Dog Food And Behaviour

[~Shepherd~]

If I run out of Artemis and have to buy dog roll "Platinum or VIP" I swear Charlie May becomes a massive pain in the arse mood change wise. She bullies the WGSD and bolts at her 100kmph at the park and smacks her around without being overly aggro (if that makes sense).

She hangs off me like bad smell and her stealing increases. When I verbally reject her (like piss off) she goes and hangs off the 4 year old.

Anyone else have similar mood changes with temporary diet change?

I havent check the roll ingredients lately and chucked the rest of the one in the fridge. Im wondering if there are preservatives or something in them?

The dogs are with me 24/7 in winter in the lounge so behaviour change is quite obvious. She is desexed and goes months without food change and is very steady and bombproof. She is almost 3.5. Might be better off with a tin of Natures Gift next time.

No change in the Sheppie.

[Golden Rules]

Sounds like she is sensitive to something in the roll.

Nature's Gift do a pellet dry food which is more semi dried - I use it as treats and I am known as the treat lady at the park as all the dogs come from afar and hang around me so the food must be OK

[~Shepherd~]

Sounds like she is sensitive to something in the roll.

Nature's Gift do a pellet dry food which is more semi dried - I use it as treats and I am known as the treat lady at the park as all the dogs come from afar and hang around me so the food must be OK

Must be. I'll have to look up the ingredients I think. Hyperactive and sooky all at the same time.

[Whippetsmum]

Maybe the balance is different to what you usually feed, eg: more carbs (energy) and less protein, or higher GI and so more easy to access energy but quick burning. My dry food lists the meat as the first ingredient, ie: that is what the bulk of the food is, and also lists the breakdown between carbs, protein, fats etc. If you can compare the proportions between teh 2 food, you might get an idea of what's going on.

I just checked VIP website. The ingredient list mentions no preservatives, the ongredient list varies slightly between the flavours, but the general list reads like this:

Bran fibre (Fibre)

Garlic (Allicin)

Minerals (Minerals)

Whole grain cereals (wheat) (Carbohydrates, protein, fibre)

Beef, lamb, chicken etc,

Cereals (barley, rice, bran),

Liver chunky vegetables, heart, kidney

There are also some with egg or Kelp.

Some kids are sensitive to wheat with their behaviour, does your usual food use something different as a carb?

[Greytmate]

Different diets have different nutrition levels allowing the muscles to be fully or partially energised. You might be seeing an energy boost rather than an alteration in mood.

If you were feeding dehydrated meat, and have changed to fresh meat (VIP), I would expect there would be possibly more nutrients to be available for the dog to use. And no reason why they wouldn't use it. The nutritional value of fresh meat also changes seasonally.