# Mixing wet and dry complete foods



## Georgeyporge (Dec 30, 2011)

I'm after a bit of advise, I've been feeding my dog a quality canned diet since October last year, I'd found out in the August that he had cystine crystals and had to find something alternative to Hills that my vet was offering. Anyway after being on the canned diet and ensuring I encouraged him to drink as much as possible our last result from cystine check was clear. I was feeding the recommended amount but unfortunately it wasn't enough in a short space of time he'd lost a lot of weight, so I gradually increased it, until he was eating way more than was recommended and still not maintaining weight. I had to draw the line, it was almost bankrupting me, so I made a decision to try a quality kibble...moved him over to Acana, but I worry that he's now not having enough moisture. Any reason why I can't mix Acana with the canned in an attempt to get his weight up? So I'll be keeping the moisture content, and it won't be costing the Earth!


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## Gally (Jan 28, 2012)

Maybe I'm missing something but if your only goal in adding wet food is to up the moisture content why not just add water to the dry food and let it absorb for a few minutes before serving?


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## Georgeyporge (Dec 30, 2011)

I do do that, and encourage him to drink between meals, but I still don't think it's enough.


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## Gally (Jan 28, 2012)

I don't see any reason why you couldn't feed canned and dry in one meal, we do it all the time with no ill effect.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

There is no problem at all with adding canned food to the Acana kibble. If your goals are to provide moisture as well as weight gain, you could also add some fresh food from your kitchen and save the expense of canned. I don't think you want to go high protein with your dog's history of crystals; but you could add some well-cooked mashed sweet potatoes or yams, diced banana, well-cooked oatmeal, etc. as well as warm water to the kibble.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

I mix wet food "topper" with my pups dry food some days. No problems at all.


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## mayayoung (May 24, 2015)

no, there shouldn't be a problem with mixing the foods together. I mix wellness core 95% meat canned with all the kibbles we use, and shadow never has any side effects. If you worry about your dog not getting enough water, you can also add a splash of water to the dry food, in addition to the wet food. you should also offer plenty of water filled snacks to your dog, for example fruit. Watermelon is a favourite of mine to use. 

To encourage your dog to drink even more water, you can add stuff to water to make it tasty for your dog. When it's been a particularly hot day and i feel shadow hasn't drank enough water, I add a teaspoon of honey to her water, and her drinks it all up. Another thing you could do is give her broth, for example you could steam some carrots in the microwave and give your dog the remaining water, which will taste like carrots.


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