains to provide the rest of the needed amino acid. At least that's my understanding...mixing foods will mean your dog isn't getting the required volume of each brand to meet his nutritional requirements.

This has always been confusing to me. It doesn't make sense. If both bags of food are nutritionally complete, it seems mixing shouldn't be a problem - both halves will provide the right nutrient profile.

So, I"m just looking for another explanation. So many reputable sites repeat this advice I figured I must be misunderstanding the reasoning. 

Another related question. I had a coupon so I brought another bag of Fromm food, duck instead of chicken. If my dog does well on both types, can I alternate every day, as long as his poop stays good?


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## abbyful (Sep 5, 2011)

dogclass said:


> It doesn't make sense. If both bags of food are nutritionally complete, it seems mixing shouldn't be a problem - both halves will provide the right nutrient profile.


I agree with this. Kibble is "nutritionally complete", it doesn't matter if you take 1 tablespoon or 10 cups, it will have the same ratio of nutrients.



dogclass said:


> Another related question. I had a coupon so I brought another bag of Fromm food, duck instead of chicken. If my dog does well on both types, can I alternate every day, as long as his poop stays good?


As long as the dog is adjusted to switching it up (no digestive upset), it's fine. I feed raw now, so my dogs get different foods every day. The main reason people say "don't switch foods" is because when a dog is fed one certain food for so long, the gut flora in their digestive tract gets used to only breaking down those certain things. When the food is switched, the dog needs to have the gut flora population adjusted; there will be higher population of flora that break down what is in the dog's normal food, but lower populations that break down what's in the new food. But if you rotate foods frequently, the dog keeps all the various gut flora in their digestive system so it isn't an issue.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

> I've read in several places that it's bad to mix two different bags of dog food.


I've never read that anywhere, so I'd be interested in what those places are.


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## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

RonE said:


> I've never read that anywhere, so I'd be interested in what those places are.


The second bullet point advises against mixing. I thought dogfoodproject was a pretty reliable site.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=myths


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Well, they're a bit short on scientific evidence there. I don't see why mixing 2 different complete kibbles would change anything. I mix my cats' dry foods. I would do it for dogs just because 1) if I opened 2 bags at once they would probably get stale before I used them both up, and 2) if the mixture disagreed with them I wouldn't know which food did it. But if it works for you I don't see any reason not to.


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