# Canned dog food (not raw) & protein



## RichW (Jul 2, 2018)

Hi all, I have an 11 week old boy who is currently eating kibble and pilchards or tuna. I would like to change (if it’s recommended) his diet to meat so he can have more protein. I’m also assuming that it will help his build and health as I wouldn’t completely discard giving him fish occasionally. Everyone would like their dog to be as healthy and as good looking as possible. I too obviously want this with him standing proud with a body that catches the eyes of all dog lovers. I might be wrong but from what I have heard & read, meat is the preferred option as opposed to fish? Please help...I’m at a loss! 🤷‍♂️🏻


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

🤷‍♂️🏻

I'm not sure what this means?

An 11 week old should be on a puppy food for about a year, which is especially formulated to meet his needs as a growing puppy. Dogfoodadvisor.com is a great resource, choose a food that is 5 stars and you're golden. 

As an adult, you might consider a 5 star (dry) grain free food, many brands offer them in varying meat varieties, such as poultry, red meat, fish...and I recommend rotating them so he gets the various amino acids and other technical things that are unique to each protein source. I would not recommend "Wet" food as a primary source, even though it seems closer to "meat" as the highest concentration of protein is always found in the processing of "Meal" which is 300% more concentrated then "regular" or wet meat, which is mostly water anyways.


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

we had difficulties with dry. Tried several brands and could never get his stomach settled in. We finally switched to a raw diet at about 1 year. 


So far so good (now 2)better poop / little gas except when he finds something in the woods to eat/ no smell from him, he was a stinky v on the dry foods.


We have a local place that makes the raw diet. It is not real cheap and he eats 2-2.5 lbs a day . He gets a lot of exercise and stays at 51-53 lbs he is NOT overweight. looks like a body builder.




EDIT, sorry did not see the no raw. You can ignore this!


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Poultry, red meat, and fish will all have slightly different nutrient profiles, but it in the end it's all protein and fat which your little guy needs to grow. Canned oily fish like sardines or mackerel has the added benefit of easily digestible bone and omega 3 fatty acids and being smaller fish they don't accumulate as much mercury as tuna and other larger fish do. 



So ultimately neither meat nor fish is preferred over the next. Rather a variety of protein sources helps provide the entire spectrum of nutrients. I would either feed a balanced raw diet which includes muscle meat, bone, and organs or I'd feed a high quality commercial food (canned over kibble for the moisture). I suppose a third option would be a home-cooked diet, but that would require some supplements like bone meal and in my opinion is even less convenient/foolproof than raw. *What I wouldn't do is only feed meat because that is not nutritionally balanced.* 



Hope this helps!


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