[pakiinlibertytwp]

My little Yorkie-Dachshund mix likes the texture of Beneful (more chewy). But Beneful has only a 1 star rating. Does anyone know of a higher rated brand that has a texture similar to Beneful?

[Mom2Cavs]

Well….I’m not sure about the texture of Beneful, but Nature’s Variety Instinct has a food called Instinct Raw Boost that he might like. Also, adding a chunky stew type canned food on top of a quality dry might help or you could just feed the chunky stew canned alone. With a small dog like yours it wouldn’t be that expensive, imo. Or you could try a freeze dried food chopped up with a little water added, like Stella & Chewy’s, Primal or Nature’s Variety. Nutrisca has one as well as Vital Essentials. Oh..and there is a food called Vital and one called Fresh Pet (both made by the same company) that come in a bag and a roll that he might also like. I think Petco carries the Vital, which is grain free, and some supermarkets carry Fresh Pet, which has grains.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[theBCnut]

The chemicals that make those foods chewy aren’t something I want to feed to my dogs.

[Shasta220]

I’d definitely get your dog off of Beneful ASAP. I’m stuck feeding a friend’s dogs Beneful whenever he’s away… The smell alone tells me that there isn’t much health benefit in it. Beneful is so expensive because of its appeal. They have fancy advertisements, colorful kibble, and lots of vivid pictures on the bag. That is what you’re paying for, you’re not paying for anything wholesome or nutritious.

Okay, Beneful rant over: Make sure your dog’s teeth are okay, too. My dog started slowing down on the crunchy dry food…the next day I went to brush her teeth, I saw she had a slab fracture with a bad cavity growing (tooth had to come out…).
If he is all healthy in the mouth, but still prefers that chewy texture, you could find a quality dry kibble and try adding some of the brothy/stewy canned food, so it gets that liquid all over the kibble and helps soften it a little. If you don’t really want to get into canned food, then you could probably even pour a little water or chicken broth (I’d do home made so you can avoid unnecessary sodium. Just boil some chicken backs/necks for a while), that will soften the food.

If you get into feeding soft foods though, be sure to keep up on the oral hygiene 😉 if teeth brushing is too difficult, you can keep chews around and they even make food/water additives. Regular dental cleanings would be needed too if the tartar still gets built up.

Best wishes! Hopefully you’ll be able to get your fella on something wholesome and good for him 😀

[Suziemorgs]

Hi my Bichon Frise has been allergy tested ,she is allergic to Beef,chicken,salmon and soya can anyone recommend a dog food that don’t contain these ingredients as a lot of the food contain salmon oil 🙁

[Shasta220]

@Suzie, I’m sure there’s some food out there…possibly a lamb formula? It would probably be very expensive and difficult to find. I’d suggest starting your dog on a raw diet: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

Even a raw diet will probably be very tricky to omit those proteins, so maybe talk to your vet about any suggestions?

[JASTECH]

I would go to the BARF diet.
Proteins from:
Lamb, Turkey, Pheasant, Deer

Then add Coconut Oil “if” the dogs skin/coat gets dry.

You can use a quality mixer or processor for grinding meats & veggies to feed a single wind up toy dog a week at a time. I purchased a ¾ HP. Meat & Bone grinder that I can push entire chicken legs into and it grinds them w/o any issues. We use to grind 50 lbs. of chicken, then deer ext. in very short time. If you go this route, be careful of brands as their is a lot of junk out to buy, also some very poor quality Chinese copies that get into America.

[pugmomsandy]

Suziemorgs,

Grandma Lucy’s (freeze dried) and The Honest Kitchen (dehydrated), Nature’s Variety Instinct LID (kibble), Canidae Pure Land (kibble), Wellness Core Wild Game (kibble), Nature’s Logic Lamb and Rabbit kibbles, Pioneer Naturals grain free Pork, Great Life Limited Ingredient Buffalo, Great Life grain free Buffalo. There’s several canned foods to chose from as well from Hound & Gatos, Merrick, Weruva Human Style (tuna and mackerel formulas), Wellness Simple (kibble and canned). Some of these might have chicken or beef fat or salmon oil, not the meat proteins.

[Suziemorgs]

Thank you for replies, she was on Origen until I found out she had allergies at the moment I’m feeding her grasslands Acana but since being on the grasslands has developed tear staining 🙁

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