Read time: 3 mins
09 Apr 2021
By Sarah Connell-Sait, our Vet Nurse at Team Butternut Box.
Welcoming your puppy into their new forever home is such an exciting time. It can also prove to be a little bit stressful for your puppy as a lot is changing, all at once. So, it's important to keep things as consistent as you can for them to ensure a smooth transition.
How to transition your puppy onto Butternut Box?
If your puppy has been eating a different diet to Butternut before you bring them home, it's a good idea to keep feeding them this food until a week so after they've settled into their new surroundings (and humans). Once they're happy and relaxed, you can start the transition over to Butternut. Remember to pop some pouches into the fridge to defrost! You can start the transition with any of our Butternut recipes as they're all highly digestible and perfect for puppies, however, if your puppy has a sensitive stomach we'd recommend starting with our leaner chicken, turkey or fish recipes which are extra gentle.
It's always a good idea to start slow when changing your puppy's food. This will give their gut the best chance to adapt to new ingredients and will reduce the likelihood of any stomach upset. It's important that your puppy also has access to a bowlful of fresh water at all times too.
We'd suggested transitioning your pup's food over a period of 5-7 days. Start by offering just a spoonful of Butternut mixed in with their current wet or dry food. If your puppy is currently eating a raw food diet, it's important that you feed Butternut at the same temperature as the raw food rather than heating up Butternut and mixing the warm cooked food together with the raw food. This is because the heat from the Butternut could interact with the bacteria on the surface of the raw food. So long as you feed both at the same temperature, there's nothing to worry about.
If the first taster of Butternut goes down well, you can mix a spoonful of Butternut into their next meal of the day. On day two of your puppy's transition, you can start to add a little more Butternut, about 2-3 spoonfuls, and remove an equivalent amount of the original food. On day three, you guessed it - go for 3-4 spoonfuls. Keep going until your puppy is eating 100% Butternut by day 5-7.
If at any point during the transition you notice that your pup is experiencing a bit of an upset stomach, go back a stage until they're back to their normal self and then continue with the transition. It's very normal for this to occur when changing a puppy's diet, but if your pup is experiencing ongoing vomiting or diarrhoea for more than 24 hours, it's a good idea to book an appointment with your vet.
Our friendly Customer Love team and in-house vet nurse are always available to answer any questions you have on transitioning your puppy over to Butternut, you can contact them on bark@butternutbox.com.