How to Choose Dog Food: Wet, Dry and Reading the Label

By the BasketLab team · updated 25 September 2026 · how we rank

Dog food is the definition of a rebuy: you will buy it again next week, and the week after, for years. Small differences in price and quality quietly add up to a serious sum. The trouble is the packaging is designed to tug at your heart, not inform you. Here is how to read past the pictures of glossy dogs and choose food that suits your dog and your budget.

Wet, dry or both?

The wet versus dry question is less of a battle than the marketing suggests. Dry food (kibble) is cheaper per meal, better for the teeth, easy to store and simple to measure. Wet food is more appealing to fussy eaters, higher in moisture, which helps hydration, and gentler on older mouths. Many owners land on a mix: dry as the base, a spoon of wet to make it interesting.

Neither is automatically better. Choose around your dog: a fussy senior with dodgy teeth is a different customer to a hungry young Labrador who would eat the box it came in.

Reading the ingredients list

Ingredients are listed by weight, so the first two or three matter most. You want a named meat near the top, like chicken or lamb, rather than vague phrases such as meat and animal derivatives, which tell you very little about what is actually in the tin.

• Named protein first: chicken, salmon and lamb beat mystery meat.
• Watch the fillers: a little grain is fine, but if maize or cereal is the main event, you are buying padding.
• Check the meat percentage: a good label states it plainly, for example 60 percent chicken.
• Ignore the buzzwords: premium, natural and grain-free are marketing terms, not guarantees of quality.

Match the food to the dog

Life stage matters more than brand loyalty. Puppies need food built for growth, adults need steady maintenance, and seniors often do better on something lighter with joint support. Size counts too, since a small-breed kibble is sized for a small mouth.

If your dog has a sensitive stomach, itchy skin or a known allergy, that steers the choice more than any review. When you do change food, switch gradually over a week or so, mixing old and new, or you will be cleaning the carpet. If a health issue is involved, your vet is the right person to ask, not a forum.

The real cost over time

This is where a bit of maths pays off. Work out the cost per day, not the price of the bag. A large bag of mid-range kibble often works out cheaper per meal than a small bag of a budget brand, simply because you feed less of a denser, meatier food to fill your dog up.

A cheap food that is mostly filler can mean bigger portions, more trips to buy it, and, not to be indelicate, more to clear up in the garden. Sometimes the mid-priced bag is the true bargain once you count portions rather than pounds on the shelf.

Where own-brand and value brands fit

Supermarket own-brand and value ranges like Amazon Basics have improved a lot and can be perfectly sound everyday food, as long as the label stacks up on the points above. The trick is to judge the ingredients, not the logo. A cheaper bag with a named meat first can easily beat a pricier one padded with cereal.

The wider dog aisle is full of rebuys beyond food. Poo bags from Earth Rated, dental chews such as ProDen PlaqueOff, treats, and flea treatments like FRONTLINE are all recurring costs, so buying the sensible multipack of the things you use constantly is where a household quietly saves. A Chuckit! ball, at least, only needs buying once, until it goes over the fence.

Common mistakes to avoid

Get the everyday food right, buy a size that suits your storage and your dog's appetite, and you turn one of the household's steadiest costs into something you barely think about.

• Overfeeding: follow the guide on the pack by weight, then adjust. Most dogs are fed too much.
• Switching suddenly: change over a week to avoid an upset tummy.
• Buying on the picture: a happy dog on the bag tells you nothing about what is inside.
• Free-feeding treats: treats and chews count towards the daily total, so trim the meals a touch on treat-heavy days.