Dry Kibble Feeders...What R you feeding? Do you mix canned w/ it?
 

I guess I never thought about it before but should I be adding canned food to the dry kibble?
How much? Should the wet/canned food be from the same company?

If so... How does that work out with adjusting the food amount so they do not get over weight?

We feed Innova Small breed..... and they only get dry kibble. (of course we also give them their treats.... itty bitty buddy biscuits)

Adding canned food to kibble is not necessary. Most kibble are a complete and balanced diet.

Few canned foods are complete and balanced. I do not add canned to my boys' kibble.

I switched to Blue Buffalo.
I can't seem to find Innova Small Bites here any more since they were bought by P&G.

The boys did not seem to do well on the higher protein and Mickey got bored with Acana and would barely eat it.

What are you feeding? Thanks:)

I switch between Go! Grain Free Endurance Formula and Fromm Chicken a la Veg. The Go! is 32 - 34 % protein and the Fromm is only 24%. I know this is an odd combo, but it works for my boys.

I feed Natural Balance kibble and sometimes add canned and sometimes feed a meal of canned alone. Dry food and canned food are each complete and balanced diets on their own, you don't need to be mixing them. Many people mix canned food to entice their dogs to eat kibble- not because it is a necessary additive. You can use a different company or different formula, it doesn't need to be the same unless it causes your dog to have an upset stomach.

I feed canned and dry. The only reason I started was because Jackson would never eat dry kibble by itself. He would let it sit for days. I like the canned for the added moisture and meat content (I often buy the 95% meat cans) but other than that, of course it's not necessary. I mainly do it for variety and taste... he really enjoys it. It's something I just don't mind doing. But it's definitely not cheap... cans add more cost. I typically leave a can in the fridge for 5 days and then trash it, but a trick I've learned is to freeze it and it will last longer in the freezer than the fridge.

I'm on a bag of Go! Endurance right now for kibble and canned foods range from Natures Variety, Wellness, Canidae, By Nature, etc. Oh and Go! and Now! cans. I rotate the canned foods every week. I usually try to stock up on cans when I see them for sale. Oh and if I make chicken or some other kind of meat, I will mix that in his food instead of the canned.

As for portions, I just kind of have always judged it by my own eye. He gets 1/2 cup of kibble per day (Orijen and Go! Endurance are both higher calorie) and then probably about a tablespoon of wet food per day. If he's more active in a day than usual, I will up the food. But basically what I do is leave kibble out available to him at all times and then he gets dry/wet for breakfast and dinner but the kibble is always there to snack on, tho he rarely touches it.

I feed kibble and canned, at first it was to get Chase interested since he wouldn't eat just kibble. I did it for Calvin too when he came home for the same reason. After awhile, they got over their pickiness, but I still do the canned just because they really enjoy it. For kibble I rotate between Instinct, Prairie (just to get some grains in, I may discontinue it since they are on it right now and the poos have gotten bigger and less firm), Orijen, Acana, and Taste of the Wild. The canned is Instinct, Fromm, Party Animal Organic, Weruva, and Tiki Dog. In the morning they get kibble and Grandma Lucy's Artisan (just a big spoonful). Chase gets 1/2 cup of kibble a day, Calvin gets 1/4cup of kibble a day, and they both get an ice cube size of canned with dinner. I freeze the canned in the baby food trays, and just defrost them each a cube everynight. It's pretty cheap (I get at least 26 meals out of 1 can), and I'm not throwing any away.

I used canned a few years ago with Sasha when she was in her picky stage, but stopped once she just wanted to lick the canned off and leave the kibble. She now gets primal raw in the morning for breakfast. I keep two 4lb. bags of raw all the time with each bag being a different flavor. I usually defrost 3 nuggets which is 2 meals worth and rotate the flavors after those 2 meals. For dinner, currently she's eating Acana and only gets 1/8 cup. I haven't decided if I want to rotate her kibble again after every bag. I always change the flavor up within the same brand, but I may just stick with Acana for awhile.

I feed Lexie canned with kibble too. She was really picky when she came home and so tiny, the breeder actually told me to mix wet in if she won't eat just the dry. She gets so excited about her dinner because she loves the added flavour. I had her on Orijen puppy and now trying out Acana, she seems to love both equally. The only canned I've used so far is Wellness 95% and Evangers. She weighs 3.5lbs and eats 1/3 cup of kibble per day with 1 tbsp wet at dinner.

Nice tip about freezing the canned, I wasted a few until I started doing that

Was reading the tips on here and I just bought Precise yesterday for my baby. He liked it but, it seems to give stinky bowls:eek: and kind of runny. I'm thinking i need to change his food? What do you think?

Precise is 4 star out of 5....but just because it's premium doesn't necessarily mean that our little ones won't have problems on it. If his bm's have changed..I'd definitely consider changing foods...find another one he might do better on. Mine are on Natural balance/and Evo..they are doing well on both.
Others really like Blue buffalo and tast of the Wild...I want to try them...when/if I can ever find them in our area..

Maybe this will change your mind. ;)

What’s Really in Pet Food

This is what I was told some time ago ~ The transition to a new dog food should be done over about 10 days or so. This is done by mixing in the new food by a small ratio to a large ratio of old on the first few days. By half way through the transition time, the food mix could be at 50/50 and at 10 days or so you would be at 100% new food. If you don't have any of the original (old) food to mix in with Precise food, your pup will have a few days of discomfort with runny poo's. Stopping one food & starting a new food abruptly will most likely cause the doggie some issues. Hope your pup feels better soon :aimeeyork

For the OP, I feed Taste of the Wild kibble. No can food, but I do top the dry with small amount -1/4 of a Stella & Chewy freeze dried pattie on their breakfast & small amount of Honest Kitchen Preference on their dinner. I give about 1/4 cup of kibble morning & night. I do have big girls, both are 12 lbs +.

I used to feed Innova, but we switched to Taste of the Wild to drop brown rice and so everyone could eat the same food...we do not use any red meat kibble...feeding canned food too often can cause teeth problems...always brush.
We also do RAW: Stella and Cewy's patties and fresh fruits, vegis...no grains.

I just read the post above! Great minds feed the same? LOL...but mine get 1/2-1 cup...twice daily plus a RAW lunch

I feed can and dry. We use Instinct (Chicken) dry and can food. The can food is one of the high meat content. I think it is like 90% or something. I put the dry in her bowl then add one tsp of can and mix it around. She is not getting a lot of the can food that way. But it is enough to make her interested in the dry. Rosie is a very picky eater. However, Instinct works for us.

Fromm Four Star food either the chicken or duck version. I don't give yuna can food since it's messy and I rather have her eat kibbles.

Thanks lucyaboo. I appreciate the info. He seems to be doing better. :) We are doing better on eating, now if we could only get the sleeping thing down at night. I know it will take time. He is still so tiny. He is only 12 weeks and still a tiny baby. He gets me up a couple of times a night to potty and he does go. :p I hold him for just a few minutes and then I put him back in his bed. He goes right back to sleep. I think he is doing really good for being so little. We are also working on the potty pads for training because it is so cold here. He only weighs 1 pound and 11 oz. He does pretty good. This of course is a work in progress.

Agreed!! :)

I didn't realize that your pup was so young & small :aimeeyork
I'm glad he is doing better with the food. My dogs are over 6 years & 3 years & they still wake me up in the middle of the night ~ LOL!! Lucy uses potty pads, Pebbles does not. Lucy barks for Pebbles when Pebs needs to go out, they're really funny girls...

Wow great read thank you. I have Dr Pitcairn's book but have just started reading it. I was supplementing Buster's kibble ,Orijen and Chicken Soup diet, with his supplement powder and fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. But after reading your article it seems as if even the best intentioned dry food manufacturers can't get through the process with out destroying the majority of nutrients and using additives for shelf life. So I will have to see about a full human grade, home cooked, or closer to raw, approach to Buster's diet.

i feed mine homecooked and pre-made raw, but i do leave out kibble for them to eat whenever they want. (they don't eat a lot of it though) the kibble i feed them is origen, i highly recommend this brand. they won dog food of the year for both 2009 and 2010. they are made in canada, they only use fresh ingredients, never use anything frozen or old. :thumbup:

Hmm check the ingredients...also read about switching foods too soon and how to switch foods properly (won't apply to a food you've only fed a week or so at all though) and about what to feed a pup-

Personally, I still swear by Taste of the Wild and a RAW diet because both can be fed to any age, size or breed of dog...you just watch your ingredients and remember even with each brand you have different "flavors" that contain different ingredients like there are 5 different kinds of taste of the Wild, we do the foul and the fish...but there's red meats ones etc...we used to do Innova and that's great too but as we had different aged dogs here and with different dietary needs it was so harsh feeding four dogs three different "flavors" of kibble and then a RAW diet...

Yorkiedaze-great link I just read this part...

What’s Really in Pet Food


"Although the cooking process kills bacteria in the ingredients, the final product can pick up more bacteria during the subsequent drying, coating, and packaging process. Some experts warn that getting dry food wet can allow the bacteria on the surface to multiply and make pets sick. Do not mix dry food with water, milk, canned food, or other liquids."

Hmmmmm my vet just told me that wet food stays on teeth more and causes more plaque build up and often has more bacteria to use it sparingly if I did...nothing about not mixing it!

My little girl is on a grain-free, chicken-free diet so I feed NOW by Petcurean. I mix green peas in with her food daily but that is just because she LOVES them so much.

NOW! Grain Free Pet Food

Looks good!...I have to ask though why chicken-free..just because it has duck, turkey and salmon in that "flavor" or is there some benefit to not feeding chicken? Or was it just over rendered meats and fats?

Ian only eats dry kibble...1/4 cup in the morning and evening. He was on Blue Buff, but started having loose bowel movements, so we switched to Wellness for small breeds. His bowel movements are firm, and relatively small now. I give him one or two fresh uncooked string beans for a mid-day snack. Everyone says that he looks as if he has false teeth because they are so pearly white.:D