Dry vs Wet Cat Food

[sorrelfilly721]

First let me say that the COTH search is pathetic. When I searched “dry cat food”, I got transgender children in school and other completely unrelated topics. That said:

I have two cats just over a year old, both very healthy. I feed them high quality dry food only (38% protein). They are shiny and do not seem to shed terribly much. I have been reading lately about cats getting UTI type issues and the recommendation seems to be feeding wet food only and providing a fountain type waterer (mine have that). Should I be feeding some or all wet food?

I bought a packet of Fancy Feast Broth Snacks and all they did was lick the broth out and would not even CONSIDER eating the actual meat.

[wendy]

most people recommend never feeding dry food to cats. Even poor-quality wet food is preferable to dry food.

[Simkie]

I used to feed high quality dry food to my cats and was stunned at the improvement I saw in them when I switched to wet. They are SO much healthier.

Go with wet.

[sorrelfilly721]

So what kind of wet food is good and how much do you typically feed?

[Big_Grey_hunter]

My 15lb male (he’s slender, just a big boy) gets 2 5.5oz cans a day. The eternally dieting easy keeper 17lb male and the 9lb female both get 1.5 cans a day. Ours really like the earthborn holistic wet food. It’s grain free and limited ingredient, plus even the picky female never turns her nose up!

We switch between all wet and half/half for the two cats without allergies. Canned food is much more expensive, so half of each is a little easier than going through 5 cans a day! With half dried, they get 1/2 can wet and 3 table spoons dried per day.

[saultgirl]

Within the last few months I have switched my older (12 & 10yr old) cats to wet food, and I have been very happy with the results. They just look so much “brighter” i.e. bright eyes, shiny coat, alert look. It’s like they got at least 5 years younger.

My fatty has also lost a few pounds.

Choosing food has been an experience… I bought one of everything (reading labels for grain free and fruit/vegetable free) and then kept a list of what they liked.

[DMK]

LOL this discussion has been going on for so long it has evolved waaaaay past dry vs wet, but more like molecular cell chain 456 versus amino acid 739!

Here’s a thread with a lot of suggestions/ideas, links

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?459775-Need-isuggestions-for-quot-Every-Cat-Will-Love-This-quot-Premium-Cat-Food

[BeaSting]

I feed four cats - two are my roommate’s 19 year old litter mates and the other two are my 5 year old littermates. They each get 1/2 can of cheapo pate style canned food in the evening with 1/4 cup good quality grain-free dry food in the morning when I go to work. They are all healthy and in good weight, especially the two older cats. Until last year, they had spent their entire life on Meow Mix dry food freely fed.

[Alagirl]

[QUOTE=sorrelfilly721;8074756]
First let me say that the COTH search is pathetic. When I searched “dry cat food”, I got transgender children in school and other completely unrelated topics. That said:

I have two cats just over a year old, both very healthy. I feed them high quality dry food only (38% protein). They are shiny and do not seem to shed terribly much. I have been reading lately about cats getting UTI type issues and the recommendation seems to be feeding wet food only and providing a fountain type waterer (mine have that). Should I be feeding some or all wet food?

I bought a packet of Fancy Feast Broth Snacks and all they did was lick the broth out and would not even CONSIDER eating the actual meat.[/QUOTE]

they tend to lick the gravy, but it a way t add liquid to their diets…

I have three, two I had from kittenhood, one just moved in.

From the two kittens, one never touched canned food. Ever. Not even people tuna or chicken.
For her I am buying a mid grade dry food - after I read labels of some of the more expensive brands at the pet store. And I supplement with chicken biscuits…

The others get halfa can of friskies each, AM and PM, as well as some real meat now and then. But they don’t like pate…

So your cats might simply not want wet cat food!

[Hermein]

I feed inside and barn cats both types. Barnies get dry for breakfast and wet for dinner. (I have a bigger crowd at dinner.) The elderly inside kitties get both, too.

Insiders hate and despise the grain free kibbles–will only eat Meow Mix/Kit & Kaboodle, that stuff. They especially like very expensive wet food. Our teenage cats do eat the broth first, but clean up everything. I think the junk food-dry food causes them urinary excesses.

[Jhein12]

If you can, feed all wet food. I’ve heard that even the crappier wet foods like Friskie is better than any dry food. Cats need the extra moisture, and the wet foods tend to have more meat and less fillers. Cats being obligate carnivores, they need their meat! I suggest putting some of the kibble they like in a baggie and crushing it up fine with a hammer. Sprinkle that heavily on top of the wet food of your choosing (I fed Nature’s Variety Instinct and Wellness CORE when I had kitties). Cats imprint on their food, so new foods might not register as food to them. They might think it’s poison. You need to make it smell like the old stuff at first, or like a treat they love, and get them to taste it. After they taste it a couple times it gets easier, and you can slowly wean them off the dry food.

[HenryisBlaisin]

Having had a cat with diabetes (which is expensive and time-consuming to treat correctly with daily monitoring) and one with a urinary blockage that required surgery, both of which would likely have been prevented by feeding an all-wet diet, I will NEVER feed dry again.

The pate-style wet food is better than the ones with gravy because the gravy is high in carbs. Cats should eat a very low-carb diet-as in less than 10% of calories should come from carbs, and gravy or sauce style canned doesn’t come in under that. Dry isn’t even close.

[regalace]

We feed the Petsmart brand pate-style food, and supplement with Nature’s Variety Instinct (45% protein, grain-free). They LOVE their dry “cat crack” but they eat the wet food as well. We feed 3 of the 5.5 oz. cans among our 7 cats twice a day, so each gets a little less than a can per day per cat, plus the dry stuff as a snack. They’re all fat, silky, and healthy! I toss some raw chicken or other meat scraps in there occasionally for variety. My last cat ate almost exclusively raw chicken meat/bones/organs, but that’s super messy for multiple cats and they weren’t crazy about it.

[dani0303]

I have an almost 3yo bengal mix who is very naturally lean/lanky and has a bit of a hard time keeping weight on because he’s so active. He’s been on free choice Earthborne Holistic kibble but I recently added a can of wet food a day. He’s gained a little weight and looks wonderfully healthy now! I think I might’ve found the perfect balance.

[Justa_Bob]

We lost our kitty and our dog over the last few years. Then last year we got a puppy and a kitty. It was only then that I really started to think about the food Americans feed pets. Completely dry, processed food? Wet canned food? Isn’t that crazy? Would we feed any human a processed diet and not think about it?

Its also not the food domesticated animals were raised on for the past CENTURIES. We all evolved together and it was not on dry kibble for anyone. And this isn’t the 1970s with space food sticks either.

The kitty’s first vet visit cleared up the why of wet over dry. And I do feed wet canned… Of course new cat only likes the cheaper wet foods and turns her nose up at the better premium foods. It still makes me crazy that I feed her out of a can. And I cannot feed raw. Its just not in the cards for our household.

She has lovely coat.

PS My last cat past at 18 years and spent her whole life on Science Diet Id because of allergies. She looked great. But the dry food did create problems in her later life that I will now avoid with any other cat.

[Ridinwyoming]

I recently asked my vet about the wet vs. dry and UTI problems. He said to just add water to the dry to make it moist, no need to feed canned.