# Wet food?



## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

I know we discuss kibble and raw here a lot, but I need some recommendations for wet food. Ocean was sent with a baggie of kibble for me to transition her over, but it's become obvious that it's too painful for her to eat dry food. She needs wet. I tried a little raw, but she can't eat bones, and I can't afford an expensive meat grinder, so canned will have to do until I can find a cheap grinder. Plus, after she has her dental work done, she more than likely won't have many teeth left, if any, and will need a quality food to remain on for life. 

Suggestions?


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

I'd be interested to see what people say. We used to feed Merrick occasionally but I kept finding apple seeds in their foods and stopped feeding them, plus the chunks would be too big for your girl. I saw that they have a new grain free line out, but I'm not totally sure that I trust them. 

There's an interesting page on Dog Food Advisor on why canned foods can be better than kibble. Canned or dry dog food

Here is a list of 5 star wet dog foods. I would love to try the Ziwi canned (or rather Odie would)!


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

KrystalLeigh said:


> I'd be interested to see what people say. We used to feed Merrick occasionally but I kept finding apple seeds in their foods and stopped feeding them, plus the chunks would be too big for your girl. I saw that they have a new grain free line out, but I'm not totally sure that I trust them.
> 
> There's an interesting page on Dog Food Advisor on why canned foods can be better than kibble. Canned or dry dog food
> 
> Here is a list of 5 star wet dog foods. I would love to try the Ziwi canned (or rather Odie would)!


Thank you so much! I'll look through those links 

And, I actually think I still have 2 cans of ZiwiPeak that they sent me. I was looking for a food that wouldn't make Venus ill or agravate her allergies and they sent me some Venison food samples and 2 cans to try. She refused to touch the dry food, which worried me since it was supposed to be so good, so I didn't bother opening the cans. Hmm.... off to rummage the cupboards.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

If you want to feed raw, you can buy either pre-made raw such as Stella & Chewy's, which is complete and has ground bone in it, or you can feed bone-in minces as part of a DIY diet. All dog meat suppliers carry bone-in minces, (usually minced chicken carcasses) and some specialist suppliers (Hare Today springs to mind) offer several different minced whole prey options.
I can't advise on US brands of canned food as I am in the UK, but dogfoodadvisor is a great place to start.


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## lulu'smom (Jan 4, 2012)

Canned dog food is an excellent source of nutrition for your dog provided you search out a 4 or 5 star dog food and company that you are pleased with their operating standards. It offers much needed moisture that kibble does not offer. Although wetting kibble helps, it still doesn't offer the moisture amount of canned food. One of the reasons most people go with kibble is that canned is probably the most expensive way to feed a dog, but if home-prepared raw or cooked or commercial raw doesn't work for you thankfully chis don't eat that much. lol Secondly, with canned you must offer something for dogs with good dental health to chew on such as bully sticks, antlers, etc. to keep up jaw strength and tooth health. In your specific case, I would ask the vet about the need for chews for jaw and tooth health.

edit: If you are interested in commercial raw. There is one called Sojos that is similar to the Honest Kitchen. Lulu didn't like the Honest Kitchen, but she did like Sojos. Otherwise, besides Stelly & Chewys, which is excellent, there is a few companies that offer frozen commercial raw medallions or patties that when thawed would be comparable to canned when eating.


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## TLI (Sep 3, 2008)

Another reason canned is better than kibble is because it goes through less processing. More of the nutrients remain in canned food. I feed canned only. As for the best out there. I haven't checked the ratings in awhile. I've had mine on Wellness canned for 2 years, and we have no problems. So I've stuck with it. I tried ZP canned. It was way to rich. I'd try a 4/5 star grain free canned and see how she does.


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## SkyAtBlue (Jul 25, 2010)

My girl eats The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food. Its mushy like canned food without preservatives. Id recommend most of the formulas (except keen and force they only have three stars). www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/honest-kitchen-dog-food/









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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

We're getting a couple samples of Sojos. I'm going to try both a mix with meat and a mix where I'll add my own raw meat. We'll see how it goes!


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## lulu'smom (Jan 4, 2012)

lilbabyvenus said:


> We're getting a couple samples of Sojos. I'm going to try both a mix with meat and a mix where I'll add my own raw meat. We'll see how it goes!


Can't wait to see how she likes it. Let us know.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

She seems to really like the Sojos so far. We've had the turkey complete formula for the past 3 days. We're trying beef tomorrow. She also really likes Ziwipeak cans, but not the air-dried meat.


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## doginthedesert (Oct 10, 2011)

Sojos is a good food, and you can make it pretty mushy if you need to. If she can eat that and it agrees with her I would stick with it! 

Also Honest Kitchen makes a mix that you add your own meat to, it is dehydrated and I am sure she could handle the texture of that once it is reconstituted and mixed with ground meat of some sort. They also make complete diets if you don't want to add meat, you might want to check them out.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

doginthedesert said:


> Sojos is a good food, and you can make it pretty mushy if you need to. If she can eat that and it agrees with her I would stick with it!
> 
> Also Honest Kitchen makes a mix that you add your own meat to, it is dehydrated and I am sure she could handle the texture of that once it is reconstituted and mixed with ground meat of some sort. They also make complete diets if you don't want to add meat, you might want to check them out.


We're trying Honest Kitchen after the Sojos  Sojos sent me turkey, beef, and both the original and grain free that you add your own meat to. The Sojos does look and smell better than Honest Kitchen (lol) but I want her to see what she likes best, or maybe I'll alternate between the two between bags.


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## SkyAtBlue (Jul 25, 2010)

I have sojos too, but prefer THK. Sojos looks and smells better, but its not as thick and filling as THK to me. Sojos takes 15 mins to sit in water since its just chunks of meat. THK takes 5 mins to prepare as the formula is more granulated.

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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

SkyAtBlue said:


> I have sojos too, but prefer THK. Sojos looks and smells better, but its not as thick and filling as THK to me. Sojos takes 15 mins to sit in water since its just chunks of meat. THK takes 5 mins to prepare as the formula is more granulated.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Hmm, that's something I never thought about. Thank you  My Honest Kitchen samples should be here tomorrow! I'll update once she tried that as well.


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

If you want to add something else to your rotation, I've found that Odie really loves he Weruva paw lickin' chicken. We don't feed it very often, maybe once every few days, but she goes nuts for it! Only time I've ever seen her eat in the morning is with that food. 


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

KrystalLeigh said:


> If you want to add something else to your rotation, I've found that Odie really loves he Weruva paw lickin' chicken. We don't feed it very often, maybe once every few days, but she goes nuts for it! Only time I've ever seen her eat in the morning is with that food.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Just looked it up, that looks awesome! Ocean would love it  I'll have to add it to my list of cans to pick up and try with her


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## SkyAtBlue (Jul 25, 2010)

Also the force and keen formulas are 3 stars and the rest are 5 stars.

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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

SkyAtBlue said:


> Also the force and keen formulas are 3 stars and the rest are 5 stars.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Ok? He rated them 3 stars because they have lower protein. She's an old dog with low/average activity, she doesn't need high protein. Keen also has organic oats, but those aren't an allergen in our house, and I also use those in homemade dog treats, so that is also not an issue.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

For a bit of an update:
Ocean loved the chicken Sojos, but when we got to the beef, she wouldn't eat anything but a few bits of the meat. I came into the kitchen and found mushy re-hydrated veggies all over the floor lol. So we started on The Honest Kitchen's Keen. She licked it a few times (which is more than Venus would ever do with it) but then walked away. I mixed in some cheese and she ate it all. So we've been doing the same thing for every meal. She'll eat it as long as I drop some cheese on top lol. THK may be a keeper! I might alternate with a variety of wet foods.


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## huskyluv (Oct 24, 2008)

I didn't read this whole thread but wanted to suggest Grandma Lucy's freeze dried raw food. It's very similar to The Honest Kitchen and Sojos. I like it better than Sojos because it contains more meat and I tend to buy Grandma Lucy's over The Honest Kitchen these days because I can get it for cheaper and it's grain free. Grandma Lucy's has chunks of meat in it unlike The Honest Kitchen but it's not as chunky as Sojos. Another thing worth considering is that Grandma Lucy's doesn't smell as strongly as THK which I think puts a lot of dogs off. Anyway, I love THK and GL's so I thought I'd throw it out there as a suggestion. If you're anything like me you'll probably want to offer as much variety as you can within your constraints. 

I am in the same boat with Faith, she's lost so many teeth that she struggles to eat kibble or hard dog biscuits these days. As soon as she finishes up the kibble and biscuits she has now I will be putting her on entirely soft food and soft treats.


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## lilbabyvenus (Feb 8, 2009)

huskyluv said:


> I didn't read this whole thread but wanted to suggest Grandma Lucy's freeze dried raw food. It's very similar to The Honest Kitchen and Sojos. I like it better than Sojos because it contains more meat and I tend to buy Grandma Lucy's over The Honest Kitchen these days because I can get it for cheaper and it's grain free. Grandma Lucy's has chunks of meat in it unlike The Honest Kitchen but it's not as chunky as Sojos. Another thing worth considering is that Grandma Lucy's doesn't smell as strongly as THK which I think puts a lot of dogs off. Anyway, I love THK and GL's so I thought I'd throw it out there as a suggestion. If you're anything like me you'll probably want to offer as much variety as you can within your constraints.
> 
> I am in the same boat with Faith, she's lost so many teeth that she struggles to eat kibble or hard dog biscuits these days. As soon as she finishes up the kibble and biscuits she has now I will be putting her on entirely soft food and soft treats.


Thank you so much Val! That is the biggest problem we have with THK, is the smell  I tried with Venus years ago and she wouldn't go near it, Jer even said how bad it stunk and wouldn't let me try to feed it to her anymore. Ocean will eat it, but only if I mix cheese in with it. I'll definitely look for Grandma Lucy's


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