Updated 29 May 2026
Mealtimes are an important part of your pet’s daily routine, and yet they can get kind of boring. The same food day in day out, wouldn’t you get tired of that? Make mealtime more exciting by mixed feeding: mixing and matching different types of pet food to give your pet a memorable eating experience every night of the week.
Not only does it add more variety to their meals, but it engages their senses, turning mealtime into a premium, sensory experience for your dog and/or cat. Even the fussiest of pets will be enticed to take a bite.
Learn how to mix up your pet’s menu with mixed feeding.
Step 1: Gather the ingredients
When mixed feeding, you don’t need to gather individual ingredients like meat or carrots or broccoli. The ingredients needed are premade foods that are all prepared and ready to eat straight from the packaging.
What specific foods do you need? The options are endless.
There are no hard and fast rules of what specific should be incorporated into a mixed feeding routine. Just the guiding principle that you’ll need two or three different foods: a base, a topper, and, if desired, a booster. Remember, variety is key so pick foods that have contrasting textures or flavours.
You can find all the food options you’ll need at Petbarn.
If you are using a homemade pet food – like The Nosh Project’s recipes – have it cooked up and ready to mix.
The base
This is the main portion of the bowl – the constant ingredient that doesn’t change from day to day. It should be a complete and balanced diet that delivers all the nutrients your pet needs from their diet.
Commonly, this is dry food. But it can be whatever your pet usually eats.
The topper
The topper is where variety starts to come into play. The food you choose for the topper should be different in taste and/or texture to whatever you’ve chosen for the base. Ideally, it will also be a complete and balanced option even though it is a smaller portion of the overall bowl.
If your base is a crunchy kibble, use wet food, fresh or raw food, or air-dried food.
If your base is softer, for example wet or raw, use kibble, air-dried and freeze-dried foods as the topper.
A booster (optional)
The booster is an optional extra you can add on top. It makes up the smallest part of the bowl. Examples of potential boosters you could add to your pet’s bowl include:
- Bone broth – boost palatability and add some more moisture
- Supplements – powders, oils, or even treats to improve an aspect of your pet’s health
- A long-lasting chew – another contrasting texture to keep them occupied with dinner a while longer
- A little bit of a treat – combining dessert and dinner? Your pet won’t complain
Step 2: Combine the ingredients in your pet’s bowl
Once you know what foods you want to mix in your pet’s bowl, start preparing them – if you need to.
Some foods like dry food, wet food, and air-dried are ready to eat as soon as you open them. Others may need a little prep work, like defrosting or rehydrating. For these, only prepare the portion your pet is about to eat, not the entire bag, to minimise waste.
Do not use a full portion of each food
When you start feeding your pet a new food, the first place you look when figuring out how much to feed is the feeding guidelines on the packaging. They tell you how much food your pet should eat per day based on their weight, activity level, and/ or age.
However, these guidelines assume that their food is the only food your pet gets.
If you follow the feeding guidelines for each food used to build your pet’s bowl, you will be overfeeding. If you don’t adjust their portion sizes for each food, your pet will more than likely become obese.
How much of each food should your pet get per day?
Some brands that have both dry food and wet food will provide guidelines for mixed feeding, typically the amount of dry food to feed alongside a single can or sachet of the matching wet food per day. However, not all do, and, if you’re feeding across brands or ranges within a brand, these guidelines won’t apply.
To reduce the chances of overfeeding, consider the percentage of the bowl each component makes up. This can get a bit tricky. One way to do it is to calculate how many calories each food should provide, ensuring the total calories doesn’t exceed your pet’s recommended daily limit.
Another way is to look at the percentage of the meal that component makes up and apply that to the feeding guidelines. For example, let’s say a dog is eating a mixed diet of kibble and air-dried food. If they were eating each food on its own, their daily recommended serving portions would be:
- Dry food = 100g per day
- Air-dried food = 90g per day.
When combining both, the kibble base will make up 70% of the bowl, and the air-dried topper will be 30%. If one bowl represents one full day of food, then we want to use 70% of the recommended daily amount of kibble, and 30% of the recommended daily amount of air-dried food.
| Type of food | % of bowl | % of recommended daily serve | Amount to use (per day) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry food | 70% | 70% of 100g | 70g |
| Air-dried food | 30% | 30% of 90g | 30g |
The ratio of base to topper depends on you and your pet’s preferences. Typically, 70% base and 30% topper is a good balance. If you’re adding a booster to the mix, you may need to reduce these portions to account for the additional calories.
Break the daily portion up for each meal
Don’t forget many of these feeding guidelines detail the amount of food fed over a full 24 hours. If your pet gets multiple meals per day, that amount needs to be split up over each meal.
So, if the dog in our example got breakfast and dinner every day, we’d divide the recommended feeding amount in two:
- Dry food = 35g per meal
- Air-dried food = 15g per meal
Health supplements should be fed as directed
Health supplements are the exception to this rule. They have a specified dose for therapeutic reasons. So, if you’re adding a supplement as a booster, always follow the dosing recommendations on the packet or provided by your pet.
Optional: Make mealtime a game
Changing the way your pet eats their food can add another element to their mealtimes. Instead of giving them their food in a plain old bowl, feed them on something like a lick mat, puzzle feeders, or occupier toys.
The benefits of using these over a bowl include:
- Slowing down your pets eating
- Keeping your pet’s mind engaged
- Occupying your pet’s time
- Distracting your pet from something
Step 3: Time for your pet to enjoy
Once you’ve got all the food in the bowl, it’s ready to go! Serve it to your pet and let them devour the deliciousness.
About the Author
Rebecca Daly BVScVeterinarian & Content Writer
After graduating with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from the University of Queensland in 2017, Rebecca spent two years working as an equine veterinarian in New Zealand. Upon returning to Australia, she completed a Bachelor of Communications from UQ in 2023. Rebecca is passionate about educating pet parents so they can provide the best lives for their pets. She is the pet parent of a cat named Edith, a domestic short hair adopted from a Petbarn Adoption Centre.
