# Do I really need to feed kibble?



## C.L.A.D. (Jan 26, 2012)

My tiny toy puppy does not eat her Orijen puppy kibble consistently. She seemed to like it when I first started her on it. She rarely eats it dry. She may take it if it's been soaked in boiling water or if it's smooshed into something else. But I can never count on her eating it. I feel like I'm always trying to hide it in something else. Funny, she will try to steal, maybe one or two pieces, of my others' Wellness Core Reduced fat. I was thinking of switching her to Core puppy. 
So my question is, does a puppy or even an adult need to eat kibble or can they eat a high quality wet food? I give her supplements. I also mix in one or more of these: egg, chicken, steak, hamburger, canned, Stella and Chewie. I do home cook for one of my dogs, but I felt a puppy needed all the vitamins and such provided in a commercial food. 
Is there anything else I should do?
Also how much should she gain monthly?
I've always had poodles and never did I have such a finicky eater. She does eat. She'd prefer only the food I mix in, not the kibble. And I have to hand feed her or throw/roll it toward her. She does eat better, if the others seem to be interested in what's she's eating. 
Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. 
Thanks!


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## Jamie Hein (Aug 17, 2013)

C.L.A.D. said:


> My tiny toy puppy does not eat her Orijen puppy kibble consistently. She seemed to like it when I first started her on it. She rarely eats it dry. She may take it if it's been soaked in boiling water or if it's smooshed into something else. But I can never count on her eating it. I feel like I'm always trying to hide it in something else. Funny, she will try to steal, maybe one or two pieces, of my others' Wellness Core Reduced fat. I was thinking of switching her to Core puppy.
> So my question is, does a puppy or even an adult need to eat kibble or can they eat a high quality wet food? I give her supplements. I also mix in one or more of these: egg, chicken, steak, hamburger, canned, Stella and Chewie. I do home cook for one of my dogs, but I felt a puppy needed all the vitamins and such provided in a commercial food.
> Is there anything else I should do?
> Also how much should she gain monthly?
> ...


I don't feed kibble to my cats or to Kennedy and they do fine without it. The cats are actually better off... smaller less stinky poop, shinier coat, lost excess weight. I feed the cats a prey model raw diet which I prepare and Kennedy I feed Nature's Variety raw bites, Stella & Chewy's raw frozen, and Primal freeze dried raw. I started rotating the three because he was getting bored with just one food. Why not just feed the Stella & Chewy's with all of the goodies you mix in if she doesn't like kibble?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy always enjoyed kibble when the pack was first opened, and went off it as soon as it got the least bit stale - and even a small bag lasts a toy puppy a long, long time, as you know! I think the short answer is no, you don't have to feed kibble - I would look on the dog food comparison sites for a good quality wet puppy food and move her over to that until you are comfortable with putting her on a home cooked diet.


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## BorderKelpie (Dec 3, 2011)

You mentioned she prefers her kibble soaked. I always soak everyone's kibble - even my big dogs. Makes me feel better that they are getting water and their teeth are not meant for chewing anyway. I think the prepared raw diets are the best way to go, but if she's ok with soaked kibble, that's good, too.


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## Manxcat (May 6, 2013)

You can get some good quality wet foods now, just need a bit of research, with grain free being the optimum. My tpoo went totally off kibble, soaked or otherwise, when she was a pup so she went onto wet food. She now, at 2 years old, has half and half but not mixed together, and the wet food is supplemented with fresh chicken breast - raw diet wasn't an option for me, but she's doing fine! It took a while to find something that suited and she can still be a bit finicky occasionally but we've been on the current food for about 6 months now so fingers crossed!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I feed prepared raw. I don't think you need to feed kibble but I would have concern for her teeth if you just feed wet food. If you add in raw bone I think it would be fine.


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