Feeding kibble and meat on one day: is that possible?

The Prins CareTeam often gets the question whether you can combine kibble and meat in feeding your dog. We advise you not to do it.

The reason we don’t recommend it, is because it’s not always exactly clear what a dog is ingesting when you feed him a combined diet. We also have the experience that not all dogs can handle two types of food in one day, when it comes to digestion. In this article we will give you some more information.

Different daily portion

A dog needs different daily portions for each type of food. For example, an active dog that weighs 25 kilos eats Prins ProCare Super Active pressed kibble. Depending on his activity level he will need approximately 275 to 385 grams every day. However, when we feed him our Prins TotalCare Super Active Complete raw food, he should eat 500 grams per day. The kibble has a very different nutritional value per kilo than the fresh meat.

Too little or too much

If you would replace a portion of the kibble food with an equal portion of fresh meat, the recommended daily portion is no longer correct. As a result, the dog may not get enough nutrients and lose weight. On the other hand, if you replace a part of the daily portion of fresh meat with the same amount of kibble, the dog's calorie intake may be too high and he may become overweight. That's one reason why we don’t advice to combine different types of food in a day.

Kibble has a different nutritional value per kilo than fresh meat.

Different digestion

Conversely, a kibble food has a different construction than food which contains more moisture, such as our frozen fresh meat meals. A frozen fresh meat meal contains more moisture, 60 to 80 percent, whereas a kibble food only contains 8 to 10 percent. To get the right balance in all the available nutrients, a kibble food has a higher carbohydrate content than a frozen fresh meat meal. The kibble mainly contains protein, fat and carbohydrates, while a frozen fresh meat meal mainly contains moisture, protein and fat. Because of these differences, the digestion of both foods proceeds differently.

Imbalance

The differences between the two types of food, if given at the same time, can affect the acidity in the stomach, the digestion of protein and gastric emptying, thus creating an imbalance in the digestive system. Dogs have great adaptability and both types of foods can be very easily digested, therefore feeding two different foods at the same time doesn’t have to lead to real problems. However it can still negatively affect the absorption of nutrition.

What you can do

If you want to feed both fresh meat and kibble to your dog, you can, for example, choose to alternate a period of feeding kibble with feeding fresh meat for a week. You can try out to feed your dog kibble for five days and then feed him fresh meat for two days. In the end, your dog will show you which feeding method suits him best!

Quite complicated!

Feeding your dog properly and responsibly can be quite complicated! We can imagine that you have more or other questions about nutrition. Our Prins CareTeam is ready to help you with free, tailor-made advice.