Wet vs dry dog food, compared with real numbers

The main difference between wet and dry dog food is water. In our database the typical dry food is 10% moisture and the typical wet food is 82%. Once you take the water out, the wet foods we track are typically higher in protein and fat and lower in carbohydrate than the dry ones. Per kilogram as sold, though, dry food carries about 3.3 times the calories, which changes how much you feed and what it costs.

Both can be complete and balanced. The right choice depends on your dog, your budget and how you feed. These numbers help you compare fairly.

Why the label makes wet food look weak

The guaranteed analysis on a US label is “as fed”: the water is counted. A wet food that says 8% protein and a kibble that says 28% protein aren’t directly comparable, because the wet food is mostly water. To compare them, convert both to a dry-matter basis: divide the label percentage by (100 − moisture) and multiply by 100. Our guide to dry matter basis walks through the maths.

What our database shows

These are medians across the real products in our database on October 25, 2026: 202 dry foods and 79 wet foods from 5 brands. Protein and fat are worked out from each label’s guaranteed analysis.

	Dry food	Wet food
Moisture (max, as fed)	10%	82%
Protein, as fed (min)	29.0%	9%
Protein, dry matter	32.3%	45.5%
Fat, dry matter	17.8%	22.7%
Calories per kg, as sold	3,648 kcal	1,109 kcal

Two cautions on reading this table:

• These are minimums. The guaranteed analysis gives the least protein and fat a food will contain, not the exact amount. Wet foods in particular often contain more than their minimums.
• It’s our sample, not the whole market. The database grows brand by brand; the medians will move as we add foods.

What that means when you feed

Wet food: more water, fewer calories per gram. Because a can is mostly water, a dog needs a much larger weight of wet food to get the same energy. That helps some dogs feel full and drink more, which can suit dogs that don’t drink much on their own. It also means a wet-only diet usually costs more per day.

Dry food: dense, cheaper per calorie, easy to measure. Kibble packs more energy into each cup, so portions are small and easy to overfeed. Weigh or measure it, and use the food’s own calories rather than a generic chart. Our Feeding Calculator does this for any food in the database.

Mixing both is common. If you add wet food, reduce the dry amount so the total calories stay the same. Some labels say how: Merrick’s dry food labels, for example, suggest reducing the dry amount by a quarter cup for every 3 oz of wet food.

Carbohydrates

US labels usually don’t print carbohydrate. You can estimate it by difference: 100 minus protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash. Ash is rarely printed either, so our product cards assume 7% of dry matter and mark the result as an estimate. On that basis, the dry foods in our database have a median of about 39% carbohydrate on a dry-matter basis, and the wet foods about 15%.

How to compare two specific foods

1. Open both in our Compare tool. It shows protein, fat and fiber on a dry-matter basis side by side.
2. Check the calories per cup (dry) or per can (wet), and work out the daily amount for your dog.
3. Read the AAFCO statement of each: both should say “complete and balanced” for your dog’s life stage. Our guide on what “complete and balanced” means explains the wording.
4. If your dog avoids an ingredient, check both ingredient lists in the Label Checker.

When to ask your vet

Ask before changing format if your dog has kidney or urinary problems, diabetes, needs to lose weight, or eats a veterinary diet. The water and calorie differences matter more for those dogs. For everyone else, both formats can work. Pick the one your dog does well on and that you can feed consistently.