I'm feeding my cats dry pet food but I think he wants something new. I want to try feeding then with wet pet food. What do you think?
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Which is better wet or dry feeds?
- Thread starter mysterycat
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Wet is better, in general, because of the water intake. The quality of the food is very important too - it is not only the matter if the food is wet or dry...
What are you feeding him, and how old is your cat?
I saw your other post, and it seems your cat is not eating... This can be do to a number of reasons, not just because he wants something better...
It is quite unusual, in my opinion, for a HEALTHY cat who is used to a dry food, to simply stop eating because he wants something new. This happens more often with wet food. Cats can go for years on the same dry food and not grow tired of it.
If your cat stopped eating, is super skinny, and has spots all over his body like you said on the other post, you need to get him to the vet NOW.
What are you feeding him, and how old is your cat?
I saw your other post, and it seems your cat is not eating... This can be do to a number of reasons, not just because he wants something better...
It is quite unusual, in my opinion, for a HEALTHY cat who is used to a dry food, to simply stop eating because he wants something new. This happens more often with wet food. Cats can go for years on the same dry food and not grow tired of it.
If your cat stopped eating, is super skinny, and has spots all over his body like you said on the other post, you need to get him to the vet NOW.
Wet food, no question about it. You can feed dry in addition to wet but dry food alone is NOT good for cats for three main reasons:
1. Not enough WATER. In the wild cats get all their water from prey. They don't have a big thirst drive and since dry food has only about 10% water, unless the cat will drink over a cup of water a day, and most won't, they will always be in a constant state of dehydration on dry food.
2. CARBS are not natural to cats. Most dry food contains 50% carbs and therefore is the leading cause of feline diabetes. Carbs are completely species-inappropriate for cats.
3. The PROTEIN in dry food is mostly plant based, and cats being carnivores do not get a complete spectrum of the proteins that they would from meat.
Not to mention all the fillers (corn, gluten, rice, soy etc) in dry food that is also a common cause of allergies to cats. These fillers are also completely species-inappropriate.
Here is just one of many good information sites about feline diet.
http://catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...ne_on_Dry_Food
1. Not enough WATER. In the wild cats get all their water from prey. They don't have a big thirst drive and since dry food has only about 10% water, unless the cat will drink over a cup of water a day, and most won't, they will always be in a constant state of dehydration on dry food.
2. CARBS are not natural to cats. Most dry food contains 50% carbs and therefore is the leading cause of feline diabetes. Carbs are completely species-inappropriate for cats.
3. The PROTEIN in dry food is mostly plant based, and cats being carnivores do not get a complete spectrum of the proteins that they would from meat.
Not to mention all the fillers (corn, gluten, rice, soy etc) in dry food that is also a common cause of allergies to cats. These fillers are also completely species-inappropriate.
Here is just one of many good information sites about feline diet.
http://catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...ne_on_Dry_Food
It depends on the dry food, and on the wet food. The dry food I feed is less than 10% carbs, and made with over 85% meat, completely grain free... No fillers AT ALL. There are plenty of wet foods out there with much more grains that the dry food I feed, which contains none... I would be careful when generalizing.
Wet food all the way. I never want to feed dry food again!
I don't care about the "quality" of the dry food. Its still dry which IMHO is still horrible. Personally I hope that more companies follow http://www.petsage.com/ way of thinking. Maybe by 2020 dry food will be banned...I can only hope.
I feed one of mine sophistacat/friskies wet because he will eat it and loves it. I consider that a ton better than him eating dry food and a lot healthier
Nightmare won't eat raw so I go for the next best thing for him.
I don't care about the "quality" of the dry food. Its still dry which IMHO is still horrible. Personally I hope that more companies follow http://www.petsage.com/ way of thinking. Maybe by 2020 dry food will be banned...I can only hope.
I feed one of mine sophistacat/friskies wet because he will eat it and loves it. I consider that a ton better than him eating dry food and a lot healthier
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Wet is generally considered best... are there times when dry is better for a INDIVIDUAL YES .... But the vet associations as long as nearly ten years ago started STATING WET food should be part of every cats diet
NO Diet is perfect for every cat....
Most dry foods are 25-40% carbs ... 50 is VERY VERY old data.. Filler is a Relative term... I only count cellulose as a filler , due to it not being at all digested .... thou in some cases even a "filler" is needed for a particular ailment
NO Diet is perfect for every cat....
Most dry foods are 25-40% carbs ... 50 is VERY VERY old data.. Filler is a Relative term... I only count cellulose as a filler , due to it not being at all digested .... thou in some cases even a "filler" is needed for a particular ailment
whatever rocks one's boat! IMO to say that friskies is healthy.... wow! That is stretch! A million gazillion times my dry food without any of the junk that's inside of Friskies. Anytime.Originally Posted by furryfriends50
I feed one of mine sophistacat/friskies wet because he will eat it and loves it. I consider that a ton better than him eating dry food and a lot healthier
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Originally Posted by furryfriends50
Wet food all the way. I never want to feed dry food again!
I don't care about the "quality" of the dry food. Its still dry which IMHO is still horrible. Personally I hope that more companies follow http://www.petsage.com/ way of thinking. Maybe by 2020 dry food will be banned...I can only hope.
I feed one of mine sophistacat/friskies wet because he will eat it and loves it. I consider that a ton better than him eating dry food and a lot healthierNightmare won't eat raw so I go for the next best thing for him.
That is a IMO question but since Furry is NOT old enough to go there maybe PM s would let you debate that...Originally Posted by carolinalima
whatever rocks one's boat! IMO to say that friskies is healthy.... wow! That is stretch! A million gazillion times my dry food without any of the junk that's inside of Friskies. Anytime.
Personally I dont and wont feed a food with artificial flavors and colors
Not old enough? How's that??? Actual age? Sorry... OT.
I feed a mix of wet and dry b/c I cannot afford to feed all wet and I am not inclined at this time to use raw much more than just occasional treats. 4 of my 7 love the raw, btw. They all love the freeze-dried raw chicken and fish.
I definitely think they are doing better energy and weight-wise moving from 80/20 to 50/50 dry-wet.
I agree - 50/50 wet is a good balance... IMO also, it's got to be a decent wet... I won't feed certain things... Artificial coloring, flavors, grains, plus I don't feed by-products either (I know people disagree on this...). I have the same standards for wet as I have for dry... I see no difference, just the water content.
Wet food for me is Dry + water. What i look for in nutrition remains the same. I can't figure out the double standard - MUST have highest quality dry, but low low quality wet is fine
I just personally much prefer to feed wet food than dry...no matter what the brand happens to be. Everyone has their own opinion on this but thats mine and it ain't changing. Of course I'd much prefer if he would eat higher quality wet food but he won't.
Also mine aren't really seperated when they are fed and anyone could steal Nightmare's food when they are done with their own and that happens a lot. Raw and kibble do NOT mix...I can't put him in a dog crate. I've touched him only once or twice but he will come within a few feet of me if food is involved. Totally made my day (or rather week) when he swatted me for not getting food down fast enough
He had no human contact for the first few years of his life so was very feral. I don't want to break his trust...even it was for his own good to insure he got all his wet food.
Hopefully I can get him onto raw by sometime next year - its taken a year to get him to this point (teaspoon of raw mixed into 6 oz can of wet). So for now its gonna be Sophistacat/Friskies wet (and it isn't much Friskies btw, mainly all SC). I don't want to have to touch dry food again and the barn cats - and their health - thank me for that
I highly recommend everyone read this book: http://all-about-cats.com/your_cat.htm Its amazing
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Off topic:
AddieBee: I'm 17 (and a half - if that makes any differance). I know most people are going to think that I'm then an immature teenager and you shouldn't listen to anything I say because I have no idea what I'm talking about. Is that true for a lot of people my age? Sometimes and sometimes not. Is that generalization true for me? - you can pick.
I'm just a catloving dairy farming hick according to most everyone in my school
I am though and proud of it. I'd much prefer to work at a dairy farm (to get money for college and to take care of the barn cats) and take care of several barn cats by myself than what they do lol!
So what if I would rather be cleaning calf stalls than be at some party? Who cares if I'd rather spend time with cats (and reading about them) than have time to have a boyfriend? That classifies me as a dork but I don't care
I'm just - me
Also mine aren't really seperated when they are fed and anyone could steal Nightmare's food when they are done with their own and that happens a lot. Raw and kibble do NOT mix...I can't put him in a dog crate. I've touched him only once or twice but he will come within a few feet of me if food is involved. Totally made my day (or rather week) when he swatted me for not getting food down fast enough
Hopefully I can get him onto raw by sometime next year - its taken a year to get him to this point (teaspoon of raw mixed into 6 oz can of wet). So for now its gonna be Sophistacat/Friskies wet (and it isn't much Friskies btw, mainly all SC). I don't want to have to touch dry food again and the barn cats - and their health - thank me for that
I highly recommend everyone read this book: http://all-about-cats.com/your_cat.htm Its amazing
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Off topic:
AddieBee: I'm 17 (and a half - if that makes any differance). I know most people are going to think that I'm then an immature teenager and you shouldn't listen to anything I say because I have no idea what I'm talking about. Is that true for a lot of people my age? Sometimes and sometimes not. Is that generalization true for me? - you can pick.
I'm just a catloving dairy farming hick according to most everyone in my school
So what if I would rather be cleaning calf stalls than be at some party? Who cares if I'd rather spend time with cats (and reading about them) than have time to have a boyfriend? That classifies me as a dork but I don't care
I feed the best WET that my boys will eat. They do not like the high-end grain free foods... go figure.Originally Posted by carolinalima
I agree - 50/50 wet is a good balance... IMO also, it's got to be a decent wet... I won't feed certain things... Artificial coloring, flavors, grains, plus I don't feed by-products either (I know people disagree on this...). I have the same standards for wet as I have for dry... I see no difference, just the water content.
Wet food for me is Dry + water. What i look for in nutrition remains the same. I can't figure out the double standard - MUST have highest quality dry, but low low quality wet is fine
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
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My cat is 9 months old. There are times that he has a good appetite and sometimes has no appetite, depends on what I gave him. He likes fish I bought from the market but I think its not enough for him. Sometimes he liked his dry food sometimes not.
What brand do you recommend? I also want to send him to vet for deworming but I'm afraid of worms...If I dewormed him, will I see worms on his poop?
What brand do you recommend? I also want to send him to vet for deworming but I'm afraid of worms...If I dewormed him, will I see worms on his poop?
I never see worms in the litter box after Attitude and Nuts were dewormed. Then again I never saw worms before they were either(and they did have them simply from being born outside, covered in fleas and having feral moms(2 different mother cats took care of all 9 of them equally since they both gave birth at the same time. I'm not even sure if they knew which kittens they had given birth to.) Spaz had tapeworms and I never saw them in the litter box but I did see them on the couch(they'd climb out of her and get where ever she was) before she was treated.
Do you know if he actually has worms? Most kittens are de-wormed twice. I know Attitude was and I think Nuts was as well, but I could be wrong on him since I decided he was mine after Attitude had had a few appointments, during their kittenhood at shot appointments. Do you know if he has been dewormed at any of his kitten appointments. Your vet can take a stool sample and see if he has worms or not. Unless you have actually seen the worms that would be the best way of knowing if he does or not.
Sigh, nothing is ever free, I got them for free but that was where the free stopped. I don't even want to think about how much I have spent on them. It was worth every penny I just don't want to know how much. Expensive little kitties, cute adorable and absolutely worth it, but expensive. Even their dry Natural Balance is expensive. I'd rather feed premium dry than crap filled cheap wet food. I also have to add more water to their fountain at least twice a day so I know they are drinking a lot of water. They get canned sometimes and when I do most of the time it's crap but I know they are eating premium dry. They aren't really too fond of high quality wet(most of it ends up going outside to be ate by the ferals, who will eat almost anything, since they will barely touch it), which is why they only get it occasionally, I feel guilty feeding it to them. Also, Maude wouldn't touch wet at all, all she would eat was dry. She would have literally starved herself to death if all she was given was wet. Like others said what works for some doesn't work for all.
Taryn
Do you know if he actually has worms? Most kittens are de-wormed twice. I know Attitude was and I think Nuts was as well, but I could be wrong on him since I decided he was mine after Attitude had had a few appointments, during their kittenhood at shot appointments. Do you know if he has been dewormed at any of his kitten appointments. Your vet can take a stool sample and see if he has worms or not. Unless you have actually seen the worms that would be the best way of knowing if he does or not.
Sigh, nothing is ever free, I got them for free but that was where the free stopped. I don't even want to think about how much I have spent on them. It was worth every penny I just don't want to know how much. Expensive little kitties, cute adorable and absolutely worth it, but expensive. Even their dry Natural Balance is expensive. I'd rather feed premium dry than crap filled cheap wet food. I also have to add more water to their fountain at least twice a day so I know they are drinking a lot of water. They get canned sometimes and when I do most of the time it's crap but I know they are eating premium dry. They aren't really too fond of high quality wet(most of it ends up going outside to be ate by the ferals, who will eat almost anything, since they will barely touch it), which is why they only get it occasionally, I feel guilty feeding it to them. Also, Maude wouldn't touch wet at all, all she would eat was dry. She would have literally starved herself to death if all she was given was wet. Like others said what works for some doesn't work for all.
Taryn
Where did you get him? Was he de-wormed before you got him? How many times? Kittens usually need to be dewormed 2-3 times. If he had a heavy worm load you would likely BE seeing them in his poo or sticking out of his butt, especially roundworms. If tapeworms.. you might see segments in his poo or stuck to the fur around his butt or tail. They are about the size of rice grains.
Yes, the dead worms would pass through in the stool.... One of my guys threw up a roundworm about a month ago... and I hadn't seen ANY signs of it in their litter pans. So they got two rounds of Strongid. I didn't see dead worms in their poo so I asked the vet. She said if the parasite load is not that big, since the worms are PROTEIN , the cats digest the dead ones! I don't know which is worse, eh?
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Two of mine are on all canned with kibble for snacks. (less than 10% of daily intake) Tolly eats two flavors of Innova, and Jennie eats Wellness grain free chicken, exclusively.
Mazy is on Prescription c/d multicare kibble, as she will not eat the canned, after it has been opened for a day, and the 5.5 oz cans just go to waste. I wish hills would make 3 oz c/d cans as I would love for her to be on wet food.
I don't think anyone here would discount you or your opinions because of your age. 17 or 47 it's all in how you present yourself.
I knew a 17 year old in another forum who, though she had a wealth of knowledge, and could help many people, her temper tantrums and intolerance to any opinion but her own really discredited anything she ever said.
But that could go for any age.
Mazy is on Prescription c/d multicare kibble, as she will not eat the canned, after it has been opened for a day, and the 5.5 oz cans just go to waste. I wish hills would make 3 oz c/d cans as I would love for her to be on wet food.
It's good that you know who you are. Don't ever lose that.Originally Posted by furryfriends50
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Off topic:
AddieBee: I'm 17 (and a half - if that makes any differance). I know most people are going to think that I'm then an immature teenager and you shouldn't listen to anything I say because I have no idea what I'm talking about. Is that true for a lot of people my age? Sometimes and sometimes not. Is that generalization true for me? - you can pick.
I'm just a catloving dairy farming hick according to most everyone in my schoolI am though and proud of it. I'd much prefer to work at a dairy farm (to get money for college and to take care of the barn cats) and take care of several barn cats by myself than what they do lol!
So what if I would rather be cleaning calf stalls than be at some party? Who cares if I'd rather spend time with cats (and reading about them) than have time to have a boyfriend? That classifies me as a dork but I don't careI'm just - me
I don't think anyone here would discount you or your opinions because of your age. 17 or 47 it's all in how you present yourself.
I knew a 17 year old in another forum who, though she had a wealth of knowledge, and could help many people, her temper tantrums and intolerance to any opinion but her own really discredited anything she ever said.
But that could go for any age.
IMO the ideal diet consists of both dry and canned and/or raw. With males, all dry can sometimes lead to UTI's and the males getting blocked - even if they drink water.
All dry does NOT clean the teeth like many people (and vets) believe or will tell you. Some of my past cats have been fed almost all dry their entire lives and needed teeth cleaned - plaque still built up on the teeth in a few years.
Our cats get one meal of dry in the morning and one meal of canned in the evening and raw 2-3 times a week. They also are pretty good water drinkers in addition to the water in canned food. Feeding them this way I have very little litter box odor (we do use the wood stove pellets), and the stools are a lot smaller too - which means the food is being used by the body.
All dry does NOT clean the teeth like many people (and vets) believe or will tell you. Some of my past cats have been fed almost all dry their entire lives and needed teeth cleaned - plaque still built up on the teeth in a few years.
Our cats get one meal of dry in the morning and one meal of canned in the evening and raw 2-3 times a week. They also are pretty good water drinkers in addition to the water in canned food. Feeding them this way I have very little litter box odor (we do use the wood stove pellets), and the stools are a lot smaller too - which means the food is being used by the body.
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OTTO put it well... I did NOT mean it as a negative just a FYI . You have some lucky cats and cows IMHO... lol by 17 I had managed to rewrite a few thingsOriginally Posted by otto
Originally Posted by furryfriends50 View Post
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Off topic:
AddieBee: I'm 17 (and a half - if that makes any differance). I know most people are going to think that I'm then an immature teenager and you shouldn't listen to anything I say because I have no idea what I'm talking about. Is that true for a lot of people my age? Sometimes and sometimes not. Is that generalization true for me? - you can pick.
I'm just a catloving dairy farming hick according to most everyone in my school I am though and proud of it. I'd much prefer to work at a dairy farm (to get money for college and to take care of the barn cats) and take care of several barn cats by myself than what they do lol!
So what if I would rather be cleaning calf stalls than be at some party? Who cares if I'd rather spend time with cats (and reading about them) than have time to have a boyfriend? That classifies me as a dork but I don't care I'm just - me
It's good that you know who you are. Don't ever lose that.
I don't think anyone here would discount you or your opinions because of your age. 17 or 47 it's all in how you present yourself.
I knew a 17 year old in another forum who, though she had a wealth of knowledge, and could help many people, her temper tantrums and intolerance to any opinion but her own really discredited anything she ever said.
But that could go for any age.
Dork is not a word in my vocabulary to describe a person...
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I do agree variety seems to be the best diet ...
I have had animals with NO extractions some never needing a dental do to the "rotation" diet
Ok sorry for the generalization. Allow me to clarify:
A feline nutritionist has stated that feeding dry food to a cat his whole life is like a human eating potato chips and hotdogs for their whole life.
There ARE higher quality dry foods, but whether you feed low or high quality, it's still more or less comparing cheap, grocery store potato chips and hotdogs to Health food store organic, natural potato chips and hotdogs.
If you prefer feeding high quality dry then great, but hydration will still be a major concern, and so could teeth shattering on the hard dry food especially as they get older.
Feeding dry in addition to wet is good, I do this. It is still not natural for the cat but....
IF OPTIMUM HEALTH IS A CONCERN FOR YOU, the best thing is to feed RAW. If you can't, at least stay away from brands like Friskies, Iams, Science Diet, Meow Mix, Fancy Feast etc.
Go with By Nature, EVO, Wellness, Blue Buffalo etc. Dry OR wet.
Here are the basics of what to look for in cat food:
A (real, whole) meat as the first ingredient(s).
No By-Products
No "Meal"
No Animal Digest
No chemical preservatives - BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquine etc.
No, or fewer fillers/allgerens - Corn, soy, wheat, grains, fish (allergen to some cats)
I could go on FOREVER but I hope the Poster has gotten the point and will make a good choice for their cat.
Here are some more websites to back me up and provide all information on feline diet:
http://catinfo.org/
http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... antheteeth
BTW, For worms/parasites, if you haven't already, see a vet first!
Good Luck
