Wet or Dry Dog Food? A Practical UK Guide
PawPicked is reader-supported: we may earn a commission from links on this page.
Neither is better in general. A complete wet food and a complete dry food can both meet a healthy adult dog's needs, and the right choice usually comes down to your dog's appetite, your budget, your storage space and how fussy you are about mess. The more useful question is which format you will feed consistently, in the right amounts.
The differences that are real
| Wet (trays, pouches, tins) | Dry (kibble) | |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture | High. One Forthglade listing quotes 70% | Low |
| Storage | Fridge once opened, short life | Cool, dry place, long life |
| Portability | Heavy and bulky for the nutrition | Light and compact |
| Palatability | Often easier for fussy or older dogs | Varies |
| Mess | More | Less |
| Cost per feed | Often higher | Often lower |
The moisture figure explains most of the rest. Because wet food is largely water, you feed a bigger weight of it to deliver the same nutrients. The Forthglade variety pack listing gives crude protein at 11 per cent for the turkey tray, while a dry food such as the lightly baked Forthglade recipe quotes 33 per cent. Those numbers are not comparable as they stand, since one includes 70 per cent water and the other very little, and that is exactly why comparing labels across formats misleads people.
Cost per feed: the method
Price per kilo is a poor guide, because you feed different weights of each. Work it out per day instead. For dry food, divide the bag weight by your dog's daily amount from the feeding guide to get the number of days a bag lasts, then divide the bag price by that number. For wet, divide the pack price by the number of trays your dog gets through in a day, remembering that a tray's size varies by brand. Compare the two daily figures. Check the current price on Amazon before you do the sums, since pack prices change.
As an example of the dry side, the Harringtons Lamb & Rice listing gives a feeding guide of 360 to 540g a day for a 20 to 40kg dog and a 340 kcal per 100g energy figure. Harringtons Complete Adult Lamb & Rice comes in a 15kg bag, so you can see how quickly a big dog gets through it. Its listing shows 4.6 out of 5 from 10,186 ratings at the time of writing. It contains maize, barley, oats and rice and the allergen line says wheat may be present, so it is a standard grain-inclusive kibble rather than a special-diet food.
Dental myths, handled honestly
Two claims are repeated constantly. One is that kibble cleans teeth. The other is that wet food rots them. Neither is well supported as a blanket statement.
Standard kibble does not scrub teeth in any dependable way; many dogs swallow it nearly whole. Some foods and chews are designed with shapes or ingredients intended to reduce plaque, and those claims come from the makers, so treat them accordingly. Wet food, equally, does not cause dental disease by itself, though soft food that sticks to teeth can do little to help if the mouth is not cleaned another way. Most vets advise regular brushing and an annual check, whichever format you feed. Our guide to brushing your dog's teeth is the practical place to start.
Mixed feeding
Plenty of owners mix a spoonful of wet over dry. This works well when you want to tempt a fussy eater, add moisture, or make a modest kibble feel like more of a meal. It also goes wrong easily, because the extra calories are not on the dry food's feeding guide. If you add wet, reduce the dry; our guide to mixing wet and dry food without overfeeding has the method.
Some wet and dry products are designed to pair up. The Forthglade Lightly Baked Adult Dry listing says to serve it on its own or mixed with wet food, and to adjust amounts when mixing. The Forthglade Complete Natural Wet Variety Pack, which contains 12 trays of 395g in turkey, lamb and duck, is described as a complete meal that can also be used as a topper. The lightly baked pack is 6kg, and the listing calls it grain-free and hypoallergenic, claims that are the brand's own and that mean less than they sound. The wet variety pack has 4.4 out of 5 from 4,745 ratings. Our Forthglade wet trays review covers that range in more detail.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Treating the feeding guide as fixed. It is a starting point; adjust by your dog's body condition.
- Adding wet food on top of a full dry portion without reducing it.
- Leaving opened wet food out. Cover and refrigerate it, and follow the pack's storage instructions.
- Switching formats overnight. Change gradually over several days.
- Assuming wet is a luxury and dry is the plain option. Both are complete foods if labelled as such.
When to talk to your vet
If your dog loses interest in food, loses weight, gains it quickly, or has repeated stomach upsets, ask your vet before experimenting with formats. Dogs with dental pain sometimes refuse dry food, and that is something a vet should look at rather than a reason to change the bag.
Which should you choose
Choose dry if you value low cost per day, easy storage and a simple routine, and your dog eats it without fuss. Choose wet if your dog is picky, older, drinks little, or struggles with hard kibble, and you are happy to pay more and handle the extra mess. Mixing makes sense when you want the best of both and are willing to measure.
Products in this article
Affiliate links — we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.