Question About Food/Feeding

I'm sure this may have been covered in previous topics but I just wanted to get some feedback on the best way to keep my cat healthy!

My cat is about 3 years old, female, indoor only, and average weight. I have a container that I usually just fill with an entire small bag of cat food and it dispenses it gradually until empty. I have been giving her Friskies Indoor Only cat food and occasionally a couple cans of Friskies wet food every few weeks. She LOVES the wet food but I heard somewhere this could possibly be bad for her teeth or health with just a strict wet food diet. She seems to eat at her own pace out of her dish/auto food dispenser and has never had a problem of overeating and increasing her weight.

My question is what should I do differently to help her live a healthier and lengthier life? Buy better food? Stop with the wet food? Decrease portion size? Any and all expert criticism is greatly appreciated because I'm sure I will get it and need it! Thanks!!

Oh and by the way, she is a mix of Persian and not sure what else. She has long hair and doesn't have the full blown Persian smushed face

Ok... You will be surprised what you start researching here, and you find out that all you heard before about wet/dry food was basically not correct

I will be brief because there are hundreds of threads about this.... but.... here is what I learned so far -

Wet food being bad for the teeth is a BIG MYTH. Wet food is much better for your kitty's health than dry food. I do however make this statement only when comparing the same quality of Dry and wet food. Some will say that the best dry = the worst wet, I do NOT agree with that. Wet food is better for your cat for one reason: It provides him with more water intake, and that is very important for their health. That is not to say that your can can do fine on dry food only... He/she can... perfectly fine...

The food you are currently feeding has a lot of grains... Cats Do not need grains. When looking for food, IMHO you should stay away from grains, by-products (I do, especially "meat by-products"), artificial flavors, colors, etc. Concentrate on the first 6 ingredients, make sure most of them are meats... You will do good that way.

Free-feeding (the type of dispenser you are using) is ok before the cat is one year old - after that you run the risk obesity.... It is always good to measure the food even if you leave it out throughout the day...

Most people feed a combination of wet/dry.

I have three cats, and believe it or not, three completely different feeding styles.
One of my cats eat all dry, and HATES wet food. That dry food is very high end, great stuff, grain free, all natural, yadda, yadda...
My second cat eats 1/2 wet and 1/2 dry - This is the most wet he will eat...
And my third kitty, Hope, eats all wet...

See what works for you, your budget, your schedule and your kitty - that is the best food... But yes, there are a whole bunch of myths out there... The wet food is a big one...
Research TCS a bit - you will find a lot of threads about food in here!!

I don't know where the myth got started, but yea, wet food is better for your cat.

Also, automatic water fountains are a wonderful way to get your cat to drink more. Every time I hear my cat Beeba drinking, I am thrilled. He is coming off urinary crystals caused in part to a poor diet of dry food.

Although, some cats thrive on dry. I had a cat live to 22 on the cheapest dry. Go figure.

But again, wet is the way to go.

Wet is better as it mimics the moisture , protein and fat of a cats natural prey ... Dry is a human convinence and can be a cause of some of the issues like diabetes in some cats...

Carolinalima stated it well.... this is the bottom line.. See what works for you, your budget, your schedule and your kitty - that is the best food... Imho a wet / dry combo works for most humans and cats

Thank you everyone for the wonderful information!