The Cat Bible's take on Dry Food

I just finished reading the book and also visited their website. The author's strong stance against dry food got me thinking hard about feeding dry to my kitten. What do you think? Are we really killing our furbabies unknowingly? I really would like to hear what everyone here has to say.

Here are some very interesting read from their Q&A:-

http://www.traciehotchner.com/cb/QA/qa_wetdry.htm

http://www.traciehotchner.com/cb/QA/qa_drydental.htm

And the link from an interview with the author:-

http://www.time.com/time/arts/articl...677802,00.html

Killing NO ... see dry food has been readily used for 50-90 yrs depending on your location... If it truely was killing , Would we have a overpopulation problem?? ... Can an all dry diet cause some of the more common senior issues??? IMHO YES but see the other things I wrote... She is stateing the BASIC eun of the mill knowledge MOST who have looked into dry know /... Most do nothing for dental health , ie most cats swallow dry whole

Is it a cat natural diet NO ... ever seen a kibble tree on a show about wild cats???...
I have always feed a mix of wet and dry , both dogs and cats EXCEEDED ave lifespans for breed and type

Is canned a better choice?? YES IMHO .... Is homemade or raw better yet in some case s YES



I will note the author first book was about childbirth ... plus two more??

Excellent post Sharky Dry food does not kill our animals. If dry food killed our animals then why do ferals/strays thrive when fed dry? Why do cats live much longer now when most are fed dry food?

Can dry food help contribute to health problems yes! But so can any diet. Not all cats do well on the same diet as every other cat. Vet check ups are an important part of your cats health as well as diet. IF a diet is not working for your cat, you and your vet can decide on a new diet. And most times there are other dry foods that can help correct a health problem. That is why we have prescription dry diets(there are also wet).

I also do believe wet diets are probably better but I have not seen or heard about cats living longer on wet food then cats on dry food. As for raw there are some cats that can not eat raw. I have a cat who is immune compromised and has gotten bacterial infection from raw. Most cats do just fine on an all dry diet.

I agree with what sharky and kitytize said and just wanted to chime in.

I read the links that Tutti Bella provided. I’ve never heard of this woman --- I don’t have Sirius radio and I haven’t read her book --- but it’s obvious that she’s very passionate about the well-being of cats. And that’s a good thing.

Having said that, she tends to make such over the top statements that can’t possibly be correct, that in my mind she really loses a lot of credibility and tends to sound more fanatical than anything else. And I for one tend to tune fanatics out, no matter what the topic is, even though inevitably there is a little bit of truth and good advice mixed in.

To wit:

“Dry food is kitty crack. It's addictive, and incredibly harmful to your cat.” And “dry food will eventually kill cats.” Come on. It’s one thing for members of this site to semi-jokingly refer to Fancy Feast as “kitty crack”. It’s quite another for someone who writes books and has a radio show to say it about all dry food. And describing all dry food as “incredibly harmful” is so excessive…Does she mean that people who care enough to feed top of the line dry food like Orijen and Wellness and California Natural are doing incredibly harmful things to their cat? Wow. What about the vast majority of cat owners who feed the cheapest garbage imaginable? Should they get the Michael Vick treatment?

On balance, is the average canned food better nutritionally than the average dry? Absolutely. But even the average dry isn’t “harmful” or “killing” your cat.

“When you start to feed cats wet food, their personalities will change, anywhere from 10% to 100%, toward affectionate and relaxed.” This very general statement cannot possibly be proven, and besides, 10% to 100% is about as large of a range as numerically possible. It’s so wide that it’s virtually meaningless. I mean, there’s a huge difference between 10% and 100%, wouldn’t you say?

“The average lifespan of an indoor cat is 21 years.” Impossible. Most indoor-only cats simply do not even reach 20 years of age --- I guess it must be all that dry food that their evil uncaring owners fed them all those years --- so how can the average lifespan be 21 years?

Bottom line --- I’d take a lot of what she says with a grain of salt, particularly when it comes to her take on food. Dr. Lisa Pierson is just as much of an anti-dry food advocate as Tracie Hotchner, but at her website she presents her arguments and approaches in a much more rational fashion, IMO.

Sorry to bump this thread up but I think RobertM's reply is very interesting. I have since stopped feeding dry, not because of the book but because of my kitty's tendency towards FLUTD.

I feed my cats a 90 percent Raw diet and a 10 percent wet food diet. For crunch I give then grain free treats or dental chews. They get raw chicken necks which 'brush' their teeth.
BUT the best vet in the city has helped me follow this path. She does have stories of cats' who have experienced vastly improved health once they make the switch. once they are on a wet diet and even better on a raw. My vet is a cat lover and has cats herself so I trust her.
I strongly believe in it.
My cats' fur is like touching silk. It is soft, their poo rarely smells, they poo less and pee often because of the moisture which means they are never dehydrated. Their breath hardly stinks. The only time it does is when they eat some tuna. They are relaxed if they aren't being agitated by an outside force. My cats prefer raw and there is never a drop left in their bowls.
Pretty soon my kittens will be on raw too.

However, some cats are really healthy and can tolerate kibble with wet fine but if my cat had kidney issues, urinary issues, diabetes or allergies I would think it could help. My vet thinks so.
Cats are carnivores. Like sharky said you don't see a kibble tree anywhere nor have you ever heard a farmer complaining about all the feral cats eating their corn and wheat.
But I feed my strays get a mixture of dry and wet. I know they are catching other meat sources out there so I feel okay with giving them dry. I give them a good quality dry and feel ok about it.

our cat growing up named pumkin was on a all dry diet and he lived till 20

Let's just say my two oldest rexes (18 yrs old and 15 1/2 years old) were fed Iams dry their entire lives. They died of old age - not cause they were fed dry.

Now that I only have 2 cats (soon to be 3), they are fed a mixture of canned and dry, which I agree is a good choice. Dry is for convienence on the owner's part. When we go away for the weekend, its easier to just fill the bowl with dry and not worry about running out of food. When we get home, the cats are fed the canned.

I would say that dry food will not kill a cat quickly. But if it contributes to health problems for the cat later in life then that is slowly killing the cat or increasing the risk of a health problem that will eventually kill the cat later in life. Compare that to cigarrettes or an unhealthy diet for people. Of course some cats systems are more tolerant than others just like with people. I have a copy of that book. I like it because it has excellent information and advice.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Now that I only have 2 cats (soon to be 3), they are fed a mixture of canned and dry, which I agree is a good choice. Dry is for convienence on the owner's part. When we go away for the weekend, its easier to just fill the bowl with dry and not worry about running out of food. When we get home, the cats are fed the canned.

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My thoughts exactly...I don't think feeding dry is going to kill your cat, but I do think a wet diet or a wet/dry mix is more natural and appropriate for our little hunters If I have to leave them alone for a period of time, I like being able to leave out a bowl of dry, but I try to make sure they eat primarily wet.

I don't believe that dry food does anything for a cat's teeth and I think it is not good in the long run to feed it exclusively. Even a very good dry food fed exclusively is hard on the kidneys IMHO.

There are two primary reasons why we know cats are living longer: more cats are indoor cats, cats are receiving much better health care. Type of food doesn't have that much to do with it, although there's enough evidence wet is better, the emphasis on wet hasn't been around long enough to generate any statistics on lifespan.

Originally Posted by coaster

There are two primary reasons why we know cats are living longer: more cats are indoor cats, cats are receiving much better health care. Type of food doesn't have that much to do with it, although there's enough evidence wet is better, the emphasis on wet hasn't been around long enough to generate any statistics on lifespan.

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Cat food has been getting better and better and I do think it plays a role in them living longer. People are getting hip to ingredients and nutrition.