OK. I scoured threads here and gave up. What's the consensus....

[fazmaster]

....on dry versus wet cat food ? Since we have our cat, we have been giving him dry food. Since we didn't know better at the time, we gave hime grocery store bought dry food. We stopped after the veterenarian told us how bad it was. We are giving him Royal Canin now and he seems to like it a lot.

I read on another website that cats should not be given dry food exclusively. Is this true ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers,

 

[jack31]

Cats are desert animals, they don't have the instinct to drink water, they get their water from what they eat. Dry food contains like 10% water which just isn't enough for them. Wet food provides the water they need and in general is often healthier--less carbohydrates than dry food.

Leslie

 

[missmyra]

Fazmaster,
please see this web page:
http://www.catinfo.org/
it has really helped me a lot!

--MissMyra

 

[fazmaster]

Originally Posted by MissMyra

Fazmaster,
please see this web page:
http://www.catinfo.org/
it has really helped me a lot!

--MissMyra

Great information there !!

Cheers,

Federico

 

[sharky]

the Traditional vet community is finally recommending some wet food ... right now the recommendation is at least 5.5 oz per week for a ave 8-12 lb house cat

 

[artgecko]

I feed about 1/2 dry and half wet (basically about 3oz wet a day and about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of dry).

I figure, the more water in the diet the better, as long as their nutritional needs are being met.

I don't think you could do any harm by adding in some wet food, the hard part is trying to figure out what kind your cat will eat.

You might want to avoid any with fish (esp. if you have a male cat) as eating a lot of fish can contribute to UTIs.

Art

 

[persi & alley]

Originally Posted by fazmaster

I read on another website that cats should not be given dry food exclusively. Is this true ?

I only know what works for my cats. All they get is dry food. Nothing else. Neither has had a sick day in two years nor had a furball. I leave food out 24/7. Neither has gained any weight which I closely monitor. But what works for me may not work for you since every cat is a unique individual.

 

[chris10]

Originally Posted by sharky

the Traditional vet community is finally recommending some wet food ... right now the recommendation is at least 5.5 oz per week for a ave 8-12 lb house cat

Thats it. Well at least they are recommending it.

Just to add a little to what Jack31 said. If we believed that a cats perfect diet is prey. Then for every 1/2 cup of dry food a cat would have to drink 5 ounces of water. And that's not the total intake they would need for the day, just the amount needed to be consumed along with dry food.