Adding water to dry kibble

[Mom2Many]

Thought this was news that everyone could benefit from that feeds a dry dog food. I was never aware of the benefits of adding water to kibble but I recently came across some information on another forum from a woman who is very well versed in canine nutrition.

Apparently it is important to add some water to your dogs dry food. This is due to the fact that dry food has a very low moisture content, so its protein comes in a very concentrated form (which is very unnatural) and the kidneys need sufficient water to process it. Many people think that dogs know how much water they need to intake but it turns out this can be untrue. The higher the content of protien (like Innova Evo) the more important it is to add water to the food.

By adding water to the kibble directly you prevent the dog from overconsuming water later when it is trying to compensate (which is unhealthy). It also prevents moisture from being drawn away from anywhere else in the body to the stomach to create the "soupy" consistency of the food necessary for further digestion in the small intestine.

It is a good idea to add a cup to a cup and half per cup of kibble of room temperature water to your dogs dry food, don't let it soak though, just wet and serve.

I found this to be excellent information that I was completely unaware of. The information was worded a bit differently from the original source so as to not be infringing on any copy right issues but it is info from the woman (Moranda) who created "The Dog Food Project", you can find the link to the website here.

[linnie]

I used this method with my dogs as pups before becoming a home cooked feeder
the one thing I do remember being told was not to leave left overs down if they are dampened as this can become contaminated.
never a problem for my dogs as they never leave any food behind lol

[Shadowkins]

Interesting! I've always done this because I just figured it brought out the flavor more... if the kibble is dry my boy will pretty much ignore it until he is famished...so I always moisten it.
I had been told however, never to use hot water , because it can destroy some of the nutrients...don't really know if that's true or not.

[dogs4life]

One of my old housemates fed like this. She was a vet who lost a dog to gastric torsion, so she did lot of research on feeding kibble and that's what she decided to do, too.

Interestingly, Iams recommends you soak food in hot water if your dog doesn't fancy their food I called customer service once, my dog didn't like Iams and didn't know what to do....I know better now.

[Pugdawg1]

I've been doing that, but never thought about that particular reason. I just thought it was a nice thing to do LOL Thanks for that interesting bit of info!

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

I've always put water on the bullies' food. I too have heard that it may help with Bloat, not sure if there is any truth to it or not but along with the added benefit of more of the food being used properly I always figured it couldn't hurt.

[pupmom]

I have been sprinkling water on Kona's food--mostly to soften it for her as she was just getting onto dry puppy food. There are still unmoistened bits in her bowl and she seems to be doing fine with them, but if it is better to moisten it, I may continue this practice. Thanks for the great info!

[mrsgrubby]

Jasmine won't eat her food if I put water on it, She just looks at it and walks away, like she's saying., "Sure mom, do you drown your food before you eat it."