Confused!! Dry food only VS wet food!!!

[heidiho]

Hey all!Everything is really good,roxy is just awesome,cant say enough about her,but this whole time i have been free feeding dry food to her(SOLID GOLD) and now i read that feeding only dry food is bad..Well she does not care for wet food that is why i dont buy it,it is a waste of my$$$$.I just started her on wellness core because it has more protien and moisture,question is (cause everyone says something different) shes happy,im happy,is it really life threatening to feed only dry?????????

[mika140]

I know others here will disagree with me, but I don't see any problem with dry feeding.....depending on the cat. Mine doesn't like moist either, and she's one that leaves food in the bowl and comes back later, so I can't just leave it in there for her. The only reason I've heard of why cats should have moist food is that they don't get enough water otherwise. Well, my cat drinks a lot of water. Maybe she's abnormal, but she certainly doesn't get dehydrated. In fact, if the bowl is even getting low, she'll let me know by coming after my water glass. So unless there's another major reason, I just don't see why I should change from something that's working. Of course if the cat was one that didn't drink enough water, then I would consider switching.

[sugarcatmom]

I'm one of a growing number of people that truly believe dry food causes more harm to cats than any other single thing. Between kidney disease, diabetes, obesity, bladder/urinary tract problems, IBD, and dental disease, all of which have a dietary influence, we are collectively doing our cats a huge disservice for the sake of the convenience of kibble. No matter how you slice it, dry food is heavily processed, high in starch, and devoid of moisture. Just because a cat "drinks a lot of water" does not mean they're getting enough, it just means they aren't getting enough with their food. http://www.catinfo.org/

A cat consuming a predominantly dry-food diet does drink more water than a cat consuming a canned food diet, but in the end, when water from all sources is added together (what’s in their diet plus what they drink), the cat on dry food consumes approximately half the amount of water compared with a cat eating canned foods. This is a crucial point when one considers how common kidney and bladder problems are in the cat.

It is absolutely worth the effort to make the switch to wet. If you saw how much better every single diabetic cat does when changed from dry to wet, to the degree that many even stop needing insulin injections, or how so many cats with IBD can go off of prednisone, you'd think so too. When I hear people say their cat doesn't like canned, I tend to think they just haven't tried hard enough (don't be mad). It wasn't an easy task with my dude (probably took me close to a year to go completely dry-free), but as a result my diabetic, arthritic, HCM kitty now looks better and plays more at 15 yrs old than he did at half that age.

Of course you always hear the story of the cat that lived to be 22 eating nothing but Cat Chow (the feline version of George Burns) but there's a big difference between surviving and thriving. Please give it another try. Go slow. Cats are naturally suspicious of unfamiliar smells and tastes (defense mechanism) and it might require more patience and creativity on your part to overcome this tendency. Start by putting teensy amounts of wet beside the dry everyday so that your cat becomes used to the smell. Then make a kibble oreo with a toothpick amount of canned sandwiched between 2 pieces of dry. Eventually just picking up the dry completely and leaving canned food down all day (yes, you can do that!) works in many cases, as does top-dressing canned with things like crushed kibble, powdered treats, nutritional yeast, parmesan cheese, freeze-dried liver, bonito flakes, tuna juice.... (this is where the creativity comes in). Don't give up when it's snubbed at first. Be unrelenting in your efforts. Try different brands and flavours and textures. Try raw (some cats go for raw before being interested in canned). Check out more tips here: http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_. Be prepared to be frustrated, but I can't emphasize enough the importance of patience and perseverance. You won't regret it and neither will your cat.

[allymack]

i never really fed my first cat wet food either, because liek your cat he didnt really like to too much, when he was about 8 he got crystals, and he could not get surgery for it. by then i had already had my second cat and i definately didnt want the same thing to happen to him, so i asked the vet if there was anything i could do to prevent it from happening again, she said to feed him a can ( we buy the smallish mediumish cans) a day and so far we havent had any health issues with him, so i guess it can help to prevent crystals? hope this helps, so if you can in any way get your kitty to eat wet food, it might be worth your money.

[Winston]

Hey Heidiho! Nice to hear from you! Glad to hear your Roxy girl is doing good! I do agree that wet food is the way to go but I too am having trouble getting mine to eat it! The thing is vets up until recently have said dry,dry,dry because canned rots their teeth...its now better for them. Tabitha is having some issues and I have tried every kind of canned and she just licks the juice and leaves everything else? So I just try and I figure any little bit will help! But if Roxy is healthy and all I say just try some different kinds and maybe she will like one of them and give it along with the dry..

Hope all is well! Have you heard about any of the other kitties and how they are? Bob and Momma?

Cindy

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

I'm one of a growing number of people that truly believe dry food causes more harm to cats than any other single thing.

Me too. So what I do now is still feed the kibble, but I mix it with canned food and water. It makes a kind of a soup , my cats love it

Hi Heidiho ! Nice to hear from you !

[heidiho]

Roxy is for sure healthy,this is the first i have heard about food that doesnt have alot of moisture,and hi in carbs,i have been feeding her solid gold for over a year,but now that i heard that,i am slowly moving her to wellness core,more protein and moisture,although she does drink plenty of water,i also heard alot of cats dont,i guess it just depneds on who you ask,i am just gonna stick with dry,shes happy,healthy,probably could drop a pound,my fault to though,when i am eating something she likes,she sits right in front of me with her tongue licking her lips(well no lips) but you get the idea,and i will give her a nibble or two..so i am trying to stop that,have also stopped free feeding her.Oh yeah and she is now one of those cats that runs across my bed and makes any kind of noise she can at about 5:30 in the morning to get me up to feed her.That has got to stop,but i try and ignore her and that doesnt work,any ideas??

[Luba]

Hi ya Heidi nice to see you!

Maybe you could try to give your cat some fresh foods once a day?

[heidiho]

When you say fresh foods what would that be??

[Luba]

There's a few people on here that home prepare for their cats. I do for my dog. Maybe you can check out some of those threads? I know cats love chicken

[Luba]

Look in the recipe's section, I saw this thread:

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=38217

[heidiho]

OMG!Do you know what that would cost me to be able to feed her that,more than i have got,i wish i could do something like that,but it would be way to expensive,would have to start working a third job.

[Love4himies]

Hi Heidi so nice to see you back.

It may be hard on her kidneys in the long run if she isn't getting enough water throughout her life. If you want to continue on kibble, how about getting a plastic syringe (7ml size) from the vet and syringing water into her mouth every day. I do that for Puddles (min 14 mls.) even though she is eating Wellness canned, but she drinks almost no water and she has a history of bladder infections and is prone to kidney disease because she is a Himalayan. Just want to make sure she is well flushed.

Another idea is to mix Roxy's kibble with canned and do a slow transition, leave it down for her, won't hurt her to go a few hours without food and if she is hungry she may eat it. Feed her twice a day at the same time every day, that way she knows exactly when she is going to get dinner. Put the dish down, leave it there for 12 hours, then replace the bowl with a fresh dinner. Did that for my last 4 cats and not one was overweight.

[Winston]

Hey Heidiho...whatever works for Roxy is what you gotta do! but you could give her some home foods once in awhile like chicken...it couldnt be that much out of your portion to give her some....but mine mostly get dry...What I am noticing about my 2 is that if it is a Pate type canned and I put water in it so it is liquid, they lick it right up.they dont like it mixed in their dry food either...they dont seem to like solid pieces..so I am slowly working that into their diet but I just cant give up the kibble..They are just too small and I have tried before and they would rather starve to death that not have their kibble.

Whats new with you?

Cindy

[woof99]

The vet clinic I work in really recommends that all cats should get some canned food.
Bottom line- Cats are meat eaters and do not drink enough water.
If you a look at all the conditions that cats get; Sugarcatmom named them all- Diabetes, kidney disease, FLUTD, obesity....

All these conditions benefit from high protein, high moisture food. Canned food is easiest to reach all these goals.

If you cannot do all canned, a mix of dry and canned is better than just dry. I give my cat dry in the am and canned in the pm.

The other thing is that canned food helps to increase the cats blood volume, (by increasing water intake), specialists believe that increased blood volume helps the organs to flush out the toxins from the body. Just think of humans 8-10 glasses a day... same thing.

[Luba]

If you're not a vegetarian yourself you could just cook yourself chicken once a week or twice and let her have some

[heidiho]

Now that i can do(chicken for her) I dont know about all cats but roxy is at her water bowl quite often,and i am refilling it quite often,i am not to worried that she is not getting enough water really,THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE,

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by heidiho

I dont know about all cats but roxy is at her water bowl quite often,and i am refilling it quite often,i am not to worried that she is not getting enough water really,THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE,

That's not necessarily a good sign. Ideally, cats don't drink any water. They get it all in their food. There have been studies on the hydration levels of cats eating wet food compared to those eating dry, and across the board, the ones on dry do not drink enough to make up the difference. This may seem strange, but drinking is just not a natural behaviour for felines (having evolved in the desert) and by the time they recognize their thirst, they're already dehydrated.

[kiara]

A long time ago, I had a female cat that lived for 21 years. She ate the cheapest canned food we could buy. She was an indoor-outdoor cat. I have 2female cats now and their vet recommends dry food only, because it will make them drink more water, which is very important. Also a special formula just for teeth (also dry) TD. So far they are both healthy. One has perfect teeth, the other had a few extracted, so again, I think a lot depends on genes. We cannot always blame their food for the diseases they get, but maybe some foods don't agree with their metabolism??? But I definitely believe in preventive medicine. The same as for humans.

[Kinguni]

We transitioned our cats from Purina ONE to ACANA ADULT LIGHT before Christmas, Orijen just recently and now they had some Go Natural canned food with dinner tonight, and they ate the canned food before the kibble, so I don't think switching them to a quality canned diet is going to be a problem. My wife says I read and research too much, but it looks like canned food is the way to go. I think we'll try Wellness as well.

[phoozles]

It's a great idea if you can switch them right over to pure canned - some cats have problems with this, and some not at all. I was lucky - my guys aren't picky at all and love anything I give to them (although they do prefer the paté to the chunks), but others might take a little bit of coaxing - especially if they are 'addicted' to kibble.

I'm another advocate that can vouch for canned - I've seen a remarkable difference in my overweight cat - he's losing weight and running around like a kitten again. For a few cents a day more, I'm saving myself tons of money down the line by avoiding the diseases mentioned above, plus the health of my kitty!

A gradual switch is nice - it can take weeks/months or simply days - every cat is different. But I agree - if you have tried to remove the kibble and your cat will absolutely not eat without it, then a combo of the two is better than dry alone.

[heidiho]

I am gonna stick with the dry and give her some wet food(maybe just buy a chicken) and put that in her dry food in the morning and leave it at that..

[krdahmer]

I feed mostly dry too. The boys get canned once a day, Buddy eats it all, Palomine sometimes... depends on the kind, and Fagan likes the juice... the girls have turned their noses up at absolutely all the canned food out there. Even the junky ones like Friskies. I have water out all over the house, kept fresh, changed daily and often with ice in it to keep it cooler longer. I tried raw medallians and they had no interest whatsoever and may try another kind of the frozen raw diets... but for now what I am doing is working, and is in my budget.