Canned Food Question

[nancy]

Wednesday and Saturday evenings, we add a half a can of pet food to the kibble for our dog and our cat. So this is less a nutritional question than a gustatory one.

 

Do dogs prefer the cube or sliced stuff in gravy to the ground & mushed stuff? DH is upset that we can get less and less choice in the stuff that looks more like his dinner. Last evening, it looked to me as if Fergie gets more actual food in the stuff that looks like the Calo we fed dogs back in the 1950s. And I have not noticed that Fergie has a preference. She'll eat anything that stops moving or goes too slow.

 

And, because I'm a good mommy, is there any significant nutritional difference?

 

Notice that DH does not worry that all we can find for the cat is the ground stuff.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I would totally avoid the stuff that looks like cuts and gravy. This is the exact formula that they had the problems with during the recall.

 

In direct answer to your question, no, it doesn't make a huge difference to Fergie. Canned food is actually quite good for them, if it's the right kind. Look for a formula with little or no grains (barley, rice and potato are OK) and real meat listed first, not water or grain. I like a canned with very few other ingredients, too. No glutens, starches, colorings, and I don't find there's any good canned food that uses corn or wheat in any form. Absolutely no preservatives - if it was canned fresh it shouldn't need to have been preserved.

 

There's some foods I guarantee Fergie will go extra wild for, if you've never tried them before. Merrick has a line of fun "dishes" like Grandma's Pot Pie, Working Dog Stew, and Wing-a-Ling. The Working Dog Stew has green tripe in it (that's Ben's favorite) and Wing-a-Ling has whole bone-in chicken wings pressure cooked so they are mushy and safe. Gus says it's got his stamp of approval and it's better than getting in the trash after Hardee's night!

 

EVO, and Neura make lines of canned foods that are mostly meat - there's another too and I'm not remembering it. They have cool things like rabbit and venison. Ben loves the rabbit.

 

Solid Gold makes this stuff called Green Cow that is canned green tripe. It smells foul but Fergie will knock you down to get some. And it's extremely good for her. Kind of a doggy version of those green milkshake things.

 

These foods are quite spendy but I compromise by only using a quarter or at most half a can at a time. I put the bit in and then thin it out with warm water (that warms it up if it's come from the fridge). Tip, don't ever put a can of green tripe in your fridge - freeze it portions in a baggy.

 

Have fun!