Canned/tinned Food

[Lemonlime]

Just wondering how many of you give tinned food as a part of your dog/s regular diet?

I know PAL, chum etc are a NO NO but there are now brands like Holistic Select, Canidae, Artemis who make tinned food with (what seem like) good ingredients (some even grain free).

For example, here is the ingredients list off Canidae Pure Sea: Salmon, salmon broth, ocean fish, chicken liver, chicken, potatoes, peas, carrageenen, guar gum, locust bean gum, flaxseed oil (source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids), dicalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, suncured alfalfa meal, calcium sulfate, lecithin, sunflower oil (source of Omega-6 Fatty Acid), beta-carotene, sage extract, rosemary extract, cranberries, yucca schidigera extract, choline chloride, taurine, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, copper proteinate, sodium selenite, manganese proteinate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid.

Are the better tinned foods really a bad addition to dry food?

[~Anne~]

If your dog thrives on it, feed it.

I have, and will continue to, feed commercial foods both dry and tinned. For the most part, one of my dogs is fed a natural cooked diet. Raw makes him sick. However, I still feed commercial as well.

Sometimes I feed commercial when I have run out of cooked mince for him or when beef and or chicken mince is up around the $13 per kilo mark. At the moment, he is on tinned food while he is being pet sat. I am away and it's easier.

When feeding tinned I feed natures gift.

My other dog only eats kibble. She is on a specific diet to prevent bladders stones. She is thriving.

[luvsdogs]

My previous Border Collie was allergic to wheat, it made her incontinent. So the last few years of her life she lived on Nature's Gift tinned, except the lamb & pasta, & raw chicken pieces with the occasional lamb shank or flaps. It's cheaper than the ones you mentioned & made in Australia & has been recommended as one of the best for dogs.

[dotdashdot]

I only feed it as a back up when I run out of barf patties. I've fed the Holistic Select cans, and it actually has vegetables visible but at the end of the day, all cans are still like 80% water.

When I have customers ask if it's necessary to feed wet, I say no, but if they want the variety wet can offer than maybe try barf patties, which has meat, offal, bone and vegetable and not much more than that.

[WreckitWhippet]

Never, it's easy enough to keep some chicken wings, necks or mince in the freezer.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I feed a cooked, homemade diet now and don't plan on going back to commercial food again.

The problem with canned is that it is mostly water (and therefore you are wasting your money).

Personally, I would rather include raw meat and raw meaty bones with a kibble diet. Commercial food is generally lacking in meat content.

[Lollipup]

No not as their diet. I have recently used it to stuff some Kong's as a treat though.

[luvsdogs]

I don't advocate it all the time. My BC used to get 1/4 tin with her chicken wings. My present dogs don't get it much now, only if they need medicating so I can crush their tablets up in it or for powders.

[Alibi]

I sometimes give my dog ziwipeak canned just to mix it up with her other food.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I always have some Natures Gift tinned food in the pantry as my back up emergency food. But I will give it to them from time to time just to make dinner a bit different! And it is great for plugging up the end of Kongs (especially frozen in summer!)!

[CrazyCresties]

When I brought my guys over from the UK with me, they ate Nature's Gift while in quarantine for 30 days and did fine on it. Their poo remained pretty firm and weight wise they did well. Before they had been fed a totally raw diet, but I swapped them over to some similar food in the UK before the move.

I usually have a couple of cans in the pantry, along with some tinned mackerel or sardines if I forget to defrost something, especially for Louis as he can't have raw at the moment.

[Sandra777]

When we first moved to oz our girls got natures gift and nutro with egg and sardine once a week for 6 weeks until our furniture got here. no one died. lol

[Staffyluv]

Never, it's easy enough to keep some chicken wings, necks or mince in the freezer.

Same, we always have these and kangaroo in the freezer in case we run out of the food in the fridge that is bought week to week.

[~Anne~]

Freezing food doesn't help me though. Firstly, my guys aren't great with neck or bones for that matter that can be swallowed and also I can't feed Boof raw meat. Not that I am making excuses either as I see nothing wrong with some commercial foods that are fed as part of a good overall diet. Preservatives are one thing that I believe are an issue for humans and animals in this day and age however and commercial equals preservatives regardless. .

Still, I'll bet my tooshie that everyone advocating only raw or natural for dogs still eats commercial foods themselves and feeds it to their families, even if its only butter or bread. It's a strange world we live in. :laugh:

Edited September 17, 2013 by ~Anne~

[kelpiecuddles]

The water percentage in raw meat is around 65-70% and google tells me the average water content of tinned food is 70% so really the 'mostly water' argument doesn't really hold water.

[Salukifan]

I hate the smell of most canned dog foods - makes me gag. I think dogs fed a lot of the cheaper canned foods stink.

I do feed tinned fish to my dogs and they have tried the canned tripe - I think that's Ziwipeak??

I prefer to feed fresh meat rather than cans as an addition to kibble though.

[WreckitWhippet]

The water percentage in raw meat is around 65-70% and google tells me the average water content of tinned food is 70% so really the 'mostly water' argument doesn't really hold water.

I don't buy into that argument either, my opinion is based on can food being rubbish

[kelpiecuddles]

I dont do canned food either but I'm in the 'whatever your dog does best on' camp

[_PL_]

I don't do canned food as a regular thing but always have a ZiwiPeak in the cupboard. Sometimes it can tempt a dog to start eating, especially if I rescue one who has only ever eaten canned and I need to gradually coax them over to home made + bones and Barf.

Sometimes it's good as a snack particularly if the dog is feeling a little off or post-surgery and you need to have something in their tummy to go with medication. It smells strong, I think it's the tripe.

[will_454]

Still, I'll bet my tooshie that everyone advocating only raw or natural for dogs still eats commercial foods themselves and feeds it to their families, even if its only butter or bread. It's a strange world we live in. :laugh:

Funny you mention that, I was only thinking this over the weekend. I myself keep away from processed foods as much as possible and try to shop only in the first part of the supermarket (deli/fruit and veg) because in the end humans aren't meant to eat proceed rubbish food either and I would say 98% of people still do.