Episode 44 - From Raw to Kibble: Preparing Puppies for Kibble‑Feeding Homes

3/31/2026

This episode’s question comes from the discussion group for my new weaning and early puppy nutrition course,
“Weaning For Life: From Gut Biome to Behavior, A Whole Approach to Early Puppy Nourishment”.

“Some of my puppies go home on raw, others to healthy kibble with whole‑food toppers. Historically, I always include at least one kibble meal—often from toys or snuffle mats, sometimes mixed with whole foods. Is there a more refined or appropriate protocol?”

In this episode, we dig into the real‑world question breeders face every day:

If, and how, to transition raw‑weaned puppies when their future homes will be feeding mostly kibble.

This podcast covers:

How I prepare raw‑weaned puppies for life in kibble‑feeding homes
What other breeders are experiencing when transitioning puppies from raw to kibble
Practical strategies for helping puppy owners either stay with raw—or significantly upgrade their kibble feeding with whole and fermented foods

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you never miss an episode!

To read the transcript for this episode, click the link below.

Transcript - Episode 44

I'm Jane Messineo Lindquist., and this is a Puppy Culture Potluck podcast. You bring the topics, we bring the conversation.

Today's question is about how to transition puppies that are weaned on to raw onto kibble in preparation for them going to homes that are going to be feeding kibble. And the question comes from the discussion group for my weaning course.

Some of my puppies would go the raw mixed direction and others healthy kibble with whole food toppers. Historically, I do give my puppies kibble at least one of their meals fed from toys or a snuffle mat usually, or mixed with other whole foods. Wondering if there is a more finessed or appropriate protocol?

Okay, this is me again. We typically send our puppies home with a couple weeks of raw food and a jar of homemade sauerkraut, and a jar of homemade kefir. I'll also divide off some of my kefir grains and give my puppy owners directions for making their own kefir. I would say 90% of our owners, given that head start, stick with either a raw and fermented food model, or do mostly raw with some meals of kibble.

Now, for those homes that just don't want to stick with raw and are upfront about it, they cut in the kibble gradually over the course of a week or two. We really don't have an exact protocol. Generally, it would be one meal kibble and then three raw and then two kibble and two raw and so forth. I've never had this method of transferring puppies to kibble to be a problem.

I do not transition puppies fully to kibble before they leave my house, even if I know they're going to a home where they're going to be fed kibble. We always do have a can of kibble in the house for treats and kibble trails, and the puppies have had a good amount of kibble again as treats or on kibble trails.

But I want to get as much good food into the puppies as I can before they leave my house. And if I spend a week transitioning the puppies onto kibble, I lose that opportunity. It's all about getting as much diversity and good food into those puppies, building up that gut biome, and doing that before they leave your house.

Because once they go out of your house, you lose control. That having been said, I don't have experience with sensitive stomachs, weaning stress, or digestive upset when my puppies are transferred to a new home. Frankly, I did not even realize that those were things until fairly recently. But I do think that much of this is because of the way we wean. And the fact that we wean onto so much diversity.

But I will also say that bull terriers are outgoing and gregarious. So the transfer to a new home is perhaps stressful in the sense of being a big novelty load. But it's not going to be emotionally stressful in the sense of the puppy missing their home and not being comfortable in their new environment.

Bull terriers generally do not miss a beat. If you had a really sensitive breed that did experience a lot of negative emotions, you know things that they had to emotionally overcome when transferred to their new home. You might, in that case, consider doing the switch in diet before they leave. In that case, I might sacrifice a week of dietary diversity in favor of one less thing to stress the puppy in their new home.

I can't get too far off topic on this, but let me just drop it here that my suspicion okay, with breeds that have a lot of emotional difficulty with making this transition and find it stressful, that probably that's better addressed through, you know, doing a lot of crate and confinement work, separating your puppies, getting them used to being apart from their mother, from their litter mates before they leave your house.

But I'm not going to, you know, put a stake in the ground and say, that's always true. There could be breeds that are more sensitive, and we're going to talk more about that. For what it's worth, I used to make it a condition of getting a puppy from me that the owners feed raw, but I no longer do that.

It is hard enough to find good homes for bull terriers. They're not easy dogs. And also, in my experience, people are going to say what they need to say to get a puppy, and then they're going to go home and do what they're going to do with the feeding, even if they agreed to feed raw upfront. But I have found that even kibble feeding homes are willing to step up their game and include add ons and even raw in a lot of cases. So long as we're supportive and not judgmental of them.

I thought this question was a great question, and I was very interested to hear how other breeders handle this. So I put it out to the discussion groups and I got 38 answers. So 38 breeders wrote in on this, and I'm going to pull out a few of the really interesting responses, but I broke it down into categories.

Seven of the breeders do cold turkey puppy owner transitions. In other words, they don't do any transitioning before the puppy leaves their house. They don't feed kibble at all, and they leave it up to the puppy owner. And most of the time, the puppy owner just does a cold turkey transition. Six breeders wrote they do something similar to what I do, which is a minimal introduction to kibble like as treats and on kibble trails. And then allow the puppy to do a gradual transition in the puppy owner's home.

Then 16 breeders do transition partially onto kibble before the puppies leave. And then I had nine breeders. Not surprisingly, we got some breeders that just won't sell to a home that doesn't feed raw or won't promise to feed raw. And interestingly, four of those nine breeders mentioned that their health guarantee is void if the puppy owners do not continue feeding raw.

We'll talk more about that. That was very interesting.

I want to give you some general takeaways that I got from these breeder answers. Notably, not one breeder reported any adverse event related to transitioning puppies to kibble, and there was no difference whether the transition was gradual or cold turkey, whether it was done at the breeders house or done by the puppy owner. I think this speaks to the enormous benefit of at least weaning on to raw.

It's like equipping the puppies with a supercharged and flexible gut that can just roll with the punches. I'll also say that every breeder reported that most of their homes did continue with feeding raw or a hybrid raw and kibble diet. They all agreed with me that if you set up the puppy owner with raw for a couple of weeks, when the puppy goes home, it sort of demystifies raw feeding and most puppy owners will continue with raw, at least in part.

Several breeders mentioned and I thought this was a great idea. In addition to sending home puppies with raw meals, they get coupons for raw food from their suppliers and give those coupons to their puppy owners. So the bottom line if you can make it easy for the puppy owner to start with raw, they're unlikely to turn their back on it completely when they get their puppy home.

But that brings me to the first comment I'd like to share with you. And here it is.

I basically do the same thing that you do. I feed a commercial raw diet to my adult dogs and that's what I wean my puppies on to. I send some along with the puppies. Most, but not all of my buyers continue to feed raw.

Some switch brands or DIY it, fine by me. I'm newer to the fermented supplementing concept, but I'm enjoying the results I'm seeing with my own dogs. All that said, I don't know if I would accommodate someone who planned to switch directly to kibble with no transition period whatsoever for the puppy that really doesn't have the puppy's best interests at heart.

Okay, me again. Well, it's interesting, although I said I no longer make raw feeding requirement. The truth is that the attitude that the puppy owner has toward raw feeding their dog does factor into my placement decision. And I agree. The key thing is, do they truly have the puppy's best interests at heart? I do not have a problem with a busy family that wants to feed kibble with some good toppers, or maybe a hybrid raw diet.

It's a convenience thing for them, but if someone has a strong philosophical objection to raw feeding and they have no interest in listening to me on the topic, that's a yellow flag for me. If they're going to be obdurate on the raw feeding thing, they're not going to be compliant with the other behavioral and health things. And that's a recipe for disaster.

I am in no way in anti-vaxxer, but there are definitely some medications and protocols that are dangerous and have been known to cause neurological problems in our breed. So in a nutshell, it's not the non raw feeding per se that's a deal breaker for me, but a refusal to consider raw at all. A refusal to even listen to me on the topic is a dog whistle for an owner who knows better. And that kind of owner is not going to accept my counsel on other topics. And I can't have that.

Okay, here's an interesting one. We start solids fully on the raw diet at six weeks. We introduce kibble in puzzle mats so the puppies are happy to try it. From then on, we do one meal a day with kibble, usually lunch. Breakfast and dinner are raw.

We have miniature Dachshunds and Yorkies. Dachshunds will be happy with any food we find, but Yorkies tend to fuss and have sensitive stomachs. So with one kibble per meal for 2 to 4 weeks before they go to their new homes, I know they're used to and will continue eating at new homes. Luckily, more and more families trust in raw feeding and decide to continue with using kibble for travel training treats.

New owners take home a choice of kibble or raw to start them off. Some who choose kibble are happy to take a packet of raw to try it out.

Yeah, so here's a good example of someone who breeds two breeds. One breed transitions. No stress. No problem. The other one more sensitive. So again, different considerations. Also, I think she's handling it really nicely to give the owners a choice of kibble or raw.

And given that choice, you know, when you're not putting someone's back against the wall, they're usually willing to try some of the raw. Here's another interesting one. I will not feed kibble at all. Like you, I send home plenty of easy to feed raw food with puppies and adults that I place. That way folks get a chance to see how easy it is to feed raw.

How much the puppy loves their raw food, and perhaps most importantly, how small raw fed poops are. If anyone's going to be dealing with large, stinky, kibble fed poops, well, it won't be me.

Okay. Me again. A number of raw breeders who don't transition to kibble mentioned that they don't want to deal with those big, greasy kibble stools.

This is also a great point about giving the puppy owners enough raw food so they get used to seeing the benefits, especially the stools, because I think that's one of the most obvious differences is when they go to kibble and they see what's coming out of their puppy, that's enough to gross them out often and drive them back to the raw food.

So now let's hear from one of my breeders that voids her health guarantee. If, if the owners don't feed raw and here it is. I only feed raw to my adults and my puppies. In the past, I would introduce kibble at around six weeks of age, very slowly, eventually feeding them one kibble meal a day or every two days out of the three a day that they get.

However, I've decided to stop that. If an owner wants to feed kibble, I only recommend a dehydrated raw such as her raw kibble, and I explained to them it needs to be done slowly. My health guarantee is only valid for raw feeders. I no longer offer health guarantees for owners that do not follow my care guide.

We also send our puppies home with about 20 to 30 pounds of raw food. I do not support kibble and I'm very upfront about this with clients. At the end of the day, if they want to feed kibble, it's up to them, but I don't support it.

Okay. Me again. You know, it's an interesting thing about the health guarantees. I didn't ask any of these breeders follow up questions on what kind of health guarantees they're offering, but I can certainly see if they're orthopedic guarantees that diet could be extremely relevant. That's another whole podcast and a long rabbit hole to go down. But let me just say, none of the dogs that I placed in kibble or hybrid kibble homes have had genetic health issues that I guarantee against in my contract.

Bull terriers in general don't suffer from genetic or orthopedic problems as a breed. So I can't speak to that. I can definitely see that our puppies that go to raw fed homes outlive the puppies that go to kibble feeding homes, and the raw fed dogs remain more youthful. But that does not rise to the level of a health guarantee. Could be, as I say, another interesting topic to pursue for another podcast.

I will drop this here though. When I used to do a lot of rescue fostering, I pick up dogs and many of them came with boxes full of medications, oral and topical for allergies. I switched every one of those Foster's cold turkey on to Raw, and I threw away the allergy medicine.

Every dog I fostered made that cold turkey switch to raw without incident, and every one of them never needed the medication that they came with. So if your health guarantees include any kind of guarantee against allergies, this could be relevant to you. But I just have to say before I leave this topic, that raw feeding is not a panacea for all allergies.

Bull terriers in general have significant grass and pollen allergies, and they can be difficult to manage here in the Mid-Atlantic, especially in our hot, humid summers. Feet and skin folds will tend to get inflamed, and regular bathing is necessary in summer months. Raw food alone is not going to fix it. You need to physically wash the allergens off.

You know, but that's distinct from the systemic mess of allergies that I saw in these rescue dogs where the dog was just covered in hives and hot spots. That's probably from a denuded gut biome resulting from a steady diet of poor quality kibble alone.

Oh, here we are. You know, it wouldn't be a party unless we had a troll. Hello, hater. Here she is. I can smell salmonella even from the screen. Good Vet business for this raw feeding B.S. ... and need I add several emojis and exclamation points. So, listen, I am not going to address this here. No time. I've done two podcasts on it. I highly recommend you check out episodes 25 and 26. Who's afraid of the big Bad Raw Food, Raw Diets for puppies part one and Raw Feeding. You might be overthinking this, Raw diets for puppies, part two. I address the salmonella thing in there. It's just, you know, it's a nonstarter. I don't know how there is still people out there trotting that out, but there are. But, you know, hey, there's a good example of the kind of person that you don't want to get involved with that you wouldn't place a puppy with.

Then we had somebody write in and ask why I send sauerkraut and kefir, specifically sauerkraut and kefir, home with my puppies. And, well, that's what the weaning course is about. But in a nutshell, fermented foods are going to be your best source of probiotics. And although as a breeder, I've done the work to colonize the puppy's gut biome, we want to maintain that colonization in a healthy state.

So those two foods cover a lot of ground in the probiotic world, and they're going to provide a nice base of both bacterial and yeast based probiotics. Furthermore, they're foods that are easy to teach the puppy owners how to continue on their own because I do give them some kefir grains, and it's as simple as dropping those grains into a cup of milk, leaving it overnight, you've got kefir. And the sauerkraut, which is fermented cabbage. Cabbage is the easiest vegetable in the world to ferment. And speaking of teaching people how to ferment food that brings me back to our weaning course. I'm going to talk for about two minutes about our new weaning course. We're calling it Weaning For Life: From gut biome to behavior, a whole approach to early puppy nourishment.

It's the answer to the multitude of questions we get every week about weaning puppies. It's truly a step by step course with daily menus, recipes, and video instruction. We teach you how to introduce a wide variety of whole foods systematically, so this will support healthy gut biome development, strong bodies, and behavioral soundness, while also supporting the dam through a smooth transition out of lactation.

The courses for all skill levels. The structured step by step approach will give novice natural feeders the knowledge and confidence they need, but experienced natural feeders will find that it organizes and optimizes their fundamentally already good weaning practices. The food charts, menus and worksheets make things a breeze, so anyone would find it easier and more relaxing to use the structured approach. I present in this course.

You know, I realize that food and food preparation for humans or for dogs can be intimidating for many people. This is very troubling to me, as I feel preparing food is a very fundamental part of being human, and it's somehow been co-opted by professionals. This course changes all of that and puts you, the breeder, back in charge.

Well, that's it for this time. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.