Dry vs Wet vs Mixed

Our new boy has to have a dry food soaked as he has 10 teeth left (4 are his canines others are dotted around)

As per the previous post we are looking at new food for both of our greys as neither are 100% on their current

Having seen him try and steal some dry he did struggle to pick it up

I have been looking at for them:

Millies Wolfheart
Natures Menu (the crunch seems very expensive for a small portion)
Pure veg mix with home cooked protein (couldnt find the Pure veg mix in the directory so not sure on this one)
Forthglade - we have avoided any grains with our girl but think she will be ok with brown rice as we used to give her rice and fish if poorly before changing to sweet potato

Unfortunately butternut box is too expensive for us with 2 big dogs

What we are struggling with him is he is needing to pee constantly - but when look at how much liquid he gets a day it is an awful lot

But unsure if there is any benefit over feed dry over wet? (or if there is any disadvantage of a mixture if balanced correctly ) - the mix is my preference as our girl is so fussy and gets bored easily and means if we give our boy more wet we can still give him some texture

But really concerned not doing right by them if mix the wet and dry completes

I’ll be very interested to read what others say on this topic as I tend to favour mixing wet and dry complete foods just for variety but it can be a struggle to get the portion sizes right. I’m not sure whether or not this is the best way of feeding but it’s what I’ve done in the past and also with my cats.

I feed cold pressed kibble to my girl (Gentle and Guru brands), Guru suggest that you can mix their food with lukewarm water to make it a paste which would be an easier way for your boy to eat (in dry form cold pressed pellets might be quite tough for him). I have tried this a few times and my girl has loved it. Cold Pressed can be also be fed alongside raw due to the way it is digested and, I checked, is fine to feed with a wet food as a “topper”.

My preference for cold pressed is due to the way it breaks down in the tummy as opposed to extruded kibble which swells. Having a large, deep chested breed I am extremely worried about bloat so feel more comfortable feeding cold pressed though I realise it is by no means a guarantee!

With regard to wet food you mentioned Forthglade which I use (they do also now do a cold pressed kibble but I haven’t tried it). Their wet food is very good and they do now do a grain free range in it too.

Pure Freeze Dried does sound excellent food and a great option but I looked into the complete food and it works out very expensive for large breed dogs, not sure about the vegi mixer though…

Hope this helps and that you find a food that works for your pups!

I feed a mix of raw complete and cold pressed but like you worry about getting the ratio right so I tend to have meals of all raw or meals of all cold pressed. I also feed a home cooked meal occasionally. I sometimes add a few bits of kibble if I get to the end of the carton of raw and am left with a small portion.
I haven’t tried adding water to many dried foods but for the ones I have , the cold pressed mushes down well. The others I have tried have just expanded and held their shape. I would worry that they would digest at a slower rate than the wet food so may cause digestive problems.

It’s a matter of opinion (and finances) whether dry is better than wet food and vice versa. The Dog Food Advisor has something to say on this subject - link. They are less processed than dry food and the better quality ones have a high meat content. They are palatable so good for picky eaters.

I looked back on your previous post and I assume that you would like to feed both dogs the same food. Due to their health and history I feel that wet food would be a good choice. The underweight one would have more calories and the fussy one would enjoy the food more than dry.

Of the wet foods that you mention, Forthglade might be the most economical but TBH I haven’t priced them up. I’ve used it on occasions when Morrisons have had it on offer for £1 per tray. Usually they have the grain free in stock but I quite like the recipe of the brown rice versions. I usually just replace one meal with it for a change from their usual cold pressed and it seems to work OK. Tesco also sometimes have Forthglade on offer too. Anyway, I looked on Berriewoods website and buying in bulk brings the price down to something like 96p per tray.

The good thing about Forthglade is the range of flavours so hopefully that would suit your fussy dog. Natures Menu do a nice range of flavours too but for Greyhounds I think you might need to look at the 600g tins and maybe mix them with something. Their Mighty Mixer would be good but I am not sure whether your dog with dental problems would manage it because the cubes are very hard and crunchy.

Cold pressed food could be a good choice and should suit both dogs. The pieces are not too hard to chew and you can soften it with water to make a wet food to your chosen consistency.

As for mixing foods, using wet food as a topper on dry food seems to be popular these days. As long as the dog has a good digestive system and it causes no issues than there shouldn’t be a problem. However, if a dog has intolerance or has a sensitive digestion then maybe it is best just to stick with one product. Also, the owner needs to remember to cut down the dry food so that the dog doesn’t become overweight.

Thank you all some really good things to think about

Definitely looking at the wet - likely forthglade as with 2 30kg (Kojak should be 32-33) Natures menu that we currently use as a topper would be very pricey, I dont want to too tied down by price but when forthglade gets the same rating this does seem the more economic way

The cold pressed also seems like a better investment than the standard dry - hadnt realised the potential issues with food expanded though makes complete sense

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I have used Natures Menu wet food and they make some great products. However, at the time I had three dogs and it was becoming expensive, especially when I added in the cost of insurance and everything else. Should imagine that for most people there has to be a limit to the food budget. Cold pressed would probably be more economical than wet food and as mentioned, can be made into a similar consistency. The three UK companies that sell cold pressed food are Forthglade (duck and chicken), Gentle (chicken and fish) and Guru (Surf and Turf and Full on Feast). Full on Feast is grain free.

I have used Millies wet dog food and they are very good quality, smells lovely you can see the vegetables and my dog loves it. and at the moment I am adding it to Guru Cold pressed, as my dog does not seem to put on weight with out the extra half tin at every meal, so I am moving on to raw.
I hope that you can sort out the problems with your dog. :slight_smile:

If you do decide to go with Forthglade, Zooplus are selling mixed flavour packs of 36 trays for ÂŁ32.99 (for varieties with rice), ÂŁ33.99 (grain free varieties) and they also currently have a further 10% off, making it 83/85p per tray. :slight_smile:

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We feed a 50/50 mix of Forthglade grain free and Autarky Grain free to our two Labs. It seems to work well as nothing is ever left and they are both in perfect health :slight_smile:

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