# canned vs dry



## shellbeme (Dec 8, 2010)

Is canned better for them than dry? Right now I am mixing fromm 4 star 
Kibble and natural balance wet food. I love fromm but I can not afford to feed the canned all the time. Do you guys think the natural balance canned is a decent food? I hear mixed reviews on it. Here it is 1.99 a can, and the cheapest of the better brands. I keep trying to find cases on sale but I am not having any luck, and I dont want to downgrade food quity to put him on canned exclusively. Do you all have any suggestions?


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

I'm a big believer in moisture in a dogs diet and I don't just mean add some water to kibble. When I did feed kibble I always added canned meat to it and noticed my girl barely had to consume water because of it. A dry food is not what nature intended for a dog to thrive on so if you can't feed raw then at least substituting canned food is better than just kibble. If I had a small breed I would just keep feeding a good quality canned diet. Even some of the vets who advocate raw say that a quality canned food is better than dry kibble.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Canned is definitely a good addition to the dry. Some other affordable brands to look into costcos kirkland(its like $18 for 24 cans), 4Health($1 a can), canidae, whole earth farms, and chicken soup for dog lovers soul. Most of those are in $1-1.50 per 13 oz can range.


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## westminsterthree (Jan 10, 2012)

shellbeme said:


> Is canned better for them than dry? Right now I am mixing fromm 4 star
> Kibble and natural balance wet food. I love fromm but I can not afford to feed the canned all the time. Do you guys think the natural balance canned is a decent food? I hear mixed reviews on it. Here it is 1.99 a can, and the cheapest of the better brands. I keep trying to find cases on sale but I am not having any luck, and I dont want to downgrade food quity to put him on canned exclusively. Do you all have any suggestions?


Canned food is not better but small breed dogs do tend to have more trouble with the UTI's and crystals, whether it is because they tend to drink less, genetics or that their plumbing is closer to the ground is irrelevant. Canned food is 70% plus moisture so you are paying quite a bit for basically water. I would just make sure your dogs has a generous water bowl and you change it frequently.


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

Canned is technically more biologically appropriate due to moisture content.......do some research. A dogs diet in the wild would be at least 70% moisture if not more due to eating fresh killed meat and bones. A dry dog food kibble is only 10% to 12% moisture so if you ask me a dog lives in a constant state of dehydration who eats a dry kibble diet. Your better off feeding either a mix of kibble and canned or just canned food. Of course everyone has there opinion but if you do some research then you may find what I'm talking about when it comes to moisture.


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## shellbeme (Dec 8, 2010)

Thanks guys I think I am going to try to put him on all canned. I dont mind payin two bucks a can but fromm here is four bucks  I think I will rotate brands and keep an eye out for sales.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

shellbeme said:


> Thanks guys I think I am going to try to put him on all canned. I dont mind payin two bucks a can but fromm here is four bucks  I think I will rotate brands and keep an eye out for sales.


Have you tried ordering online?


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## shellbeme (Dec 8, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> Have you tried ordering online?


I have checked a few places online but by the time I add in the shipping it is the same cost or more than I can get local. Maybe you have some suggestions for sites I havent visited though?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Unosmom is the online queen, you'll have to wait for her to speak up....Sorry!


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

If you wait until you get the coupons, you can get the canned food cheaper by the case online. Petfooddirect will send out coupons for up to 20% off your total order which more then covers shipping. I usually get cases of 95% meat or 100% meat canned foods and pay anywhere from $1.15 to $1.75 a can depending on how exotic the meat is. I may go more then that if it is a novel protein source like buffalo, just for something different. This is for emergencies when I keep cases of all meat food stacked in my garage in case I lose power in my freezer. 

You can also just get meat on sale at your store like ground beef or ground turkey (whatever you find cheap) and cook it up and add it to the kibble. When you compare the price of a 10-13 ounce can of food to 16 ounces of real meat that you pick up on sale or clearance at the store, the meat is usually as cheap or cheaper. I pick up whatever I find with the yellow clearance tags on them in the meat bins and it's cheaper then canned dog food.


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

chowder said:


> You can also just get meat on sale at your store like ground beef or ground turkey (whatever you find cheap) and cook it up and add it to the kibble. When you compare the price of a 10-13 ounce can of food to 16 ounces of real meat that you pick up on sale or clearance at the store, the meat is usually as cheap or cheaper. I pick up whatever I find with the yellow clearance tags on them in the meat bins and it's cheaper then canned dog food.


I couldn't agree more but I wouldn't cook it and I wouldn't feed ground. I fed Acana Wild Prairie and added in raw boneless meats. Your pet may differ, however, I would feed 75% Acana and 25% varied boneless proteins. For example: chicken, beef heart, a bit of liver mixed with boneless, a bit of kidney mixed with boneless, turkey, etc. The fiber in the Acana made for no loose stools at that percentage. I would also pick a few days of the week and feed bone-in raw exclusively (turkey necks, chicken wings, chicken drums) without any Acana to assist with dental cleaning.

I far prefer feeding fresh meats as opposed to canned.


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## shellbeme (Dec 8, 2010)

You are all giving me some really good ideas, I apriciate the feedback


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

I agree that not feeding 100% kibble for a meal is the way to go. There is a certain convenience to canned, but you often sacrifice either quality of ingredients and/or pay a high price.

At one point I used to add EVO canned at 25% to my dogs' kibble. That's been a few years ago. Now, I prefer to to purchase regionally-raised meat and cook it myself to add to kibble. If I were traveling though, I'd certainly consider canned.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

shellbeme said:


> I have checked a few places online but by the time I add in the shipping it is the same cost or more than I can get local. Maybe you have some suggestions for sites I havent visited though?


Check out amazon. They don't always have the cheapest prices but they are way better than 4 dollars a can. http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Lovers-Soul-Formula/dp/B0018CIP10/ref=sr_1_14?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1326398798&sr=1-14



whiteleo said:


> Unosmom is the online queen, you'll have to wait for her to speak up....Sorry!


Hmm... I was unaware that I had a queen. J/king


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

PDXdogmom said:


> I agree that not feeding 100% kibble for a meal is the way to go. There is a certain convenience to canned, but you often sacrifice either quality of ingredients and/or pay a high price.
> 
> At one point I used to add EVO canned at 25% to my dogs' kibble. That's been a few years ago. Now, I prefer to to purchase regionally-raised meat and cook it myself to add to kibble. If I were traveling though, I'd certainly consider canned.


When we were traveling in the motor home, we kept cases of 100% and 95% meats in the underbed storage area's since we had such a small freezer area and used that for feeding the dogs. Most of the places we were at (like Devils Tower and the Grand Canyon) had limited or EXORBITANT meat prices so it was a lot more convenient to know that we had cases of meat food stored away for the dogs. It's a whole lot easier now that I have a garage with two freezers in it! 

In fact, in those places, we didn't even feed the HUMANS hardly any meat!!


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

my 3 favorites pet food sites are Pet Food, Treats, and Toys at MrChewy.com and Greenies, Orijen, Acana, Wellness, Flossies, Natural & Organic Dog Food - DoggieFood.com and Pet Meds for Less - Discount Pet Supplies at PetCareRx.com Pharmacy!, mrchewy and doggiefood have free shipping on orders over $49 and petcare rx does too but with restrictions(only up to 35 lbs of food, but they also seem to have lowest prices around, I got a bag of totw cat food for $23 and 24 cans of chicken soup canned cat food for $17 which is even cheaper then my feed store).


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