Is it ok to feed my cat dry food only?

jujubee

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I feed her Science Diet Indoor Adult dry food. She drinks plenty of water, should i give her wet food from time to time?
 

arlyn

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There is nothing wrong with feeding dry only, though I would look into a higher quality dry.
Wet from time to time is great, it can really help keep some medical issues at bay.
I can't afford to feed 6 cats wet food daily, so they get a good quality dry and canned food twice a week.
 

ryn

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I think feeding a cat with a high quality dry food is quite alright, especially if she's drinking well.
 

sharky

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High quality dry is better than low quality... It is fine to feed dry but wet is better for there health ... I have a cat currently who wont eat alot of wet so she gets a NO chn or animal by product, no chem presvative , not artificial color or flavor food and one free of grd corn
 

goldenkitty45

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For years I fed my gang Iams dry (no canned) - only recently since getting Charlie did I start giving canned foods again.

I don't like SD, but that's your perference - IMO there are much better quality foods. I tried SD - none of the cats would eat it
 

liza24

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higher quality would be

Felidae
Nutro
Royal Cainn
Evo
Innova
Wellness
Chicken Soup for the cat lovers soul

or a raw or wet diet


Sharky can tell you off that list what is best
 

urbantigers

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I wouldn't personally feed an all dry diet. It doesn't contain enough water and many cats on a dry only diet are dehydrated. Even though cats fed on dry food drink more water than those fed wet food, most don't drink enough and have an overall water intake that is lower. This can have implications for urinary tract health, and if it ever becomes important for her to get lots of water (eg if she develops kidney failure later in life) you'll have a battle on your hands trying to get her to eat wet food. I would try to feed her some wet food if you can.

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

http://www.catinfo.org/#Cats_Need_Pl...ith_Their_Food
 

sharky

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How old is kitty??

WHy an indoor food??

Is kitty ovwt??

Where do you buy kitty food??

Pull up your bag of food read the ingrediants and Google any food you can get at a grocery store ... you likely wont see much difference ... then google any of the ones Liza put up
and compare ...

Any questions ask away
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by sharky

I have a cat currently who wont eat alot of wet so she gets a NO chn or animal by product, no chem presvative , not artificial color or flavor food and one free of grd corn
Exactly. The SD I'm familiar with has *all* of those things.
So, as much as I don't like the idea of dry food, I would feel better about it w/a higher quality food.
 

cloud_shade

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Occasional wet food might still be a good idea. Otherwise, the kitty might refuse it later on when you need or want to use wet (i.e. for hiding medicine or to treat a condition).
 

reesespbc

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We feed Reeses Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula Dry and she hasn't had any problems, except for about a month after we got her when she had a virus she was trying to shake, but that wasn't food related.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by ReesesPBC

We feed Reeses Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula Dry and she hasn't had any problems, except for about a month after we got her when she had a virus she was trying to shake, but that wasn't food related.
There is nothing wrong with the food it is more a for what the OP is paying there is far better... In your case you do know that there are artificial colors??
 
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jujubee

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She's a little over a year old.
Indoor food because she's an indoor cat.
She's not overweight, and i buy the food at Petco.
She was abandoned near my work last Oct so I've tried other food from Petco; Nutromax, Iams, i even bought the higher quality (i think) purina something or other. They manufacturers make it sound like an indoor cat needs indoor food etc. Am i a victim of advertizing?
Mind you, i only have one cat, (and 1 daughter at home): that healthier cat food is $$$$$$$.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by JuJubee

She's a little over a year old.
Indoor food because she's an indoor cat.
She's not overweight, and i buy the food at Petco.
She was abandoned near my work last Oct so I've tried other food from Petco; Nutromax, Iams, i even bought the higher quality (i think) purina something or other. They manufacturers make it sound like an indoor cat needs indoor food etc. Am i a victim of advertizing?
Mind you, i only have one cat, (and 1 daughter at home): that healthier cat food is $$$$$$$.
Did your cat eat the Nutro max??

Indoor foods have a place ... IMHO there place is for less active but not truly ovwt cats ... which many indoor only cats are ... but many dont need lower fat and the added things like L carnitine for fat metabolism

In the case of SD there INDOOR has the same % anges as there light which is a wopping 18 % fiber ( if my memory serves... that means alot is going into your potty box...On ave adult cat foods have 3-6% fiber

I would suggest Max if the budget is tight ... I ust Nutros Natural choice for ZOey .... others at petco that are good and about the same $$ .... solid gold .... natural balence
 

arlyn

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Originally Posted by JuJubee

Indoor food because she's an indoor cat.
Am i a victim of advertizing?
Don't feel bad

I had my indoor only crew on Nutro indoor, ages range from 2 yrs to 14 years, all very healthy, active cats at healthy weights.

I also thought that indoor cats = indoor foods until my kits started getting scrawny on the stuff.

We have a single income here and live check to check, and Nutro is great food when budgets are tight.
I think you might find you'll save money in the long run on cat litter as an added bonus
 

danimarie

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My grandmother's cat lived to be almost 21 years old and she never had a taste of wet food in her life.

I feed all wet now because I'm super paranoid and it's getting really costly, but I feel too guilty to switch back.

I think there are millions of kitties out there who eat only dry and are healthy.
 

laureen227

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Pixel eats dry only, because she won't eat wet. same with Java. Cable & Chip get wet once a day, & dry thruout the day for whenever. Firefox gets extra wet, 'cause she's a kitten, plus formula thruout the day.
i'd prefer if Pixel & Java would eat wet in addition to their dry, but they choose not to. Java used to - i don't know why she stopped
but i got the fountains to encourage drinking, & my 'dry only' eaters are healthy - one is slightly overweight [senior], one is slightly underweight - but that 2nd is only a temporary condition.
 

ashley45

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My vet actually told me NOT to feed wet food. He said that it can cause internal infections. (And when Moses had blood in his stool a while ago he asked if he had EVER had wet b/c he thought that was what caused it.)

He also reccommended Science Diet, but I use Royal Canin b/c when I got Moses he was just tiny and Royal Canin has 2 stages of kitten food. (1-4 mos, and 4mos-1yr).
 
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