Dry food or canned food?

[TXJackRussell]

Someone told me the other day that dogs should have two cans of soft food a week. I have fed my Jack russell mix Science diet dry food his whole life except for when he suffered from Parvo and couldn't eat it. He had puppy small bites till 1 year and is now on adult small bites. Doesn't seem to bother him. I leave his food out at all times and he doesn't gorge. I'm just curious if there is a factual answer to this or is it just based on dog and owner preference?

On another feeding note:

Does it drive anyone else nuts when people insist on sneaking your dog scraps, or just people food in general? I try to insist no one does so and yet even a number of my extended family directly feed him behind my back or "drop" things.

First post btw... glad to be here. Seems to be a abundance of knowledgable people who genuinely care for their animals here.

[LavenderRott]

Hmmmmm, my dogs never get canned food unless there is a medical reason for it. I haven't had a medical reason for it in like 20 years.

I wouldn't feed Science Diet either though. It was a great food when my mom fed it to her Poms some 28 years ago, but now it has corn and soy and by-products in it that I won't allow my dogs to have. It is too hard for them to digest and gives my dogs gas.

Welcome to the forum!

[coppperbelle]

I have never heard about giving canned foods twice a week. The only time I have given canned food is when I have run out of food and forgotten to pick up a new bag. The only thing at the corner store is canned. Mind you my dogs loved it.
My dogs too became very gassy on Science Diet. I feed them Solid Gold dry kibble. I will also give on occasion cooked meat and raw and cooked vegetables. These are not table scraps but food cooked specifically for them.

[doggy lover]

I've never heard of that, I have never given any of my dogs canned food other than when my last dog had surgery for bloat. The vet gave us special food for gastro problems, once he was better back to dry food.

[Lucky Rescue]

If you want to give your dog canned food, you can mix some in with his dry. I'm sure he would enjoy it - my dog does.

You can also give him some raw bones to chew on!

Does it drive anyone else nuts when people insist on sneaking your dog scraps, or just people food in general?

YES. My MIL used to do that with my last dog, who had a sensitive stomach. She would slip him pork or sausage, and guess who would be up all night letting him in and out....

[Prin]

Does it drive anyone else nuts when people insist on sneaking your dog scraps, or just people food in general?

YES. My doggies are allergic to everything and people insist on giving them doggy treats. Boo gets violently ill when he eats chicken, and it's not these twits who are up all night with him. I invite them over now. I say "Oh, you just gave him a cookie? So you're volunteering to stay up with him all night while he throws up, and then pay $86 to have the injections in the belly to make him stop?"

As for the canned- never heard that... I was hoping this was one of those "is wet food bad for the teeth compared to dry food" threads...

If you are going to try canned once in a while mixed in, I suggest you try Merrick's Venison Holiday Stew... It's crazy in a can. I really wanted to try it. Venison Holiday Stew: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/...p?c=15&s=20156
Here's their "Wilderness blend"- my doggies' favorite: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/...p?c=15&s=20290

Also, Just so you know, Science diet is not the best food out there. For a Jack, I'd recommend the Solid Gold Just a Wee bit. It's a bit more expensive but it's designed so that you don't have to feed as much.
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...id=68&code=140

There's also Wellness, Timberwolf Organics, Merrick (they make dry food too), and people on this site tend to like Nutro... (I'm partial to Solid Gold).
http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/dogs/index.html (wellness)
http://www.timberwolforganics.com/ (timberwolf organics)
www.merrickpetcare.com (merrick)
http://www.nutroproducts.com/ (nutro)

[mona_b]

With me I have always given my dogs both canned and dry since they were pups.My 9 year old GSD gets a can for breakie and a can for dinner.And he has his dry food out to munch on.My breed is prone to Bloat.So I was advised not to feed dry exclusively.

I don't have to worry about anyone giving my dog people food.He was trained not to take food from anyone.I did this with all my dogs.This way I will necer have to worry about someone ever trying to poisen him.And if it is something he can have,he will only take it when I give him the ok.....

[CyberKitten]

If cats are included in this , I'd have to say both though I think of the dry stuff as the cat's junk food. The Wellness canned food is the good stuff, the dry stuff is for free feeding. And they eat more canned stuff, thankfully!

[mona_b]

Yup,my cats get both also......

[OntarioGreys]

Hi, my first post here as well.

There are a lot of different views on feeding, some believe in feeding only raw foods, dehydrated raw foods, other believe in cooking their own foods, others say dry only, some suggest switching kibbles to prevent allergies from forming, there is a lot of theories when it comes to feeding, so yes it is owner preference.
This is the first 6 ingredients in Science Diet
"Chicken, corn meal, ground grain sorghum, ground wheat, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal"

compare it to the first 6 ingredients in the food I feed my dogs
"Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring Meal"

when you total up all the grains it outweighs the meat considerably, so your dog is mostly eating a grain diet, grain sorghum is one of the cheapest cost grains available, and soy bean was added to bring the protein levels up since there is so little meat in it. You would be better off feeding the Costco brand dog food, it is fairly close to Nutro in quality if cost is a concern

This particular site can be really helpful in understand more about dog foods and explaining the ingredient terminology http://www.doberdogs.com/foodcht1.html

Currently I am feeding Innova EVO ]http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=//product[%40id='1246'] , it is a grain free food and similiar to feeding a raw diet as far as protien and fat content I have an active 65 lb greyhound and a lazy couch potato greyhound that is 85lbs, each dog gets fed 1 1/2 cups of this a day mixed with a 1/3rd of a can of canned food, if I was feeding a food like Alpo or Purina I would need almost 6 cups of food for each dog per day, 4 or 5 cups of Science Diet, when you start calculating the cost of feeding by cup fed the true cost really is not that much different

As I mentioned I do feed some canned, I like to give the dogs different varieties to prevent food boredom, they sometimes also get add ins like cheese, yogurt, eggs, cooked veggies, the key is keeping the addin portions very tiny just enough to stimulate appetite and no where near enough to fill up on

[Prin]

Just be careful about using Evo. There is a bit of controversy, if not suspicion about it. The protein content is much higher than other foods, and some people suspect that it is among the factors that caused dogs to become chronically sick. Nobody can be 100% sure that the food is the cause, but it seems to be a linking factor, so please be careful.