We have three little dogs who are so fun to be around with, but they are all different in their food preferences.
Our Dogs and Their Preferences
Tucker is allergic to almost all food and will sometimes refuse to eat anything, but he has always been interested in the other dogs and their food.
Sammy is always anxious for food due to his medication, and sometimes he will eat so fast that he is choking on his food. We have found that he is forced to slow down if we feed him in a puzzle bowl. You can find our review of the puzzle bowl here.
Wilson has quirky preferences on his food. He wants it served with a bit of water sprinkled over everything and stirred around.
And for awhile, they would not eat out of stainless bowls because of the noise their tags made against the bowl sides. Now they like the stainless bowls.Sammy is always anxious for food due to his medication, so we feed him in a puzzle bowl.
What is a pet parent to do to?
You want to feed them the best food you can and keep them healthy and happy, but how do you find out what is best?
After months of trial and error, we found that Tucker was terribly allergic to chicken and grains but could tolerate salmon. So we started feeding him Canidae Pure Grain Free Salmon dry food and Canidae Under the Sun wet dog foods, a bit of both for breakfast and dinner. At first, we would mix the two together. Then he wanted the dry and wet foods separately, and then he only wanted the wet food. This went on for a few months and he started refusing to eat, looking eagerly at the other dogs’ dishes that had different flavors in them.
Sammy and Wilson will eat one kind of food for awhile and then get tired of the flavor. We worry that they are not eating and buy a new food to try. In our trial and error method, we have moved from standard dog food with beef flavor to lamb flavor food to fish flavor, then to grain-free food with multiple protein formulations. They like it and this one seems to stick!
Right now, we are feeding the three dogs all the same diet: Canidae Grain Free Pure Range Dog Dry Red Meat Formula Fresh Lamb, Buffalo Meal, Venison Meal dry food with Instinct Nature’s Wet Variety Original Grain Free Recipe Natural wet food.
Just to make sure we were doing the right thing, we started researching whether wet or dry food was better for the dogs. We found that there are so many different formulations, health claims and price points! We could not make an educated decision quickly.
Here is what we learned about the differences between dry and wet dog food.
Dry Dog Food is convenient. It is easy to store and measure portions out, less messy and can stay out in the bowl all day without spoiling. Less expensive than wet dog food, its lower water content makes it more energy-dense and cheaper per pound to ship. Be aware though! Dry foods often contain grains such as corn, wheat and soy as a binding agent. Tucker is seriously allergic to grains, so we could not feed him any food that contains grain. That fact helped us narrow our choices!
Wet dog food is more expensive, but more appetizing for the dog in flavor, aroma and texture. Wet food often contains more protein and fat than dry food does. We have found that wet food is delicious for our three dogs and helps the finicky eaters.
Here is a graphic that we found on doghealth.com that might help you make your dog food decisions easier. It definitely helped us.
This is what we do.
We feed all three dogs dry food with some wet food on top for breakfast, and only dry food at night. Plus, of course, water sprinkled over the bowl for Wilson!
What is best for you? Dry dog food, wet dog food or a combination of the two?
You might want to talk to your vet to determine which food is best for YOUR dog and your budget, in order to make the decision on what to feed them.
What are your thoughts on this matter? Please share your comments below.