What is better for a dog, hard dry food or soft dry food. I've heard conflicking opinions. Hard dry food will

Question

wear the enamel off the teeth over time, but will help control tarter. On the other side, soft dry food is easier to digest and gets in their system faster and is especially good for senior dogs for being easier to chew. would appreciate all opinions.

Answer 1

You've pretty much got it. Hard kibble is very good for the teath because it cleans them. Many dogs prefer soft food over kibble for obvious reasons, but then there is nothing that is cleaning their teeth. If senior dogs have problems with their teeth than it would be easier to chew soft food than kibble. Wet food is also more expensive than kibble. If you feed wet, be sure to provide lots of bones and crunchy things to clean the dogs teeth. Also ask the vet periodicly to clean the teeth for you.

Answer 2

My dogs dry food cakes to his teeth and is really hard to get off.

Brushing his teeth once or twice a week will do more than dog food or "dentabones" ever could. Use dog toothpaste not human toothpaste.

Even raw bones would wear down dog enamel faster than kibble, don't you think? Not to mention the sticks they like to chew on. Also you can soak kibble to make it soft.

I was told that wet food is too high in fat/calories for larger dogs.

Though I feed my dog dog food, it only makes up about 1/2 to 2/3 of his diet. He eats what we eat.

Dog foods that require feeding a smaller amount for the weight of your dog will produce less poop though! Because they contain less that is indegestable. Also the more expensive dog foods are about the same price as regular dog food when you look at how much of each you feed. (Although some of the extremely cheap stuff works out cheaper, but Ewwwwwwwwwww)

Anyway just some random thoughts! Probably didn't help much.

Answer 3

I've never seen a dog live long enough for hard food to wear the enamel off his teeth (the oldest dog I've known was a 23 year old afghan who ate hard food his whole life). If you read the label carefully on canned food, you'll seeing you're paying a lot of money for water. The nutrition content is just not there.

Hard food is good for teeth and gums, if you select a good quality dry food, paying a lot of attention to the first 3 ingredients, you're getting a lot more for your money and your dog is getting the nutrition he needs. If you have a senior dog who has a hard time chewing, it's much more beneficial to feed him dry kibble moistened with a bit of warm water than feeding him canned food.

Answer 4

I have tried both and believe me,if my dog has an accident while eating canned dog food it is alot messier to pick up.
In trying to be a good pet owner I asked my vet which was best and he told me to find a dry dog food that the dog likes and stick with it. . . Thank God,my dogs can eat any kind of dry dog food I give them.
Dry dog food is no harder on teeth than anything else and in reality it is great for cleaning the tartar they develop.
Raw bones or any bones that a dog carries off and knaws on all day is the worst thing you can give a dog. . . I thought I was being a good dog owner by giving my chow/collie mix bones to knaw on but my vet discovered her front teeth were worn down short and it was because of those bones I gave her.
There are now different sizes of dry dog food for different sizes of dogs and this really helps as it is not good to feed large chunk dog food to a small Yorkie or Chihuahua.

Answer 5

The hard food wont hurt thier teeth and yes it helps to clean them . Dogs on a soft food diet usually have more cavities and because it is soft doesnt mean that it is easier to digest. ALl dogs are different and need different types of food and can only tolerate certain types of food. Dogs who get alot of soft food will usually go to the bathroom mushy and hard food will make them go harder. I personally feed my dobermans cooked liver boiled in water then mixed with the dry food. I buy the liver in a box which weighs like 37 lbs. for 6 dlls so it is also cheaper than buying canned dog food and better for them.

Answer 6

Well its your choice there are pros and cons on either side. Depending on if your dog works or not (like a sled dog) I would say that feeding them soft food would be better, there are sled dog cases that happen because the musher feeds the dog dry food (the dogs stomach was cut because he ran after he had eaten dry food) and some dogs have weak stomaches and might not beable to hold either the dry food or the soft food.Or you could just ask your vet what they think would work best for your dog.

Answer 7

Most of the hard food now is designed to keep the teeth clean...natural wear will occur with age. All working dogs that I have owned or have known have always been fed on biscuits+ some table scraps...not from the table but in their feed. Once you have decided, then it is best for the digestion system to stick to one. Older dogs can still manage hard food...apart from in some circumstances when we used to feed rice and turkey with a powdered vitamin supplement. Most modern hard feeds have everything the dog needs. I would say avoid the real cheapies. Go for something middle of the range unless your dog has specific needs or medical problems...then something like Royal Canin has something for all conditions, dog breed, skin conditions or specific small breeds. My mum runs a cattery and makes up her own mix as a general feed between a top range and a middle range biscuit unless otherwise stated by the owner. we own 4 dogs...one is a 9 year old King Charles Cavalier who is in beautiful condidtion with fab teeth. The other dogs range from 4 to 8 and all dogs are fed on biscuits...all have great teeth and are in fantastic health.

Answer 8

Both, but fed separately. This goes for both dogs and cats. I fed my German Shepherd twice a day, one meal was canned the other was kibble. When I lost her to cancer when she was 16 her teeth were still in good shape. On the other hand, my dad's Chihuahua has eaten only canned since he was a puppy and now at age 9 he has almost no teeth left. If you decide to go with canned make sure that your dog gets some sort of treat designed to keep the teeth clean. It will help the breath tremendously too!

Answer 9

IF the hard food is of top quality and not a bag of feathers & beaks and cancer, then it would be much better than soft food.

Soft food has alot of "crap" in it such as Propylene glycol, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol

It is also found in anti freeze. It is sweet tasting and it is used as a perserative in pet foods. The pet food industry is not really regulated like human food. Downed cows, with cancer or other illness, are used in pet foods. So are dead dogs, cats, rats, etc.
Totally check the ingredients on the bag!

BHA and BHT as well as Ethoxyquin are garbage and any food containing these poisons should be avoided.

Answer 10

Dogs need to chew their food to keep their teeth, gums, and jaw muscles healthy. Soft food should only be given as a once in a while treat. Good qualite senior foods are formulated to be easier to crunch for your older friend. Whatever you decide to feed, it is very important to use a good quality food. Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, California Naturals, etc,