There are all kinds of different dog foods on the market and each kind has a different appeal to each individual dog. Some dogs love the dry dog foods and others prefer the canned foods. Dogs are as diverse in their tastes as people. A dry dog food only contains about 10% moisture while the canned dog foods contain 70% to 80%. The only way to know what your dog prefers best is to try both and see.
If, however, you’re looking for the most nutritious food with the most healthy nutrients, you’ll find this mostly in the dry dog foods. They will contain around 90% nutrients while the canned foods usually contain less. The soy products are the ones that have been structured to look like pieces of meat and are attractive to dogs.
In order to maintain a nutritional balance for your dog’s system, your dog will have to eat more dry foods than canned foods. You can make your own comparisons regarding the cost of you weekly feeding schedule. A mixture of both dry and canned foods can work out to be a good, nutritious feeding strategy for your dog. Remember that dry dog foods are mostly soybean and rice based, even though today you find more of these dry dog foods being corn based.
If you have dog foods based on chicken or beef and come in a can they usually have vitamin and mineral supplements ‘added in’. If your dog weighs over 30 pounds it will probably be wise to use semi-moist foods or some dry foods most of the time.
The reason for this type of food strategy is to satisfy food receptors in your dog’s stomach. Larger dogs need lots of moist food (canned foods) to meet this criteria. Smaller dogs don’t need as much in the way of nutrients so they can eat the moist foods without much consequence.
The caloric density found in dry dog foods is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Enriched dry dog foods are naturally going to be better for your dog than non-enriched dog foods.