Mixed feeding for dogs and why consider it

Your dog’s nutritional needs will change throughout their life; puppies, fully grown adults and mature dogs all have different nutritional requirements. The diet you feed should therefore be adapted to meet their nutritional needs at every stage of life. However, what diet to feed is just part of the story. You also need to decide if you want to feed dry food, wet food or a mix of both. Our friends at Royal Canin explain how to best approach this.

The benefits of dry food

Dry food has many benefits; it doesn’t spoil in the bowl and can be left down for your dog to graze on throughout the day. However, you do need to be careful about portion control when allowing your dog to graze, as over-eating may lead to obesity, which has serious health consequences for your dog.

Dry food by nature contains less moisture than wet food, meaning it is more energy dense¹. Feeding dry food therefore means that you can meet your dog’s daily energy requirement in a smaller daily portion than if you were to feed wet food alone, which can make it a more cost-effective option.

The kibble can also be adapted to help meet the needs of dogs with different health conditions. For instance, ROYAL CANIN® Satiety Weight Management has a cross shaped kibble, which helps slow down the speed of ingestion and increases meal duration²; characteristics which are beneficial for dogs on a weight loss programme.

What’s the difference between dry and wet food?

The biggest difference between dry and wet food is the moisture content. Wet food has a higher moisture content than dry food and therefore provides an easy way to support your dog’s water intake and hydration status. An increased moisture intake also helps support urine dilution^3,4, which can be especially beneficial for maintaining urinary health. It is for this reason that alongside medical management, vets may recommend feeding a wet based diet for dogs with urinary stones^3,4.

The high moisture content in wet food also means that calories are diluted and means the portion size will be bigger⁵; which may help to support a feeling of fullness. This is just another example of why incorporating wet food as part of your dog’s diet may be a good idea.

Wet food also has a different texture to dry kibble and including it as part of your dog’s feeding regime can help to support food intake.

Nutrient balance

If you are looking at introducing mixed feeding, then you need to ensure you are feeding dry and wet diets from not only the same manufacturer, but also from within the same range. This helps ensure that your pet receives the benefits of feeding both dry and wet foods and that they also getting the right balance of nutrients from their diet. Royal Canin provides mixed feeding guides for all diets within the Veterinary Health Nutrition range.

Introducing mixed feeding should be done gradually, over at least a week, to help limit any stomach upsets. Wet food needs to be served at room temperature, and you may need to break the food up before serving.

Ultimately, dogs need to be fed a complete and balanced diet and this can be achieved by feeding dry or wet food. Both dry and wet food provide different benefits, and mixed feeding may just offer you and your pet the best of both worlds.

References:

1. Butterwick, R. (2021). Calculating the energy content of pet food. Vet Focus, 24(3).

2. Sagols, E., Hours, M.A., Daniel, I., Feugier, A., Flanagan, J., German, A.J. (2019). Comparison of the effects of different kibble shape on voluntary food intake and palatability of weight loss diets in pet dogs. Research in Veterinary Science, 124: 375-382.

3. Dvorska, J., and Saganuwan, S. A. (2015). A review on urolithiasis in dogs and cats. Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 18(1): 1-18.

4. Queau Y. (2019). Nutritional Management of Urolithiasis. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract., 49(2):175-186.

5. https://www.ukpetfood.org/resource/different-pet-food-formats.html