How much wet food versus kibble?

[Rsa718]

Hi there,

My little guy is scheduled for a dental on Wednesday in which he will be losing many teeth due to hereditary decay. Originally I was told he would lose most if not all, but a closer look said that he may keep a few more, which is great news. The vet told me that my little guy would be on a soft food diet for 7-10 days while on antibiotics and pain meds. He may even need to be on wet food permanently depending on how many teeth he loses.

On that note, my guy normally eats Buffalo Blue small breed limited ingredient kibble. If I'm switching him to wet food, how much do I give him? Which wet food for you recommend? Wet food can be pricey, but I don't wanna starve my pup. I feel like wet food isn't going to keep him as full as his kibble.

[Kerryn915]

I'm not familiar with the blue buffalo kibble (size wise) but I know the wellness brand for small breeds is small and flat and my sister in laws tiny Pomeranian has no issue eating that. He has no teeth left. We even feed him dog biscuits but we break them up into little pieces and he just swallows it whole I guess. So I don't think it's necessary to switch to just wet food. Even if you add some warm water or broth to the kibble and let it soften a little beforehand it will be fine. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Rsa718]

Kerry thanks for the recommendation. I will certainly try out the Wellness brand. My Toby has been with Blue Buffalo since he was a pup -he's now almost 8! When I got him from the breeder, he was on Royal Canine, but he was eating his poop so I switched him to Blue Buffalo. The kibble is pretty tiny as it meant for small bread. My concern is the first 7-10 days where I am required to give him wet food due to the stitches and whatnot. The last thing I want him to do is eat dry kibble and hurt his gums or start bleeding. I'm not sure how to covert 1/4 cup of dry food to wet, if that makes sense? I guess I can ask the vet when I pick him up on Wednesday how much I should be giving him.

[Kerryn915]

My older boy was 13 and he lost 7 teeth and it didn't even seem to bother him at all. But each dental will be unique im sure for each dog. I'm not too familiar with wet food except for the fresh pet that comes in the refrigerator in the dog food isle of the store. It gives the portion amount on the tube and you just slice it and I mush it up with a fork. It will probably give the suggested serving on each wet food container per weight of the dog. But these are usually just guidelines. It may be slightly more or less. They are very resilient and I'm sure he will be happy to have the bad teeth gone!

[Wylie's Mom]

There is this, but I think that's more than you need/want to know...?

I would just either go by the food's label - or - go by approximate volume (not weight).

[tokiphd]

My guy had his remaining teeth pulled almost 3 years ago. My vet said their gums actually harden up, so it is okay to go back to dry food. My Yorker was on totally wet food for about 6 months, then I started transitioning him to dry. As long as the kibble is the right size (I feed Natural Balance LID Small Bites), you should be able to go back to your dry food. You can soak the dry in some water to soften it.