My dog had teeth removed. Can I add too much water to kibble?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would still try to feed the dry food to FIffy. She ate that food when she had 16 bad teeth in her mouth and she will still be able to eat that food after they are removed. You may have to water the food down a little bit to make it soft but really dogs can eat hard food without any teeth. Good luck and kisses to FIffy!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If the dental surgery was yesterday I would give it some more time for the interest in water to come back. I've seen this commonly post operatively where the patient does not want to eat or drink for 1-3 days after the procedure and is then fine after. If she is not taking in any water at all, you can syringe feed her some water throughout the day to ensure she is taking in enough water. Adding moisture to the kibble will give her water but likely not enough if you are only adding a small amount. I would add in 1/2-1 cup of water to the kibble and see how she does with this. If the decreased thirst continues beyond 2-3 days, I would call your veterinarian again and discuss this with him / her over the phone about what they would like you to do next. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

If Rocky is comfortable eating his food in this manner, this is absolutely fine. Another less labor intensive option would be to simply soak whole kibbles in warm water for 10 minutes prior to feeding him, then mixing the mushy kibble together. If Rocky begins to show signs of oral pain (picking up food then dropping it, pawing at the mouth, drooling), he may need to have his food softened further and need additional evaluation. If you haven't already had his dental issues addressed with his vet, that's another good place to start. I hope that all goes well!

Hi and thanks for Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can add water to Guinness's food daily if you wish. Wet food can stick to the teeth more which can cause dental disease or may worsen current dental disease so you may want to stick to just the hard kibble unless your veterinarian has recommended extra water be added to his diet due to a medical condition (such as kidney disease for example).

You can soften the dry food by soaking it lightly with just plain warm water or low sodium chicken broth. Don't completely soak it, just use enough liquid to lightly soften the kibble. If you make it too mushy he probably won't eat it. Hope this helps. Best wishes!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sure, you can use baby food mixed into kibbles if you like. But the real question is why won’t Luna eat the dry food? Possibilities include: 1) A bad tooth or other mouth problem 2) An organ dysfunction, disease, or infection that affects appetite 3) She has you well trained. I recommend seeing your vet to help rule out medical causes. If nothing is found, it could simply be that she has you well trained and knows that if she waits long enough, you’ll put something good in her bowl. My advice for that is to wait her out. Don’t give in and within 3 days, every healthy dog I know has eaten plain kibbles. Of course if Luna is a healthy weight and you don’t mind pampering her, that’s fine too, so long as she does get some dog food (it has all the minerals and vitamins we need her to get). Best wishes to you and Luna!

Good question, although it's difficult to answer accurately without knowing Riley's history and medical issues that may have factored into previous advice. As a general rule, it is fine to serve kibble either dry or soaked in water - most dogs do fine with either option and both options have pros & cons. Softening the food helps encourage more water intake and might encourage some dogs to eat a little bit slower (for those dogs who are what I call "scarf & barfers"!). Feeding kibble dry *may* be better for teeth, although in my opinion most kibbles don't do much to help keep teeth clean since they are so easily chewed up, unless you're feeding a prescription dental food such as t/d. So, sorry if this is a non-answer....but frankly both ways of feeding are perfectly acceptable! Hope this helps.