Wet Kibble

[Leah82]

So the subject of not soaking kibble has come up in a few recent topics although most of these have been related to growing large breeds.

It has however left me wondering if I'm doing the right thing with Sarah.

Her back teeth are quite ground down (dunno why, vet didn't seem concerned) so she takes ages to eat dry kibble and usually gives up about half way through. I've stopped this from happening by putting a little bit of water in with her dinner to make the biscuits a bit soggy (and making sure the raw meat is mixed well though)

Am I doing the right thing or am I reducing the nutrients of the food by doing this?

[The Spotted Devil]

As far as I'm aware you're not going to change the nutritional content of the dry food. However, I would be concerned that Sarah's teeth are causing her pain - the only time I have needed to soak food is when Em had a very dramatic teething - it all happened at once and she was quite sore. I would be more insistent with your vet or seek a second opinion.

[Danois]

You should only be using warm water - hot water will affect it. Most kibbles are essentially a core biscuit with a coating and you don't want to destroy that coating.

[Leah82]

I'm pretty sure she's not in any pain, you can kinda see how flat her back teeth are in this photo so it make sense that crunchy things like kibble and bones take her longer to eat

She had a full work-up by the rescue's org's vet early last year and has been looked over my mine as well.

I've just been using cold tap water to moisten her kibble so it looks like that's fine to keep doing :)

[cavNrott]

I can't see any molars there but I just wanted to say that dog has the loveliest sweet face

[persephone]

..why ot use a good pet mince(with ground bone ) & a small amount ofsome mushy raw veg ? She obviously still enjoys bones ... so some of them as well :) ..that way she gets good fresh food ..

[Leah82]

Thanks CavNRott :) btw if you look at the teeth just behind her canines on the right you can see they have a flat top and are sitting quite close to the gums, the molars are pretty much in the same condition

she enjoys bones, she does not enjoy vegetables (apart from carrots) :p

We generally mix the kibble in with kangaroo, tuna or a mince and veg mix from the pet store but if sarah gets vegetables in any other way she avoids them like the plague. I'm talking individual peas and pieces of capsicum left in her bowl while everything else has been eaten.

[~Anne~]

I soak Olivia's kibble in hot water and make it up in batches of up to a weeks worth. She's on a prescription kibble though, for her urinary tract issues, and she has a wry jaw and very little teeth. Soaking it ensures that she increases her fluid intake and that she can eat it.

[cavNrott]

Thanks CavNRott :) btw if you look at the teeth just behind her canines on the right you can see they have a flat top and are sitting quite close to the gums, the molars are pretty much in the same condition

she enjoys bones, she does not enjoy vegetables (apart from carrots) :p

We generally mix the kibble in with kangaroo, tuna or a mince and veg mix from the pet store but if sarah gets vegetables in any other way she avoids them like the plague. I'm talking individual peas and pieces of capsicum left in her bowl while everything else has been eaten.

Ah, yes. I can see a couple of pre molars there. She's such a pretty dog.

[cavNrott]

I soak Olivia's kibble in hot water and make it up in batches of up to a weeks worth. She's on a prescription kibble though, for her urinary tract issues, and she has a wry jaw and very little teeth. Soaking it ensures that she increases her fluid intake and that she can eat it.

As it's just a matter of adding hot water to the kibble without any complicated preparation why do you do a weeks worth instead of feeding it to her freshly done so she could have it warm and smelling good(to her)? Does the kibble not break down enough for her to eat it with her wry jaw by the time the hot water has cooled the food to a just warm temperature?

When you say she has very little teeth, do you mean her teeth are tiny or that she has very few of them?

[~Anne~]

Several reasons. It takes a while to soften and my time restrictions. I'm not sure if you've seen Prescriptives CD kibble? The canned food is a bit like concrete and the kibble is pretty hard too. I'm usually quite busy and travel a lot for work.

She has very few teeth as they have been removed. Pugs don't have fabulous teeth anyway normally and they don't always wear their teeth well or evenly because of their jaw/skull shape. Add to that complication a jaw that doesn't meet the other on one side and the fact she was a rescue and appears to have been a little neglected medically, and you end up with an ageing dog that has no hope of chewing anything!

Edited June 9, 2014 by ~Anne~

[westiemum]

I've always moistened the westies food - I put the water the veggies have been heated through in in with their raw meat - that way I make sure they are well hydrated. One thing I learned through Mac's laryngeal paralysis is that dry food is usually too 'dusty' for dogs with open airways after tie-back surgery. The dust is enough to cause aspiration pneumonia in tie-back dogs like Mac, so dry food must be 'damped' down. Hasn't been a problem here as I feed raw and 'damp' routinely. But it's probably worth considering generally how 'dusty' some dry food is.