New Studies from The Farmer's Dog Shows Notable Hydration Advantages in Fresh, Human-Grade Dog Food, Can Benefit Urinary Health in Dogs

New studies quantify—for the first time—how moisture-rich, fresh food improves dogs' total water intake and overall well-being

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Farmer's Dog, the leader in fresh, human-grade dog food, today announced new research showing that fresh diets help dogs stay more hydrated than traditional dry food. These findings are among the first to directly measure total water intake in dogs across different diets - providing valuable insight into canine hydration.

"Throughout their evolution, dogs ate moisture-rich whole foods. The shift to dry diets is relatively recent," said Jonathan Regev, Co-founder and CEO of The Farmer's Dog.

The Farmer's Dog conducted two hydration studies to evaluate how diet impacts total daily water intake in dogs—measuring not just how much dogs drink, but also how the moisture in their food contributes to overall hydration. Both studies used a 14-day crossover design with 10 adult dogs and compared one of The Farmer's Dog's fresh, human-grade recipes to a dry kibble diet. Diets were analyzed by a third-party laboratory for moisture content, and researchers tracked daily food and water intake along with weekly body weight to assess hydration outcomes.

When combining both food and drinking water:

• Dogs fed The Farmer's Dog's fresh, human-grade food consumed significantly more total water daily (522.5g for Fresh) compared to dogs fed dry kibble (434.1g), even though dry kibble fed dogs drank more water ad libitum.
• Dogs consuming The Farmer's Dog's fresh, human-grade food drank less from their water bowls, suggesting they were meeting most of their hydration needs through food.
• On average, dogs eating The Farmer's Dog exceeded their daily water requirement by 40%.

As supporting data, researchers also published the results from an existing urinary relative supersaturation (RSS) study in dogs fed one of The Farmer's Dog's recipes. RSS studies are often done to help evaluate the risk of urinary stone formation in healthy dogs, by analyzing if the values fall into desired, targeted zones. The study showed RSS values consistent with the targeted undersaturated zone for struvite stones. Calcium oxalate stone formation was in the lower end of the targeted metastable zone.

The research shows that feeding fresh, human-grade food - compared to feeding kibble - increases total water intake, supports hydration, and may benefit urinary health in dogs. This research adds to the growing science behind minimally processed diets, builds on The Farmer's Dog's $10 million investment in veterinary research and other science-driven initiatives, and lays the groundwork for future large-scale studies—all while giving pet owners one more reason to look beyond the water bowl when it comes to their dog's hydration.

"Veterinarians often advise owners to increase their dog's water intake—especially for dogs prone to dehydration or urinary health issues—but many dogs simply won't drink more, even with added water or flavor enhancers. We wanted to understand if the food itself could play a meaningful role in helping dogs stay hydrated, without the extra steps, and it did" said Dr. Joseph Wakshlag, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Nutrition), ACVSMR one of the Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists ^Ⓡ who was involved in the study, "These are the first ever datasets we have that quantify the total water intake from fresh food – which is important research to better understand fresh feeding and its implications on health and well being. The results confirm what many of us in the veterinary community have long suspected: moisture in food directly impacts overall daily hydration in dogs."

Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine.

About The Farmer's Dog: For more than a decade, The Farmer's Dog has been setting a higher bar for pet care by providing freshly cooked, minimally processed, and personalized meal plans designed to help dogs live longer, healthier lives. Our on-staff team of Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists®, PhD nutritionists, and veterinarians work to develop recipes packed with the nutrients dogs need, while avoiding the downsides of excess processing. Every meal is complete and balanced, made to human-grade safety standards, and delivered directly to customers' doors. Available at www.thefarmersdog.com.

The Farmer's Dog Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE The Farmer's Dog