# canned food, anyone?



## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Ok I've got three dogs. Grissom, Champ, and Max. 
Champ and Grissom are on 50% raw, 50% kibble. 
Max can't handle raw, in fact, he can't handle most things. He's on California Natural right now. (I'm really not a fan of the food, but I am a fan of the results I've had with him.) 
I know he's got to have some kind of "issue." (what kind of DOG can't handle raw meat, when that's what they were made to eat?) but all of his tests at the vet came back "normal." 
Anyway, I'd like to be able to treat him with something yummy when the other two get their raw meals. I feel bad that they get tasty meat, and then I give poor old Max dry food. He likes it just fine, but it still seems unfair to him. Anyway, since raw is out for him, I figure wet food could be his treat, but I've never really used wet food much, and wanted some suggestions. I'd PREFER something I can order from the place I work (Merrick, Merrick B.G., Innova, Evo, Canidae, E.P. Holistic Select, Ziwi Peak, California Natural, and I don't remember the rest...) so if anyone has feedback on those in particular that would be great. I have looked them all up on dogfoodanalysis but I prefer personal experience.

Any suggestions welcome. 


...wow that was longer than I anticipated.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Aw, poor baby. I know it may seem like a strange thing, but some dogs can be allergic to meat, particularly beef and chicken. I find it difficult to find raw that Uno will eat, he seems to be really into lamb shanks. 

As far at canned, you cant go wrong with any of those. Merrick is definitely a treat for many dogs, mine prefers smothered comfort and wingaling. I used to buy a lot of innova evo canned, but since the prices went up, I dont buy it anymore and get Blue Bufallo most of the time. I tried canidae and california natural, but it wasnt as enticing at the other 2, regular innova is pretty good, but evo is better IMO. The other 2 I havent tried. 

Have you ever bought canned tripe before? its extremely smelly but dogs love it. Solid Gold makes it ( green cow) as well as tripett and Merrick B.G.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I supplement my raw eaters with Tripett green lamb, they absolutely love it. It stinks to hell and back but there's nothing left at the bottom of the bowl.:tongue: I believe that Tripett has the least ingredient list with like 3-4 items, I looked at the Solid Gold once and it had a lot of ingredients added, I'm not sure about the Merrick though.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Unosmom said:


> Aw, poor baby. I know it may seem like a strange thing, but some dogs can be allergic to meat, particularly beef and chicken. I find it difficult to find raw that Uno will eat, he seems to be really into lamb shanks.


I don't think it's a meat allergy because there's meat in his dog food, and he can handle boiled chicken relatively well, but any time I give him anything raw, I'm out back spraying the liquid poop off my lawn. I know there's got to be SOMETHING wrong wtih him, but the vet claims otherwise.
I've got some of the California Natural Salmon and Sweet Potato, and he totally digs it and seems to be handling it really well, but I'd like to pick a few that sit well with him and give a little variety, ya know?


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

whiteleo said:


> I supplement my raw eaters with Tripett green lamb, they absolutely love it. It stinks to hell and back but there's nothing left at the bottom of the bowl.:tongue: I believe that Tripett has the least ingredient list with like 3-4 items, I looked at the Solid Gold once and it had a lot of ingredients added, I'm not sure about the Merrick though.


The Merrick is just tripe and water, I must say I prefer that to the Tripett because it's softer and doesn't have as much stuff in it. I bought one of each of the Tripett types, Merrick BC tripe, and Solid Gold tripe and I must say the Merrick is my favorite so far. 

But all those other foods your listed are good too. I like the Blue Buffalo canned, I've used that in the past and the dogs love it too, especially the venison and Wilderness ones.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> The Merrick is just tripe and water, I must say I prefer that to the Tripett because it's softer and doesn't have as much stuff in it. I bought one of each of the Tripett types, Merrick BC tripe, and Solid Gold tripe and I must say the Merrick is my favorite so far.



I'm at work now and was looking through our book of what we can order, and I was leaning heavily toward the Merrick BG cans, because they seem to have the least amount of ingredients, (umm... two) and I like that for Max, as he's got mystery issues. But I was reading on the Merrick website to "shake well before opening" and that made me question exaclty how much "water sufficient for processing" is in them. I didn't want to order a case (12 cans for $20.11) and end up pretty much buying canned water with little bits of stuff in it. What's the consistency like in them?


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

It's soft, thick, and mushy like ... oatmeal I guess? Thick oatmeal, as I recall. I didn't shake the can and it seemed pretty solid to me, or at least it definitely wasn't bits of stuff floating in water.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> It's soft, thick, and mushy like ... oatmeal I guess? Thick oatmeal, as I recall. I didn't shake the can and it seemed pretty solid to me, or at least it definitely wasn't bits of stuff floating in water.


Hmm, I think I'll order some then! Thanks. THe instructions online that say to shake before opening just seemed a bit off to me. lol


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## azul99 (May 5, 2009)

*Corgi, please do post and let us know how it goes*

I am in a similar boat with Rosie, my terrier-mix rescue who couldn't tolerate Blue Buffalo. After trying Evo and Wellness Core with poor results, we are now transitioning her to California Natural, which is going well so far (not quite there with the transition yet, but no liquid poop so far).

I'm so-so on the food given its lowish protein content and limited ingredients, but don't know what else to do as I'm not going to go the raw route. When she is stabilized I will be looking for supplements (probably canned food).

Why aren't you looking at California Naturals canned food, given your good results with the kibble? I bought two cans of that when I bought the kibble, but have not yet tried it as I don't want to do so until she is reliably doing well on the CN kibble.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (May 19, 2009)

I love the Trippet's Green tripe (canned) and use it as a topper. From what I've read, the Merrick's is a combo of green tripe and blanched tripe which is not near as nutritious. Also, your little one may like a topping of The Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated raw food. When my autoimmune springer was very ill, that was the one thing he could handle. The whole crew LOVES it.


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## Guest (May 20, 2009)

Penny & Maggie's Mom said:


> ..... Also, your little one may like a topping of The Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated raw food.....


Absolutely! I use Wysong's Archetype dehydrated raw as a topper. Honest Kitchen is fabulous, too!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

azul99 said:


> I'm so-so on the food given its lowish protein content and limited ingredients,


I feel the same. I'm not all that impressed with the protein content, but everything else I've tried doesn't sit well with him. Evo was the biggest nightmare of all time. I, however, like the limited ingredients. Generally more ingredients means more crap.



azul99 said:


> I'm not going to go the raw route.


Why not? I won't go too into this as we are in the kibble and canned section, but Max is the first dog I've ever had that hasn't done well with raw. Generally, it's the answer. For a few reasons I don't do a full prey model raw diet, but I do recommend it to people. 



azul99 said:


> Why aren't you looking at California Naturals canned food, given your good results with the kibble?


I did buy a whole case of the CN Salmon and Sweet Potato, and he's doing pretty well with it, but I want to find a few to give him some variety. I like to rotate a little in their diet, and though I don't switch my other dog's kibble around, they do get different raw meats (venison, elk, buffalo, chicken, turkey, and pork) so they get their variety there.


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## azul99 (May 5, 2009)

*Thanks Corgi*



CorgiPaws said:


> Why not? I won't go too into this as we are in the kibble and canned section, but Max is the first dog I've ever had that hasn't done well with raw. Generally, it's the answer. For a few reasons I don't do a full prey model raw diet, but I do recommend it to people.


I don't want to feed raw because very frankly, I don't want the mess and logistics of it. I am also very skeptical about feeding any animal raw meat from industrial farms in the U.S. because the conditions are ripe for problems. Finally, the expense would pose problems for us.

All that said, Rosie is still having some issues. I'll post about them on another thread, with the hope that it doesn't degrade into a raw versus kibble debate.


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