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Wet food only

Ciren

Well-known member
is there any reason not to feed wet food only? providing of course i brush her teeth?
 
cant see any other problem, harley would prefer wet food, buti had a cocker spaniel about 20 years ago and fed her wet food, and the trouble with her teeth. Ive decided never again. di
 
With Cavaliers it's a good idea to give them some roughage, as this helps prevent anal gland problems. Perhaps some bran added to the wet food?

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
We have always given our dog wet food, we did try him on the dry food but he did`nt eat it, I think I should have perservered with it though, he is our first dog and I did`nt like to think of him going hungary, his teeth are not so good now but the vet won`t do anything because of the heart murmur, I do put small bite mixer in his food though.
 
Wet food does not provide the essential "crunch" that dry food does, and this helps their teeth (esp when they get older the difference can be seen, and it really is a big difference! :eek:). I know there are "complete" wet foods available so I'm sure they are getting all they need from it but their teeth (and often gums too) do suffer if they don't get the regular crunching action on them. Brushing their teeth does get rid of quite a bit of the daily build up on them but a descale is the only thing that keep them totally shining (and this should be done by a vet). In my opinion, the daily crunch is the best thing for the upkeep of doggies teeth! (of course, there are plenty of people who feed only wet food - I feed, and have always fed, all of mine dry so I don't know how tooth and gum health is dealt with by exclusively wet feeders).
 
the reason i ask is that i have noticed that sometimes her poo's have squigy bits in it, she also scoots and needs her glands emptying a bit.

i was thinking of just feeding her chappy and getting something like dentasticks for her to chew on.
 
Hi ciren

You will be a lot better if if you can transfer over to a good dry food like Burns or Royal Canin ,you will have no sloopy poos and your Cavs will be so much better pls do consider it pls.:)
 
James Wellbeloved also do a big range of dry foods, maybe give one of these a try. Some people have expressed problems that have with getting their dog to eat dry foods but from my own experience if the food is a good quality food they tend to wolf it down! I, personally, think that dry tends to be better than wet as far as the dogs general health.

Sloppy poos are never a good sign and most of the time it has to do with diet (unless the dog is sick or something), if you try to get more fibre into your dogs diet it should help. If the dog has dodgy poo then their glands aren't draining properly when they go to the toilet (thus the reason you need to get them done so often!). I would recommend a diet change to see how it goes and to try to sort out those poos (and glands!)(y)
 
You might well find james wellbeloved (esp kibble) is too hard, if the dog is used to wet food, arden grange is another good one, Ive been through this with harleys diet, and both arden grange and j.w. sent me sample so i could try them, the royal canin the vets can give you samples to try, and burns they also sent me a couple of small packs, its worth giving them a email, i actually rang arden grange as the "light" variety wasnt available as an option on their site and they happily sent me 4 good size packs, meanwhile i went out and got a bag of j.w. kibble so we are working our way through that, then he is going on arden grange all the time, my vet can get it in for us. Here is a link (if thats allowed) ;)


http://www.ardengrange.com/Pet-Food/light-dog-food.asp

I sent them an email saying my dog was overweight etc etc, and quite a fussy eater, ive boxes of uneaten dog food, so she said she would sort me out a sample and 4 packs arrived in a couple of days and harley loves it, its is expensive but not for what your getting, i sat and went through the ingredients in the likes of bakers, pedigree and well its no comparison.
 
do you only feed them chappie?

Yes. He also has Fish4Dogs dried fish skins and raw hide cigars for his teeth. Even the intestinal food from the vet gave him soft poos but you can see the fiber in Chappie, even in the poos.
 
Soft food alone is definitely not a desireable choice -- just brushing teeth isn't giving her anything that abrades her teeth, exercises her jaws and toughens her gums. It just leaves her prone to tooth decay and gingivitis. She doesn't need to have only dry food but she definitely should not only get wet food. You don't need to worry about whether she is capable of eating dry -- a dog's teeth and jaws are far stronger than human's -- they will have no problem eating dry food. If they do have problems, it is because there must already be problems with the dog's teeth causing pain, weak teeth, etc. They have to be put under general anaesthetic every time they are professionally cleaned and bad teeth and gums contribute significantly to the risk of heart disease, so it's important for a dog to get a good balanced diet that contributes to teeth and gum health. :)

If she won't eat dry then go the route of the advice for fussy dogs as the reason is almost surely that the owner is giving in and trying to coax the dog to try something else rather than just leaving the choice of dry food at a small window of a normal feeding time, and nothing at all in between. :) It doesn't matter if she won't eat for a few hours or even days -- an adult dog can easily go without a meal for several days and their stomachs are designed to tolerate this as a *norm* (some people actually don't even feed every day in an attempt to keep dogs close to what they would do if they were wild dogs...).

Pig's ears are not a great treat at least IMHO. They are extremely fatty and high in calories and are HUGE -- a single ear is more than one of my dogs would get as a meal in a day! In my experience they almost always cause soft poops (maybe this is causing the problem?), and often, the runs.

One advice site:

Pig Ears
... pig ears can cause blockages.
Pig ears have the potential to harm humans as well. Early in 2000, the FDA placed an advisory stating pork-related dog bones and chews may contain salmonella. So, if you are handling pig ears, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly.

Other problems are they are so fatty that they can contribute to bouts of pancreatitis.
 
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