Is Canned Food Bad For Dogs Teeth?

[whiskedaway]

The only time we've ever given canned food is when our dog had an upset stomach and the vet recommended it. Knowing what I know now, I'd prefer to cook up chicken and rice in that situation rather than canned food.

I have fed Hills I/D cans to Darcy when he was recovering from gastro. It certainly is a less offensive than other canned food I've seen (and smelt).

We fed Hills too. It wasn't too bad smell wise.

[Sasha (Alexander)]

Thanks people for your inputs.

My other dog is a maltese pup about 3.5 months old.

I give her canned e.g Nature's gift and Purina puppy kibbles.

I can't give her chicken necks yet she is too small.

I have tried to buy bones from the butcher. But my other dog didn;t touch them, and they get flies if i leave them outside.

I will ask for "butcher's off-cuts". what do they look like?

[Nekhbet]

they're literally off cuts from when they trim up your human meat. You have to ask for them.

[Loving my Oldies]

I would have thought that a 3.5 months old pup could start chewing on a bone. Just a thought ;)

My dogs are very fussy eaters despite the fact that I do not pander to them in as much that if they don't eat when I put the food down, well they don't get another chance until next meal time.

I have found that they do like Lamb noisettes which have enough meat on them for a feed and then the bones are small enough for them to happily chew on for ages.

I also buy dried roo tails for small dogs.

A long time ago and in a different house, I had someone staying with me with her two dogs whom she fed Pal and Smacko strips ...... and never did poo patrol. Not a pleasant time with a very small back yard ;) :p

[Nekhbet]

I was giving 7 week old puppies lamb bones with the fat peeled off and chicken wings no worries.

[aussielover]

lots of breeders start 8 week old puppies or even younger on chicken necks.

[Odin-Genie]

My dogs usually get grain free kibble, Dr B's barf patties and raw bones. However, I do feed them canned food every once in a while. I use Ziwi Peak. These are grain free canned food with no colours, preservatives or fillers. Their websites say that only ingredients passed for human consumption are used.

My dogs love Ziwi Peak and their poos are great too after eating this.

[TillyandCC]

natures gift is still only 10-11% protein, considering they say it's 70% meat in the can, well that makes 7% real meat the rest is filler and water.

if you read the can it is 10-11% per 100g - the can is 700g so that equates to 70 - 77% for the can - well that's the way I read it. And what is on the label is in the can.

Sophie

[CrazyCresties]

A percentage is just that - a percentage and not a defined weight, so as you multiple the weight, the percentage of protein will stay the same as the other ingredients will also increase proportionally. Does that make sense

I'd be concerned if any dog food claimed to have 70-77% protein :D

Edited December 10, 2010 by CrazyCresties

[Greytmate]

Not all canned is junk Mine are all raw feed, but when they went through quarantine recently that wasn't an option. I provided Natures Gift canned instead, and they did very well on it Poops were still firm

http://www.naturesgift.com.au/index.html

They are back on raw now, but I usually have a couple of cans on stand-by in case I forget to defrost anything.

natures gift is still only 10-11% protein, considering they say it's 70% meat in the can, well that makes 7% real meat the rest is filler and water.

if you read the can it is 10-11% per 100g - the can is 700g so that equates to 70 - 77% for the can - well that's the way I read it. And what is on the label is in the can.

Sophie

Our old dog gets Nature's Gift, she was losing too much weight on other food.

I used to work for Nature's Gift, and saw what went on in the factory. I think their product is excellent.

Basically they mince up whole bits of chicken, with rice and vegetables, and it's cooked in the can. It is a very natural product. The chicken and cereal would contain as much nutrition as human grade ingredients, the veges are a little bit bigger and tougher than the ones we would eat at home.

Not quite as nutritious as raw, but nutritious enough for most dogs.

Like human food, dog food varies, depending on what they put in the can. Not all cans contain made ingredients.

[Nekhbet]

yeah you dont add percentages ... so in a 700gm can your actual meat weight would be just 49gm per can.

older and 'past it' veges are not as nutritious as most, and heat treatment has a destructive effect on some vitamins. No NatGift may not be the worst canned food on the face of the earth but if you're going down that route:

$1 buys you a bag of pasta, cook until it's almost done, chuck in a few veges (whatever is cheap at the time) chopped finely or even grated and turn down heat until they just soften. Let pasta mix cool slightly then add your meat depending what 'cooked' level you're going for. My dogs didnt mind it raw so I waited until it was cold and then mixed it all in. Add a couple of spoons of something like Kelp/Livamol/vit powder, some good oil, bit of garlic, pinch of salt eh voila ... whack on a lid and put it in the fridge. Scoop out when required. For thinner dogs or winter add a few spoons of lard if you meat source is fatty.

This is my 'mum has run out of money' food for the rottie I substituted pasta for rice as he has a wheat allergy. This way I save money and I know exactly what I'm feeding my dogs. We also used to cook this for the family dogs when money was tight and we needed a complete diet for day in day out feeding without losing condition.