Which wet/canned dog food?

[HollyDay]

My 12 year old pekingese mix had oral surgery recently.  While on antibiotics, we needed to use special pate food that would hide the taste of the medication and provide her nutrition and be soft enough to "lap" rather than "munch."  She is off the medication now and the vet wants her to be on a wet dog food, either pate or gravy canned or frozen food.  She has left the choice of food up to us. 

 

I am unfamiliar with canned/wet/frozen/pate/gravy dog foods.  What do I want to purchase?  The various pet stores all have various recommendations and various $$$$.  My other doggies eat dry/hard kibble so this is new to me (and I thought it would be fairly simple to pick something out....who knew?)

 

So, what says The Hive?

 

 

[StephanieZ]

Purina One and Purina ProPlan are good, readily available options. 

 

What brand kibble have you used?

 

In general, my dh/vet recommends a high quality food. Science Diet and Royal Canin are the "vet" lines that he recommends and carries at his practice, but Natural Balance and Purina ProPlan (and Purina One, which is a bit cheaper than the others) are well recommended as well. 

 

For our own pets, we use Science Diet, Royal Canin, and either of the Purina labels I've mentioned. We tend to mix it up, as dh's vet brain tells us that it's wise to keep your pets adaptable on food choices in case a special (prescription type) diet is needed at some time. So, we tend to rotate and mix up various brands/flavors of our pet foods. That's especially easy with canned food since you don't lose freshness and/or cost efficiency (that you do when you have several bags of dry kibble open at once). 

 

How long does the vet want your dog on a wet food? If it's only a few weeks, then it's not a real big deal either way. 

 

I'd generally suggest getting 2-3 meals worth of cans of several varieties and see which one(s) your dog tolerates (doesn't puke) and prefers. Then, identify at least 2 that are good choices and rotate them (i.e., one in the am, one in the pm, etc.) 

 

Also, many pets get pukey if you suddenly change their diet . . . FYI.

[HollyDay]

Purina One and Purina ProPlan are good, readily available options. 

 

What brand kibble have you used?

 

In general, my dh/vet recommends a high quality food. Science Diet and Royal Canin are the "vet" lines that he recommends and carries at his practice, but Natural Balance and Purina ProPlan (and Purina One, which is a bit cheaper than the others) are well recommended as well. 

 

For our own pets, we use Science Diet, Royal Canin, and either of the Purina labels I've mentioned. We tend to mix it up, as dh's vet brain tells us that it's wise to keep your pets adaptable on food choices in case a special (prescription type) diet is needed at some time. So, we tend to rotate and mix up various brands/flavors of our pet foods. That's especially easy with canned food since you don't lose freshness and/or cost efficiency (that you do when you have several bags of dry kibble open at once). 

 

How long does the vet want your dog on a wet food? If it's only a few weeks, then it's not a real big deal either way. 

 

I'd generally suggest getting 2-3 meals worth of cans of several varieties and see which one(s) your dog tolerates (doesn't puke) and prefers. Then, identify at least 2 that are good choices and rotate them (i.e., one in the am, one in the pm, etc.) 

 

Also, many pets get pukey if you suddenly change their diet . . . FYI.

 

Thanks!!!  We don't know if she will be able to go back on dry kibble.  She might, she might not.  Right now, they don't want her to pop any stitches bowl surfing.  I think it is  a good sign she is interested in the other dog bowls.  It has been 1 week since surgery.  She no longer needs the special vet variety, but does need wet food.  We go back to the vet a week from today, so I need wet food for at least a week.  I'll get more guidance at the appointment I'm sure.  But, want to get something going for this week.

[Selkie]

We've had a good experience with Blue Buffalo canned food. They have a wide variety of flavors, like pages and pages of flavors if you're looking online. Our dogs love it and have done very well on it.

[gaillardia]

I have been looking for a cheaper alternative to what we've been giving our dog and cat and found a website that suggested canned Authority was very good, even against the organic foods. There is a type for senior dogs too. 

Another website also stated canned Authority as a good brand, their second choice, that it goes on sale the first of the month at Walmart every month.

 

StephanieZ, there are so many voices out there for pet nutrition. I like to switch up our pet's food types occasionally also. Someone at a local big box said, NOOOOOO. DON'T DO IT.

Yeah, whatever, dude. 

 

 

Here's the second site I was referring to:

https://crittercarepetrelief.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/cheap-but-high-quality-dog-food-canned/

 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Gaillardia

[HollyDay]

Keep the suggestions coming!!  Our vet agrees with the switching up the food periodically.  For the dry kibble, we stay within the same brand but switch up the protein each time we buy a bag.  Hoping to do the same for the wet food

 

[TeenagerMom]

My senior dog needs grain free food so we use 4Health Grain Free from Tractor Supply Company.  It's a price point that doesn't hurt our budget and gets 4 stars from dogfoodadvisor.com

 

We buy it at Tractor Supply Company.  Since we switched to it I have seen her go from fairly loose stools 3x a day to a good solid stool 1-2 times a day so it's definitely made a good difference for her.

[Pawz4me]

Unless a dog has a sensitive stomach that's bothered by food changes, allergies or some other health issue then there's zero reason to NOT switch up foods. The idea that you should pick one food and stick with it is largely a marketing gimmick by the pet food companies.

 

I mostly home cook for my dog. When he eats canned food it's Purina One because he's picky and that's the one he'll eat most reliably. If I had my choice he'd be eating Fromm or Honest Kitchen (dehydrated food) when I need the convenience of a prepared product. But His Pickiness isn't interested in those.