Cross Breeds

How to transition puppies to dry dog food?

I have been feeding my puppies water soaked dry dog food mixed with canned but now they need to start eating it dry to keep teeth in good shape. But all they do is eat the canned food and leave all the dry. I am worried they are not eating enough now but still they cannot eat their dry food soaked in water all the time! Help!

Public Comments

1. All you do is add some dry kibble to what you are currently feeding. Each day, you add a little more dry until you have them switched to all fry. It is very easy.
2. Quit giving them canned food. Gradually decrease the amount of water you soak the dry in and the amount of time you soak it before you feed it to them.. mix in a bit of unsoaked kibble. Do NOT free feed. Give them 10-20 minutes to eat 4-5 times a day. They'll figure it out FAST.
3. You shouldn't be giving them the canned food. They don't need it, the dry will meet their nutritional needs, and mixing their food that way, leads to pickiness sooner rather than later. Take out the canned food completely. You start out mixing dry with water, should be soupy in the beginning, over about 2 weeks, you decrease the water content, until it is dry. Smooth, easy, unfinicky transition.
4. Hate to say it but if you are already mixing the food and they are picking around the dry then this is the best thing to do. Since your dog has shown he can eat this food with out getting sick no need to worry about weening them off just stop cold Turkey. The food may not look that good on a full stomach but feed the dog only dry food in the morning and if the dog does not eat it just leave the bowl out until he does. In the wild dogs go a few days with out eating so a day or two wont hurt the dog. then after a week or so the dog will be used to the food and back to normal feedings. ONLY DO THIS LET THIS GO ON FOR 2 DAYS MAX AT A TIME. if the dog is still not eating after 2 days then try another food
5. I made this same error with my dog. He would eat the canned food and leave the dry. Eventually, I gave him dry food only and stopped everything else cold turkey. For a day or so, he would sniff the food and turn his nose up at it, but once he got hungry he ate! A dog will not starve itself, so my advice would be to stop soaking the food and stop the canned food altogether. Be strong and don't give in---your dogs will get hungry and eat the kibble dry on their own. In the meantime, offer NOTHING ELSE, not even a dog buscuit! And DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES start switching around brands of dog food. Offer only the food you have been giving, and trust me---they will get hungry and they will eat it.