How much wet food to feed a dog

Start with daily calories, not cans

How much wet food your dog needs depends on two numbers: the calories your dog needs in a day, and the calories in your food. The first comes from weight, age and activity; the dog food calculator gives you a daily range for your dog. The second is printed on the can.

Since AAFCO’s labeling rules changed in 2014, pet food labels must show a “Calorie Content” statement in kcal per kg of food as fed and in kcal per familiar unit, such as per can or per cup. AAFCO warned the change could take up to three years to reach every product, so older stock may still lack it. The heading is followed by “(calculated)” or “(fed)”, depending on how the maker arrived at the number.

Why wet food has fewer calories per ounce

According to the FDA, canned pet food is typically 75 to 78% moisture and dry food 10 to 12%. VCA Animal Hospitals notes that the water lowers the energy density, so your dog can eat a larger portion for the same calories. Tufts University’s nutrition team gives an example of a canned dog food at 1,198 kcal per kg and a dry food at 3,606: by weight, the dry food has about three times the calories.

Feeding wet food only

Take a dog that needs 1,000 kcal a day, the example VCA uses. Leave up to 10% for treats and toppers, which leaves 900 kcal for complete and balanced food. A large 13 oz can (about 369 g) at the Tufts example’s 1,198 kcal per kg holds about 440 kcal, so this dog eats about 2 large cans a day, split across meals. Your cans will differ, so use the per-can number on your own label: daily kcal ÷ kcal per can = cans per day.

Mixing wet and dry

Mixing is fine. VCA answers “Yes!” to feeding a combination of foods, and Tufts says that for most dogs it doesn’t matter whether canned or dry food is fed. The one rule is to keep a single daily total. A spoonful of wet food on top of the usual kibble is extra calories, and VCA counts toppers inside the same 10% as treats.

1. Find the daily calories in the dog food calculator and take off what you give in treats.
2. Decide the split, for example half the calories from each food.
3. Divide each share by that food’s calorie number: kcal per can for the wet, kcal per cup (or per kg, if you weigh it) for the dry.
4. Weigh your dog every few weeks and adjust both foods together, keeping the split.

For the 900 kcal dog, half and half is 450 kcal from each: about one large can of the Tufts example wet food (450 kcal is about 375 g) plus about 125 g of the example dry food. With your own foods, the numbers come from your labels.

Read the front of the can, too

The name tells you how much of the named meat is inside. Under the AAFCO rules, “Beef Dog Food” must be at least 95% beef not counting added water (at least 70% counting it). “Beef Dinner”, “Entrée” or “Platter” means at least 25% without the water and 10% with it. “Dog Food With Beef” needs only 3%. And a flavor claim needs only enough to taste.

Check the nutritional adequacy statement as well. A food that is “complete and balanced” can be the whole diet. A food labeled for “intermittent or supplemental” feeding cannot, and WSAVA’s nutrition toolkit says such foods should make up 10% or less of the diet. Many toppers and some small cans fall into this group.