# Need Dog Food Advice - Canned



## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I think I've tried almost every premium dog food out there at one time or another. :w00t: I've done raw (which makes Tilly throw up); I've done kibble (which Secret can't chew); I've done home cooking (but don't have as much time to do it anymore); I've done Dr. Harveys, etc. etc.

But right now I am feeding canned and the girls seem to be doing well on it -- but I so don't trust the dog food companies. Also, Tilly for the first time ever has tear staining (and Lacie doesn't -- go figure).

I've been using Wellness in various flavors and also Blue Buffalo. At one time I remember that Innova and Solid Gold were both considered good foods.

So for those that have had experience with Wellness canned, Blue Buffalo canned, Innova canned or Solid Gold canned -- what was your experience (good or bad) and which of those (if any) would you feed and why.

If you have other suggestions, please let me know, but I no longer have any stores near me that sell premium dog foods except PetSmart and Petco so I kind of hope to be able to stick with something they carry.

Thanks


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## LinzFair (Oct 10, 2010)

I feed Mika halo and she loves it, you can get it from petco. I have tried her on weruva and she didn't care for that much. I have also tried her on fromm's which she didn't like. I have a bunch of random cans left over of Mika's many taste tests, I know the feeling !


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

Lynn, I feed my babies Addiction can food (Safaria Buffalo meatloaf), and have no problems. I read up on it prett good. They also have power paddies, that is a dog treat, but I think is wonderful for them. Good luck. Mia has a very sensitvie belly, and does really well on this food.


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## RudyRoo (Jun 24, 2011)

I too have had some luck with Halo Spot's Stew from Petco. It has pretty good ratings, and I liked how the chicken (more soupy, whole pieces of pasta) and beef (more Pate like) were both different textures. That way I could stick with a food I trusted, but Rudy had some variety. He still gets Halo Spot's Stew dry food to munch on at night if he gets hungry, and I always keep some Halo canned on hand in case of emergencies. Good Luck! This whole food search thing is a real bummer sometimes!


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

I used to feed Tyler Wellness canned and he did very well on it. Just got tired of it, I think. I home cook but also have on hand FreshPet Vital which comes in soft roll like a big sausage, in the refrigerated case at Petco. I feed it to him once in a while and he likes it. At this point, it's the only dog food that he'll eat at all. :blink:


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

RuRu had all her teeth pulled many, many years ago. My vet told me that dogs do not chew...they shred or they just swallow. So my dear old girl who has been toothless for years, manages kibble just fine. I have never had to make special allowances for the fact that she has no teeth. Old Ru does just fine on kibble..the same that I feed my young ones..I have never fed canned food to my dogs, so I can't comment with knowledge...my knowledge from experience is that without teeth they manage just fine on whatever good food you have chosen.


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## munchkn8835 (May 23, 2010)

Ollie is eating Natural Balance Duck & Potato with about 1 tsp. of Mackeral Weruva. I'm going to stop the Weruva and try Honest Kitchen Preference. His eye stains aren't going away so may ask the vet for antiobiotic to see if that will work.


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## Malt Shoppe (Jul 20, 2011)

Sylie said:


> RuRu had all her teeth pulled many, many years ago. My vet told me that dogs do not chew...they shred or they just swallow.


I have to disagree with your vet. My dogs do chew their kibble. Blaze gets a piece of kibble and stands right in front of me and chews it, goes back for another piece and repeats. My sweet tiny Mimi used to chew every bite 26 times!!!

I've had good luck with Halo's Spot Stew kibble. I get the Salmon flavor, they seem to like it alot. It has a very good rating.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

I have fed both Wellness canned and Blue Buffalo. Both are good foods. The Wellness is a little too rich for my girls. Unfortunately, what works for one does not necessarily work for another. Mine do best on a limited ingredient, moderate protein, low fat diet. I will say canned foods that are soupy or the stews make messy faces which is not desirable when you have more than one Malt.:HistericalSmiley: Some of the rolls(eg Vital) are very high in fat. IMHO, high fat diets are not good for most Malts.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

Good results with Halo and Blue Buffalo. Best results with Weruva.
Wellness (any can) makes her vomit. I have no idea why.


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## Kate&Maddox (Oct 20, 2011)

This website has listed the different dog foods. Here is the list of the 6 star (highest) canned dog food: Dog Food Reviews - 6 Star Premium Canned Food - Powered by ReviewPost

The site is very reliable. I know many other dog owners that go off of it and I love how they list the ingredients of each one for you and give a review on it so you can see the pros and cons of each. (Hmm I guess it doesn't look like they wrote reviews on the canned food but I do like how it lists the ingredients still)


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

We are using Natural Balance Lamb for Lady Bella and Lucky. They both LOVE....I mean LOVE the one in the roll, but we also have them eat the same kind in the kibble. Bella likes the kibble, but Lucky doesn't. Still working on a kibble that Lucky will like :/


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

Lynn in the past we had used Addiciton but I found Ben to be gaining weight on it. Good food though...just didn't work for us. Then we went off canned and started using Grandma Lucy's which B&E loved. But then found Emma losing too much weight on it. So then we switched to Party Animal Organics. B&E LOVED it! I was very pleased w/them on that food. However, when we came home from Hawaii they snubbed it! Remember I mentioned they snubbed any food I had them on at my in laws? So now we are back on Grandma Lucy's, but I am hoping to eventually get them back on Party Animal Canned Food.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

I use the fromm four star line, we really like it here.


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## cleex1004 (Aug 2, 2008)

Louis likes the regular wellness canned that comes in multiple flavors but would not touch the wellness core ocean canned even though he loves fish, go figure. I think it's a good readily available food at a good price point, but I know that it just doesn't work for some dogs. Have you considered nature variety, or merrick? Both are available at petco.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I also was feeding Grandma Lucy's but London drastically lost weight on it, despite me increasing the amount I was feeding by a significant amount. She has had some digestive issues for over a year now so I needed something with more limited ingredients. She did great on California Natural Salmon & Sweet Potato canned, and a couple of months ago I switched her to Natural Balance LID canned and rotate between Sweet Potato & Venison, Potato & Duck, and Sweet Potato & Fish. She gained back the weight she lost, and is doing well on it so I will stay with that even though I do feel there are better canned options out there for those without digestive issues...but it is still what I would consider high enough quality. I will be switching Preston to it also once he finishes up the bag of Grandma Lucy's. I think he is also starting to drop weight on it also, as up until 2 weeks ago he was on a 50/50 mix of Gma Lucy's and Now! Small Breed kibble...now that the kibble is gone, and I increased the amount of GL, he seems to be a bit thinner. I'm glad the bag will be gone soon. 

Any of the 4-5-or 6-star canned foods are high quality. I would look for a grain-free one, and try out a few that you're interested in. I like to rotate proteins so I try and stick with one brand that offers different grain-free varieties. I switch proteins with each new can. Canned is way more expensive than kibble (I'm paying about $25-$30 per month just for one dog to be exclusively on Natural Balance canned -- other brands are about $40/month +) but I find the benefits are great. If I were to feed a kibble, I would go with Now! Small Breed or Acana grain-free varieties.


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

munchkn8835 said:


> Ollie is eating Natural Balance Duck & Potato with about 1 tsp. of Mackeral Weruva. I'm going to stop the Weruva and try Honest Kitchen Preference. His eye stains aren't going away so may ask the vet for antiobiotic to see if that will work.


Hi Donna,
Did you notice DVP recently changed the first and the (third i think) ingredients to Pot's instead of the duck/duck meal. they should say Pot and Duck formula. May not matter, I am not an expert by any means. but the girl at pet store told me they are disappointed in the change from meat as a first ingred. I was going to try it to get away from sweet pot's everyday, but I guess I am staying on the Venison for now.


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

LJSquishy said:


> I also was feeding Grandma Lucy's but London drastically lost weight on it, despite me increasing the amount I was feeding by a significant amount. She has had some digestive issues for over a year now so I needed something with more limited ingredients. She did great on California Natural Salmon & Sweet Potato canned, and a couple of months ago I switched her to Natural Balance LID canned and rotate between Sweet Potato & Venison, Potato & Duck, and Sweet Potato & Fish. She gained back the weight she lost, and is doing well on it so I will stay with that even though I do feel there are better canned options out there for those without digestive issues...but it is still what I would consider high enough quality. I will be switching Preston to it also once he finishes up the bag of Grandma Lucy's. I think he is also starting to drop weight on it also, as up until 2 weeks ago he was on a 50/50 mix of Gma Lucy's and Now! Small Breed kibble...now that the kibble is gone, and I increased the amount of GL, he seems to be a bit thinner. I'm glad the bag will be gone soon.
> 
> Any of the 4-5-or 6-star canned foods are high quality. I would look for a grain-free one, and try out a few that you're interested in. I like to rotate proteins so I try and stick with one brand that offers different grain-free varieties. I switch proteins with each new can. Canned is way more expensive than kibble (I'm paying about $25-$30 per month just for one dog to be exclusively on Natural Balance canned -- other brands are about $40/month +) but I find the benefits are great. If I were to feed a kibble, I would go with Now! Small Breed or Acana grain-free varieties.


Hi,
i took sammie off grains at 9 mo and after exhaustive trials ended up feeding the exact same brand canned as you are and rotating the meats. and he gets a little of the venison/SP kibble. I read somewhere sweet pot's were not good daily sugar wise. What do you think?


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## S&LP'S Mommy (Feb 20, 2011)

I'm feeding Tiki Dog canned food. They love it. But it is hard to find plus only comes in chicken, salmon and tuna. So not a lot of variety. What I like about it is that for being a canned food its not soupy so it isn't messy at all. They use to be on Weruva but its just to soupy and they get all dirty after just one meal. I also feed stella and chewys for variety.


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## munchkn8835 (May 23, 2010)

Kandis -- Are you feeding Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison?


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## StevieB (Feb 2, 2012)

I feed Blue Buffalo kibble for small breeds and I mix in a little Innova canned. I get them at Petco. Steve loves it and we've had no problems. He had quite a bit of tear staining when I got him 3 months ago from the rescue and he has almost no staining now and no staining around his mouth. I'm sure Blue Buffalo canned is also very good.


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## lyndy (Jul 9, 2011)

I feed natures variety instinct canned. I believe petco started carrying it. I have tried daisy on several types of food and this is what she has done the best on.


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## doobie mommy (Feb 18, 2012)

I feed Doobie all Wellness brand. Dry in the am, 1/2 canned and 1/2 dry at dinner and Wellness soft & Chewy Treats cut up in smaller pieces.

He came home with Iams, I changed to Merrick Puppy plate, had softer stools... and he does best on the Wellness, no soft stools at all and empties glands normal so no problems there.

I got a sample of the dry Natural Balance at Pet Supplies Plus and he loves it so I may try a little of it also.

I am one of those who firmly believe in giving the dry food. He is not a baby and needs to chew to keep good blood circulation in his gums so his teeth don't have to be removed early or fall out. Doobie does chew the pieces and I do believe it helps his gums along with the Bully Sticks. I buy the large ones so no chance of choking and they last a verrrry long time.


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

munchkn8835 said:


> Kandis -- Are you feeding Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison?


Hi Donna,
We switched to *non-grain Fromm kibble*. They have 4 formulas and I change formula each time, as it is supposed to help with allergies from eating one food. And I still give him a _small amount_ of either* Natural Balance Canned* non-grain Venison & SP or Chicken & SP in the morning along with the kibble. It helps with the stool issues. 

I wanted to try Orjen, but it's way too high in protein. The Vet had told us even if a food is on the top rec foods, it may not be good for Sammie as most Maltese do better long term on one of the lower protein foods. Seems to me, many are geared to a larger breed, bec when I started reading bags on the top foods list, they are higher and even the store owner said, "these are the highest protein you buy"! That's a good thing for sure, just not for Sammie. So I tried to find a NON GRAIN, with a middle of the road protein level for now. We have never had tear staining with Sammie. But his brother that we lost to shunts at 7 months had them bad from the beginning. I don't know if it's something they are born being prone to or not. We can't do the bully sticks too often, they seem to mess with his allergies somewhat. So I cut them back. I think that may be why he scratched his ear so bad last few weeks. We gave him bully's more than usual during his recovery. 

Hope you are doing well!


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## ckanen2n (Jan 2, 2012)

Please tell me why grain free is important - I thought all dog foods had grain. Also, what is wrong with chicken? Wondering if something in Gio's food causes tear staining because often his face is wet after eating.


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## plenty pets 20 (Jul 8, 2006)

Chicken Soup for Dog Soul lovers, Senior variety and have All of mine on it and will never change unless they change their formula. Super poops!! Feed canned and dry along with boiled chicken breast, cosequin and missing link and thats it. Good luck.


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## iheartbisou (Feb 13, 2007)

Lynn, do you have 'Nu-Tripe' there in the US? 

http://www.nutripe.com/Main.html

It's from New Zealand and it's made with tripe- there are different flavors, venison, lamb, turkey, salmon, green tripe etc..

It's extremely stinky and disgusting to me (but I'm not the one who has to eat it). 

They have it in grain-free too, and free of hormones etc etc. Bisou loves it. 
I use all the flavors with her...she loves the green tripe and the venison & lamb the best.


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