Should dogs have a mix of wet and dry food

Dry Dog Food vs. Wet Dog Food: Which Is Better?

The number of dog food products on the market can make it very confusing for you to choose a diet that is appropriate for your pet. Not only are there tons of different brands and ingredients, but even the most basic choice of wet versus dry dog food can be overwhelming.

Its important to always consult your veterinarian for more specific recommendations that best fit your dogs lifestyle, but this article will go over the main differences between dry and wet dog food.

What's the Difference Between Wet and Dry Dog Food?

Both dry dog food and wet dog food can provide nutritionally balanced diets, but the major difference is in the way they are processed.

How Is Wet Dog Food Processed?

Wet food starts with grinding the protein sources, or meat ingredients. Then a gravy that contains vitamins, minerals, and grains is added. Once those are mixed, the food is cooked and sterilized to produce the canned product.

As a result, wet food has a much higher moisture content than dry food. You can see the percentage of maximum moisture on the label, under the Guaranteed Analysis section. A dry food might have around 10% moisture (max.) while a wet food might have something like 78% moisture (max.).

How Is Dry Dog Food Processed?

Dry food contains very similar ingredients, but instead of adding gravy and canning the product, the meat mixture is pulverized in order to create a consistent dough that can be cooked.

Once cooked, the dough is extruded through specifically shaped holes to form kibble. The kibble undergoes a drying process, and then is sprayed with fats, oils, vitamins, and minerals and packaged before the fats and oils can spoil.

Some dry dog food diets also add live probiotics to aid in digestive and immune health.

Is Wet or Dry Food Better for Dogs?

Both types of dog food are good choices, but each has their own benefits and drawbacks depending on the nutritional needs of your pet.

Benefits of Wet Dog Food Compared to Dry Dog Food

Wet dog food, or canned food, sometimes provides benefits that dry food doesnt offer, such as:

• Higher moisture content: Wet food may be a good choice if your dog doesnt drink as much as they should, or if they have a medical condition that could benefit from proper hydration. One example would be a dog with a history of urinary or kidney disease.

• Palatability: Canned dog food is often more aromatic and flavorful when compared to dry food. This may entice sick or older dogs to eat if their appetite is decreased.

• Satiety: Wet dog food tends to create a longer-lasting feeling of being full. Increased satiety is useful in weight management, especially in dogs that seem to have a never-ending appetite.

• Easier to chew: Dogs that have dental disease or other oral abnormalities may find wet food easier to chew than dry food.

Benefits of Dry Dog Food Compared to Wet Dog Food

Dry dog food, or kibble, often offers certain benefits that wet food doesnt provide, such as:

• Dental health benefits: Dry food encourages dogs to chew their food, which aids in preventing tartar buildup and secondary periodontal disease.

• Convenience: Compared to wet food, dry diets are much easier to pre-portion, and they wont spoil if left out all day. This can be beneficial for dogs that are grazers.

• Financially feasible: Depending on the brand of food, dry diets may be less expensive to purchase and store long-term.

• Food enrichment: Kibble is easier to integrate into food puzzles and slow feeders that may improve a dogs quality of life through cognitive stimulation.

What Dry Dog Food Do Veterinarians Recommend?

The most commonly recommended dry dog food brands, by veterinarians, are the same as for wet food: Royal Canin, Science Diet, and Purina Pro Plan. Here are a few dry dog food options for puppy, adult, and senior life stages:

Guide to Mixing Wet and Dry Dog Food

Mixing wet and dry dog food is another option that may provide the best of both worlds. However, it is very important to ensure you are still providing the properdaily feeding amountto prevent overfeeding.

The best way to do this is to have your local vet calculate your furry friends daily calorie requirements for maintenance. Then you can calculate how much dry and wet food your dog should have each day to reach that number of caloriesand dont forget to factor in any calories from treats.

Featured image: iStock.com/NickyLloyd

WRITTEN BY

Heather Hoffmann, DVM

Veterinarian

Dr. Heather Hoffmann is a 2018 graduate from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed a certificate in...

In What Ratio Should You Mix Wet and Dry Dog Food?

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Mixing wet and dry dog food can be a little hard to figure out at first. If you want to support a healthy weight on your dog, how you mix wet and dry dog food will matter. Its important to stay within the recommended serving size for the food you buy.

The ratio you should mix wet and dry dog food depends on which medium you want more of or serve it 50/50. A single 3 oz 3.5 oz can of wet food is roughly equivalent to 1/4 cup of dry dog food. A 12.5 oz can is roughly equivalent to 1 1/4 cups of dry food.

Dog Size	Wet Food	Dry Food	Total Daily Serving
3-12 lbs	3 oz can	Dash to cup	to 1 cup
13-20 lbs	3 oz can	to 1 cup	1 to 1 cups
21-35 lbs	3 oz can	1 to 1 cups	1 to 2 cups
26-50 lbs	6 oz (2 cans)	1 to 2 cups	2 to 2 cups
51-75 lbs	6 oz (2 cans)	2 to 2 cups	2 cup to 3 cups
76-100 lbs	10 oz	2 to 3 cups	3 to 4 cups
Over 100 lbs.	10 oz	3 + per 10 lbs	4 + per 10 lbs

To further explain mixing wet and dry dog food, other potential serving ratios read through this article.

Basic Nutritional Information

Understanding how you should mix wet and dry dog food helps to know the nutritional information for both. A dog can digest both, and one isnt better than the other, according to the VCA Hospital.

The main reasons for mixing wet and dry food will vary depending on your dog and their health needs. If your dog loves dry kibble and is getting plenty of water, theres no need to mix wet and dry foods.

For continuity in this article, all references to calories (kcal) and serving sizes will be based upon the Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula for Healthy Weight Adult Dog Food, in Chicken and Brown Rice flavor. Here is a link for dry food and a link for wet food.

Before you start a wet and dry food mix, double-check the serving size for the food you already give your dog or plan to give your dog. Slight adjustments may be needed.

Calories and Serving Sizes

When mixing wet and dry dog food, its important to keep a ratio within the recommended calories for your dog. The calories that your dog needs are based on breed, weight, age, and activity level.

For example, a large breed dog requires a food catered to large breeds, but this dog is also overweight. In which case, you will want to serve 70% of the suggested serving on your dog food label.

To get an estimate on the number of calories your dog needs to take-in daily, check out the Dog Food Calculator on Dog Food Advisor. After typing in your dogs ideal weight, activity level, and the kcal/cup of your dog food. The calculator provides the suggested kcal/day and the cups/day of dog food.

A 65-pound dog who is overweight and eats food with 326 kcal/cup, needs 887 kcal/day and 2.72 cups/day. In dry food, this dog would get 1 cups of dog kibble twice a day.

The serving size for the same dog who eats wet food at 354 kcal/cup is 887 kcal/day and 2.51cups/day. Split between 2 meals, its 1 cups of wet food at each serving.

Wet vs. Dry Ingredients

You might have noticed the serving size per day for our overweight dog is less in wet food versus dry food in the example above.

The wet food has a higher kcal/cup amount. This is in part to the fact that theres more packed into less. Wet food is a condensed version of dry food. Per serving, canned dog food has a higher protein and fat level and a lower carbohydrate level.

Here are the percentages of protein, fat, and carbohydrates for both types of food:

Nutrient	Dry Kibble	Wet/Canned Food
Protein	18-32%	28-50%
Fat	8-22%	20-32%
Carbohydrates	46-74%	18-57%

Nutritionally, dogs can digest carbohydrates. The long-standing myth that dogs need to be carnivores isnt true. Over the years of evolving to be a house pet, dogs have adjusted to being able to be omnivorous. Some grains in your dogs food are fine, but not all dogs digest them and others. The VCA recommends feeding your dog the highest-quality food you can afford.

For this reason, dry kibble isnt better or worse than wet canned food. Why you would want to mix dry and wet dog foods is discussed below.

Ratios and Servings

When you mix dry and wet dog food, its important to remember to keep the total kcal/day at your dogs recommended level. For the 65-pound overweight dog, its 887kcal/day. Its recommended to feed your dog twice a day, with each meal is no more than 443 kcal.

The recommended serving size on the label of dog food brands is listed in daily servings. You will want to split this in half for the serving amount at each meal.

Now, theres no correct ratio for mixing wet and dry dog food. You can serve wetter than dry, more dry than wet, or 50% of each. Whats important is the amount of wet food to add and how much dry food to take away, not to exceed kcal/day.

Here is a simple conversion table based on the substitution amounts suggested by Purina:

Serving in Wet	Serving in Dry
3 oz can	cup
12.5 oz can	1 cups

For every 3 oz. canned dog food, you need to take away cup of dry food. If you have a large dog, a 12.5 oz can is equivalent to 1 cups of dog food, and that amount needs to be subtracted.

To make it simple, find the table below with the ratio you prefer of wet to dry food (25:75, 50:50, or 75:25), and the serving amounts of each will be listed per size dog.

25:75 Ratio

Dog Size	Wet Food	Dry Food	Total Daily Serving
3-15 lbs	to cup	to 1 cup	to 1 cups
16-25 lbs	cup	1 to 1 cups	1 to 2 cups
26-40 lbs	to cup	1 to 2 cups	2 to 3 cups
41-60 lbs	to 1 cup	2 to 3 cups	3 to 4 cups
61-80 lbs	1 to 1 cups	3 to 3 cups	4 to 5 cups
81-100 lbs	1 to 1 cups	3 to 4 cups	5 to 6 cups
Over 100 lbs.	1 cups	4 + per 20 lbs	6 + for every 20 lbs extra

50:50 Ratio

Dog Size	Wet Food	Dry Food	Total Daily Serving
3-15 lbs	to cup	to cup	to 1 cups
16-25 lbs	to 1 cup	to 1 cup	1 to 2 cups
26-40 lbs	1 to 1 cups	1 to 1 cups	2 to 3 cups
41-60 lbs	1 to 2 cups	1 to 2 cups	3 to 4 cups
61-80 lbs	2 to 2 cups	2 to 2 cups	4 to 5 cups
81-100 lbs	2 to 3 cups	2 to 3 cups	5 to 6 cups
Over 100 lbs.	3 cups	3 + per extra 20 lbs	6 + for every 20 lbs extra

75:25 Ratio

Dog Size	Wet Food	Dry Food	Total Daily Serving
3-15 lbs	to 1 cup	up to cup	to 1 cups
16-25 lbs	1 to 1 cups	up to cup	1 to 2 cups
26-40 lbs	1 to 2 cups	to cup	2 to 3 cups
41-60 lbs	2 to 3 cups	to 1 cup	3 to 4 cups
61-80 lbs	3 to 3 cups	1 to 1 cups	4 to 5 cups
81-100 lbs	3 to 4 cups	1 to 1 cups	5 to 6 cups
Over 100 lbs.	4 cups	1 + for every 20 lbs	6 + for every 20 lbs extra

It does get tricky when you need to adhere to a strict kcal/day diet like the example of the overweight adult dog. For this, keep the substitution conversions in mind. The Blue Buffalo dry food is 326 kcal/cup. To meet the 443 kcal/serving requirement, this dog needs roughly 1 cups of dry dog food per meal.

If you want to mix dry and wet food, start by replacing cup of dry food with a 3 oz. can of wet food. Remember that wet food is slightly higher kcal/cup, but the extra 20kcal/cup isnt likely to make a large difference.

Measuring dog food is a science for some, but you dont need to spend 30 minutes preparing your dogs food every day. To make it simple, the example dog can have a little over a cup of dry food and one 3 oz. can of wet food at each meal.

Reasons to Mix Wet and Dry Food

Health Concerns

Your veterinarian might recommend mixing wet and dry food for many reasons, like weight control. Wet dog food has higher water content and lower carbohydrate content. Replacing some dry food with wet food helps the dog feel fuller but is easier to digest.

The inverse is also true. If your dog needs to put on weight and eats wet food, adding some dry kibble will help your dog gain weight.

When your dog has a health issue and requires a particular food, like urinary care, its best to keep both the wet and dry food the same formula.

Increase Water Consumption

When you feed your dog solely dry dog food, they must have plenty of water nearby. Dogs used to take-in all their water through eating raw meat. Now they have evolved to consume a more omnivorous diet and lack a food-based water source.

Wet food has a high water percentage of up to 80%. Adding wet food to dry kibble will help increase the water intake by your dog. Its recommended to have multiple bowls of water around your yard and house for your dog. However, if you are concerned about how much water they get, add some wet food to their daily meals.

More Appealing Food

Dogs get bored with their food. New flavors, smells, textures, and colors will excite your dog and encourage them to eat. This is where mixing dry and wet dog food can be fun for your dog. If your dog is getting bored with their dry food and not excited to eat at mealtime, adding some wet food should perk them up.

Adding wet food is a new experience for their senses and bellies. Being tight on money is a large reason why the majority of dogs eat dry kibble. But surprising your dog with some wet food every so often is a nice treat.

You dont need to go crazy with the mixing either. For an easy mix, top the dry food with a scoop of wet food. Dog food brands market special toppers to be added to dry kibble for a tasty surprise.

Mixing the Right Foods

Use One Formula

As stated earlier, its best if you stick to the same formula when you mix wet and dry dog food. Most brands will offer the same formula in both wet and dry. Using the same formula is important for two reasons:

• The dog is already accustomed to the formula. If your dog has been eating dry kibble for a while, their digestive system is already accustomed. Changing the recipe can create problems for them. When you start introducing wet food, it will be best to use the same recipe as the dry kibble.
• Dont mix a prescription. Dogs with health issues are prescribed a particular food to help with their condition. If you are going to mix wet and dry food, use the formula the veterinarian prescribed. Changing the recipe from what is prescribed or mixing two different recipes could worsen the problem. Mixing two different recipes could lead to weight or urinary issues.

Get Veterinarian Approval

The veterinarian is an expert when it comes to the health of your dog. If you are unsure how to mix wet and dry food, always seek your vets advice. They can suggest a good formula. How to ease them into a new formula slowly, and in what ratios to mix the wet and dry food.

Wet food can be expensive, so be honest with your vet about the quality you can afford. Together you should be able to agree on a formula and brand. Veterinarians recommend high-quality foods because the sources are more natural, and theres less grain filler. The high-end brands will have the required minerals and vitamins for your dog.

If your pet is on a therapeutic diet, dont change it without asking your vet first. They will have prescribed a combination of foods for a reason. Changing it without a consultation first can throw your dogs health out of balance.

Read the Labels

When choosing the right food for your dog, read the ingredient and serving labels first. Look for formulas with recognizable whole food ingredients. Find another brand if you dont recognize the ingredients, or the first couple ingredients arent a protein source.

The brand you choose needs to state it meets the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) Dog Food Nutrient Profiles. If it doesnt, it wont contain the required nutrients for your dog.

The VCA recommends keeping the serving on the label to under 350kcal/cup. Food with a higher kcal/cup means your dog gets less food, which wont be enjoyable for them.

Choose a formula designed for your breed of dog. Age and breed designated foods will be better than a more generic formula. Puppies and adults have different calorie and protein needs. The same goes for large and small breeds. If you are unsure which formula is best, consult your veterinarian or use the Merck Veterinary Manual. The MVM will recommend nutrients according to your dogs weight and age.

Conclusion

Mixing dry and wet food for your dog can be a fun and tasty way to consume their food. Remember, if your dog needs a therapeutic formula to keep both the wet and dry, the same formula. Keep each meal within the dogs caloric needs, and use the conversion tables to calculate the amounts for each.

Sources

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