# "Soft" Kibble



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Maxine is starting to run out of her usual kibble. She is starting to have difficulty chewing the crunchy stuff. We did start a few weeks ago splitting her meals 1/2 kibble, 1/2 canned (Merrick). I am not ready to put her on a completely canned diet yet. I am wondering if anyone knows of a "soft" kibble out there? Years ago my mother fed Ken L Ration "Burger". Is there a product like that any more?

Please do not lecture me about the pros and cons of whatever. Maxine has cancer, and is on borrowed time. So far she is doing ok, and the big thing is I want to keep her eating. I don't care how "healthy" it is, sure I would prefer a good food, but keeping her eating is the most important part. She does like her canned Merrick, I am just hoping to put off total canned just yet. 

Any suggestions?


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## mist (Jun 23, 2007)

rather than change a food that you and she is happy, why not add a little warm water to her food and allow it to soften,


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

We tried that, she didn't eat it. She is picky. We are putting the canned food on and letting the moisture absorb in the kibble, for a bit before feeding. But do we really want to buy another bag of crunchy kibble for her?


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Please look into The Honest Kitchen. It is a dehydrated raw diet.... several of the varieties are grain free ( which is recommended for cancer patients, as grains tend to "feed" the cancer cells. When reconstituted with warm water, it is the consistency pf oatmeal. I think the Embark variety is the one rec. for cancer dogs. Please don't skimp on her nutrition now.... she needs a high quality diet now more than ever. Please give her an ear rub from the Dallas crew. 
www.thehonestkitchen.com


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

That's the one someone mentioned once before (I forgot the name) I may look into that "if" she will eat it. She is VERY finicky. She does like the Merrick canned food so far. She did give it a hard look when we first put it on her food. Her kibble she eats right now was the first food she EVER ate without turning her nose up. It took us 9 1/2 years to find it. 

I think she is less finicky now, at least she seems to. There is a store close to my house that sells it. Before her kibble runs out I may try it and see if she eats it.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

It smells good to even me. You can also add your own to it without throwing off the nutritional balance. You might want to get a small pack and try adding to her kibble as a transition...... that's what I do for special treats with my pack. I've never known a dog that didn't just love it.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

They still make the "semi-moist" foods that you refer to from years ago. Any big grocery store will carry them. Perhaps some of that mixed in with something else will entice her???


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Rip was delivered with an odd dog food I've never seen before.

It's called "Embark".

It's a 100% natural, grain-free dog food and it comes as a Dehydrated _Powder_.

You mix up a 50/50 with water, and let it sit 10 min. It turns thick, but remains very soft. It looks to have tons of veggies and stuff in it.

I don't know much about it, but if it's quality stuff (others can chime in on it) you might want to consider it.

A box about a foot tall and 4" wide makes the equivalent of a 42 pound bag of dog food according to the box.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

You could try feeding a 50/50 mixture of Honest Kitchen food with the Merrick canned. The "meaty" smell of the canned will help entice your dog to eat the Honest Kitchen. I recommend the HK "Thrive" formula, because it has lower carbohydrates (important in cancer nutrition) than many of the other formulas. It does have quinoa, but as you can read on the HK website quinoa is the most ancient of grains, is gluten-free, and doesn't fall into the same family as the wheat grains. My Bentley, who doesn't handle grain kibbles well, does fine with the HK Trhive.

If you try it, I recommend beginning with only 1/4 cup dry HK constituted with 2/3 cup water and let sit for 10 min. Then, add it to some canned food. If switch quickly. The OP said several times she didn't want to go to all canned; but I'm unclear why. It's usually considered less processed and healthier for a dog.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

NuttinButGoldens said:


> Rip was delivered with an odd dog food I've never seen before.
> 
> It's called "Embark".
> 
> ...


 
Embark is one of the Honest Kitchen varieties, and the one they actually recommend for cancer dogs. I usually switch between the Force and Embark for toppers for our crew. Primo food!!!!


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## Goldilocks (Jun 3, 2007)

I HIGHLY recommend the Honest Kitchen foods as well. We use them and the dogs love them. As Penny & Maggie's mom said, they do smell good enough for us to eat and are actually human taste tested while being made. This is real food. You can see the chunks of banana and other veggies in there. The Honest Kitchen is a very high quality food and I find it a lot less expensive than buying canned food. I do mostly home cooking for my Golden and I add about 1/2 cup of my own cooked meat (Chicken, beef, liver) to each 1 dry measured cup of Honest Kitchen. If you use the Preference formula you absolutely must add your own meat at least a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. The other formulas are fine to feed on their own though.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Either Honest Kitchen or Ziwi Peak comes to mind. Ziwi Peak is air dried raw and is the consistency of soft training jerky.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

I recommend The Honest Kitchen too. My boys get it every morning for breakfast and I have to make it while they are outside doing their morning business or else they'd be hovering right under me... the smell is very enticing for them!  I think it smells really good too! It's the consistency of oatmeal when hydrated and should be very easy for her to eat. And its also a wonderful dog food product made with human grade ingredients at a location here in San Diego.


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