Hi There

Is there a rule of thumb when mixing wet and dry food or is it something that needs tweaking to get it right for your puppy/dog?
My big baby is a Dogue De Bordeaux, she's 6 months old and is around 28kg.
She's a proper fussy eater. She goes off food after about 10 days or two weeks of the same thing.
Having read loads of threads on here it could be that I haven't yet got the right food for her. Or maybe she will love the Wainwrights now for a lot longer. Or maybe she will always be this fussy an eater - but that's not easy to manage when you have to change food gradually!

Anyway - I got her onto Hills large breed puppy dry food which she loved up until about a week ago she started losing interest and then literally stopped eating it.
I had a couple of Pedigree pouches left over from her early days (before I started researching dog food and found this to be garbage) so mixed one in and she was going for it all over again.
I wasn't about to change from Hills. I wasn't about to give Pedigree pouches again. So after lots of reading I've started mixing Wainwrights puppy trays in with the Hills dry.
She absolutely loves it. But I could be faced with same thing in two weeks - losing interest.

Now- my questions are as follows;
1) Some say your dry and wet should be same brand - is this true?
2) She's looking for more. But she has just gone to two meals so she may just be missing the midday meal. Or maybe I'm not mixing in enough of one or both. I'm taking the daily allowance for her age and size, of each one, and halving it. And splitting that between two meals.
Is that correct? Should I give more of one than the other? Or more of both? They are both complete foods but maybe I'm missing something.
3) Does anyone think you shouldn't mix wet and dry?

All opinions would be really appreciated!
Thank you!

Hi,

You could try adding water to the wet so that it coats all the kibble if she starts getting fussy again.

As far as I'm aware it doesnt make a scrap of difference if you feed different brands of wet and dry.

Yes, you have calculated the balance correctly. If her weight if fine then I would continue as you are. Amounts on the packets are only a rough guide so sometimes needs tweaking. You can feed 50/50. 25/75 or 75/25 - whatever works for you - all calculated the way you have already.

Some feel it's best to feed wet and dry separately because they digest at different rates but you may find if you split it, she will leave one. So if you are happy with the way things are, I would stay as you are.

Not sure about the puppy WW but the adult trays have less RDA than other brands and mine always needed a bit more WW, more along the lines of Naturediet/natures harvest guidelines.

Hope this helps and well done for getting her off the Pedigree and Hills. I was in the same boat as you when I joined here - we all live and learn

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"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own”

Try warming it on the hob before feeding it, the smells will be more tempting.

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SOMETIMES YOUR KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR IS MERELY AN IDIOT WRAPPED IN TINFOIL

As said above, but also just wanted to add that she may have learnt that once she refuses a food she gets something new. If she likes it at first and then tries to give up on it I would push through - put her food down and if she doesn't eat it in 15 minutes pick it up again and give no food or treats until next meal time. It may take a few meals but she'll eventually learn that being fussy doesn't get her anywhere

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I'd do as above too. The vet stold me to do this when Novak decided to be fussy at 6 months. He missed 6 meals and hasn't missed one since.

You have taught her that by not eating you'll give her something else. Not you need to teach her that if she doesn't eat what you put down, she gets nothing at all. She likes the food, she's just being like a typical kid and pushing her luck.

I mix wainwrights wet with two different dry with no problem at all. I do give less of each to be sure I'm not over feeding.

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Brilliant - thank you all!
I feel much better about it now. I'm going to up the amount slightly for a couple of days - it's still within the RDA but I'm working on the highest amount (ie where it says 2-3 trays, I'm going by 3 trays!)

And yes I will percevere this time if she does go off it again. I have loads of ideas now from you all which I can try if she does but a lot of reviews of WW says even the fussy ones lick the bowl clean every time with no refusing so hopefully I've found one she'll stick to.

I can see a difference after a few days in the glossiness of her coat and her stools are exactly how you wanna see them, so for now I'm a happy bunny. And so is she! Yay!

Thanks again x x