Mixing Kibble

[Chequeredblackdog]

Probably a silly question that has been asked before, (though I can't find it)

Mixing kibbles? CAN you mix different kibbles, either within a brands or combining brands? or probably most importantly SHOULD you?

I've always been under the impression that you SHOULDN'T because each brand/formula is different and the act of combining unbalances everything.

I personally don't mix kibbles, (I feed EP Holistic + Raw/BARF) but I work at Petbarn, and quite a lot of people come in and buy different brands and mix them. Quite often a cheaper brand with a Super Premium to "make it go further" or sometimes its mixing super premiums.

OR I get the question "can I mix them?"

Do you mix your kibbles? Why, why not?

[Gayle.]

I don't usually because the one I buy, Black Hawk Holistic is very good value and top quality. But if I run out and buy something else (usually a bag of Optimum) to tide me over til I get more BH, I'll sometimes mix the tail end of the Optimum with one or two meals of BH until the Optimum is used up.

I used to mix cat food kibble, but it would be varieties of Royal Canin or Hills Science Diet, mostly because I wanted them to eat some Oral Care but not for the whole meal.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I'm currently mixing nutro with supercoat. It is just because I had a massive bag of supercoat from when i was making a last ditch effort to get my previous dog to eat anything when she was sick.

Anyway, it doesn't seem to have any effect at all. I won't necessarily buy more to keep mixing but I don't see it being an issue for my dog.

[Chequeredblackdog]

My parents used to mix kibbles and it seemed to have no ill affects on the dogs.

I personally have never seen a problem caused by it, though I see a point in not mixing cheap with super premium in that its kinda

like mixing fruit loops in with your super duper muesli.

Though if doing that means your dog gets to eat some better quality food.....

Sigh..... sometimes I wonder if its just companies like Hills just scare mongering!

Edited January 13, 2012 by Chequeredblackdog

[persephone]

We do .. and I do with the dry cat food as well...

[Esky the husky]

I did transitioning between 2 kibbles. I mixed about 2 months supply together and she ate that fine.

[dotdashdot]

I do currently...once my current lot runs out I will be Black Hawk only.

I was a bit silly, I have ONE puppy, a dalmatian who also eats BARF patties...I bought big bags of Holistic Select from work on 2 occasions to help my boss over the "break even" mark (work in a pet store) and a big bag of Pro plan because I wanted the food bin coz it has a dally on it (hehe). At one stage I had about 40kgs of food.

She's a bit over the Holistic now, so I mix Black Hawk sometimes coz that is one food she LOVES.

I wouldn't mix a super premium with a supermarket brand though. If you're gonna get one, might as well stick with it, no point in mixing the two types IMO. It's not really making it stretch further when one bag is a lot of filler that isn't doing anything for the dog other than making poo.

I would never feed my dog a supermarket brand but my parents do and the dogs look very good and haven't had health issues. It's all about what suits the dog and at the moment, Cleo is doing well on her mix of premiums.

[WreckitWhippet]

If you want to chuck your money down the toilet, when it comes to premium foods, then mix away.

I hear it all the time too at work, owners mixing the premiums with cheap nasty stuff, that's full of fillers, grains, preservatives, food colouring etc. Why buy premium at all, if you're going to do that.

[Nekhbet]

I agree with Pav lova. What's the point? You're actually going to make your dog eat more by feeding it some poor quality food. If you're not well off then why not mix a mediocre food with something like fresh meat. Otherwise you're just pushing the protein content through the floor.

[karly101]

The argument I hear is that you shouldn't because it throws the nutritional balance off....I've heard that the dry food needs to be 90% of the diet but again this is from companies selling the food!

I don't with the dog he just gets the same brand and has a little bit of a sensitive stomach so I haven't made any changes. I am considering a diet change as he appears to have allergies and the dermatologist wants me to do a food trial.

I always mix dry foods with the ferrets as they imprint on food and I wanted them to recognize a wide range in tastes especially since manufacturers like to change formulas often and I have heard stories of ferrets refusing to eat their dry food when that happens. I mix 'premium' with 'super premium' never supermarket brands as I don't get the point of doing that. The oldest is 6 years old and I've never had any health issues with them so it seems to work but they are also fed fresh meat, bones, egg, sardines etc.

[luvsdogs]

I've never thought about it before. After all when you switch them over from one kibble to another you are told to do it gradually, mixing the old with the new.

I sometimes mix kibbles for the dogs & cat. As long as the analysis of the formula of proteins, fats, calcium etc are similar I don't see a problem.

[RasimBessi]

We mix all the time. Gives them a variety.

I dont see any harm in doing it.

They actually love it.