Top 10 Best Wet Dog Food to Mix with Dry
Having a finicky pup is like a roller coaster. You become excited when you find a food that they readily gobble up. Then, when they start to eat less and end up sticking their noses up at it, you feel disappointed to have to go back to the drawing board.
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Mixing it up when it comes to food helps you stay one step ahead of them. It is becoming an increasingly popular trend to mix wet and dry food. It changes up the tastes and textures for pups with choosy tongues.
There are pros and cons to both types of food, but mixing them up can give you the best of both worlds. We have collected and created reviews for the best seven wet dog food options to mix with dry food. To understand the positives of mixing foods, be sure to also check out our buyer’s guide.
The 10 Best Wet Dog Foods to Mix with Dry
American Journey Canned Dog Food – Best Overall
| Main ingredients: | Beef, beef broth, beef liver, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, brown rice flour, barley, oatmeal |
| Protein content: | 9.5% |
| Fat content: | 5.0% |
| Calories: | 393 kcal/can |
American Journey Active Life Formula Beef & Garden Vegetables Recipe Canned Dog Food is the best overall wet dog food to mix with dry. This recipe has a well-rounded, balanced diet with real beef and beef broth as the first ingredients, wholesome vegetables, grains, and plenty of nutrition.
Each bite is hearty and meaty, so your dog is sure to love it. This food contains no animal by-products, wheat, or soy ingredients, so it’s perfect for dogs with high energy and food sensitivities. As a complete and balanced meal, this food can be fed on its own or used with dry formulas. Some reviewers complained of quality control issues and the texture of the food.
Pedigree Chopped Ground Dinner Canned Dog Food
Pedigree’s take on wet dog food is a bit unique. Instead of putting it into a sauce, they grind up all the ingredients without adding broth or gravy. The food is still a wet texture, simply without much sauce. Another positive is that it happens to be the best wet dog food to mix with dry for the money.
Pedigree makes its doggie dinner with a chicken and rice mix. The delicious feast contains essential minerals and oils that keep their skin and coat glistening and satisfied. The texture and balance of the recipe make it highly digestible as well.
This food contains 8.5% crude protein and 6% crude fat. With crude fiber at 1%, it keeps their digestive system working correctly. Unfortunately, it does include controversial chicken by-products, which are the first ingredient.
- Well-balanced protein to fat and fiber content
- Best budget-friendly option
- Ground processing gives satisfying texture for dry food
- Chicken by-product is the first ingredient
- No additional gravy or broth
Purina Beyond Grain-Free Canned Dog Food – Best Value
| Main ingredients: | Cod, chicken, fish broth, turkey, liver, salmon, sweet potatoes |
| Protein content: | 8% |
| Fat content: | 5% |
| Calories: | 401 kcal/can |
Purina Beyond Alaskan Cod, Salmon & Sweet Potato Grain-Free Canned Dog Food is the best wet dog food to mix with dry for the money. Perfect for pet owners on a budget, this delicious high-protein wet food uses ingredients like salmon, chicken, and cod to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs, as well as natural prebiotic fiber for gut health.
The fish used in this recipe are responsibly sourced from fisheries that earned the MSC certification, and pet nutritionists ensure the food is completely balanced for your dog’s health. There are no wheat, soy, or poultry by-products in the dog food. Some dogs experienced digestive upset, however.
Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Puppy Dog Food
The puppy stage of life is the most important in a dog’s life regarding their growth and continued health. Feed your puppy the best with Blue Buffalo’s formula specifically made for puppies.
Puppy food typically needs more protein, and this one has a crude protein of 10% and 7.5% crude fat. Its first ingredients are quality, as are most of Blue Buffalo’s recipes. They feature chicken and chicken broth, then chicken liver, followed by carrots and peas.
The formula includes DHA, an essential ingredient to support the young dog’s brain and eye development. It is a pâté-style food, easy to separate in the can and then mix with dry food. Even though the recipe is balanced, some puppies won’t eat it.
- Formulated specifically for puppies
- Pâté-style food easy to mix with dry food
- Higher protein and fat percentage
- Some puppies turn their nose up at unmixed food
The Honest Kitchen Wet Dog Food – Premium Choice
| Main ingredients: | Turkey, turkey bone broth, turkey liver, duck, sweet potatoes, carrots, cranberries |
| Protein content: | 8% |
| Fat content: | 5% |
| Calories: | 343 kcal/box |
The Honest Kitchen Butcher Block Pate Turkey, Duck & Root Veggies Wet Dog Food is a chef-inspired meal for your dogs that’s perfect to mix with dry food. Each pate is made with cage-free turkey, cage-free duck, and root veggies like sweet potatoes and carrots. This food has no gums, carrageenan, feed-grade ingredients, meat meals, fillers, artificial flavors, or preservatives.
All meals from The Honest Kitchen are made in the USA with human-grade ingredients. The pates are kettle-cooked in small batches for ideal texture. You can feed these on their own as a complete meal or add to dry food for some variety. This food is expensive if you’re on a budget, however.
Purina Pro Plan Canned Dog Food – Best for Puppies
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, liver, meat by-products, water, salmon, rice |
| Protein content: | 10% |
| Fat content: | 7% |
| Calories: | 475 kcal/can |
Purina Pro Plan Development Puppy Chicken & Rice Entrée Canned Dog Food is the best choice for a wet food for puppies. This tender pate is made with real chicken as the first ingredient to offer high-quality protein that will help your pup develop lean muscle. It also has DHA to support brain and vision health.
This wet food has 23 essential vitamins and minerals to ensure your puppy has complete and balanced nutrition. You can feed this food on its own or with dry food. This food is made in a Purina-owned, US-based facility with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Several reviewers complained that the food is more of a paste texture rather than chunks of meat and vegetables.
Cesar Classic Loaf in Sauce Variety Pack Dog Food Trays
Cesar Classic offers a case of 24 smaller 3.5-ounce cases. It is a variety pack, allowing you to figure out your dog’s favorites and continue to mix it up for them in one pack. The flavors include classic loaf in sauce, filet mignon, porterhouse steak, and grilled chicken.
One of the positives of this pack is that you receive 24 packs for a more affordable price. Cesar Classic is free from grains, and the first ingredients are always the featured meat according to the name of the recipe. The next ingredients across the board are chicken liver, beef lung, and chicken broth. Even though all these are high-quality sources of the 8.5-9% crude protein, the following ingredients are pork by-products.
Although the picture is of a small breed pup on the packaging, this food is for large and small dogs. The single-serve packages mean you don’t have to refrigerate them for preservation between meals. Some people do not like the serving size because it means multiple packages per meal for large dogs.
- Variety pack offers greater mix and match capacity
- First ingredients are high-quality
- Large and small dogs appreciate this food
- Small serving size means it doesn’t go far for large breeds
- Contains pork by-products
Forza10 Nutraceutic Legend Canned Dog Food – Vet’s Choice
| Main ingredients: | Salmon, water, cod liver, minerals, guar gum |
| Protein content: | 7.8% |
| Fat content: | 10% |
| Calories: | 358 kcal/can |
Forza10 Nutraceutic Legend Skin Icelandic Fish Recipe Grain-Free Canned Dog Food is our vet’s choice for the best wet dog food to mix with dry. This limited-ingredient recipe has a fine-ground puree of Icelandic salmon and cod liver with no grains or fillers to support your dog’s nutritional needs.
This food offers complete and balanced nutrition, so you can feed it on its own or with dry food. It’s also fortified with extracts of rose hips, sage, and cranberry to soothe skin irritation. Some reviewers noted a strong fish odor, but that’s expected of a fish formula. Some dogs wouldn’t eat it as well.
Instinct Healthy Cravings Grain-Free Wet Dog Food Topper
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, beef, or lamb broth, chicken, beef, or lamb, chicken, liver, eggs |
| Protein content: | 8%, 9%, 8.5% |
| Fat content: | 2%, 2%, 5% |
| Calories: | 73 kcal/pouch, 73 kcal/pouch, 85 kcal/pouch |
Instinct Healthy Cravings Grain-Free Cuts & Gravy Recipe Variety Pack Wet Dog Food Topper is a great wet food to mix with dry food for your dog. This variety pack gives you the option of chicken, beef, or lamb to avoid food boredom and find the formula your dog likes best.
Each meal is made in the USA with cuts of real meat in savory gravy without grains, wheat, soy, potato, carrageenan, artificial colors, or preservatives. It can be used as a topper or a mixer for your dry kibble to add some extra moisture, texture, and flavor. Some reviewers said their dogs wouldn’t eat any variety, while others only liked some.
Wellness CORE Simply Shreds Wet Dog Food Topper
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, chicken broth, water, beef, carrots |
| Protein content: | 12% |
| Fat content: | 0.5% |
| Calories: | 47 kcal/pouch |
Wellness CORE Simply Shreds Chicken, Beef & Carrots Wet Dog Food Topper is a natural, grain-free wet food mixer or topper with minimal ingredients to supplement your dog’s dry meal. This is ideal for dogs with food sensitivities or digestive sensitivities, and it’s free of wheat, soy, artificial flavors, colors, or flavors.
These meals come in convenient, single-use packages to add to your dog’s food as much as you like. Note that this is not a full and balanced diet, however, and is only meant to supplement your dog’s dry food. This food is expensive, however, especially if you have larger dogs and want to supplement with wet food multiple times a day.
Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Wet Dog Food to Mix With Dry
When it comes to finding food appropriate to mix in with dry dog food, you want to find quality wet food. Some wet diets mix better with dry food than others. They can also have slightly different ingredients and impacts on the health of a dog.
Mixing wet and dry dog food can help tempt a picky eater. Finding the right food and ratio is key to getting them back to the bowl.
Mixing Up Textures and Tastes
- The textures and tastes are the most impactful factors of dog food, especially for finicky eaters. Mixing up the texture of dry food is easily done by adding pâté- or gravy-based wet foods. It also makes it easier to swallow and digest.
- The mixing of wet and dry food instead of feeding them individually helps counteract a few of their more negative aspects. For example, wet food adds moisture and thus takes away the dryness of dry food. Dry food helps wet food and absorbs the oiliness that could unpleasantly settle in your dog’s mouth.
- Tastes are enhanced in wet foods because their texture tends to make them more available to a pup’s taste buds. The enhanced flavor in most wet foods attracts pickier eaters. Combining the two does the same. So what can be mixed with dry dog food?
Ingredients
The ingredient make-up of wet food varies from typical dry dog foods. When you combine them, you want to make sure they are still receiving a balanced diet. There are ingredients in particular to pay attention to.
Increasing Hydration
Water is almost always in the top 10 ingredients of any specific food. Inherently, this adds moisture and better hydration into your pup’s diet. If you notice that your dog is incredibly thirsty after their meals, mixing wet food can help rid them of dry mouth. It might even make them more inclined to eat full meals.
Grains or No Grains
Grains are not as necessary because wet food doesn’t have to be maintained in small kibble bits. If you prefer food containing grains and one that doesn’t, it can be easier to locate wet food without hard-to-digest grains.
Protein Sources
- The source of protein is essential to how healthy, safe, and digestible it is. Using meat by-products is controversial because they can be made from relatively undefined parts of animals. Some of these are valuable in terms of nutrition, but others are not.
- Healthy sources of protein include chicken and their hearts, liver, and main meat. Beef, lamb, and turkey are also excellent proteins. Salmon and other fish are often used for dogs with food sensitivities to other primary protein sources.
Preservation
Dry food is much easier to preserve than wet food. Depending on the ratio of wet and dry food you mix, you might have to preserve the wet food.
Dry food is easily stored away in a dry, dark location and can keep for a long time if needed. Wet food can expire in a matter of days if it isn’t used. Set yourself and your pup a schedule so you don’t end up wasting any food and money. Cover wet food up and refrigerate it to maintain it for longer. If it says that you don’t have to do this, it is probably loaded with preservatives, and you might want to take a second look at the ingredient list.
Size and Age
As with any dog food, you need to keep in mind your individual dog’s needs. If they are young, a year or less, they need increased protein, fat, and DHA for proper life development. As they grow older than 7-10 years, they also have specific requirements. Senior pups need less fat because they cannot control their weight as well.
Age is not the only consideration — you also want to take into account their size. Large dog breeds need much more food than the average small to medium-sized breed. Combining wet food with dry food helps make your wet food go further.
Combine Them Properly
Speaking of the ratio of wet to dry food, you might be surprised to find how little wet food needs to be mixed in to make a difference.
You cannot put in as much dry food as your dog would typically have and then top it off with wet food to change the texture. They will receive too many calories in a day.
Instead, remember that 3 ounces of wet food replace approximately ¼ cup of dry dog food. Start by mixing in 3 ounces and taking out that ¼ cup. If you have not yet reached your desired texture, then double or triple it the next time, taking ½ or ¾ cup out.
If the food is made with a gravy or sauce, then the given texture ends up differently. Adjust accordingly for pâtés and ground food.
Final Thoughts
Mixing dry and wet food together has numerous benefits for you and your dog. American Journey Active Life Formula Beef & Garden Vegetables Recipe Canned Dog Food is the best overall wet dog food to mix with dry due to its balanced nutrition. Purina Beyond Alaskan Cod, Salmon & Sweet Potato Grain-Free Canned Dog Food is the best wet dog food for the money with its high-protein recipe. Though pricey, The Honest Kitchen Butcher Block Pate Turkey, Duck & Root Veggies Wet Dog Food is a chef-inspired meal for your dogs. Purina Pro Plan Development Puppy Chicken & Rice Entrée Canned Dog Food is the ideal choice for puppies. Our vet’s choice is Forza10 Nutraceutic Legend Skin Icelandic Fish Recipe Grain-Free Canned Dog Food.
