Wet food should stop when.....?

[:o)rosie:o)]

To be precise Rosie is 5months & 3 days. Lately I've been feeding this dry food made of rice (can't remember brand) & Pedigree puppy wet food pouches. U was wondering when she sould be eating dry food completly. How old should she be? We've slowly been increasing the amount of dry food she gets so that she has just a little more dry than wet food. Any & all info would be great
Thanx
~Lizzy & Rosie~

[faeriedust1127]

From what I've heard from others and read myself recently, a completely dry food diet isn't necessarily the best way to go for various reasons. You can always mix the wet with the dry. Just do your research and compare food labels too. Try to stay away from non-specific meat ingredients such as "meat by-products or animal by-products" and cancer causing preservatives like BHA and BHT or Ethoxyquin, and fillers like several listings of corn ingredients. You can type the name you want to research into a search engine and get some info on it. Also a good place to start is Amazon.com and pick up a book on dog health. I really like the book "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats". Good luck!

[puttin510]

I've always been told, dry is always better. Their teeth will be in better shape. That is the main reason. When you start adding different things, the dog will get picky. She should be taken off it a.s.a.p.

[faeriedust1127]

[puttin510]

Why not kill two birds with one stone. Give dry kibble to help the teeth and bones. Of course give chew toys, thats a given. I have never heard anyone here say that wet food was good, not on any forum. Sorry, I'm still not with you on this.

[:o)rosie:o)]

Thanks puttin & faerie for your info. Well I'm not really sure what the advantages of feeding your dog wet food all it's life but I know of plenty advantages that dry food has. 1) hard poop 2) good for their teeth 3) you need twice as much wet food for 1 cup of dry food. Faerie could you fill me in on why you've always fed your dogs wet? That would be great thanks both of you

[puttin510]

Exactly all the reasons why you have stated is the reasons why dogs need dry. Wet food can make a dog have impacted anal glands also. Give me one good reason wet is good. Because I can't think of one.!!!

[faeriedust1127]

Ok well here's a couple reasons why i think it's a good idea to include wet food instead of just dry. First of all, canned food doesn't have all the preservatives needed in dry food to create a long shelf life since the canning process itself preserves the food. Also canned food has moisture in it that dry food doesn't that is needed for normal body function especially if your dog doesn't drink as much as it should. Also canned food doesn't stick to the teeth the way that dry food can( imagine when you eat potato chips, crackers, or cookies and how pieces of the food gets packed into the crevices of your molars) which adds to tooth decay. Now imagine eating a juicy pear, meatloaf or grilled chicken...big difference. Also the whole idea of the dry kibbles scraping teeth clean really goes out the window when you consider that most dogs wolf down their dry food so quick that they barely chew it anyway and the pieces that do get crunched are packed into those crevices at the top of the teeth and then swallowed, not left in the mouth to swish around and scrub the sides of the teeth any more than when you eat a handful of peanuts. And if the bits of food do hang around on your teeth, then they simply start to rot there and contribute to gum disease. I've also read that dry food has a higher ash content than wet and animals fed strictly dry diets have a higher instance of UTIs and stones. Now keep in mind, I'm recommending a high quality canned food only, not a cheap one full of excess sugars to make it palatable as that can be just as bad. I prefer to use holistic type brands as opposed to popular ones like Iams or Pedigree. I feed Wellness and Solid Gold and am currently considering the Spot's Stew.

http://halopets.com

http://solidgoldhealth.com

http://oldmotherhubbard.com

Ultimately you as the owner make these decisions for your pet, but I urge you to think about it before casting off any new information you might hear simply because its new. It was once commonly thought that Earth was flat, then we learned different. And I strongly urge you to consider brushing your pet's teeth....it honestly does help their breath too!

[:o)rosie:o)]

Thanks again guys I'll have to study on this one. Thanks for those links Faerie Im currently looking over them. Yes, we've tried brushing Rosie's teeth, she hates the paste, but we still try. She aslo chews on Dentabones.

[puttin510]

Well, let see,
Reason 1. Canned supposedly has less preservatives. Only in premium brands I will agree to that.
My dogs only get naturally preserved foods. It also has an expiration date, something alot of people don't know.
2. more water in the food.
Most dogs drink after they eat, mine do, and or when they are thirsty. May be good for a dog whom has health problems, but not the typical dog.
3. Wet food supposedly does not stick to the teeth.
I tried all that mumbo jumbo when I first got my dog 4 years ago, they had dirtier teeth than now. Smellier breath too.
4, My dogs only eat premium kibble so ash is not a worry. None of my dogs have evet had a UTI problem ever.
Soooooooo, Good luck to ya, still not with ya.
How long or short have you owned a dog?

[nern]

I used to feed Sebastian canned food only...I could'nt get him to eat dry food at all when I first got him. He even lost weight over it so he ate canned food for about a year and for the 5yrs before that he ate semi-moist food (kibbles n bits). For an 8yr old toy poodle his teeth are gorgeous (my vet even made a huge fuss over this at a prior visit) despite not eating dry food for most of his life. Personally, I think genetics plays the biggest role in oral health.
I think canned food is great. Its more filling and often meatier than dry food since grains are not needed to hold the kibble together. I only give it to my dogs once in a while now because it is simply too expensive. I don't think its imperative to feed canned food to dogs but I don't think its a bad thing to do either.
The Whole Dog Journal has a nice article that they put out every year on why canned food is good along with their list of top canned foods.

If you want to feed only dry food thats fine but if you think your dog really enjoys the canned food I don't think there are any disadvantages to continuing using it. Just my 2 cents.

[ShowandAgilityPaps]

faeriedust1127 seems like you did your research. I used to think can was bad, but you've really shown me how good it could be. My dogs eat real food which I guess would be more like can food and their teeth are really nice. Of course I do bruth their teeth, but regardless, they are pretty good.

Thanks for the info,

[lil96]

Luther gets diarhea from canned food, I really don't think it is any better than kibble, but my parents dogs ate canned food alot, I food Luther raw meat diet, maybe Jamiya will come and offer some info on that, she is like the expert on dog food stuff