Canned dog food for puppies...

[3muttsandaboston]

Oh Hogan the dachshund has a severe overbite. I think just tasting human food made him not like kibble anymore. Everything for him is hard to eat and if it doesn't taste very very tasty he won't eat it.

[Giselle]

The simplest way to think about it is this: What's on the bottom of every bag of kibble? Crumbs. That's what is stuck between the crevasses of your dog's teeth. Kibble contains a large amount of carbs. Put two and two together, and you'll find it hard to believe that kibble actually helps keep teeth clean.

No regular, healthy dog or puppy necessarily needs dry kibble or canned food or raw food or homemade food. Just use whatever works for you! (JMO anyways)

[bckrazy]

Oh Hogan the dachshund has a severe overbite. I think just tasting human food made him not like kibble anymore. Everything for him is hard to eat and if it doesn't taste very very tasty he won't eat it.

I think what Jessika was saying is... he probably started refusing to eat the kibble when his teeth really started hurting, and the horrible breath is a later side affect of the bad teeth, not eating soft food. Hogan should definitely get his teefs checked by the Vet, if he hasn't already!

[3muttsandaboston]

Hogan lived his first three years as an outside dog he never saw one table scrap. When my grandmothers other dachshund died she decided to keep him inside where he was spoiled and as soon as he tasted his first table scrap he refused to eat anything but canned food. lol Like I said it is extremely hard for him to eat anything because he has a severe overbite or parrot mouth so much so that he is pretty goofy looking lol. Now that my grandmother has realized that he needs chewies and bones to keep his teeth cleaned she gives them to him and they have helped alot.

[catfancier]

I've recently finished writing an article on nutrition and another one on dental health.
In the research that I did, I found it amazing how many carbohydrates are in cat and dog food. In their natural state, cats and dogs do not eat many carbs at all, relying on the energy they need from protein (sourced from other meat, and to a lesser degree plant protein), and also from fats (which are naturally present in meats). Also in their natural state, cats and dogs would often not have a pre-prepared meal waiting for them and would need to fast due to the lack of food available.

Dog's teeth are naturally ultra-white in colour (more so than the whitest white that a Hollywood dentist could achieve). They should not have smelly breath at all - smelly breath indicates bad dental hygiene.

And absolutely, puppies should always be on a food specially formulated for puppies. Perhaps you could say to your auntie (or get your mum to) that if a puppy isn't fed on puppy food, it could be detrimental to their growth and they will not develop the way that they should.

So with this in mind, I would recommend finding a good quality pet food that is meat-protein based, feed frozen bones to keep their teeth and gums healthy, and perhaps have them skip a meal once or twice a week. I know this sounds harsh, but when you consider that up to 1/3 of pets these days are overweight, this may not be such a bad feeding regime...? JMO

[Jessika]

I know this sounds harsh, but when you consider that up to 1/3 of pets these days are overweight, this may not be such a bad feeding regime...? JMO

It's MUCH easier to put weight on than take it off

[3muttsandaboston]

Thankfully none of my pets, my grandmothers pets, or my aunts pets are overweight!

[Spiritwind]

Mighty dog is absolutely a horrible dog food....

However... I disagree that puppies NEED puppy food. If you feed a high quality dog food (I feed Canidae) then you do not have to feed a puppy food. When I have litters, and start weaning puppies, I will use a quality puppy food, soaked in warm water to make it soft for the puppies... and usually add a little goats milk to the food.... by the time they are 3 months old they are typically on Canidae dog food.....

Also... I agree.. dry food doesn't help keep teeth clean. Some breeds are more prone to bad teeth than other breeds.... a lot of smaller breed dogs especially (doxies, min pins and toy and mini poodles and Poms are the ones I've seen most from working at vet clinics the last 9 yrs)...... however Collies are a breed that tend to get quick tarter build up on their teeth.... I typically scale my dogs teeth every 6 months to keep the tarter build up off.... or before I take them to a show.... and my dogs that will chew raw knuckle bones I will give them these every once in a while, though I do have some that are not big chewers, even if the other dogs are chewing on them... they won't touch them... kinda weird LOL

Also I think science diet T/D is a HUGE waste of money!!! Even the vet where I most recently worked thought it was a waste of money and didn't recommend it....