Is wet food more nutritious than dry dog food?

If you ask the dog, absolutely. It's more nutritious. It tastes better. Just imagine, you get to eat a little piece of dry kibble that looks almost like cardboard, or you could eat this nice, juicy, wet dog food. Yeah, they're always going to choose that. Is it more nutritious? That’s a bit more complex. If you start reading the labels, most of the products—whether it's a prescription diet or regular maintenance diet—most of the formulations have very close to the same levels of proteins and carbohydrates and fats and those kinds of things. Normally, my vote is dry food. I know I didn’t make it sound very scrumptious, but it's better for the teeth. And I find it's a little bit easier to control your dog’s weight with dry food.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily more nutritious. It may offer certain things that dry food doesn't. Wet food, for example, is really good if we're worried about moisture and ensuring that they get enough water throughout their day. Whereas dry may be better for their teeth. Kibble breaks up the tartar on the teeth. Each one plays their own role.

In some situations, it can be more beneficial. I think that's more so in cats than dogs, which we can talk about in another video. Wet food just has more moisture and, in some situations, can be more easily digested. But in general, if you're using a balanced, commercially available dog diet, dry versus canned food over the long-term is probably not going to make a huge difference.

Just because a food is wet or dry doesn't tell you anything about its nutritional value. The difference between wet and dry food is basically the amount of water in it. If your pet has a condition that requires them to have more water, like kidney disease or bladder stones, canned diets may be a direction you want to go in because they would help alleviate that water deficit.

In general, there's no better quality with a canned food diet than a dry diet. However, it’s a costly way to feed. Unless you have a picky eater or have a dog that needs more water in the diet, it's unnecessary to feed canned food.

Not necessarily. Wet dog food is 75% water. It tends to be higher in fat than dry dog food, consequently, dogs love it. Is it more nutritious? Not necessarily. It has the same AFCO requirements as dry foods and they are nutritionally balanced. They're more expensive to feed. Because they're higher in fat, some dogs are going to have more intestinal upsets with them. Dogs really like them, so they tend to get more selective and picky about what they eat. Is it wrong? No. But for ease of feeding and cost and general gastrointestinal health, you're better off with dry foods and only feeding canned foods as a treat.

If you feel that your dog needs both, you can mix them. Some dogs become selective for the canned food and they hold out for it, but most dogs are happy with their good quality, dried ration. Often, they're getting other treats for positive reinforcement for good behavior. Canned foods aren't necessary, but it's not harmful to feed it to them unless you have certain breeds that are sensitive to intestinal upset. Diabetic animals shouldn't have canned rations.

No, it's not. The big difference is that wet food has a massive amount of water content. Usually, about 75 to 80% of the food in the can is water, which certainly has its benefits in some circumstances, like if you have a dog that is just not a big drinker and tends to get dehydrated if we aren't careful. Adding some wet food to the diet can be helpful because it adds water content. Also, with certain chronic conditions like kidney disease, having added water content can benefit dogs who can't maintain hydration status because of underlying disease. You can obtain adequate nutrition with dry or canned food or a combination of the two.

Not necessarily. If you are choosing a food that is AAFCO certified and assured as a balanced diet, it doesn't matter if you feed wet or dry food. They're going to have the same nutritional value. The difference lies in preference and/or medical conditions that might contribute to choosing one or the other.