Soaking puppy food

[SallyandPippa]

Hi,

I stopped soaking my 8 week old puppys food a couple of days ago, oops BIG mistake, although she ate the dry kibble the first morning she barely ate a thing for the next day and a half, after speaking to a friend she advised me that it is because the dry kibble expands in their tummy she advised me to go back to soaking which I did this morning and thank goodness she ate half of it! I am hopeful that she will now start eating as before but to be honest she hasn't been a big eater since I got her, she drinks fine and has solid but soft stools but she only goes for a number 2 maybe twice a day, is this normal? I am afraid that I cannot afford to throw away a whole pack of Hills but as soon as its gone I am switching to a natural human grade food that I have found, its called Naturaplan, its a foil wrapped food and all in all looks (and tastes I hope!) much more appealing!

Any advice is always much appreciated!

[moe]

Its true that the dry food expands more or less twice its size once it gets mixed with stomach moisture, if your puppy is happy eating its food wet then I would continue with that. and if you decided to introduce new food to your puppy do it over a few days adding just a little bit more of the new food and less of the older one, this way there is no sudden change which can upset a pups tummy.

Mo

[Gempress]

How are you feeding Pippa? Do you leave the food bowl down for her all the time, or does she have set mealtimes? When you give her the dry food, feed her only at certain times of the day, and measure the portions carefully to prevent overeating. At her age, four small meals would be best. The food you're feeding should have guidelines on how much she needs.

It may not be that the food expanded in her stomach. It may be that she decided she likes soaked food better, and was just being finicky. A day and a half of turning up her nose is certainly not uncommon for a picky puppy! She may like soft food, but I encourage you to try to eventually get her on dry food. It's much healthier for Pippa's teeth, and will keep them cleaner.

[Fran27]

I mix a teaspoon of yoghurt with their food, and they wolf it down. You might want to try, plus yoghurt is good for them, as long as your dog isn't allergic to milk of course.

[Renee750il]

Good thought, Fran. And just so you know, many times dogs (or people for that matter) who don't tolerate milk do very well with yoghurt.

[SallyandPippa]

Thanks for your advice, I feed Pippa 4 small meals a day doing my best to stick to the same times, i.e 7.30am/1pm/6pm and around 10pm. I am changing her food this weekend as I am not happy feeding her Hills Science after reading comments on this and other forums, so I am not too bothered about getting her liking it. She just sniffed at the soaked kibble at lunchtime so I made up some wholemeal rice, tuna and peas, which, needless to say went down very well indeed! If I decided to make up her food from now on does anyone know of where I could get suitable recipes from?

Thanks!

[Mordy]

i definitely recommend continuing moistening the kibble. don't soak it for too long, but add some room temperature or tepid water - that's much healthier for the kidneys than letting the dogs eat the food dry, not only in puppies but also in adult dogs.

if you want to switch to home prepared food (great idea by the way!), stick with some tried and proven recipes until you learn about the important things like a proper calcium-phosphorus ratio and so on and feel confident enough to come up with recipes of your own.

a great book to get started is dr. pitcairn's complete guide to natural health for dogs and cats. it's sold on the UK amazon site here, i hope the link works. if it doesn't, go to amazon.co.uk and do a search for 157954973X under books.

[juliefurry]

I moisten both my dog's food. Maverick because he is so young still and Hannah because I have been doing it since she came home and just never got out of the habit. I don't know if it is true but I heard it is good for bloat.

Originally Posted by SallyandPippa

Thanks for your advice, I feed Pippa 4 small meals a day doing my best to stick to the same times, i.e 7.30am/1pm/6pm and around 10pm. I am changing her food this weekend as I am not happy feeding her Hills Science after reading comments on this and other forums, so I am not too bothered about getting her liking it. She just sniffed at the soaked kibble at lunchtime so I made up some wholemeal rice, tuna and peas, which, needless to say went down very well indeed! If I decided to make up her food from now on does anyone know of where I could get suitable recipes from?

Thanks!

Or should I say too often, rofl. Cut her back to 3 times a day feedings. And if she gets picky after a while, cut it back to 2 times a day.

Stick with a high quality puppy food. Home cooking is silly with all the decent foods available with all the proper vitamins and minerals, and with a growing puppy there is not room for screwups.

I believe it is only those dog food which are "extruded" that expand when wet. Others just form heavy lumps in the dogs stomach. I always soak food for pups in warm water, and add a bit of canned food as well as sprinkling dry powdered milk over it.

BUT, if you don't allow a puppy enough time between meals to become really hungry, you end up with a dog that won't eat at all.

[Mordy]

Originally Posted by Manchesters

Home cooking is silly with all the decent foods available with all the proper vitamins and minerals, and with a growing puppy there is not room for screwups.

i don't think it's silly at all. especially if you are living in a part of the world where true quality foods are not available or outrageously expensive.

i've been preparing my own food for a year now and it's certainly not much more expensive than buying commercial foods. having full control over what actually goes into your dog (vs. buying a bag of food made with unknown, unnecessary and undesirable ingredients) is well worth the extra prep time it takes.

commercial food has only been widely available for about 60 years, and out of those 60 years, really good, well researched products for maybe less than half that. people have been keeping and breeding dogs for hundreds and thousands of years before that, and they were all fed home prepared food.