Wet food vs dry: the honest tradeoffs

First, fix the math

Straight off the label, wet food looks weak and overpriced: single-digit protein, several times the price per kilogram. Both impressions are artifacts of water. Convert to dry-matter basis and canned foods routinely out-protein kibble; price per 1,000 kcal instead of per kilo and the cost gap narrows sharply, though dry almost always stays cheaper. Any wet-versus-dry opinion formed before those two conversions is an opinion about water.

Where wet food genuinely wins

Moisture is the honest headline. A typical can is around 78% water — close to what prey would carry — and for cats, chronic under-drinkers descended from desert hunters, that built-in water is meaningful; veterinary guidance for urinary-tract issues often includes increasing water intake, and wet food is the easy lever. Wet food is also more aromatic and usually more palatable for picky eaters and seniors with dulled senses, and its energy density per gram as served is low — useful when a pet needs volume without calories.

Where dry food genuinely wins

Cost per calorie, convenience, and shelf life after opening — kibble tolerates a bowl that sits out, travel, puzzle feeders and slow feeders, and it doesn't need refrigeration once opened. For big dogs eating thousands of kilocalories a day, the same nutrition in cans can cost several times more and generate a recycling bin full of metal. Calorie-dense also cuts the other way: it's easier to overfeed from a scoop than a can, which is where the calorie statement earns its keep.

The dental myth deserves a paragraph

'Kibble cleans teeth' is the most durable piece of pet food folklore. Most kibble shatters at the tip of the tooth and does little for the gumline, where disease actually starts; plenty of kibble-fed pets have terrible teeth and plenty of wet-fed pets have fine ones. Specific dental diets with a validated texture exist, and daily brushing outworks any food. Choose a form for nutrition and your pet's needs — not as a substitute for dental care.

'Both' is a legitimate answer

Mixed feeding — kibble as the base, wet as a topper or a meal — is common, economical, and fine when the combined calories are budgeted honestly. If you mix, do the math once: the label feeding guides of two products don't know about each other, so portion each to its share of the day's kilocalories rather than feeding a full serving of both. And whatever the form, every product still stands or falls on its own label: named ingredients, an adequacy statement, honest numbers.