canned food/dry food ?

I feed canned, but not daily.  The only reason I do not feed canned daily is it sticks to my dogs face hair which makes him smell. 

I put canned food in a hollow marrow bone, freeze it and give it to him for his afternoon snack.  Takes him at least 30 minutes to finish it.  Where as, if I put canned food in a dish it's gone in a second.  Plus in the marrow bone it very rarely sticks to his face hair.

Joey likes and I like Nature's Logic and Natural Balance canned food because it is pasty and not soupy.  I pay 2.49 a can for Nature's Logic and 1.74 a can for Natural Balance.  Obviously, it would be very difficult to put a soupy canned food into a marrow bone.  When I had Joey shaved earlier this summer, I bought Merrick Wing a Ling canned.  He loved that.  It had real chicken wings in it with the bone cooked to mush so he wouldn't choke on it.  You really can mash the wing with a fork.  I've heard that just about every dog loves Merrick Wing-a-Ling.  It runs 1.99 per can.  But unless it's a special day or his face is shaved, no soupy canned foods for Joey.

i looked at the natural balance web site. they have natural balance canned food and something called "eatables" in a can. what is the difference?

btw: the food i got was the pasty kind. since i was in petsmart there wasnt a whole lot of selection. i  looked at nutro natural choice and nutro ultra. i couldnt tell a whole lot of difference in the natural choice and the ultra. the ingredients looked very similar. (i was looking at the large breed varieties of both).

if you're worried about cost, you can buy certain varieties of Evanger's canned meats for less than a $1 a can, it's a very healthy kibble-topper, and dogs love it.

i am not terribly worried about price. i was mainly curious as to how much different brands cost per can.

i looked at the evanger's web site and there arent any places near us that carry it. closest place is about an hours drive away. thanks for the tip though. []

i looked at the natural balance web site. they have natural balance canned food and something called "eatables" in a can. what is the difference?

 
Between the two NB canned foods...the regular canned is much healthier than the eatables. Many of the eatables have sugar and salt in them and in one or two formulas meat isn't even in the top 3 ingredients so if you want to try this food I would try the regular NB varieties.
   I feed some sort of canned something a few days a week, but it makes them have softer stool so that is one of teh biggets reasons I don't feed it all the time.  (and like JoJo- it stickes to JJs face and he never cleans his own face[:'(])  
 
I curently use evangers (sorry it is not near you[&o]) because they do better (poop wise) on this than on regular canned.  I use to feed evo, nature's variety and canidae when I fed more canned food but unfortunatly none of those are available at Petco for you to try. Those use to run me close to $2.00 a can and the Nature's variety were the smaller cans still at $2.00 each [].
I tried Natural Balance, but it is the only food that JJ was picky about. Lot's of folks feed it though with no problems, so I say give it a try! []
In between the evangers I give crockpotted chicken or beef, canned salmon, yogurt or pumpkin for variety and their poop is still very firm on these foods.

I add canned with every kibble meal I serve, in my way of thinking it makes it more healthy as they are getting water naturally through their food.

I don't think the pricing I get up here in Canada would be the same as you get in the States[]  But, the most economical canned foods I found that are healthy are Canidae which I can get for about $1.69/can, Innova, California Natural...even up here in Canada I can get it for $1.89/can. 

I love Nature's Variety but find their foods a bit expensive...I like the fact they are grain free,.the chicken is the most reasonable@ $2.79 beef @ 2.99...lamb is $3.49, Duck is $3.89, Rabbit is $4.29...venison is $4.39...so far we have only gotten the Chicken.  I can buy a whole duck myself and make a base to add to dog food myself[]  
 
Like jjsmom06 I also rotate with canned sardines, canned sockeye salmon or wild alaskan salmon, my homemade chicken soup with is very healthy[]  organic plain yogurt etc.

Mudpuppy--Is the "cheaper" Evangers canned a loaf type or is it like pieces of meat??  Thanks!

jjsmom06: what kind of beef do you crockpot for your dogs? something like a pot roast or something different? the feed store we usually buy from has more choices (i know they have canidae and innova), but the petsmart is closer that is the only reason i went there last night.

Cally01: i looked at sardines last time i was in the grocery store. but there were several different "flavors". what do you usually get for your dogs?

ORIGINAL: Cally01

I also rotate with canned sardines, canned sockeye salmon or wild alaskan salmon

 
I picked up some canned salmon (wild caught) from Safeway today on sale for $1.54US for a 14.75oz can.  That's a nickel cheaper than I pay for California Natural salmon variety.  Since I'm just mixing it with kibble this seems like a better deal.  Even at the regular price of $1.74US a can I think I'll stick with it as my kibble mixer instead of Cal Natural canned salmon (balanced food).

I just started adding things to Sammy's kibble - usually only at dinner, and it varies.  The canned I just bought was Chicken Soup - and he LOVES it.  It was 0.99/can at Pet supplies plus.  I was really impressed with the ingredient list, and there are very distinguishable chunks of veggies in it.
Calorie Content: 1,139 kcal/kg (420 kcal/can) Calculated Metabolizable Energy.
Ingredients

Chicken, turkey, chicken broth, duck, salmon, chicken liver, whole grain brown rice, white rice, oatmeal, carrots, peas, potatoes, barley, egg product, guar gum, flaxseed meal, kelp, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, dried chicory root, carrageenan gum, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, ascorbic acid, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, calcium iodate and sodium selenite.
Also, I use about half a can mixed with half cup kibble, since the kcal in the canned is very close to his kibble kcal and he would normally get 1 cup 2x/day

Not sure what other places carry this brand........ I will also start buying some Kirklands canned when I go back to Costco since it's pretty good and much cheaper.
 
ETA - he eats Canidae kibble for his main food

Mudpuppy--Is the "cheaper" Evangers canned a loaf type or is it like pieces of meat?? Thanks!

 
Lori- I don't know about the ones that mudpuppy likes to feed, but of the 2 kinds that I buy that are 100% meat,  the "hunk o beef" is actuially like roast beef in a can but in my city it is almost $2.00 a can and the compressed or more "canned looking"  dog food type (the chicken, beef, chicken and beef....  is only .95 cents.
 

jjsmom06: what kind of beef do you crockpot for your dogs? something like a pot roast or something different? the feed store we usually buy from has more choices (i know they have canidae and innova), but the petsmart is closer that is the only reason i went there last night.

 
I buy boneless chicken breasts OR beef (whatever roast or other beef is on sale).  Then I just add some salt free seasoning blend, sometimes some veggies plus water and let it cook on low while I am sleeping. My two LOVE it and on crockpot mornings they rush into the kitchen to put their noses on the counter and smell their breakfast!![]

We give our adult bulldog canned food topped on kibble every meal.  I give the puppy some canned on her Innova puppy kibble almost everymeal, except when I think her stools need firming up.
 
Found Canidae chciken and rice at $1.20 er 13oz can
EVO 95% beef or chicken is $1.60 per 13oz can
 
Sometimes they get a whole drained/rinsed can of pink salmon as a meal instead.
 
My other dog does not do well with kibble/canned so he gets raw.
 

My dogs get a little kibble (currently rotating Eagle Pack duck with Eagle Pack Salmon) with a little warm water to bring out the aroma and just started grizzley oil. evenings they get kibble with Solid Gold canned -- and I have the CLEAN PLATE CLUB!! They love it and it is just soupy enough to mix in well. With three dogs, I use about half a can a day....not too bad... sometimes lesss. I add a little warm water to the canned as well.