Swallowing Food?

I tell ya, this forum is the best when it comes to getting answers fast! Thanks so much for your quick responses and allowing me to be part of the site.

Anyway, my question comes in regards to my two kittens and their eating habits. They are brothers (8.5 months old) and one of them chews up the dry food, while it appears the other just swallows it whole. When Santo eats you never hear him crunching like when Ernie eats. Santo is definitely filling out so he's obviously getting the nutrition he needs, but do any of your cats do this? Obviously I can't force Santo to chew his food and putting him on a wet diet is not an option because I have to go out of town for work at different intervals, sometimes three or four days at a time (yes I do have someone come and check on them

MOST cats dont chew their mouths are actually designed to tear or rip and swallow chunks...

If the kitties start throwing up then you may want to elevate the dish and / or give them a flat dish

Originally Posted by sharky

MOST cats dont chew their mouths are actually designed to tear or rip and swallow chunks...

If the kitties start throwing up then you may want to elevate the dish and / or give them a flat dish

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Thanks for the quick reply! (knocking on wood) My boys have only thrown up two times since I got them in May so that doesn't ever seem to be a problem. I feel really lucky because I hear of many cat owners who get kittens that throw up a lot. My question was more out of curiosity, but it appears that I don't really have much to worry about.

Since the pieces are normally rather small, swallowing most or all of the dry food kibble is definitely OK. Many cats tend to do this without incident, so there's nothing to worry about. That's why most dry food does not provide the type of dental benefit that the manufacturers claim it does --- the teeth seldom even get involved.

Originally Posted by RobertM

Since the pieces are normally rather small, swallowing most or all of the dry food kibble is definitely OK. Many cats tend to do this without incident, so there's nothing to worry about. That's why most dry food does not provide the type of dental benefit that the manufacturers claim it does --- the teeth seldom even get involved.

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How right you are Robert. Cats cannot move their jaws side-to-side as we humans do in order to chew. Mostly they'll swallow whole or break the dry food with the tip of the tooth, i.e., not really "chewing".

If you can feed some wet food it is more beneficial to them than dry. If you have someone come in to check on them daily while you are away, you could still feed one wet meal a day. I'm currently cat-sitting for my neighbour and I give them a wet meal every evening with dry food for free-feeding (neither cat has any weight issues).

Yosemite is absolutely correct. Assuming that they enjoy it and can keep it down, the more canned food you are able to feed them, the better. Even if it's only one meal a day, it's still better than not at all.

Don't get me wrong --- it's not that dry food is bad. Not at all. But canned food is just better. It at least somewhat resembles their "natural" diet. The protein levels are typically a little higher and the carbs are much lower --- both very important factors in maintaining a healthy cat, since protein is the most important ingredient and since cats don't need nearly as many carbs as dry food contains. And since canned food is almost 80% moisture, cats --- who typically have low thirst drives --- can more easily obtain a good amount of their liquid requirements without having to go to the water bowl. The water intake helps to flush toxins out of their systems, which decreases the likelihood of a UTI. Since males tend to get blocked more easily than females, due to the more narrow urethra, and you have two boys, this is something to keep in mind.