Why Is It?

I've brought up my switching my cats to an all wet diet someday to a few friends lately, and every time they tell me my cats teeth will rot out of their mouths. Why does everyone believe this? One friend (who works in a vet's office) told me I'd end up spending a fortune on dental care for my kitties Anyone care to shed some light on the subject? I tried googling, can't seem to find anything informative

It depends on heredity .... QUALITY of wet given ... AGE ...alot of facors go into weather a cat has bad teeth.... I personally think evan the low end wet is why Kandie didnt get CRF younger ....

Sharky makes good points. I would just say read up on it, and form your own conclusion...taking your own vet's advice into account too of course.

I personally think the "dry food=clean teeth" theory is getting less popular. Teeth are very important, but there's just a lot more to dental health than the food, and there are a lot of other health benefits for canned food.

They believe it because they've been told it and have probably never researched it themselves. Show them these articles (if you scroll down a bit in the 2nd one it has a bit about how dry food could actually be worse for the teeth than wet).

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...dcleantheteeth

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Or even better, ask them to show you the evidence that wet food rots the teeth!

My old vet actually told me wet is bad and dry is good for teeth-he was an older man anyway and towards end really out there on thinking of cats... I wanted to add to this tho-ever hear...dry food is just as good for cleaning cats teeth as potato chips are for cleaning human teeth...its a good one liner that really does make you think.
On an off note is it only pop top lids they linked to increase in hyperthyroid? years ago i only bought pop tops now due to the number i am feeding i buy the 15 oz cans

wow I just found a ton of news articles on bisphenol-A that you're talking about. scary

just because people in general have believed that for a very long time now. we know better these days but its going to take a while for that theory to die out.

a better grade dry food is a good investment, in any case; I buy Life's Abundance and/or Flint River Ranch---human grade ingredients---no feet, feathers, or other "garbage" that I wouldn't eat myself, nevermind feed my 6 babies---

Originally Posted by pvida

a better grade dry food is a good investment, in any case; I buy Life's Abundance and/or Flint River Ranch---human grade ingredients---no feet, feathers, or other "garbage" that I wouldn't eat myself, nevermind feed my 6 babies---

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According to AFFCO there is no such thing as human grade.... It is all marketing ... I like life s abundance it is not a fav but it is good ... The more I learn the more I think...

Decent wet is = to the Best dry

re: life's abundance---haven't actually eaten any myself---just know that cat puke is a non-issue now---prior to food change, was quite frequent.........

So the consensus on here is that wet food will not rot teeth out? I'd already read one or 2 articles about dry food not being as beneficial as most are led to believe, but my friends all talked about it with such conviction, even when they have no proof to back it up. Just out of curiosity, one of the articles posted above mentioned brushing your cats teeth daily. How many people actually do that? lol

Originally Posted by Shiraz

So the consensus on here is that wet food will not rot teeth out? I'd already read one or 2 articles about dry food not being as beneficial as most are led to believe, but my friends all talked about it with such conviction, even when they have no proof to back it up. Just out of curiosity, one of the articles posted above mentioned brushing your cats teeth daily. How many people actually do that? lol

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not me lol. and no, wet food will absolutely not rot your cats eat out. in my opinion, both dry food and wet food are healthy.

Just as an FYI there is a difference, according to the FDA, on meat used for humans and that used for animals. I haven't yet found the particular spot that compares them, but there is very clearly a standard on the FDA website about meat used for feeding raw diets to companion animals, which MUST be human grade, or as they put it "Manufacturers who produce raw meat diets should use USDA/Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)-inspected meat that has been passed for human consumption. " and The measures manufacturers can use i nc lude irradiation, participation in USDA's voluntary inspection program, and use of good manufacturing practices such as those used for human foods.
I'm still looking for something official about pet grade ingredients, since all I have is from an unofficial site.

In any case, it does not mean that they didn't just simply use the words "human grade ingredients" without actually using human grade ingredients. It seems the regulations are much more lax for pet food than for human food.

Sharky.. do you happen to know where there's some sort of comparison or something? I've actually been wondering this myself since what I read on the unofficial site gives me reason to worry about what they're using in wet foods.. (I'm a bit paranoid though, hehe).

Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

Just as an FYI there is a difference, according to the FDA, on meat used for humans and that used for animals. I haven't yet found the particular spot that compares them, but there is very clearly a standard on the FDA website about meat used for feeding raw diets to companion animals, which MUST be human grade, or as they put it "Manufacturers who produce raw meat diets should use USDA/Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)-inspected meat that has been passed for human consumption. " and The measures manufacturers can use i nc lude irradiation, participation in USDA's voluntary inspection program, and use of good manufacturing practices such as those used for human foods.
I'm still looking for something official about pet grade ingredients, since all I have is from an unofficial site.

In any case, it does not mean that they didn't just simply use the words "human grade ingredients" without actually using human grade ingredients. It seems the regulations are much more lax for pet food than for human food.

Sharky.. do you happen to know where there's some sort of comparison or something? I've actually been wondering this myself since what I read on the unofficial site gives me reason to worry about what they're using in wet foods.. (I'm a bit paranoid though, hehe).

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I got it from the AFFCO book ... there website used to be user friendly but is no more ... Yes HUMAN reg s are watched ... pet is USDA and AFFCO ... the FDA is only involeved when claims like UTI health are involved

Originally Posted by Shiraz

Just out of curiosity, one of the articles posted above mentioned brushing your cats teeth daily. How many people actually do that? lol

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Well I don't do it everyday but I do brush their teeth (about 3 times a week). I use logic gel which they lick out of the tube but I try to brush with it some of the time. I also use plaque off which I sprinkle on their food.

Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

Just as an FYI there is a difference, according to the FDA, on meat used for humans and that used for animals. I haven't yet found the particular spot that compares them, but there is very clearly a standard on the FDA website about meat used for feeding raw diets to companion animals, which MUST be human grade, or as they put it "Manufacturers who produce raw meat diets should use USDA/Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)-inspected meat that has been passed for human consumption. " and The measures manufacturers can use i nc lude irradiation, participation in USDA's voluntary inspection program, and use of good manufacturing practices such as those used for human foods.
I'm still looking for something official about pet grade ingredients, since all I have is from an unofficial site.

In any case, it does not mean that they didn't just simply use the words "human grade ingredients" without actually using human grade ingredients. It seems the regulations are much more lax for pet food than for human food.

Sharky.. do you happen to know where there's some sort of comparison or something? I've actually been wondering this myself since what I read on the unofficial site gives me reason to worry about what they're using in wet foods.. (I'm a bit paranoid though, hehe).

Click to expand...

I've been googling like mad this morning trying to find out why cats can't digest pork and I did manage to see a page on human grade stuff regarding pet food in the US. It just means it doesn't have stuff like animal tumors or sawdust in it *vomit*

Over here in the UK all pet food is made with human grade meat. Some just have a lot less meat in it than others which is ridiculous. Most of the crap that you get in the supermarket is minimum 4% meat, and then you can go into a place like Aldi and their premium cat food has a minimum of 27%.

Yeah, one of the articles I saw said that basically.. labeling is subject to what the manufacturor's want to put on it, except when promoting something like "weight management" or "for UTI's" or .. something with some sort of health claim, and then they have to meet a certain standard to make that claim, but it's still, from what I saw, not stringent in the requirements.

It's so hard to tell, but the more and more I read.. the more I want mine all on a raw diet, and straight from the bone with organs and such added in.

I'd like to find an official site that tells you *precisely* what the guidelines are on pet dry and wet food. All I can find is on raw diets made for companion animals (which I don't feed them anyway.. since I make my own.. well, that and they stick their little noses up in the air at it).

A lot of people are going to tell you that dry food is better for the teeth even though there is no truth to it and they are not informed of the health benefits of a high moisture, high protein, low carb diet for carnivores. Take it with a grain of salt and if you want to feed something good for your cat's teeth try chunks of raw meat if they'll eat it. I'm sure dental cleanings would be extremely expensive on a zoo tiger or caracal or lynx's teeth so they need to feed an appropriate diet, raw meat. I've never seen a bowl of kibble in a zoo enclosure and they have cats that are related to our house cats. Kibble would actually give them the worse dental problems ever. It's no better than wet.

Plus I reccommend only discussing your cats diet on cat forums and with people who actually care to learn about carnivore nutrition. This is a passion restricted to a selective group of people. Most people do not care to join cat forums nor do they have any interest in the science of feline nutrition. The details of this simply do not interest them and they will not question age old advice no matter how inaccurate. I would be asking for trouble if I brought this subject up among most people who just do not understand or love cats as much as we do. I can imagine what would happen if I brought this subject up out of the blue at work, they'd give me a funny look, ignore me and talk about something else. Do what you know is right, say nothing to your friends about it, and you won't get this undeserved criticism. If they really wanted to know the truth about the best way to feed cats they'd do their own research.