HomeHome & leisurePet foodWet versus dry

In this report

close Print
- Print page
- Print whole report
print
comments (26)
share

Pet food Updated 11 Oct 2011

Wet versus dry

Wet food is considerably more expensive than dry food. Dry food has a higher energy content than wet – so your pet doesn’t need to eat as much of it.

Dog food

Depending on the brand, a 20kg dog needs between 175g to 230g of dry food a day. Purina Dog Chow, Pams Chase Dog Biscuits and Budget Dog Biscuits were the cheapest in our survey – they cost around $200 a year.

With some brands of wet food (Budget, Fido, Gourmet and Pams) you’ll need to feed your dog around 1kg per day to get the same energy content. And there’s a huge range in prices: using My Dog will set you back $2480 a year compared with Fido at $800 a year.

Lavishing small tins or pouches on your pet will hit your wallet hard – and nutritionally there’s nothing special about these products. Feeding your pooch Gourmet Classic meals or Purina Beneful Prepared Meals will cost you more than $4000 a year.

Dog roll is cheaper than tinned wet food. Feeding your dog Bruno (the cheapest dog roll in our survey) only costs around $340 per year.

Cat food

It's a similar story for cats. Budget (the cheapest supermarket wet food for cats) will cost you around $200 a year. But Budget cat biscuits will cost only $65 a year. See Cat food compared for more information.

Tip: If you feed your pet solely on wet foods make sure you supplement these with a bone, rawhide chew or chewable toy several times a week for dental health. Bones should be big enough to be chewed on but not swallowed. Never feed your pet cooked bones.