Mixing help!
 

Alright so my puppy has an urinary infection and I am not 100% sure he is getting the amount of water he needs even though I leave the water out for him and Benji (our cat) all day. I am considering mixing canned food (against my vet's advice) with his dry kibble. I am considering doing this for 2 reasons. 1- It will have more meat than most kibble. And 2- it will give him more water in his diet without having to drink more. oh, haha, reason number 3 (forgot this one momentarily)- he doesn't seem to eat very often so I was thinking of putting him on an eating scedule (three times a day) to help with his potty training and so I know he eats. I believe it will help because we can better predict when he needs to go AND when he is completely potty trained we want to give him free run of the house so eating at certain times and then going out will be helpful to him so he isn't set up for failure (accidents). I want to know if this is an alright approach. I feel like I have solid reasons but I just want to make sure. Also, if I do decide to mix, what would be a great canned brand and how much wet should I mix with dry?

He weighs 3 pounds and is suppose to "max out" at 5. His parents were on the smaller end. I want to make sure he doesn't gain too much weight eating the mixture. And we do go on at least a 1 to 1 1/2 hour walk everyday but it's more like 2 long walks like that a day...... he's very active when he's not napping!

Thank you for all of your help.

Sounds like you know more than your vet about nutrition already, which is not unusual :). Getting hydration in the diet is very good, esp. with UTIs. And yes, canned food is superior in meat quality to kibble - so it will boost his nutrition as well. Brands I like are: Natures Variety Instinct, Wellness, Cal. Natural - even Wysong and Fromms makes some nice canned. :)

I'm curious why you vet doesn't want you to feed canned. Is he an older vet? Old school thinking was that kibble was best, but with the high quality food on the market now, many vets even recommend canned food over kibble. As long as you offer a dental chew a couple times a week, he could be very well nourished on canned food alone.

How much you feed will depend on the brand of food you choose. Follow the recommendations on the package based upon his weight.