Charlie's being a pig/what to do?/tinned food or not?

Hi again,
Following on from another post of mine (food recommendations/worried about pup), Charlies really taken to the tinned food from the vets, we're only supposed to be giving him a third of a tin a day but he's been absolutely whoofing it down so we've been giving a little more icon_whistling . My concern is that I won't be able to get him back onto his kibble as this tinned food is only to settle his stomach, it's called Hills prescription diet i/d. If I can't is it ok to feed him tinned puppy food, i'm just wondering maybe he prefers it??
We're nearly out of the vets tins and i'm not sure if I should ring them and ask for more or not as he should have more left than he has :yikes

Does anyone else use tinned food? what's the opinion on this?
Many thanks in advance

Hi. If the ID diet is helping, if it was me, i'd probably call and ask the vet before switching to something else. Zack had ID diet and hated it, but he hated everything at that time (february)(except boiled chicken breast and white rice). i wouldn't worry about the vet thining you've given him too much and you've run out too soon. I'm sure vets are used to seeing that happen.

From my experience and from what i've heard various people report, the wet dog food, as opposed to the kibble, is associated with softer stools. Other than that, I don't know of any reason not to give tinned food. i do think you are right to expect that he might not want to go back to kibble, if he likes tinned food better. But you have control over what he eats, based on what you choose to give him, so you can always switch back, though there may be a temporary power struggle involved. :x

There are reasons I wouldn't give puppy food (wet or kibble), even to a puppy, though (it might cause an imbalance in their skeletal growth). Zack always liked Canadae All Life Stages canned food.

Don't, don't, don't feed more than recommended. Believe me cavaliers will ALWAYS eat ANYTHING they can get hold of unless they are holding out in order to get attention, or in very rare cases, the true problem eater. Ypu will have an obese dog in no time by feeding just because he still looks hungry and you must be very strict on controlling food and treats. In this breed obesity is almost guaranteed to shorten their lives considerably because nearly all cavaliers will eventually acquire mitral valve disease (heart disease -- 50% by age 5, and almost 100% by age 10) and even a mildly overweight cavalier is overworking a heart valve that is already prone to weakening. The single best thing you can do for your dog's health is to keep it lean.

Those tinned Hills i/d diets are also generally *high in calories* as they are special diets meant to compensate whenan animal cannot eat much else. I have had them for my cats when they need a lot of calories eg when they are recovering from serious illness and was warned about this by my vets.

Hills is very expensive for what you are getting in terms of nutrition. I would select a good dry food and then if you wish to supplement consider something healthy and wholesome like a little added cooked chicken (take off skins) if he can eat poultry, cooked mince beef, fresh fruit/veg, etc. There are recipes for homecooked diets in the Library section as well as recommended treats and things you can supplement to a diet (see the item on obesity). I'd never feed only tinned food; this is how dogs get very bad teeth; the crunch of kibble helps to remove plaque and at any rate a dog shouldn't only eat soft mushy foods generally.

Basically all supermarket tinned foods are pretty low quality too though of what you can buy, I like Butchers, especially the mixed tripe as tripe is very good for dogs and Butchers has no preservatives and additives. Read labels carefully; many tinned foods have sugar in them! and other junk that animals don;'t need.

The UK may have more quality tinned than we can get here in Ireland. One of the UK people can probably answer that. If you want to supplement dry food with tinned then buy the best you can get.

HI there I currently feed my two cavalliers james wellbeloved food this is a dry food and is hypoalagenic and contains no addatives and they woof it down. I started belle off with tinned food when I first got her and she didnt gain weight very well then I found out about this food and her coat and weight are great now and so are my other two girls, altho this is not always the same with every dog hope this helps