The best dry food is inferior to the worst canned food?

dan138zig · Mar 21, 2010

from catinfo.org:

I would much rather see a cat eating any canned food - regardless of quality level - including Friskies, 9-Lives, Sophisticat, Fancy Feast, etc. - than any dry food.
http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm

dude, really?? so it's better for me to feed canned whiskas than innova dry?

sharky · Mar 22, 2010

it is a matter of opnion ... But in this case I do agree, in reality thou most use a mix of wet and dry

Based on dry matter analysis Yes the wiskas is likely better than innova ... because it is higher in protein and fat ..The quality of said protein and fat is likely not as high in the wiskas .. the wiskas has water which is very important as Most cats do not drink enough...

dan138zig · Mar 22, 2010

what if my cat drinks a lot?

carolina · Mar 22, 2010

I don't agree, I hold quality standards... I put my cat into a low quality food diet (canned), and she got REALLY REALLY REALLY sick. Coincidence or not, I am not running that risk again. I always held my standards, and one day I wanted to save $$$ and went lower... Well... Lets just say that my vet bills made up on a big way.
The difference in the food in introduced? By-products were the main ingredients. It could be that, it could be more diversity... But before, on high quality food, even with diversity, she did not get sick.

So I am back to my standards - I believe that ingredients quality must be held in any shape of food you feed, being dry, wet, raw, freeze dried, whatever.

Is wet better for your cat? Absolutely, sure... if you can afford it... IMO a mixed 50/50 diet is great...

The bottom line, the best diet, IMO, is the one that works for both you and your cat...

A water fountain is also a great way to help with water intake...

sharky · Mar 22, 2010

How old is the cat drinking alot?

icklemiss21 · Mar 22, 2010

I have had the same experience as Carolina, in theory a cheap wet food should be more like their natural diet and therefore good for them, but in reality, they use cheap ingredients and fillers so it is not

dan138zig · Mar 22, 2010

Originally Posted by sharky

How old is the cat drinking alot?

5 months old

furryfriends50 · Mar 22, 2010

I'd much prefer to feed "crappy" wet food than any dry food.

Fancy Feast really isn't that bad you know...actually some of them are fairly good! Same with friskies..."poultry platter" isn't to bad. And Sophistacat "Elegant Entree" isn't to bad.

For the worst brands you can pick through what flavor you buy. Really, although some of the flavors have meat by-products as the first ingrediant doesn't mean a differant flavor doesn't have real meat as the first ingrediant.

And I never want to feed dry food again

I don't care at all about the so called quality of dry food...I won't feed it. Junky wet food all the way!

ebrillblaiddes · Mar 22, 2010

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

Really, although some of the flavors have meat by-products as the first ingrediant doesn't mean a differant flavor doesn't have real meat as the first ingrediant.

I've heard that the meat by-products in wet food also tend to be more meatlike than the ones in dry food. More organ meats and other such things that we don't consider food but cats in the wild would actually eat, less of the "bones and beaks" type stuff. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

farleyv · Mar 23, 2010

I have fed both. I have had cats live to 22 and 18 years old on Dads. I think that had more to do with heredity than the quality of the food...

Now that I know better, I feed all of my guys wet. I had been feeding dry and because of a diabetic I have, I put them all on wet. Easier when it came time to feed.

Was getting too expensive so switched to what I thought was a high end dry and seperated the diabetic at meal time. One cat came down with crystals and the rest just seemed "not right". Not their usual selves. So, back to the wet. I feed Friskies, only certain flavors. That vet who has www.yourdiabeticcat.com makes an excellent case for canned Friskies, 9 Lives and Fancy Feast. My diabetic is doing wonderful as are all the rest. Good coats, energy and increased moisture.

I feel any cat that eats only dry, is always dehydrated to a degree. Yes it's expensive, but cheaper than a 900.00 vet bill for cryatals. I don't want to tempt fate. And it is a hassle. I can't leave food out 24/7, but its a small price to pay for their health.

Willowy · Mar 23, 2010

Originally Posted by ebrillblaiddes

I've heard that the meat by-products in wet food also tend to be more meatlike than the ones in dry food. More organ meats and other such things that we don't consider food but cats in the wild would actually eat, less of the "bones and beaks" type stuff. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Well, if there were bones and beaks in canned food, people would see them and complain. But in dry food everything is all ground up, dried, and squished into shapes, so you don't really know what's in it by looking. So yes, I do believe that by-products in canned food are better than by-products in dry food. I don't have any proof for you but those are my feelings on the matter.

laureen227 · Mar 23, 2010

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

I'd much prefer to feed "crappy" wet food than any dry food.

Fancy Feast really isn't that bad you know...actually some of them are fairly good! Same with friskies..."poultry platter" isn't to bad. And Sophistacat "Elegant Entree" isn't to bad.

mine get a combo of homemade & petsmart's authority canned for their wet [3 of the 5 will eat wet - the other 2 won't]. it was the only brand i could find without fish in it [Chip has fish issues]. for dry, they get RC special 33 - Pixel [my senior] does best on this, & she's one of the anti-wet cats.

yayi · Mar 23, 2010

Mine also get wet/dry combo.

But I see the dry food as a convenient additional nutrient. It's a "just in case there's not enough good stuff in the wet food" sort of thing.

dilly · Mar 24, 2010

Originally Posted by farleyv

I have fed both. I have had cats live to 22 and 18 years old on Dads. I think that had more to do with heredity than the quality of the food...

Now that I know better, I feed all of my guys wet. I had been feeding dry and because of a diabetic I have, I put them all on wet. Easier when it came time to feed.

Was getting too expensive so switched to what I thought was a high end dry and seperated the diabetic at meal time. One cat came down with crystals and the rest just seemed "not right". Not their usual selves. So, back to the wet. I feed Friskies, only certain flavors. That vet who has www.yourdiabeticcat.com makes an excellent case for canned Friskies, 9 Lives and Fancy Feast. My diabetic is doing wonderful as are all the rest. Good coats, energy and increased moisture.

I feel any cat that eats only dry, is always dehydrated to a degree. Yes it's expensive, but cheaper than a 900.00 vet bill for cryatals. I don't want to tempt fate. And it is a hassle. I can't leave food out 24/7, but its a small price to pay for their health.

Your cats that lived to be 18, and 22. What did you feed them, and did they develope any health problems? Just curious.

taryn · Mar 25, 2010

Attitude has diarrhea again and the only thing I can figure is she seems to get it only when fed cheap wet food. So same as in others cases cheap wet food just doesn't work. Day before yesterday I had to give her a bath to her rear clean and had to use a waterless bath last night on her rear end to clean it again. I think it didn't contain any by products but I'm not sure if she's reacting to grains, corn or wheat or whatever else is in there. She does fine on dry NB Ultra Premium formula and is fine and has no diarrhea issues so it's not the meat. So in my case 'junky' wet food is no good and only causes diarrhea issues with the 'Tude and as her name states she has an attitude and really does not like having her rear end cleaned. It isn't bad but I still don't want to get stuck with cleaning her daily and I think she would agree. Her and Nuts have a water fountain that they drink a lot out of so I'm not worried about them getting enough water. I can't afford the higher end wet foods especially since they won't always eat it. Friskies seems to cause the most issues. They had Wiskas last night and she still had a slightly dirty rear(better than night before last when she needed a water bath.)

For me I'd much rather feed a high quality dry than feed low-quality wet or go broke not only buying the more expensive wet but also wasting money when they decide not to eat it. They are doing just fine on dry, very healthy. Nuts has yet to see the vet other than for routine visits. Most of Attitude's have been for her eye, other have been a lump after she got spayed(which they said was a reaction to something she was given, and most recently mastitis. Not too incredibly uncommon for a FeLV cat with the eye which seems to be feline herpes as lysine seems to help so normal cats can have the same issue, the mastitis just seems to be 'one of those things' that could happen to any cat. Also, the reaction that gave her the lump also could have happened to any cat so she is really healthy as well. The vet has zero problem with what I feed them since they are healthy.

In my case high quality dry is much better than junky wet food. I'd also rather feed them high quality dry because of their leukemia, it makes me feel better and they are a lot more active when they get NB than NB and junky wet(since they eat less NB.)

I'd rather feed them something that keeps them well than mess with it and end up with them getting sick.

Forgot to add: The junky wet food also makes their litter boxes REEK. I never have that problem with the dry NB.

Taryn

farleyv · Mar 26, 2010

Well Coopers and Willer were 22 and 18. They passed just due to old age. Willer was not moving her bowels and her quality of life was affected. I knew her time had come...I mean 18 is certainly a long life and I never wanted her to be uncomforatable.

Coopers, 22 had feline Alzheimer's. Wandering, meowing, and I am pretty sure he had lost his hearing. It was just time. They both were very dear to me.

They had eaten Dads dry cat food all their lives. Back then, there was not the emphasis on wet food there is today...I really didn't know any better. We are talking 25-30 years ago.

farleyv · Mar 26, 2010

I just wanted to add, I have 11 cats and they eat wet. Anyone who walks in my house remarks that there is no odor from the box. Even when I clean the box (7 of them share a jumbo box), there is NO odor. And I am not exaggerating either.

dilly · Mar 26, 2010

Originally Posted by farleyv

Well Coopers and Willer were 22 and 18. They passed just due to old age. Willer was not moving her bowels and her quality of life was affected. I knew her time had come...I mean 18 is certainly a long life and I never wanted her to be uncomforatable.

Coopers, 22 had feline Alzheimer's. Wandering, meowing, and I am pretty sure he had lost his hearing. It was just time. They both were very dear to me.

They had eaten Dads dry cat food all their lives. Back then, there was not the emphasis on wet food there is today...I really didn't know any better. We are talking 25-30 years ago.

Thanks, I'm just trying to see if there is any realation to health issues, and dry cat food, thats not premium.

sharky · Mar 26, 2010

Originally Posted by Dilly

Thanks, I'm just trying to see if there is any realation to health issues, and dry cat food, thats not premium.

that is a loaded question... What I will say is that 20 yrs ago many grocery foods were made similar to our base premiums of today; only with higher ash which can cause UTI issues.... Depending on what study and who did it some say lots of difference others say no difference Basically a study is biased however the one paying for it wants it ... There are not many unbiased studies as double blind 15 to 20 studies are expensive and private folks usually do not have the pockets the food companies have... IMHO I would not feed a grocery dry as they are normally much grainier and cats do not need that.

dilly · Mar 27, 2010

Thanks Sharky.

The best dry food is inferior to the worst canned food?

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Darksome Duo!

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member