On the heels of our post about how to get picky eaters to take their medicine, is another post inspired by my picky dog!
About a year ago, my dog went on a soft food diet after a dental surgery. Since then, she’s demanded some amount of wet food in her meals. You might be thinking that I spoil her (fair) but she is also a senior and keeping her weight up is very important. So, I compromise by giving her wet food mixed into her kibble.
A few months ago, I switched from canned food to pedigree dog food pouches. I like them because they are conveniently portioned, I can order them online, and most importantly, my dog actually eats her food. As we’ll discuss in a moment, there are some things I dislike.
This post will cover all of that, plus some pictures of what the food actually looks like.
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Pedigree Dog Food Pouches come in different “variety” packs. I’ve also seen individual pouches sold at my local Target, if you want to try out a couple flavors without buying a whole case (typically they are sold in packs of 18).
There are two main categories: “Chopped Ground Dinner” and “Choice Cuts”.
This is ground up dog food that seems to have some sort of fatty gel surrounding it. The texture of it is pretty weird (but I’m not the one eating it). It slides out of the pouch as a single blob of food. Super appetizing, I know.
How the food looks immediately after taking it out of the pouchIt’s pretty similar to canned dog food that is completely ground up. If I mix it together with kibble, the kibble gets soggy and my dog doesn’t want to eat it. Your dog might not be so picky but mine definitely is. 🙃
But, if I cut it into bite sized chunks and lightly mix that with kibble, it’s fine.
I cut up the food into chunks rather than fully mixing it in The result is kibble plus chunks of meatThis option currently comes in 4 different varieties: “With Hearty Chicken”, “With Slow Cooked Beef”, “Bacon and Filet Mignon Flavor”, and “Beef, Bacon, and Cheese Flavor”.
You can buy a variety pack with 3 of the 4 flavors (either “With Hearty Chicken”, “With Slow Cooked Beef”, “Bacon and Filet Mignon Flavor” together, or “With Hearty Chicken”, “With Slow Cooked Beef”, “Beef, Bacon, and Cheese Flavor” together).
This option is what my dog prefers. It’s chunky pieces of meat (and sometimes vegetables or noodles) in gravy.
Now I buy only the Choice Cuts type, since my dog prefers chunks of food anywayI’ve seen the “choice cuts” in three flavor options: “Filet Mignon Flavor”, “Grilled Chicken Flavor”, and “Beef, Noodles and Vegetables Flavor”.
You can either buy a variety pack, or a single flavor in the case of Filet Mignon. This is only the type and flavor of Pedigree food pouches that I buy now.
The ingredients vary slightly for each flavor, but here is a list of ingredients for the Filet Mignon Choice Cuts, which is the flavor that I give to my dog:
Filet Mignon Flavor INGREDIENTS: Sufficient Water For Processing, Chicken, Meat By-Products, Animal Liver, Beef, Wheat Gluten, Animal Plasma, Wheat Flour, Plain Dried Beet Pulp, Corn Starch, Added Color, Natural Flavor, Minerals (Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), Salt, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Natural Filet Mignon Flavor, Xanthan Gum, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement), Guar Gum, Sodium Nitrate (For Color Retention).
Ingredients list from https://www.pedigree.com/products/wet-pouch/pedigree-pouch-choice-cuts-gravy-24ct-variety-pack
What is “Meat By-Products”? They are the parts of animals considered unfit for human use and include liver, lungs, heads, blood, brains, spleen, kidneys, stomachs, and intestines. Sometimes some of those ingredients (like livers) are sold as edible meat for humans. But it’s certainly not as popular as normal meat cuts. So the rest of it gets either turned into hotdogs or put into dog food.
Studies have shown that including grain (which shows up here as wheat gluten and wheat flour) is not detrimental to canine diets, and in fact may be better than grain-free diets.
I’m not a nutritionist and therefore can’t provide meaningful feedback on the ingredients themselves. The “Added Color” and “Sodium Nitrate (For Color Retention)” seems unnecessary to me, though. Food does not need to be visually appealing to dogs in the same way that it is for humans.
If you have a dog with food allergies, these pouches may not work for them.
I tried these pouches on a whim. As mentioned earlier, my dog has become very, very picky in her old age. She ate kibble food for nearly 14 years without issue, then became increasingly picky after a soft-food-only diet, post-surgery.
Now that she KNOWS she can get better food, she is much pickier. 😅
After some experimentation, we reached a happy compromise where her meals are roughly 2/3 kibble, 1/3 “wet” food.
Wet food, meaning dog food that is a mixture of meat, grain, and other ingredients suspended in gravy or fat, is most often sold in cans. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as you can store food for long periods of time, and stock up. Canned food is also safe from rodents who might get into a dry dog food bag if it isn’t sealed properly.
But going through so many dog food cans created a lot of waste. We’ve written before about the recyclability of dog food containers, but it still seemed like a lot of space in our recycle bin.
Dog food pouches aren’t necessarily more recyclable, but they feel like a smaller amount of waste overall.
More importantly for us, the pouches match the serving size for our dog’s meals. With cans, we’d open up a can, and use it over the course of 2 or 3 meals. That means we had an open can of dog food on our counter or in our fridge (smelly!). This was especially inconvenient during travel.
I’m a fan of these dog food pouches because my picky dog actually eats them. I will mix together an equal amount of dog food pouch, and dry kibble, and she will almost always eat the entire bowl.
This has saved me a lot of time, as I’m not trying to figure out how to get her to eat her kibble by adding toppers, or having to switch up the canned food mix-ins.
Out of the different types of pouches, I have the most success with the “choice cuts” ones, which mean the food is chunky, rather than ground.
Of course, everyone’s dog is different and has different preferences. This post is about what I’ve had success with, with my dog.
As with all things, it depends. 😅 Here’s a summary:
Overall, I recommend buying a few pouches and trying it as a mix-in.
As this appears to be a newer product, I’ve had varying luck trying to find it in stores.
I first encountered it in a Target, so you might have luck there. I also looked for it at a PetSmart but they did not carry it. If you want to shop for it in-store, it’s best to call ahead so you’re not wasting your time.
Conversely, I’ve had no issue finding these pouches online.
And of course, you might have local pet stores that carry it!
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