Most problems in the first weeks come from adding too much at once, and most settle when the bowl goes back to simple. Start with the row that matches what you're seeing.
| What you see | Do this first | See a vet now if |
|---|---|---|
| Loose stool after the switch | Back to chicken and rice; take out the last food you added | Blood in quantity, vomiting with it, a flat dog, a dog that can't keep water down |
| Weight going up or down | Weigh every two weeks, then rerun the food calculator | Losing weight while eating well (book a visit, not an emergency) |
| Won't eat the bowl | Check what changed, warm it, cut the extras | Nothing eaten for a day, or not eating plus vomiting or lethargy |
| Itching or ear trouble | Write down what's new; don't swap foods every week | Not urgent, but book a visit to plan a diet trial |
| Gas | Slow the eating, take out one suspect food for two weeks | Swollen, hard belly with retching that brings nothing up |
| Constipation | Go and look at what's produced; add water | 48 hours with no stool, or straining to pee with nothing passing |
| Vomiting | One episode in a bright dog: watch, small bland meals | Blood, repeated vomiting, retching with nothing coming up |
Loose stool after the switch
The kitchen's switch is made in one go: the kibble stops, and the first week is boiled chicken and kani rice with no treats. The week's other foods then come in one at a time (how the switch works). If the stool goes loose, go back to chicken and rice, take out the last food you added, and wait for the stool to firm before you try it again.
Give the stool a number so you can see the trend. The loose stools record uses the Purina 1 to 7 score: 3 to 4 is normal, 5 is soft but holds its shape, 6 and 7 are diarrhoea. A steady 5 for a day or two in the first week is common. A dog that goes from 4 to 7 overnight is a different problem.
Check the bowl as well as the dog:
- The oil. The plan gives it in tablespoons per 500 g. A pour from the bottle is extra fat the plan didn't count.
- Treats. None on top of the day. A training reward is a piece of the day's boiled meat, and the meat rewards are counted in kcal.
- The fridge. A container past 3 to 4 days goes in the bin.
Don't reach for the metronidazole left over from last time. The loose stools record sets out why it's the wrong default for a first episode.
Weight going up or down
Weigh your dog every two weeks, on the same scale, before breakfast. For a dog too big for a kitchen scale, weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the dog, and take the difference. Check the body by hand too: the obesity record has the three checks (ribs, waist from above, tuck from the side) and the 1 to 9 score.
Don't guess at grams. If two or three weigh-ins in a row move the same way, rerun the food calculator with the new weight and body score, set the goal to lose or gain, and take the new kcal back to the kitchen. The kitchen rescales every ingredient from it. For weight loss, the calculator feeds for the ideal weight and paces loss at 1 to 2% of body weight a week, the rate the obesity record gives.
Before you change the kcal, count everything your dog eats. Nothing is meant to go on top of the bowl, so roti from the table, biscuits from the neighbour and the second dinner from whoever feeds the dog when you're out all count.
Two patterns need a vet rather than a new number. A dog that gains on a measured diet, or won't lose on a reduced one, can have hypothyroidism or Cushing's, which the obesity record says to rule out first. A dog that loses weight while eating well is a malabsorption question, as the gas and bloating record explains.
A dog that won't eat the bowl
Most refusals have an ordinary cause. Look for what changed:
- It's cold. Some dogs eat a bowl straight from the fridge less readily. Warm it a little (the batch cooking guide has how).
- There's better food elsewhere. A dog that gets treats, table scraps or extra chews through the day has less reason to eat its meal.
- It's new. Some dogs pick around an unfamiliar ingredient for a few days.
- It's gone off. Past 3 to 4 days in the fridge, or left out in the heat, it goes in the bin.
Put the bowl down for five minutes, then pick it up and offer fresh food at the next meal. Don't top it up with treats to get it eaten.
A dog that eats nothing for a whole day, or refuses food and is also quiet, vomiting or drinking less, needs a vet. An appetite that drops with other signs is a symptom, and changing the recipe won't fix it.
Itching or ear trouble after a new food
The Merck Veterinary Manual says food allergy and environmental allergy both cause red, itchy ears, which can go on to ear infections, often with itching of the face and feet as well (Merck, Allergies in Dogs). Fleas and mites cause itching too, so a new food isn't the only suspect.
In a review of the published cases, the food sources most often behind food allergy in dogs were beef, dairy, chicken and wheat (Mueller, Olivry and Prélaud, BMC Veterinary Research, 2016). Chicken is in most of the kitchen's bowls, so note it if the itching started after the switch. The kitchen cooks no beef, dairy or wheat.
What settles it is an elimination diet trial. Merck calls it the reference standard and describes blood and saliva tests for food allergy as unreliable. A trial of at least eight weeks brings more than 90% of food-allergic dogs into remission (Olivry, Mueller and Prélaud, BMC Veterinary Research, 2015). Plan it with your vet. Swapping the meat every week makes a trial impossible, because nothing stays out long enough to tell. To build the week without a particular meat, read the swaps guide.
Gas, constipation and vomiting
Gas
The gas record lists the usual causes: eating too fast, dairy, cabbage-family vegetables, a sudden change of food and scavenging. Broccoli is the cabbage-family vegetable in the kitchen. Leave it out with the kitchen's leave-out chips for two weeks, and slow the eating with a slow-feeder bowl or by scattering the food. Change one thing at a time.
Constipation
Before treating it, go and look at what your dog produces. The constipation record explains why: straining that brings out mucus or soft stool is closer to colitis, and straining in a peeing posture with nothing passing can be a urinary blockage, which is an emergency, especially in a male dog. For a mild case in a bright dog, start with water. Never give a human enema; the record explains why.
Vomiting
First, check whether your dog heaved. The vomiting record separates vomiting (heaving, retching) from regurgitation (food just falling out). One vomit in a dog that is bright, drinking and has a soft belly can be watched at home, with the record's steps. Yellow foam early in the morning on an empty stomach has its own pattern; the meal timing guide covers the feeding side. Vomiting that recurs over weeks needs a vet, not another round of bland food.
When to see a vet now
Go the same day, without waiting to see if it settles, for any of these:
- A swollen, hard belly with retching that brings nothing up. This is bloat (GDV) until a vet says otherwise. Drive, and call the clinic from the car.
- Blood in the vomit, or vomit that looks like coffee grounds (vomiting record).
- Blood in quantity in the stool, or stool like raspberry jam (loose stools record).
- Repeated vomiting, or vomiting together with diarrhoea (both records).
- A dog that can't keep water down for more than a few hours (vomiting record).
- Straining in a peeing posture with nothing passing (constipation record).
- Collapse, pale gums, or a dog far flatter than "a bit off" (vomiting and loose stools records).
The kitchen's week is worked for healthy adult dogs, and a puppy eats the same kind of bowl in more meals (the puppy feeding chart). Pregnant and nursing dogs, and dogs with kidney, liver or pancreas disease, need a diet planned with a vet, and nobody on this site is a veterinary nutritionist.