Wet or Dry

Just wanted to see what your answers would be: Which is more for gaining weight the wet canned food or dry in bag?

DRY... per cup ave about 400 cal on ave 3-4 oz

wet for 5.5 oz 200 -250 cal

Dopey new user,

I thought the poll was about what I fed. Dry definately puts more weight on them.

It would depend on if you free feed the dry or not. If not, then both are about equal.

For a long time I only fed dry and it was a set amount - not free feeding and the cats maintained their weight.

Now we feed wet and dry - measured amount of dry in morning; canned at nite. Its easier to feed a certain portion to maintain any cat's weight. With free feeding you have no real control.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

It would depend on if you free feed the dry or not. If not, then both are about equal.

For a long time I only fed dry and it was a set amount - not free feeding and the cats maintained their weight.

Now we feed wet and dry - measured amount of dry in morning; canned at nite. Its easier to feed a certain portion to maintain any cat's weight. With free feeding you have no real control.

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I'm not sure I can agree with this. I free-feed a measured amount each day with wet feedings in morning and evening. Since I changed to grain-free dry food, Bijou has trimmed down beautifully. He was at 18.5 lbs when he went for his yearly visit in August and although I haven't weighed him since then, it's easy to see that he has slimmed down considerably and looks better.

Thank you for that answer, Yosemite.

It seems to me that dry only facilitates UNDESIRED weight gain.

In a cat you trying to get weight onto, GRAIN FREE WET is the ticket. It is working very nicely with my big, healthy boy ... who had access to unlimited DRY before I switched him. Not only that, his coat is whole different ballgame now!

If you are measuring the dry food its not "free fed" Free feeding IMO means you are filling the bowl up as they eat - could be once a day, could be 2-3 times.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

If you are measuring the dry food its not "free fed"

Free feeding IMO means you are filling the bowl up as they eat - could be once a day, could be 2-3 times.

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Technically you are right of course. I'm one of those that consider putting down food for noshing on during the day to be free-feeding. Measuring the amount of dry food is naturally better. Some folks put down food for 1/2 hour then take it up again and that to my way of thinking is not free-feeding as opposed to folks like me that put the food down and leave it down until they deign to eat it.

I have a bowl of grain-free dry out all the time, and feed canned at least once a day (more now that we have a starving kitten.)

If they need to gain weight, go for a food with a lot of protein and fat, like a good canned food. It's easier for them to digest, in my experience.

Ask the vet ... often a premium kitten is recommended to gain wt ...

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm not sure I can agree with this. I free-feed a measured amount each day with wet feedings in morning and evening. Since I changed to grain-free dry food, Bijou has trimmed down beautifully. He was at 18.5 lbs when he went for his yearly visit in August and although I haven't weighed him since then, it's easy to see that he has slimmed down considerably and looks better.

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You just gave me some encouragement. I can definitely agree that the carbohydrates in dry food cause unnecessary weight gain. I have 2 indoor cats and they're both overweight in spite of feeding significantly less food than reccommended by the manufacturer or even the standard rule of 25 to 30 calories per pound of body weight. Spotty weighs 17.5 pounds and Rosie is 12.5 pounds. This is a lot more than what they weighed when I picked them up at the shelter back in 2003, Spotty was only about 10 pounds, Rosie about 8. I could tell any vet, no, I don't free feed my cats, I measure their food so why are they getting fat? Carbohydrates. Their bodies don't handle them too well, I've read that cats saliva is deficient in amalyse which helps to break carbs down. It's hard to get a cat that likes dry food to eat canned exclusively.

So I'm going to switch my cats to a diet of basically canned food with grain free dry food to supplement the amount of wet my cats don't eat and see if that will make them lose weight.

Still consider dry food has more calories per ounce than canned because canned is 78% water (but has more protein than dry on a dry matter basis). So even the grain free dry food if fed in excess will lead to weight gain.

So to the poster if you have a skinny cat that needs to put on some weight, a protein rich dry kitten food or all life stages dry food like Natural Balance or Felidae should do the trick. But I would still balance it with some wet food too. In the future you may need the right food to help your cat lose weight and that's the wet stuff.

P.S. I also highly reccommend having your own professional veterinary scale for weighing cats so you can see if they're gaining or losing weight. Weigh them at least every 4 weeks. I ordered one from Foster and Smith and I'm going to use this for my cats. I think it's easier to weigh your cat at home than bring them to the vet just to have them weighed.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm not sure I can agree with this. I free-feed a measured amount each day with wet feedings in morning and evening. Since I changed to grain-free dry food, Bijou has trimmed down beautifully. He was at 18.5 lbs when he went for his yearly visit in August and although I haven't weighed him since then, it's easy to see that he has slimmed down considerably and looks better.

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This has been my experience as well.