Hello,

I currently have a healthy 10-week old labrador puppy, who is being fed on Burns mini-bites. I am very happy with the food she is being fed, but am curious as to the amounts of water I should be adding to each meal.

I was initially told to feed her dried food added with water on a 1:1 ratio. That is, for the amount of dried food she gets, she will get the same amount of water. But I have now been told by the vet to gradually reduce this amount of water over the course of the next few days, so that by the time she is eleven weeks, she will have purely dried food.

My question then. Is it harmful to just feed a dog purely dried food with no water added to it? I'd be interested in hearing some of your opinions, and comments about how you feed your own dogs. Thanks for any help you can give,

Tom.

I always add water to my dogs' dried food. It swells so much in their stomachs I'd rather it did it slowly rather than quickly when they've got so thirsty they've had to have a drink. There seems to be less chance of bloat if the food's wet.

It's important when feeding dried food that fresh water is always available.
:)

My dogs always have water along side and do tend to have a drink immediately after eating.  It seems likely to me that the food would be in the stomach for the length of time it would take to swell either way and will make the same bulk so I can't quite see it could more likely lead to bloat but then my breeds don't tend to it, if they did maybe I would be more cautious :).  They certainly seem to enjoy crunchy textured foods and the puppies I have bred are enjoying dry food by about 6 weeks of age. 

I should have made it clear that I always add hot water (and allow it to cool before I put the bowls down!) because not only does this bring out the smell of the food which they seem to like, but the food has also started swelling before they actually eat it.
:)

hi there
I also feed burns and do add hot water to it which my little one loves.... but not all the time.... as I give him dry burns as well....-without water- as I heard somewhere that dried food is better for keeping the teeth clean...... x

Hiya, I always add as much water as the food will absorb because it tends to fill our lab puppy up more and it seems to stop him burping and hiccuping afterwards. One thing I would say though is if you put very hot water on the food some of the vitamins will be evaporated off (same goes for human food and cooking actually) so I'm not sure hot water is a good idea.

Sarah

Yep smurggle is right,pouring hot water over the kibble will destroy the vitamins and minerals that the manufactures have added back in after the cooking process that the heat had destroyed in the first place.

Hot water, not boiling, would cool very quickly on meeting cold food and a cold bowl, any vitamins it did manage to destroy would only be those on the very surface of the pieces I'm sure there will be plenty left :)

Thanks everyone. I've decided to add just enough water to wet the food, but not to drown it like I used to do. I will probably feed her like this for another few weeks before I make a decision as to whether to feed her completely dry, with a fresh bowl of water nearby of course.