Feeding our dogs is part of a billion-dollar business. In fact, in the U.S. alone, $42 billion was spent on pet food and treats this year! We all know how vital food is for pets, so finding the right food for our dogs is our top priority. But there is so much to choose from! If you have a picky dog or are a new dog owner and haven’t established the likes and dislikes of your pet yet, where do you even begin?

We created reviews for 12 of the best canned dog foods and wet dog foods, so you can pick and choose at your leisure. Hopefully, this will help save you time, and you can find your dog’s next favorite meal.

A Glance at Our Top Picks (2024 Update)

The 11 Best Canned and Wet Dog Foods

1. Ollie Fresh Human-Grade Dog Food Subscription — Best Overall

Ollie is our pick as the best overall wet dog food. They are a dog food delivery service that makes fresh meals catered to your dog’s individual needs, with all recipes made with human-grade meat. Depending on your dog’s preferences, you can choose beef, lamb, turkey, or chicken—and they all come with healthy, fresh vegetables, like sweet potatoes, peas, and spinach. The food is gently cooked to preserve the nutrients, and all the recipes are free from artificial flavors, preservatives, and fillers like wheat, corn, and soy.

Ollie is known for its consistency, healthy ingredients, and canine nutritionist-formulated recipes. The service is pricey, but where you get your value is in the recipes, ingredients, and services—and by feeding your dog premium quality foods, you’re bound to avoid many health problems now and down the track.

Ollie creates a customized meal plan that arrives on your preferred schedule—biweekly or monthly—and offers healthy treats too, though you cannot customize the recipes themselves.

All in all, we think this is the best wet dog food for small, medium-sized, and big dogs.

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2. Nature’s Recipe Variety Pack Grain-Free Wet Dog Food – Best Value

Nature’s Recipe Variety Pack Grain-Free Wet Dog Food is the best wet dog food for the money. With this food, you can choose from a pack of either 12 or 24, 2.5-ounce cups of food. There are also three different flavors to choose from: chicken & beef, chicken & turkey, or chicken & lamb. Or, you can choose a variety pack of flavors so you can switch things up for your dog.

Each of these recipes has real meat as the first ingredient, and they are easy to serve to your dog. It’s high-quality food at an affordable price. They are also free from grains, corn, soy, wheat, and peas. However, it’s important to note that grain-free diets are not necessary for all dogs unless they have a sensitivity to grains, so it’s worth talking with your vet to see if this food is right for your dog.

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3. The Farmer’s Dog Human-Grade Dog Food — Premium Choice

The Farmer’s Dog delivery service is a well-known dog food subscription service that has four human-grade recipes full of mouth-watering ingredients for your dog (though you might be tempted to try it, we don’t recommend it!). All protein sources (turkey, chicken, beef, or pork) are sourced from human food suppliers, including local farms, and all are prepared fresh, with none of the meals subjected to freezing for long periods.

All you have to do is fill out a quick questionnaire about your dog and choose the protein and recipes that they’d prefer, and The Farmer’s Dog will ship it to you frozen in any of the lower 48 states.

The recipes all meet Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) standards, are cooked in human-grade kitchens, and are immediately frozen and shipped directly to you. While this meal service is rather pricey, the company uses some of the best ingredients possible and easily earns its spot on our list as the premium option for wet dog food.

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4. Purina Pro Plan Development Wet Dog Food — Best for Puppies

Purina’s Pro Plan Development Dog Food is designed for puppies under 1 year of age, with chicken as the first and main ingredient. It’s high in protein, which will aid in building muscles and providing energy. It also has DHA for eye and brain development. It can help keep your puppy’s skin and coat healthy and soft and contains 23 vitamins and minerals, all meant to support a growing puppy.

The issues with this food are that the cans are large, and when you’re feeding a small puppy, they might be sitting in the fridge for too long. Plus, it contains meat by-products.

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5. Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Wet Dog Food

Royal Canin’s Veterinary Gastrointestinal Dog Food is low in fat for dogs that have issues with digesting fats and is still palatable. It contains prebiotics to maintain the good bacteria in your dog’s gut and dietary fibers that also help with digestion. It also has omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, and a S/O Index, which supports urinary health.

Unfortunately, it is expensive, and you will need veterinary authorization to purchase it.

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6. Cesar Classic Loaf Variety Pack Wet Dog Food

The Cesar Classic Loaf is in a variety pack and comes in grilled chicken, filet mignon, porterhouse steak, beef, chicken and liver, and turkey flavors. The food comes in convenient single-serve trays, and each flavor has either chicken, beef, or turkey as the first and main ingredient. These have vitamins and minerals added, so each meal is balanced, and it’s all grain-free and made in the U.S.A.

However, the packaging isn’t environmentally friendly, and the food contains carrageenan and meat by-products. Plus, variety packs are fun for us, but picky dogs might not enjoy all the flavors.

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7. Purina Pro Plan Savor Canned Dog Food

Purina’s Pro Plan Savor Dog Food has whole chicken as the main ingredient, which makes this food high in protein. Rice is combined for added nutrition and taste, and it contains 23 essential minerals and vitamins, which provide 100% balanced nutrition. It doesn’t have any artificial preservatives, flavors, or colorings, and most dogs love it.

However, there isn’t that much fiber in this food, and this could affect your dog’s poop. Plus, it contains meat by-products and carrageenan.

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8. Hill’s Prescription Diet i/d Canned Dog Food

Hill’s Prescription Diet i/d Dog Food is low fat to help dogs with digestive issues, and it was developed by veterinarians and nutritionists. It contains prebiotic fibers that aid in the growth of good bacteria in the gut, and it also has ginger that helps soothe any irritation of the GI tract. It also includes omega-3 fatty acids for the skin and coat, along with antioxidants.

The downsides are that it needs veterinary authorization, and it’s expensive. Sometimes, the pâté can be a little dry. The texture can also be inconsistent.

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9. Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food

Blue Buffalo’s Homestyle Recipe Dog Food is full of natural ingredients, including chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, brown rice, and blueberries. It also has added vitamins and minerals to help support muscles. It has no corn, wheat, soy, by-products, or any artificial preservatives or flavors.

Unfortunately, it is a little pricey, and the texture can be inconsistent from can to can. Sometimes it’s too dry, sometimes too watery, and sometimes just right. Plus, it contains carrageenan.

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10. Purina Beneful IncrediBites Wet Dog Food

The Purina Beneful IncrediBites Variety Dog Food is designed for small dogs. It is a variety pack containing three flavors: chicken, beef, and salmon, all with carrots, tomatoes, and wild rice. The food is in a chopped-up/shredded texture and is cut up fine enough for the tiny mouths of your tiny dogs. The meat is farm-raised and includes healthy veggies and a tasty gravy for a nutritious meal.

However, it does contain wheat gluten and meat by-products, and the main ingredient in the salmon flavor is chicken. Also, while it’s always nice to have variety, some picky dogs might not enjoy all the flavors, which can be a waste.

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11. Pedigree Chopped Ground Dinner Wet Dog Food

Pedigree’s Chopped Ground Dinner Dog Food comes in two flavors—filet mignon and beef—and both are in a minced texture. It contains minerals and oils designed to keep your dog’s coat and skin healthy and is a tasty meal for most dogs.

The worst thing about this food is that it isn’t made with any kind of beef—its primary ingredient is chicken. It also contains carrageenan, meat by-products, artificial coloring, and preservatives.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Pick the Best Canned & Wet Dog Foods

Before you make any decisions, read through our buyer’s guide. We go over a few points that are worth considering before you make your purchase.

Flavor

If your dog enjoys certain flavors and not others, you should avoid variety packs. On the other hand, if you have a new dog and still haven’t figured out their likes and dislikes, a variety pack is a great way to experiment so you can figure out your dog’s favorites.

Ingredients

Most pet owners don’t bother reading the ingredient list, but this is a great habit to get into. If you’re not too concerned about what is in your dog’s food and they don’t have any health issues, you can choose to read the ingredients or not. But many manufacturers include ingredients that you might want to avoid. The rule of thumb is that the first five ingredients should be whole ingredients and real meat.

If you need veterinary advice over your dog’s nutrition, we recommend speaking with a vet.

Are There Some Ingredients to Avoid Altogether?

Yes. As with human foods, some ingredients are best to be avoided completely.

Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a chemical preservative that gets added to fats and oils. Even small amounts of BHA can be harmful to your dog’s health. The Centers for Disease Control even say that BHA is carcinogenic for humans and studies show that it can act the same in animals.

White flour is highly treated and stripped of most of its nutrients during processing. Its main function in dog food is to act as a binder and to add texture.

Meat meal is any unlabeled meat ingredient in your dog’s food. Companies tend to be very vague about what this ingredient is, which should raise red flags right from the get-go. These meats are usually made with low-quality, expired, or even infected meat. Meat meal can also contain fatty tissues, and dead animal remains. The purpose of this ingredient in dog food is to act as a filler. It has almost no protein and quality control is difficult to, well, control.

Artificial colors are used a lot in human food to make food look more appealing. The presence of fake coloring in animal food is completely unnecessary. We don’t need to find the appearance of our dog’s food to be appealing. All that matters is that your dog finds it appealing, and chances are he will put a lot more stock into the scent and texture of the food than its color.

Farmed salmon might sound like a healthy ingredient to have in your pup’s food, but it’s not. Many dogs are interested in eating fish, salmon included. Farmed salmon, though, can include harmful toxins that can be dangerous for your pup. Farmed salmon, including salmon meal and oil, can add high levels of mercury and other fat-soluble toxins into their diet. This type of salmon can contain toxic chemicals and cancer-causing PCBs.

Read Everything

Always double-check every aspect of the food before you buy it. Is it pâté or shredded? Does it contain real, whole meat, or just flavors? If your dog is sensitive to specific ingredients, like chicken, make sure it doesn’t include any.

Size

The larger your dog, the more you have to buy. Aim for large cans because they won’t sit in the fridge for long, and you’ll get one or two servings from each can. You should aim for small containers for your small dogs. If you purchase 13-ounce cans for your Chihuahua, they will end up sitting in the fridge for a long time. The size of the can/container should be relative to the size of your dog and how much they can eat in one meal.

Is Wet Food Better Than Dry Food?

Wet food can sometimes provide more benefits for your dog than dry food.

Wet foods have a higher moisture content, which is very beneficial for dogs who might not drink as much water as they should. It’s also great for dogs with certain medical conditions that necessitate a proper amount of hydration, like kidney disease.

Canned food also tends to be more palatable to most dogs. It has aromas that dry food does not and may also be more flavorful. Offering wet foods is a great way to entice your dog to eat if they’re sick or have a low appetite.

Wet foods can help increase satiety. This is beneficial for dogs who need assistance with weight loss as it will help them feel fuller for longer after meals. Finally, wet foods are, by nature, simpler to chew. If your dog has dental disease or other oral concerns, he might be more apt to eat wet food because of how easy it is to eat.

Now, that’s not to say that dry food doesn’t have its list of benefits. It can be more convenient as portioning it out is easier. Dry food is often more affordable and can work well as a food enrichment item in puzzle toys and automatic feeders.

Final Verdict

Our pick for the best wet dog food is Ollie because of its human-grade meat ingredients and quality service. Our pick for best canned dog food for the money is Nature’s Recipe Variety Pack Grain-Free Wet Dog Food because it’s grain-free and an all-natural stew for your pup. Finally, The Farmer’s Dog delivery service is expensive, but it’s excellent food for dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds.

Hopefully, our reviews of the best canned and wet dog food have at least started you on the path to finding the right food for your pup. Our dogs only deserve the best!

See Also:

• 11 Best Moist Dog Foods – Reviews & Top Picks
• 8 Best Wet Dog Foods in the UK – Reviews & Top Picks

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Featured Image Credit: chaoss, Shutterstock