Charlotte Foster
The selection of high-quality dry food or wet food for dogs is larger today than ever before. But which food is the best for my dog? Should I only offer wet or only dry food or mix both types of feeding? And how can I compare the nutritional information? Read exciting answers on the subject of dry and wet food here!
Dry or wet dog food: which is better?
One of the questions dog owners ask is whether dry or wet food is better food or whether BARF is the only thing that should end up in the dog bowl. Each type of feeding has its advantages and disadvantages. Which one you choose depends essentially on what your dog likes to eat and tolerates. How dog meals can be integrated into your everyday work and family life also plays an important role in the choice of dog food.
Ultimately, both types of food (dry or hate food), which are declared as “complete food”, provide your dog with all the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. The main difference between dry and wet food is, of course, always based on a comparable composition, the water content, and thus the nutrient density in relation to the feed volume.
What’s in dry or wet dog food? Blood, poultry offal, and dried meat are usually processed into dry feed. Wet food contains meat, offal, and organs. Here, too, poultry offal and blood may have been mixed in.
The advantages of dry food at a glance:
- Dry food contains little moisture and is therefore easy to store.
- It’s easy to portion.
- You can easily transport dry food, for example to the office, on a hike, or on vacation.
- It is suitable as a snack between meals or as a reward.
- You can put dry food in an automatic feeder.
- Overall, with a comparable composition, you need less dry food (volume) to cover the dog’s needs.
- The bottom line is that it is often cheaper than wet food with a comparable composition.
- The area around the dog bowl stays cleaner.
- Larger containers mean less packaging.
Tip:
If the dog only eats dry food, you should make sure that it drinks enough to prevent diseases such as bladder stones or kidney problems. A full water bowl must therefore be accessible at all times.
The advantages of wet food summarized:
- Most dogs often prefer to eat it because it has a stronger smell and taste.
- Since it contains a lot of water, wet food has a positive effect on the fluid balance of your four-legged friend.
- It is better suited for weight management as more feed can be consumed for the same energy requirement.
- Older animals and dogs with dental problems can also eat wet food.
Dry Food / Wet Food Calculator
Do you find it difficult to relate the package information to dry or wet food? This is due to the different moisture content. In order to correctly compare the nutrient content of dry and wet food, you should convert the information to the dry content of the food. To do this, you first subtract the moisture of the feed from 100 percent:
100 – % moisture = % dry matter
So: If the feed contains 75 percent moisture, it has a dry matter content of 25 percent. Calculate the nutrient values of the dry or wet food using the following formula:
Analytical value (package information) / dry matter * 100 = % on a dry matter basis
The feeding recommendation on the packaging also provides information on how many nutrients the dog is being supplied in absolute terms – without you having to determine the dry substance. This facilitates comparability. To do this, you put the daily recommended feeding amount in relation to the percentage of the respective nutritional value.
A calculation example: Your dog weighs ten kilos and should eat 120 grams of dry food or 400 grams of wet food per day. The total amount of protein is given as 23 percent for dry food and 11 percent for wet food. Arithmetically, your dog consumes 27.6 grams of protein per day with dry food and 44 grams with wet food.
Alternating dry food and wet food – a sensible alternative?
Since both types of food have their advantages and disadvantages, feeding wet and dry food is obvious. Nothing speaks against it at first, you should only make sure not to mix the two types of food, as the components have different digestion times. Wet food is digested faster than dry food. It is better to give dry food in the morning and wet food in the evening – or vice versa.
The big plus of this mixed feeding is that your dog knows both types of feeding. So you don’t have to change the food if your dog is supposed to go on holiday with you or if it no longer tolerates or accepts food.
Dry and wet food for dogs: what else needs to be considered?
Basically, it always depends on the needs of your dog, which food you choose. Dogs with food intolerances and allergies often only tolerate one source of protein and one carbohydrate. Other animals do not like the addition of grain, so grain-free dry and wet food is recommended for them. When it comes to dry food, you also have the choice between extruded, oven-baked, and cold-pressed dry food.
In certain phases of life, you have to adapt the food to the nutritional needs of your four-legged friend – this applies to senior dogs, dogs on a diet, or nursing bitches. Growing puppies should be given special puppy food. For all these cases you can get both dry and wet dog food.