Moisture

Moisture is simply the water content of a food, and despite sounding trivial it is one of the most consequential numbers on a label because it governs how every other figure should be read. The spread between formats is large: dry kibble generally holds under 10 percent moisture, while wet foods such as pâtés and pouches often exceed 75 percent (FEDIAF, 2024). That gap is why moisture is the hinge of any fair comparison. The [crude protein](/glossary/crude-protein) or [crude fat](/glossary/crude-fat) on a wet tin looks small next to a kibble's purely because so much of the wet product's weight is water, and only by converting both onto a [dry matter basis](/glossary/as-fed-vs-dry-matter) do you see their true concentrations. Moisture also matters in its own right, beyond comparisons. For cats, which are naturally low drinkers descended from desert ancestors, the high moisture of wet food is a meaningful contribution to overall [water](/glossary/water-and-hydration) intake and can help support urinary health, one reason many owners adopt [mixed feeding](/glossary/mixed-feeding). It is a declared value within the [analytical constituents](/glossary/analytical-constituents) and [guaranteed analysis](/glossary/guaranteed-analysis), and it is the first term subtracted in the [NFE carbohydrate estimate](/glossary/carbohydrate-estimate-nfe). For a premium buyer, the lesson is that you can never compare a dry and a wet food honestly without first accounting for moisture. For more, see the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary).

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General documentary information. For an individual animal, a veterinarian's advice takes precedence over any online content.