Choosing the best wet dog food for Pitbulls is hard because there are so many low-quality options out there. Canned food isn’t always meant to be served as a treat because you can add it to kibble as a nice boost of protein and flavor for your Bully.
In this guide, we’ll cover the best wet food options for Pitbulls and how we came to these decisions. This will help you decide which food is better for your bully.
6 Best Wet Dog Foods for Pitbulls
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Turkey and Chicken Grill
Best Overall
4.6 out of 5
- Top three ingredients include turkey, chicken broth, and chicken
- Contains 10% minimum crude protein and 1,350 calories per serving
- Great source of various vitamins and minerals
Blue Wilderness is one of our favorite brands for a reason. This formula comes with a 12-pack of 12.5 ounce cans. Each can contains great ingredients that you can serve as a special treat or mix with dry dog food to enhance the flavor and texture of the kibble.
The recipe does not contain any soy, grain, gluten, by-products, or artificial anything. This is the first thing we look at. When it comes to canned dog food, we pay even more attention because these types of foods are known to be lower quality and contain more fillers than traditional kibble.
This turkey and chicken grill is a meat-rich combo that yields a higher protein content but just be careful when feeding your dog something that has two main animal protein sources as the first ingredients because it can trigger allergies.
American Journey Active Life Formula Chicken and Garden Vegetables
Best Budget Friendly
4.5 out of 5
- Top three ingredients include chicken, chicken broth, and chicken liver
- Contains 8.5% minimum crude protein and 1,200 calories per serving
- Top notch complimentary ingredients slike carrots, blueberries, and flaxseed
A lot of dog foods use ingredients like white potatoes, flour, and grain as fillers so we always appreciate when we see formulas using things like carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes as fillers instead. These aren’t fillers at all. These ingredients actually give your dog something. They’re nutrient-rich, full of antioxidants, and designed to be part of your dog’s diet.
In addition to that, this recipe uses one primary protein source in chicken as the main ingredient. It’s great for Pitbulls with challenging allergies that make it difficult to try different canned foods because you never know how they’re going to react.
Lastly, this formula is budget-friendly as one of the cheapest options on the market right now. You can serve it as a hearty loaf or add it to kibble to make it more hearty and give your Pitbull the added protein they need to develop strong muscles.
The Farmer’s Dog Personalized Recipe
Best Fresh Food
4.9 out of 5
- Developed using only human-grade meats and veggies
- You can create a formula made specifically for your Pitbull
- Created and monitored by veterinarians and dog food experts
The best wet dog food for Pitbulls doesn’t always have to come from a can. Sometimes it comes from a bag. The Farmer’s Dog strives to create the best formula containing only the highest quality ingredients.
They also pride themselves in transparent advertising and packaging so instead of using labeling tricks and marketing tactics, they simply craft the best food on the market and charge you accordingly.
One of the factors that makes The Farmer’s Dog so great is that you can develop your own formula based on your Pitbulls current eating habits, age, any health issues, or allergies they have. The only downside to this food is that it’s not shelf-stable and will go bad over time and it could take a while for your Pitbull to adjust to the different texture if they’re used to eating kibble.
Purina Beyond Wild Prey-Inspired
Best for Picky Eaters
4.6 out of 5
- Top three ingredients include beef, beef broth, and chicken
- Contains 9% minimum crude protein and 1,220 calories per serving
- So many pet parents preach this formula as the best option for picky dogs
As pet owners, we can’t expect to understand everything. Sometimes we just need to accept what our dogs like and be happy with it. That’s how we feel about this recipe from Purina. We’re not the biggest supporters of Purina because their recipes usually contain lower-quality ingredients than a lot of other options but this one is surprisingly high-quality.
It uses real beef, chicken, and lamb as the primary protein sources. It’s tough when food contains three different protein sources like this because it’s known to trigger allergies. That said, this recipe seems to have the opposite effect according to a lot of dog owners.
Aside from the protein sources, the recipe list looks good with a lot of vitamins and minerals as well as organ meat which dogs love and helps supply added protein. The only ingredient we don’t like on the list is the added salt.
Wellness Ninety-Five Percent Chicken Grain-Free
Best Food Topper
4.5 out of 5
- Highly limited ingredient list only containing five ingredients
- Contains 8% minimum crude protein and 1,394 calories per serving
- One of the best choices on the market for sensitive stomachs
Pitbulls aren’t known for having iron stomachs so they can get sick pretty easily. This is a unique recipe from Wellness called 95% chicken and it truly is almost all chicken. The ingredient list only contains chicken, water sufficient for processing, natural flavor, cassia gum, and carrageenan.
Look at it this way, it’s almost the same as feeding your dog canned chicken you’d buy at the grocery store. We would recommend serving this as a snack or as a topper for kibble because it doesn’t contain a lot of the vitamins and minerals your Pitbull needs but you won’t have to worry about the quality of your topper.
Merrick Grain-Free Real Chicken Canned Food
Best Grain-Free
4.3 out of 5
- Top three ingredients include deboned chicken, chicken broth, and chicken liver
- Contains 9% minimum crude protein with 1,230 calories per serving
- Does not contain fillers like potatoes, corn, or grain
The jury is still out on whether or not grain-free is the way to go but in many cases, grains are responsible for creating allergies in dogs. Another issue that a lot of Pitbull owners have is with grain-inclusive foods including too much grain resulting in higher carbohydrates and lower protein which won’t cut it for this breed.
This recipe from Merrick contains chicken, chicken, and chicken as the top three ingredients and has a limited list of protein sources overall to reduce the chances of your dog having allergies.
The main reason this formula made the list is because it’s one of the only options that can be served as a primary meal because it’s a whole and balanced recipe containing everything your dog needs. If for some reason your Bully cannot eat hard kibble, you could feed them this as a nice substitute.
How to Choose the Best Wet Dog Food for your pit bull
At some point, you decided to change your dog’s food. For whatever reason, the current food you’re feeding them isn’t working. Why is that?
Is it making them sick? Is it causing excessive scratching? Do they simply not like it?
Whatever the reason may be, you want to know some of the factors that go into choosing the best wet dog food for Pitbulls. You don’t want to simply choose something because you read about it online, you want to have a good reason.
That’s what the following sections will help with. We want to explain the reasoning behind the picks you just read about to help you understand why we chose them specifically for Pitbulls.
Ingredients
The ingredients in a dog food recipe are the most important factor by a long shot. We’re so lucky to live in the age of transparent packaging because we can only imagine what manufacturers got away with years ago.
Quality of life has improved tremendously for dogs since food manufacturers have been required to label their packaging.
When it comes to Pitbulls, protein is the most important ingredient. The food you feed your Pitbull needs to contain a high amount of protein and unfortunately, very few wet foods can actually do that. They contain too much water so they’re generally lower in overall nutritional value.
That said, they work as a great complimentary ingredient to kibble. Serve them as toppers or mix it around with the kibble to soften the texture a little bit.
Look for ingredients like real meat in the first five ingredients. If you don’t see real protein as the first ingredient, move onto a different food.
Avoid ingredients like pea protein, potato starch, wheat flour, corn meal, soy, and white potatoes. These are unnecessary fillers that do nothing for your dog other than fill them up.
Lastly, keep in mind that grain isn’t always bad so don’t be so quick to jump on the “grain-free bandwagon.” There is no science that says grain is automatically bad unless your dog has allergies to it.
Current Health and Age
Puppies typically become adults around the ages of 1-2 years old and then they become seniors at around 11-12.
These various life stages require specific ingredients and components to help your dog at the current time. For example, glucosamine is a very important ingredient for dogs because it helps with joint health. As a puppy, this isn’t as important because they’re not at risk to experience joint deterioration that early in life. As a mature or senior dog, it becomes extremely important.
As a puppy, Pitbulls also need smaller kibble because it’s easier to digest. Wet canned food could be better for them as well and for senior dogs with digestion issues.
The bottom line is, no one besides your veterinarian can actually tell you that a certain dog food is good or bad for your dog because you’re the only one that knows them. You know what issues they have, where they’re at in life, and what types of foods they like. Just keep it in mind.
Budget
If you can’t afford a specific dog food, don’t buy it and risk getting your Pitbull hooked on it. You have to buy what is sustainable for your budget so you can keep your dog on it long-term.
It’s important to understand that the higher-quality dog food brands like Merrick, Wellness, and Nutro are naturally more expensive than brands like Purina and American Journey but it doesn’t mean that you should choose one over the other.
There are plenty of opportunities to find healthy dog food at a price that you can afford, you simply need to look between the lines and always investigate the ingredients on your own. Don’t settle for something simply because it’s the most affordable.
Can Pitbulls Eat Only Wet Food?
A lot of dogs find wet food to be more enjoyable than kibble because it doesn’t go through the process of high heat preservation. When kibble is processed, it’s heated to extreme temperatures to lock in the vitamins and flavors but it actually sucks a lot of them out.
The result is a lackluster flavor that not every dog will like. As a result, complimenting the kibble with canned food is a great way to get them to eat their kibble without having to spend too much money on either option. Still better may be a raw diet.
As for Pitbulls eating nothing more than wet food, we wouldn’t recommend it. Large and active breeds like Pitbulls need a lot of calories and protein to maintain their muscle mass and feeding them nothing but wet food would be costly.
What Foods Should Pitbulls Avoid?
Pitbulls have sensitive stomachs but it’s not only the poisonous or dangerous food that you want to avoid, sometimes, there are ingredients in the food you’re feeding them that is making them sick.
Ingredients like sugar and other sweeteners can cause blood sugar spikes and dips. It’s incredibly important to pay attention to this in canned food because subpar brands like Alpo will often include corn syrup and sugar in their recipes.
Artificial dyes and flavoring is also a bad ingredient to avoid. These are known to cause hot spots and other allergic reactions. Plus, they’re entirely unnecessary in food. Dogs don’t care what color the food is and as long as it contains high-quality ingredients, it shouldn’t need artificial flavoring anyway.
Final Thoughts
It all comes down to what your Bully likes. Choosing the best wet dog food for your pit bull is important but remember that, if they don’t eat it, it doesn’t matter how healthy or affordable it is. It’s not doing any good in the cabinet.
We still recommend the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Turkey and Chicken Grill recipe because it’s incredibly popular and most of the pet parents we’ve talked to have no problem getting their Bully to eat this and keep it down.
