What Is Better Dry Or Wet

[Roxane0470]

What do you all feed your fur babies? I feed mine Friskies dry and wet food only because I can't get my cats to eat blue or other grain free foods. Even tried Rachael Ray etc. Also could use advice on getting them to eat more dry food.

 

[molly92]

Dr. Pierson on catinfo.org convinced me--wet is the way to go! I only feed wet or raw and I've never looked back.

I worked in a pet store and all the time, customers or other employees would start to have problems with their cat getting urinary tract infections. Then they would start doing some research, and after getting over the price difference of wet food, accepting that they had to give up the convenience of dry, and going through the search to find which wet foods their cat would actually eat, they made the transition. I heard over and over that they wished they'd been feeding wet all along!

 

[Roxane0470]

Dr. Pierson on catinfo.org convinced me--wet is the way to go! I only feed wet or raw and I've never looked back.

I worked in a pet store and all the time, customers or other employees would start to have problems with their cat getting urinary tract infections. Then they would start doing some research, and after getting over the price difference of wet food, accepting that they had to give up the convenience of dry, and going through the search to find which wet foods their cat would actually eat, they made the transition. I heard over and over that they wished they'd been feeding wet all along!

How often do you recommend feeding them wet or raw?

 

[molly92]

How often do you recommend feeding them wet or raw?

My kitties get fed twice a day (one gets raw, the other gets wet because that's what they like) and they usually take the whole day/night to finish off their bowls. Dry food I only use sparingly as a treat.

But I always told people, the more wet you can feed (within your schedule and budget), the better!

 

[KarenKat]

I free feed two of our cats dry food and I’m working in wet food to try and get them to transition.

Our third cat Olive is fed three times a day, wet food only. I think she would love a raw diet (she’s eaten the Nature’s Variety raw dehydrated rabbit before, and raw chicken breast as a treat) so that is in our future probably. The transition to wet was mostly how intense she is about food. She over eats if free fed, the dry looked so unsatsifying and I read about how mich healthier the moisture in wet food was. Now if our other two can come on board ...

 

[duckpond]

I feed both wet and dry. I think both have strong and weak points. My vet and i agree that a cat should get most of their calories from wet food, because of the moisture. Dry is a good back up to complete what they dont get from wet, and for those times that its difficult to feed enough wet. Plus many cats do like to crunch some kibble. Food should be for health, but also some enjoyment too

I feed a wet meal in the am and again in the pm. I give each cat a 3 oz can at both meals. My guys get a lot of low calorie wet, such as Tiki and Almo nature, they need the dry as a supplement to the wet. I leave Dry out at all times. So far this routine is working well for my guys.

If they are happy with the Friskies wet, i would go with that. feed them as much of the wet as they want, and supplement a bit with the dry. Friskies and fancy feast, purina makes quite a few wet food that are easy to find, and most cats like. My guys never would eat the blue food, or rachael ray either.

 

[Daisy6]

Without even reading anything about wet and dry foodc on Dr. Lisa Pierson's site, I can guarantee wet food is better for your cat. Felis catus originated in the desert from African wildcats, which evolved due to their environment to have a low thirst drive and get most water from prey animals. Domestication did not change this at all, so cats who only eat dry food are chronically dehydrated. It is more important for tomcats, but queens are also at high risk of getting urinary crystals with a dry food. In addition to all kinds of urinary problems, dry food increases a cat's risk of diabetes, kidney failure, and digestive system disorders. Lack of water plays a big role in this, but so does the ingredients that make kibbles what they are.

 

[Kat0121]

Mine were on dry when they came from the shelter. I agree with molly92 that wet is way better. I started them on wet food right after they came to live with me and their diet has been 99% wet ever since. They are VERY fussy eaters and we keep a variety of wet foods in the house. They still like their dry though so we (OK- let's be honest - I) compromise. They get some dry food as an occasional snack/topper to wet foods. Since it's not a main part of their diet, I buy what is in my opinion, the best dry food out there. Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein chicken. They like it very much. This choice was made after research and trying other high/higher quality foods including Orijen, Petcurean GO! Fit & Free and Nature's Variety LID turkey. Dr. Elsey's is definitely the girls' favorite. They get wet food twice a day. Other toppers include small pieces of plain cooked chicken or turkey or crushed Pure Bites chicken breast treats.

Another plus of getting them off the all dry diet is the smell from the litter box. When they were on all/mostly dry, the smell could have knocked a buzzard out of the sky. Now? Nothing. The wet food has more digestible content than dry food so the more their bodies utilize what they eat, the less there is in the box and the less smell there is.

 

[kalebkat]

Without even reading anything about wet and dry foodc on Dr. Lisa Pierson's site, I can guarantee wet food is better for your cat. Felis catus originated in the desert from African wildcats, which evolved due to their environment to have a low thirst drive and get most water from prey animals. Domestication did not change this at all, so cats who only eat dry food are chronically dehydrated. It is more important for tomcats, but queens are also at high risk of getting urinary crystals with a dry food. In addition to all kinds of urinary problems, dry food increases a cat's risk of diabetes, kidney failure, and digestive system disorders. Lack of water plays a big role in this, but so does the ingredients that make kibbles what they are.

If I could just feed Kaleb wet food only, I would. But my vet said that in order to keep his teeth healthy he would have to eat dry food. It is a high quality and grain free food with less by products. I brush his teeth but not often enough and they never seems to get very clean. He also gets enzymatic cleaner.

 

[Kat0121]

Mine wouldn't touch ANYTHING from Blue Buffalo, Royal Canin or Halo. Roxane0470 if they like Friskies wet, keep at it. Their poultry pates are ones I always keep in our rotation because they are one of the few foods that they girls have never turned their noses up at and they have rejected more foods than I care to think about. The pates are IMO the healthiest options that Friskies offers. That can be said for any of the non premium brands though as they are not laden with gravies and such which contain a lot of carbs that cats don't need. Friskies turkey & giblets pate is probably in the girls' top 3 favorite wet foods.

 

[Daisy6]

If I could just feed Kaleb wet food only, I would. But my vet said that in order to keep his teeth healthy he would have to eat dry food. It is a high quality and grain free food with less by products. I brush his teeth but not often enough and they never seems to get very clean. He also gets enzymatic cleaner.

The vet was wrong. If kibbles helped clean teeth, why do so many cats with a dry diet need dental appointments? Cats do not chew as much as we think. Kibbles do not have any effect on plaque and tarter.

 

[Kat0121]

If I could just feed Kaleb wet food only, I would. But my vet said that in order to keep his teeth healthy he would have to eat dry food. It is a high quality and grain free food with less by products. I brush his teeth but not often enough and they never seems to get very clean. He also gets enzymatic cleaner.

Dry food does absolutely nothing to clean a cat's teeth. A cat's teeth are designed for tearing, not chewing. It is amazing that vets still perpetuate this myth

Does Dry Food Clean the Teeth? | Little Big Cat

 

[Daisy6]

I assume pet food manufracturers made up the myth to sell their crap.

 

[kalebkat]

Dry food does absolutely nothing to clean a cat's teeth. A cat's teeth are designed for tearing, not chewing. It is amazing that vets still perpetuate this myth

Does Dry Food Clean the Teeth? | Little Big Cat

Interesting to know because his strike on his wet food has been going on for three weeks and he's only getting more stubborn, even though I changed his schedule back o what it was. Thank you for the article.

 

[kalebkat]

I assume pet food manufracturers made up the myth to sell their crap.

Just for saying it people will down the health facts people have always known about their pets. A lot of good information got lost over time because of it.

 

[Azazel]

Mine get all wet food in the form of raw or canned. Cats need moisture in their food.

 

[lalagimp]

It's complicated in my home. I have 4 cats. The boys eat raw food, and freeze dried raw snacks. The girls eat wet and dry, with one girl always preferring wet first, and their kibble is Dr Elsey's. Their crunchy snacks are Party Mix. Everyone was strictly dry until December 2016, and the boys moved to canned and then raw, after my oldest male had his first blockage. The girls started getting combination in July 2017 after my younger female had her dental cleaning.

 

[Gauntylgrym]

Our two shih tzus were on dry kibble their entire lives. One just passed a few months back and he had only a few teeth left. The remaining pup only has a few of her teeth left...all because we'd always been told that kibble keeps their teeth clean so no worries! Such a lie, and the fact that vets still perpetuate this lie baffles me to no end.

The worst wet is better than the best dry, no matter what a vet tries to sell you on. Special diets, special this, special that...well hydrated cats will have significantly fewer problems throughout their lives.

 

[kalebkat]

What do you all feed your fur babies? I feed mine Friskies dry and wet food only because I can't get my cats to eat blue or other grain free foods. Even tried Rachael Ray etc. Also could use advice on getting them to eat more dry food.

Kaleb eats weruva funk in the trunk wet food (sparingly at this point but Im trying to work with him) and annamaet dry food.

 

[Roxane0470]

I just added 2 more cats to my family this spring, and one in particular Tammy 1and a half is picky, her wet food has to be gravy, when I brought her home from the shelter they sent her home with science diet but she didn't like it and instead decided she liked the Friskies I was feeding my other 4 at the time, and was 4.8 lbs, when I took her to the vet she said that dry food was better for her teeth, but she wanted her to gain 2 pounds, so I added some Friskies canned and dry and now she is 7lbs, then Oreo who I added to play with Tammy since my older cats aren't as active and she will eat almost anything accept her kitten food.