How often should dogs eat kibble
Dry Dog Food vs. Wet Dog Food: Which Is Better?
The number of dog food products on the market can make it very confusing for you to choose a diet that is appropriate for your pet. Not only are there tons of different brands and ingredients, but even the most basic choice of wet versus dry dog food can be overwhelming.
Its important to always consult your veterinarian for more specific recommendations that best fit your dogs lifestyle, but this article will go over the main differences between dry and wet dog food.
What's the Difference Between Wet and Dry Dog Food?
Both dry dog food and wet dog food can provide nutritionally balanced diets, but the major difference is in the way they are processed.
How Is Wet Dog Food Processed?
Wet food starts with grinding the protein sources, or meat ingredients. Then a gravy that contains vitamins, minerals, and grains is added. Once those are mixed, the food is cooked and sterilized to produce the canned product.
As a result, wet food has a much higher moisture content than dry food. You can see the percentage of maximum moisture on the label, under the Guaranteed Analysis section. A dry food might have around 10% moisture (max.) while a wet food might have something like 78% moisture (max.).
How Is Dry Dog Food Processed?
Dry food contains very similar ingredients, but instead of adding gravy and canning the product, the meat mixture is pulverized in order to create a consistent dough that can be cooked.
Once cooked, the dough is extruded through specifically shaped holes to form kibble. The kibble undergoes a drying process, and then is sprayed with fats, oils, vitamins, and minerals and packaged before the fats and oils can spoil.
Some dry dog food diets also add live probiotics to aid in digestive and immune health.
Is Wet or Dry Food Better for Dogs?
Both types of dog food are good choices, but each has their own benefits and drawbacks depending on the nutritional needs of your pet.
Benefits of Wet Dog Food Compared to Dry Dog Food
Wet dog food, or canned food, sometimes provides benefits that dry food doesnt offer, such as:
Higher moisture content: Wet food may be a good choice if your dog doesnt drink as much as they should, or if they have a medical condition that could benefit from proper hydration. One example would be a dog with a history of urinary or kidney disease.
Palatability: Canned dog food is often more aromatic and flavorful when compared to dry food. This may entice sick or older dogs to eat if their appetite is decreased.
Satiety: Wet dog food tends to create a longer-lasting feeling of being full. Increased satiety is useful in weight management, especially in dogs that seem to have a never-ending appetite.
Easier to chew: Dogs that have dental disease or other oral abnormalities may find wet food easier to chew than dry food.
Benefits of Dry Dog Food Compared to Wet Dog Food
Dry dog food, or kibble, often offers certain benefits that wet food doesnt provide, such as:
Dental health benefits: Dry food encourages dogs to chew their food, which aids in preventing tartar buildup and secondary periodontal disease.
Convenience: Compared to wet food, dry diets are much easier to pre-portion, and they wont spoil if left out all day. This can be beneficial for dogs that are grazers.
Financially feasible: Depending on the brand of food, dry diets may be less expensive to purchase and store long-term.
Food enrichment: Kibble is easier to integrate into food puzzles and slow feeders that may improve a dogs quality of life through cognitive stimulation.
What Dry Dog Food Do Veterinarians Recommend?
The most commonly recommended dry dog food brands, by veterinarians, are the same as for wet food: Royal Canin, Science Diet, and Purina Pro Plan. Here are a few dry dog food options for puppy, adult, and senior life stages:
Guide to Mixing Wet and Dry Dog Food
Mixing wet and dry dog food is another option that may provide the best of both worlds. However, it is very important to ensure you are still providing the properdaily feeding amountto prevent overfeeding.
The best way to do this is to have your local vet calculate your furry friends daily calorie requirements for maintenance. Then you can calculate how much dry and wet food your dog should have each day to reach that number of caloriesand dont forget to factor in any calories from treats.
Featured image: iStock.com/NickyLloyd
WRITTEN BY
Heather Hoffmann, DVMVeterinarian
Dr. Heather Hoffmann is a 2018 graduate from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed a certificate in...
The Ultimate Guide to Feeding Your Furry Friend: How Often Should Dogs Eat Raw Meat?
If youre currently researching the idea of switching your pup to a raw diet, you may be wondering: How often should dogs eat raw meat? Should raw-fed dogs eat more or less often than kibble-fed dogs?
The short answer is that you can feed your dog raw on the same schedule as you feed them any other food (although you cant leave it out for them to graze on all day). But theres a whole lot to know about raw feeding and how often to feed your dog raw food, so keep reading for more information!
Benefits of Feeding Dogs Raw Meat
The raw food diet for dogs has numerous health benefits. Here are some of the best benefits of feeding dogs raw meat.
More Quality Years
Many health problems that can shorten your dogs lifespan or reduce their quality of life may be staved off by feeding a raw diet. For example, kibble-fed dogs tend to be more prone to things like diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and more compared to dogs that eat a fully balanced, species-appropriate raw diet.
Improved Digestion
If your dog is gassy or frequently has soft stools, diarrhea, or constipation, a raw diet may help them have firmer, less-frequent poops and less gas. How? Despite looking quite different from their wolf ancestors, dogs are still biologically designed to derive all their nutrition from muscle meat, organ meat, and bonesNOT the refined carbohydrates found in kibble.
Healthier Skin and Coat
Rich in fatty acids and lacking inflammation-causing carbs, the raw diet for dogs helps provide the building blocks for healthier, less-itchy skin and smoother, shinier fur.
Stronger Immune System
As much as 80% of a dogs immune system resides in their gut, so a healthier gut tends to correlate with a stronger immune system. Since its closer to what dogs eat in the wild, raw dog food is easier to digest, which contributes to a stronger immune system.
Reduced Allergies
There are two main ways a raw diet can help reduce allergy symptoms:
Raw dog food is a naturally limited-ingredient diet, making it easier to avoid allergens for dogs with food allergies.
A raw diet for dogs helps improve skin health, so even dogs with environmental allergies often see symptom improvement.
More Mealtime Excitement
Would YOU be excited about a dry bowl of cereal for every meal? Most dogs get more excited about eating fresh, raw food than they do about eating kibble, especially if you choose more than one of our 6 tasty proteins (beef, chicken, turkey, duck, venison, and lamb).
Better Weight Control
Nearly 3 out of every 5 dogs are overweight or obese, and high-carb diets seem to be the primary culprit. In fact, studies have shown that dogs fed a low-carb diet lose more weight than dogs fed the exact same number of calories in a high-carb diet.
Cleaner Teeth
High-carb kibble diets also significantly contribute to dental disease in dogs since the bacteria that cause periodontal disease feed on carbohydrates. Therefore, dogs on a raw diet tend to have much cleaner, healthier teeth. Chewing on raw, meaty bones also helps provide a flossing effect that further improves dog dental health.
Risks of Feeding Dogs Raw Meat
Veterinarians like to warn that feeding raw meat to dogs can be dangerous, and if you feed a DIY raw diet, it could be. Here are some of the risks of trying to feed a raw dog food diet if you dont choose a nutritionally complete and balanced diet that has gone through high-pressure processing to eliminate pathogens like We Feed Raw.
Bacterial Infections
If youve ever gotten sick from eating undercooked meat, you know how many pathogens raw meat can carry. However, dogs digestive systems are specially designed to handle bacteria and viruses in ways that humans digestive systems simply arent, so its much less likely that your dog will get sick from eating raw meat than you might imagine.
That said, we take food safety very seriously at We Feed Raw. We start with USDA-inspected meat, package everything in a USDA-inspected facility, use a cold-pressure process to eliminate pathogens, and store and ship our food frozen to keep it as safe as possible.
Nutrient Imbalances
Trying to make sure your dog gets the right proportions of meat, organs, and bone every day, along with ensuring they get all the vitamins and minerals they need, can be extremely tricky.
Thats why We Feed Raw pre-portions our patties with approximately 80% muscle meat (with associated connective tissue and fat), 10% organ meat, and 10% finely ground bone, along with a small amount of a vitamin and mineral pre-mix to guarantee that our food is nutritionally complete and balanced.
In fact, our food meets AAFCO nutritional standards for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies.
How Often Should Dogs Eat Raw Meat?
Ideally, dogs should eat raw meat for every meal, and you can feed those meals as little as once a day or as often as three or more times per day. Lots of factors go into determining the best feeding schedule for your dog.
Factors Affecting Feeding Frequency
How often should you feed your dog raw meat? Lets take a closer look at some of the factors determining which frequency might be best for your dog and your family.
Age
Puppies need to eat a lot to grow at the proper pace, but they have tiny tummies, so puppies under 3 months old should eat at least 3 times a day. After that, its best to feed your puppy twice a day until theyre fully grown (usually 12-18 months), and then you can reduce to a single meal each day if you want.
Potential for Bloat
Some dog breeds, especially large, deep-chested breeds, are prone to a potentially life-threatening condition known as gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), also called bloat.
While bloat is less common in raw-fed dogs than kibble-fed dogs, it may still be a good idea to feed your dog at least twice a day if they are a breed known to be prone to bloat, since gulping large amounts of food at once is thought to be one of the primary triggers for bloat.
Enrichment
Does your dog get bored while you work all day? Feeding your dog multiple meals throughout the day, especially if the food is frozen in an enrichment toy, can help keep them busy and out of trouble.
Convenience
What works best for your schedule? Do you want to feed your dog once a day and be done with it? Twice a day while the rest of your family eats breakfast and dinner? Another schedule entirely? As long as you stick with one schedule so your dog knows when to expect their meals, you can feed them whenever you want.
Health
Some studies have shown that once-daily feeding may be associated with a longer life and better health than dogs who eat more than once a day. This may be because dogs in the wild (along with their wolf ancestors) only eat when they find food, meaning they frequently experience intermittent fasting when they cant find food.
Begging or Vomiting
Some dogs may throw up bile or beg for food between meals if theyre only fed once a day, so they may do best eating at least twice a day.
Recommended Raw Meat Diet for Dogs
The most recommended raw meat diet for dogs is one that follows the prey model raw diet, which contains the approximate percentages of what would be found in a whole prey food item: approximately 80% muscle meat (and associated connective tissue and fat), 10% bone, and 10% organ meat, of which at least half should be liver.
We Feed Raw contains these perfect proportions in each of our recipes and tells you how much to feed your dog every day. Start your dogs meal plan now and take advantage of the easiest way to feed raw.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the benefits of feeding dogs a raw meat diet?
The numerous benefits of raw dog food include:
Is it safe to feed dogs raw meat?
With highly acidic stomachs and short digestive tracts, dogs are designed to eat raw meat without getting sick. However, if you still worry about safety, We Feed Raw uses a cold-pressure process to eliminate potential pathogens, making it even safer to feed your dog a raw diet.
What types of raw meat should I feed my dog?
The more types of raw meat you can feed your dog, the better. Not only is variety the spice of life, but feeding more proteins may help prevent your dog from developing allergies to certain proteins in the future. Thats why We Feed Raw offers 6 different proteins to choose from.
Can dogs eat raw ground beef every day?
While raw ground beef can be PART of a raw diet, it is not nutritionally complete and balanced on its own. Raw dog food must contain organ meat and bones to provide proper nutrition. We Feed Raw is conveniently ground while ALSO containing organ meat, bones, and all the vitamins and minerals your dog needs to thrive.
How often should I feed my dog raw meat?
The more, the better! If you can, you should feed your dog raw meat daily. You can feed your dog as many or as few times per day as you like, as long as you stick to a regular schedule so your dog knows when to expect their meals.
What are the risks of feeding dogs raw meat?
Feeding your dog raw meat from questionable sources could make them sick, and formulating a DIY raw diet could lead to nutrient deficiencies. However, We Feed Raw uses a cold-pressure process to eliminate pathogens and is nutritionally complete and balanced.
What are some tips for preparing and serving raw meat to dogs?
You should handle raw meat for dogs the same way you handle raw meat before cooking it for your own meals:
Keep it frozen until no more than a few days before feeding it
Wash your hands before and after handling the meat
Disinfect any bowls, cutting boards, or other surfaces that touch raw meat
Use different cutting boards for raw meat and vegetables to avoid cross-contamination
Will feeding my dog a raw meat diet improve their overall health?
Yes! While there are exceptions to every rule, most dogs thrive on raw dog food. Like any diet change, however, it can take time to see the benefits, so dont expect your dogs health to suddenly improve after a single day of raw feeding.
