Doesn't Wanna Eat Dry Food After Having Wet+Dry Food

[Little Turk]

We recently switched our 5 month old male Boxer Turk from a mix of wet/dry food to just dry canidae.

He was eating approximately 1 can of wet food + 3 cups of dry food. Yet since switching to just dry he'll eat maybe 2 cups at most. He seems to have slowed down growing since doing so (weight wise). I think he dislikes the dry food despite being fed straight dry food now for the past 2 weeks. He won't even touch his dry food until 1-2pm in the day, even when I cut him off the night before at around 8.

Is just dry food more filling than wet+dry? Should I maybe add something to his food to make it more appetizing? I'd really like to feed him straight dry food if possible.

He's 5 months old and weighed 50lbs last night. Not sure if he's on track at his age, this is our first dog/boxer so whether he's small for a boxer male we dont know. Any info is appreciated. Thanks

I uploaded a pic of him from the lake the other day for the fun of it,

http://usera.imagecave.com/vermont/DSC00595.JPG

 

[gmacleod]

Personally, I'd go a long way to avoid feeding solely dry food. Dry is a lot cheaper than canned or natural forms of food, but there's a reason for that Unless there's a strong reason for doing otherwise, keeping some proportion of good quality, normally hydrated food in his diet is a good thing.

As to the actual amount of food - 2 cups daily sounds pretty normal for a boxer on Canidae. Normal for an adult, anyway (and 2 cups is the recommended daily allowance for a 50lb adult). Your guy is still growing, of course. But if he's consuming 2 cups daily, he's a long way from starving himself to death also. As for his current weight - he sounds fairly heavy for a 5 month old pup (a mature male should be in the region of 65-70lb) so as long as his weight is in proportion to his size, I don't think you need to be worried about his rate of growth. It's perfectly normal also that he should have slowed down now also - the big growth spurts are usually all over by about 4 - 4.5 months.

 

[Little Turk]

Thanks for the info.

So would you recommend that I start adding a little wet food to his diet or are there other things that I can add?

Good to see his weight is in check. You can visibly see his ribs when he's outside running around so it had us thinking he was losing weight/ slowing growth because of his nutrition.

 

[SILLY6PAK]

Your boy does not look heavy in the pics. None of mine like Canidea so maybe you just have the wrong dry.
My sister sprinkles parm cheese on the kibble to get her dog more interested in eating.

 

[gmacleod]

There are plenty of good healthy things to add to his diet It doesn't have to be commercial dog food to be quite suitable. Nice additions can include any form of reasonable-quality meat (raw or lightly cooked - this can include leftovers, but shouldn't be fatty offcuts), a bit of oily fish now and again (canned small fish such sardines and mackeral are ideal - tuna not so much), a raw or lightly cooked egg once or twice a week, a little cottage cheese now and again, plain natural yoghurt, even leftover cooked vegetables if he likes them. Those are all good healthy additions to a canine diet.

 

[trucker1954]

Why does wet cost more than dry?

gmacleod;

Earlier in this thread you made a statement about the relative costs of dry and moist/wet food.
Your comment suggests a difference in quality of the foods being the reason for the cost difference.

As a truck driver, I would like to point out that a large part of the difference is because of the increased weight and volume of the moist/wet foods.

Every bit of water that is in the food increases its' weight. The actual tinned packaging increases the weight.

Freight charges are based on weight and volume, and shipping the water in the moist/wet foods increases the shipping costs.

Increased packaging and processing costs also raise the price.

Most retailers use a percentage formula to determine the retail pricing on the products they handle. If their costs are higher, then the retail price will be proportionally higher as well to show the same return on investment.

I am not going to argue the relative food values of the moist/wet and dry foods, but I must state that transportation, processing and packaging costs will be higher for the moist/wet than for the dry food.

Please bear this in mind when deciding the value of the food you purchase for your 4 footed friend.

Cheers;

Pat

 

[gmacleod]

Your comment suggests a difference in quality of the foods being the reason for the cost difference.

It is certainly a major reason. Yours is the only suggestion of it being the only reason, however.

Sure, packaging and transport of goods play a part in any final retail price. So does rendering, mixing, dehydration, extrusion, plant and machinery, advertising, research, and a great many other things. Including the cost of ingredients. Foods that are 70% low cost grains are cheaper to produce than foods that are 90% meat

...I must state that transportation, processing and packaging costs will be higher for the moist/wet than for the dry food.

Please bear this in mind when deciding the value of the food you purchase for your 4 footed friend.

I hope you mean solely the monetary value and not nutritional value

 

[trucker1954]

You are absolutely correct in indicating that the value of food is in the food itself.

I just wanted to indicate that should you find two products that are of similar cost, then transportation distances can make up a significant part of the cost at retail.

Of course, the retailer can also take a larger profit on some of the lower cost foods as well, and as such, the retail cost of the food itself may not be truly indicative of the nutritional value of the food.

Researching the product is the best way to determine its true value.