Wet and Dry Food Question

[Socdaneuic]

So I was wondering how to go about this exactly. I have decided to go with Orijen dry puppy food and they lack a wet food line so I was wondering if it would be acceptable to go with Merrick's wet food possibly. Would it be acceptable to feed two different brands? Then my other question arises on how do I go about feeding the wet food. This is what I was thinking:

1) Morning wet food or every other morning; night dry food
2) Mix wet and dry in the morning or every other; night dry food

I feel that wet food should be consumed in the morning because of the moisture content would help dehydration throughout the day (at least earlier). Or should I drop wet food entirely if she drinks sufficient amounts of water? Or EVEN go with Wellness Core wet food because I may be switching between Wellness Core and Orijen after every bag of dry food. These questions have been bothering me and I'm picking my puppy up in three more days so I'd like to get them straightened out. Thanks for reading haha.

[waffles]

There is no dog food police so whatever you want to feed is acceptable!

 

I feed homemade raw so my dog eats all kinds of things each day and week. So I believe variety is best so feeding more than one brand isn't going to harm your dog. Many people switch brands every time a bag runs out.

 

I have never fed wet food and I do not know many who do. So just as above, feed it whenever you feel like it. The only time I buy canned dog food is in the winter for stuffing and freezing in Kongs.

 

Don't overcomplicate things and enjoy your new puppy!

[gcv-border]

First, good luck with you new pup. Post pics here please. We all go 'Awwww' over puppy pics.

 

There is no single best way to feed food and no single type of best food. What you should do, is feed the food that your dog does well on i.e. is he happy, healthy, energetic and lean body weight?

 

You will get many answers here so this is my routine: YMMV

 

As a pup, I will feed 3X per day. An adult gets 2 feedings per day.

 

I feed both kibble and use 'wet stuff' as a topper/mix-in. The wet stuff can range from rehydrated Honest Kitchen, or cooked or raw ground meat, canned dog food, or left over grilled chicken or..... or a mixture of any of the above. I add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water and mix it all together.

 

Kibble - I feed a grain-free kibble and switch brands and/or flavor with every bag.

 

Water - I am influenced by the way the Alaskan mushers feed their dogs. They make a watery soup out of fish and 'other stuff" (not sure what). The important point is the large amount of water they add to make sure their dogs get enough water to deal with the dehydrating conditions of an Alaskan winter and the extended runs. OK. I realize my dogs are nowhere near Alaskan huskies, but I do like to make sure they get water. I have a very old dog who will not drink a lot of water on her own, so I add extra water to her food.

 

Note: There have been times (when I travel and a dog comes with me) that I do not feed with water. My dogs eat their dry kibble just fine.

 

That is about it. Pretty simple.

[Socdaneuic]

First, good luck with you new pup. Post pics here please. We all go 'Awwww' over puppy pics.

 

There is no single best way to feed food and no single type of best food. What you should do, is feed the food that your dog does well on i.e. is he happy, healthy, energetic and lean body weight?

 

You will get many answers here so this is my routine: YMMV

 

As a pup, I will feed 3X per day. An adult gets 2 feedings per day.

 

I feed both kibble and use 'wet stuff' as a topper/mix-in. The wet stuff can range from rehydrated Honest Kitchen, or cooked or raw ground meat, canned dog food, or left over grilled chicken or..... or a mixture of any of the above. I add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water and mix it all together.

 

Kibble - I feed a grain-free kibble and switch brands and/or flavor with every bag.

 

Water - I am influenced by the way the Alaskan mushers feed their dogs. They make a watery soup out of fish and 'other stuff" (not sure what). The important point is the large amount of water they add to make sure their dogs get enough water to deal with the dehydrating conditions of an Alaskan winter and the extended runs. OK. I realize my dogs are nowhere near Alaskan huskies, but I do like to make sure they get water. I have a very old dog who will not drink a lot of water on her own, so I add extra water to her food.

 

Note: There have been times (when I travel and a dog comes with me) that I do not feed with water. My dogs eat their dry kibble just fine.

 

That is about it. Pretty simple.

I plan on posting very soon, just had to deal with the family for a little while (their electricity went out for the entire day). However, I greatly appreciate you reminding me about feeding 3x a day since I kind of forgot about it. I was basing all of this off of her general feeding and not just as a puppy. Thanks again though! I do plan on feeding some raw, but for the most part, it's going to be wet and dry unless we're out camping. Now I shall go post those pictures.

[Cass C]

I have been told that it can actually be good to switch up what you feed sometimes. I've heard can help dogs from having horrible issues when switching food brands. Obviously don't switch everything at once, but if you're just switching wet food brands occasionally while leaving kibble the same it shouldn't matter unless your dogs have bad digestion issues. My dogs eat several different brands of wet food and have never had an issue.

[juliepoudrier]

I feed dry mixed with canned and water. Some get fed twice a day, some once. I just mix the canned in, then add water. If the dog bolts its food, it will get a lot more water because soup slows them down. If it's hot and they're going to be working in it, they also get more water. I have a couple who won't eat if there's much water, so they get just a little bit.

 

I never use "matching" Kibble and canned. Right now I am feeding Diamond Naturals to most of them, but one is getting a mix of Taste of the Wild Pacific stream (grain free) and a low-cal Nutro kibble. The pup is also getting some Nutro farm something or other that someone gave me. I just mix the two kibbles.

 

As for canned, right now, mine are getting Whole Earth Farms (I think it's made by Merrick) and Merrick 96%. If I find other good brands on sale (Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae, etc.), I use them. I also feed cottage cheese, eggs, ground lamb (because I raise it and so it's readily available) or beef, canned salmon and mackerel, rotisserie chicken, leftover stuff that I ate, etc. The bulk of their food is kibble; I generally split one can of food among the 7 dogs (and similar amounts of non-canned stuff I mix in).

 

Most of my friends feed straight kibble. I guess I was raised watching my mom add canned food and I think it adds variety and good tasting stuff for the dogs, so I add to the kibble. The only time I ever feed straight canned is to the sick or elderly; likewise with cooked meats. I do feed raw sometimes as well, and when I do that, it's in place of a kibble meal.

 

I've also been known, when it's really late, we've been traveling, or I'm really tired to just give everyone a handful of dog treats (baked dog bone type) as a meal substitute.

 

You really can't make a mistake mixing it up.

 

ETA: I think if you want to encourage a dog to drink more water, I'd add a tiny bit of broth (low sodium, low fat or fat free) to the drinking water to give it a bit of flavor. I think that would be more effective than relying on canned food for additional water intake. There's also a product called Rebound that I used to give the dogs before and after working hard in the heat. It was designed for dogs recovering from surgery, and is essentially flavored water with extras in it. Not cheap, but works well and the dogs like it!

 

J.

[Gloria Atwater]

Oh, my gosh, feed whatever you can afford that works for your dog! There is no rule on earth that says you can't mix brands or types any way that you choose. If there was, I'd be in a heapa trouble!

It doesn't matter, so long as your pup is healthy. The end. In fact, some say it's good to change foods up periodically.

I have gotten so I always feed my guys their kibble with a dollop of canned food mixed in, plus a half cup or so of water added. I don't buy into the "kibble keeps their teeth" clean idea simply because what dog actually chews? It's like saying pretzels would clean my human teeth. I like water and moist food with my dogs' kibble because I feel it's easier for their systems to process and it makes sure they are getting liquid with their meals. A plus especially for puppies who may be too busy playing to always drink enough water.

And I agree with feeding 3x a day for the first month or so. Congrats on the new puppy!

~ Gloria

[sjones]

I heard that Merrick sold out to Purina.

[borasaurus]

I heard that Merrick sold out to Purina.

Ugh, for real? Well, I was planning on sticking Kieran back on home made anyway. Does anyone here use Taste of the Wild?

[juliepoudrier]

I use TOTW. It's made by Diamond, which may put some people off. I use it just for my older dog who tends to be an easy keeper, so I keep her on a low carb (grain-free) diet. I am not someone who thinks grain-free is necessary, but since I use oatmeal to put weight on, it follows that reducing/eliminating grains may help keep weight off....

 

J.

[Maralynn]

I feed just plain kibble with water on top and a squirt of salmon oil most of the time.

 

I also feed raw meaty bones for teeth cleaning.

[GentleLake]

Ugh, for real?

 

Yep.

[Cass C]

Thanks for letting me know about merrick... Looks like I'll be switching foods again. Does anyone have a reccomendation of a good grain free kibble?

[waffles]

Thanks for letting me know about merrick... Looks like I'll be switching foods again. Does anyone have a reccomendation of a good grain free kibble?

I always like Fromm and Earthborn, both their food and the way they run their companies. I feed both to my cats at times. Both have grain free varieties.

[gonetotervs]

I feed Earthborn too. And FYI, dogread.com has monthly discussion groups re a specific dog book in which the author answers question related to the book. For this month, the book is on Nutrigenomics -- i.e. how food affects the dog's genes and how a dog's genetic background can affect its response to food/nutrients.

[Gideon's girl]

Fromm, Earthborn, Annamaet, NutriSource, Canine Caviar, Victor, Acana

 

I guess you can tell I believe in rotating foods too. And I mix kibble, canned, dehydrated, freeze dried, raw, and home cooked.

[Socdaneuic]

I wish that I saw this the other day. Now I feel like going back and returning the Merrick cans that I just bought today lol.

[sjones]

I found this article on the buyout. http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2015-07-21-0

It looks like the deal is just going through so the procuct you bought should still be fine. In the article it said Purina wasn't going to change anything, but we all know that they will.

I do a mix of kibble and canned for one of my dogs with health issues. Wild Calling, Party Animal, and Daves are other good ones I have used.

For kibble, Fromm, TOTW, American Natural Premium, Earthborne are good.

 

Samantha

[Gideon's girl]

Purina is already changing some things. There has recently been an announcement released about which of the Merrick lines they will be discontinuing. And they will certainly be using their own sourcing, which will probably mean cheaper quality ingredients.

[juliepoudrier]

I can imagine which product lines they'll discontinue. That said, I will wait and see. Although we like to make Purina out to be evil, I don't quite feel that way. After all, aside from Southern States brand, for many years Purina supplied all of our livestock feed. If their intention is to get into the premium food market then I assume they'll be careful not to lose customers. That would defeat the purpose of buying Merrick in the first place.

 

J.

[Maralynn]

I agree with Julie. My main issue with Purina is the fact they make and sell Moist 'n Meaty and Beneful. I wouldn't feed several of their foods but several dogs in my extended family lived pretty healthy lives into their teens eating Purina food

[sjones]

I suppose Julie has a point. It's just frustrating when you find something good, and then a big company buys it out and then they make changes to said product that may/maynot be good or discontinue it.

[Gideon's girl]

Purina and Purina Mills(PMI) are not the same company and haven't been for a whole lot of years. Purina Mills has a much better reputation.

[borasaurus]

Whelp, just started on TOTW this week. Hopefully, it works out for Kieran.

[Gloria Atwater]

I've been feeding Taste of the Wild to my guys for at least three years. Pacific Stream for the girls and Bison for Nick. All are doing just fine, look good, healthy and happy. I'll pay attention if there's any recalls or the like, but so far I'm quite happy.

~ Gloria