Is it bad to mix wet and dry food?

Alfasudcrazy

My dogs have decided dry food is no longer for them and the only way I can get them to eat their healthy science plan food is to mix it with puppy canned pedigree - they lap it up then eating the science plan too.

Is this ok - I don't know what to do if its not as I would not like them to only eat canned food.

Schlemm

Yes its ok to mix dry feed and canned feed, provided that both types of feed are suitable for your dog's needs (i.e., age, weight, or any specific medical conditions).

The main thing is to make sure you're feeding the right amount of food. Because canned feed has a higher % of water than dry feed, you cannot feed the same amount in weight of canned feed as you would dry feed...this is kind of complicated I know, but all I'm saying is that you can't fill their bowl to the same capacity if you're substituting dry food with canned food. Read the blurb on the back of the bag or tin which will explain how much they're getting, and you should be able to calculate it from this. If you've any questions about the calculations, just ask!

However, you will lose some of the benifits of dry feed by feeding less of it. Dry feed is about the best thing for dogs, and you won't reap as much of the benefits of it (eg, dental hygene) by mixing it in with canned feed. Pedigree chum is not the highest quality dog food on the market, although it's not the worst either...Hills will also do canned food as well as dry food.

I think I remember your post about puppy food a while ago.....how are your dogs getting on? Just remember that picky dogs are made and not born; dogs do not demand a huge variety in their diet in terms of taste. The feed that they are accustomed to while they're young will be the food that they'll be most used to throughout their life. So while there's no harm in feeding them mixed food, a constant, lifelong diet of dry feed only would be better, so you could also try training them to eat dry feed only before changing to mixing.

peasant

As Schlemm said ...fussy eaters are made, not born.

Give them their usual dried food, at their usual feeding time. Leave the bowl for 10 mins, then take it away ..whether they've eaten or not.

Repeat for a few days and you'll be surprised to see with how much gusto they'll tuck into their dried food.

One proviso though:
Even dried food does go bad. If you buy the big sacks of it (especially of an imported food that may have been on the back of trucks and shelves for a while), the bottom of the sack may have lost a lot of its freshness or even have gone off.

To retain quality to the end, it is a good idea to keep dry food in a closed container (one of those blue plastic barrels with a lid, for example) and to give that container a good clean before re-filling.

Sigma Force

What I have noticed with some dogs once they get used to the dried they get a bit bored with it and will eat and bit and go back later. It's not always the most exciting thing to give them. It's easy to give in and give them something nice mixed in as long as the wet food is good quality and the meal in general is well balanced don't see a problem. Although if your dog is over about 6 months of age I wouldn't give puppy food.
I find Ped. Chum makes some dogs stink to high heaven though.
My mother gave into her dog very easily and she's gone so fussy now she will only eat a tiny bit of tinned and ends up getting all sorts of bits like steak and chicken etc. Mind you she's in tip top health. I haven't given in with my dogs though eventhough I am so tempted sometimes to splash a bit of gravy on their dish. The little one gobbles hers up now and the older one has half in the morning and half later on.

Another alternative rather than buying loads of tins (they can work out expensive that's why I love the dried costs be 7 euro a week to feed a collie and a small mix breed Burns dog food) is getting the dog gravey which you can get in some pet shops and squeeze a little on to make it less dry.

Or switch it one day mabey dog gravey on it another day a good quality tinned food and another day some fish oil and another day olive or sunflower oil etc.

Alfasudcrazy

I have failed to find any 'quality' tinned food around here - its either Pedigree or the cheapo Spar brands etc. Anyone know where I can get quality canned dog
food.:)

Schlemm

I've seen tinned Hills food at the vets recently and I think pet shops will sometimes order stuff for you if they don't have it.

Country-Bumpkin

peasant wrote:

As Schlemm said ...fussy eaters are made, not born.

Give them their usual dried food, at their usual feeding time. Leave the bowl for 10 mins, then take it away ..whether they've eaten or not.

Repeat for a few days and you'll be surprised to see with how much gusto they'll tuck into their dried food.

.

Recently had to do this to my dogs & although It broke my heart to see them looking hungry, it really worked & now I risk losing limbs if the food is not there for them!! Also, Cod liver oil about twice a week gives them a change & their coats are lovely & shiny. Someone also told me that a raw egg once a week does the coats good...not sure though.

fits

I know a lot of dogs prefer to get their food fresh, but mine ad lib. I measure out the required amount twice a day, and leave it in their bowls. Sometimes they eat it all at once, but mostly they graze on it during the day. This doesnt worry me at all if thats the way they like to do it. One of them is quite a fine lurcher/whippet with a delicate tum, so I let him eat it as it suits him. I reckon he knows better than I do. I'm also terrified of them bloating, so dont like the idea of a dog wolfing down his food too fast.
I'm not saying this approach suits everyone, but it suits mine.

Gillie

Tough Love my dear!

Glowing

Our dogs are also spoiled - they love a bit of bovril and warm water mixed in with their dry food. Its not adding calories etc but they love the meaty flavour!

Annika30

I would not recommend mixing the dried with the tinned dog food, it's not good for their stomach. Stick with the dried dog food. You need to be firm, leave their bowls down for no more than 20 minutes when you feed them, then you remove the bowls.
Dogs will not starve themselves , that's unheard of. They will cop on quickly.

Annika

cotton

I agree, they won't let themselves starve.:)
Have you thought about mabey putting something else into their food?
We feed our 4 dried food too,(RC) but get carrots, cabbage etc in it too. We also make up a doggie stew for them, they can't get enough of it.
Or mabey try a bit of liver etc. Much better than tinned crap & they will love it!

Bernard Hopkins

of course lean meats of any kind must be good for your dog.
im not tooo sure as to the quality of canned food these days,... its so much cheaper to replace meat with FAT in the tins...
had been giving ours a tube of tripe from liddel there for a while,....... a tube of fat im sure. thats finished with now.

dry foods are just not attractive to a dog..... kinda like been handed a loaf of bread and told thats your breakfast dinner and tea for you, and guess what , there'll be another loaf tomorrow.

its hard to watch your dog force dry food on itself to prevent hunger pains.
its nicer to see your dog enjoy something that is tasty and healthy.

a dogs sense of taste is incredibly heightened over and above a humans,.... they may just enjoy tastey food more than we do.

Bernard Hopkins

our beaker gets his own grub and 10 - 15 % of my breakfast , dinner, and snacks.

Schlemm

Bernard Hopkins wrote:

of course lean meats of any kind must be good for your dog.
im not tooo sure as to the quality of canned food these days,... its so much cheaper to replace meat with FAT in the tins...
had been giving ours a tube of tripe from liddel there for a while,....... a tube of fat im sure. thats finished with now.

dry foods are just not attractive to a dog..... kinda like been handed a loaf of bread and told thats your breakfast dinner and tea for you, and guess what , there'll be another loaf tomorrow.

its hard to watch your dog force dry food on itself to prevent hunger pains.
its nicer to see your dog enjoy something that is tasty and healthy.

a dogs sense of taste is incredibly heightened over and above a humans,.... they may just enjoy tastey food more than we do.

A dog's sense of taste is actually far less developed than that of a human: humans have about 9000-10,000 taste buds while dogs have 1,706 taste buds! They have a preference for sweet food, and this prob explains why they love treats so much.

They do not demand variety in their diet and will be more willing to eat the food that they have been fed when they are young, hence the importance of establishing good eating habits early in life.

Fat is highly palatable to dogs and is often coated on the surface of lower quality dry food to make it more palatable. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but if your dog isn't healthy on their food then it's time to change. If their faeces are runny and not well formed, this is a sign that their diet is poor. Also, other general signs of health that indicate a poor diet are dull coat, over/under weight, G.I. upsets, etc. It's the same as ourselves - a poor quality diet will lead to bad health, usually later in life, and I've seen a lot of dogs with nasty health problems that are fed unbalanced and poor quality diets. Look for a dog food that has very specific ingredients and nutritional information, usually if they are high quality the manufacturers will want to advertise this. Also be careful if you're feeding them scraps - they can tolerate only a certain % of starch in their diet, and exceeding this will lead to diarrhoea...so if your dog has loose faeces and it's eating a non-commercial diet, it may be due to a high starch content.

Bernard Hopkins

Schlemm wrote:

A dog's sense of taste is actually far less developed than that of a human: humans have about 9000-10,000 taste buds while dogs have 1,706 taste buds! They have a preference for sweet food, and this prob explains why they love treats so much

thats a very accurate estimate ....... 1,706 ?... all dogs the same , st. bernard or jack russell ?

no,.... dogs natural taste desire is for meat,.... sweet tooth disorder is aquired.

anyway,.... if you eat a little something thats bad for you,.... then you should also be able to do the same for your dog im my opinion.
the weight problem is what needs to be sorted, so give the mutt a workout every so often.

Schlemm

Yup all dogs will have roughly the same amount of taste buds, it's determined by genetics. What a preference for sweet food means is that when dogs are offered foods of different flavours in experiments, they will favour sweet flavours over other flavours (the flavours being sweet, sour, salty and bitter).

artieanna

cotton wrote:

I agree, they won't let themselves starve.:)
Have you thought about mabey putting something else into their food?
We feed our 4 dried food too,(RC) but get carrots, cabbage etc in it too. We also make up a doggie stew for them, they can't get enough of it.
Or mabey try a bit of liver etc. Much better than tinned crap & they will love it!

Have to say I agree with you on this, canned and dry food has additives in it, I believe that making up a dinner using fresh produce is hard to beat for a healthy dog.....