how well do cats survive on dry food?

Well i been trying for 2 months now to put this cat on wet food every morning i give her half a table spoon but no lucky, i got one cat 100% wet food so i'm wondering on how well can a cat survive on dry food alone + water fountain she enjoys. one cat had bladder infection that is on 100% wet food but this one seems to be healthy no  health problems since i got her. my cat that had 2 health problems are seizure and bladder infection i haven't seen another seizure yet though.

Are there top high quality dry food that is good and healthy i am using blue buffalo wilderness atm she seems to enjoy it then her wet food even if i bought every kind out there been finding 3oz cans everytime i am out of town since they have more stuff out there. I bought felidae can cat food too this month so trying that out hoping ti would work. enhancing it too but she isn't dumb appreantly she knows whats there even mixing dry+wet well i tried everything really even mixing fancy feast in her wet food and she even turn down fancy feast she use to eat that for 8 days straight

Just be patient and keep giving the stubborn cat wet food along with her dry or instead of her dry sometimes. She will eventually come around. You might try some toppers on the wet food. If she likes kibble so much, Fortiflora may work as a topper for her, or crush up some of her favorite kibble and sprinkle it on top of the wet food.

It's hard to say about an all dry diet. I'm sure there are cats who have not developed urinary tract issues on all dry, but as Dr. Pierson says, cats who are on all dry are chronically dehydrated which leads to more concentrated urine which may lead to issues. So much depends on the individual cat, so all we can do is our best.

As for high quality dry, I would recommend either Ziwipeak air-dried raw which looks like little pieces of beef jerky or Wysong Epigen 90.

I agree that the Wysong Epigen 90 is the best of the best for kibble. 

Now, as far as transitioning your other cat to canned, are you just feeding her the kibble at specific times during the day, or are you free feeding.  She  may not be eatng the canned because she already has access to kibble all the time, so why eat canned?  If you don't have her on a schedule, you need to before trying to get her on canned.  Then it really is just a matter of finding the right canned food.  Believe me, I know just where you are coming from.  Been there! 

I searched high and low until I finally found some food my FOUR (at the time) pickes would eat so I could transition all of them off of kibble and onto canned.  It's not just flavor, but texture.  Some like pate, some like slices, some like flakes, etc.  Once you find something she is interested in, then slowly start replacing one kibble meal a day with the canned.  As she eats that, then you can increase it.  (if she misses one meal because she doesn't like it, that's ok, if should make her hungrier for the  next meal.  Just don't let her go  more than one meal without eating)

Rather than MIX her kibble into canned, try crushing just one or two pieces of kibble and sprinkling them on top of the wet food.  Just enough to get her attention.  That usually does the trick.  Or do the same with any of her favorite treats.

To answer your original question as far as health, of course cats can survive on a dry diet...many do.  But could they have survived longer on canned or raw is my question.  IMHO...probably.   Kidney disease of actually pretty common among cats fed kibble.  I'm not saying it doesn't happen to cats fed canned too, but it's much more common in kibble cats.  Same with diabetes (mainly because many cats get overweight on kibble)   So, just my (two cents)

When I read these posts, I realize how incredibly lucky I have been with my three cats 10,11, and almost 12 months.  Two of them came to me at 12 weeks having eaten nothing but dry, one got wet with dry mixed in.  I started feeding them grain free wet immediately, and all three went for it.  They rejected the pate type foods, but ate the meat in broth or meat in gravy readily.  For the first 3-4 months, I left out a small bowl of grain free kibble (Wellness Core, and then Nature's Variety), and then took it away and gave them an extra feeding of wet.  In December, I switched them to raw, starting with Nature's Variety for a month, then Bravo Balance for a month, then homemade mixes based on ground meat and bone from a couple of different vendors.  The youngest one rejected the raw for 2 days, and then dived in on day 3.  I still add a little green tripe or crumbled freeze dried on top of the least preferred meats....but basically they switched to raw easily, just liked they switched to canned.  I also have 3 small dogs who were eating some grain free kibble....so they got switched to raw too, as the cats would steal their kibble.  Dogs think they have died and gone to heaven....lol.

My 3 eat both.. I know some say it's not good but my Tiger boy has a sensitive tummy to most canned foods even high quality canned.. so he eats dry and wet sometimes. And they drink water often after their meals and when they need it so I know they are getting enough hydration in them.

well i don't free feed when i'm at home but i can't let my cat starve that one time my cat foamed in her mouth cause i tried to give her can food all day and wouldn't give up and when iput her dry food out she ate rigth away. my vet said nothing was wrong with her and it could have been some type of hunger phase she was gonig through. so i just iddn't want to see her foam at mouth again she was just sitting in front of her empty food bowl and foamed and drooled til i put dry out she gobbled it up like a hungry cat.  no matter what brand i try she won't even touch it it probably makes her nausia the smell even if i enhance the flavor with bonito flakes or anything that i have research. so all i'm doing is giving her a half table spoon til i know she will eventually eat it every single day. i don't feed them at night or leave food out but in the morning when i see her no eating i would just leave her food out after my cat is done with her morning meal.

If they eat much or all dry, it is very important they do drink enough.  A fountain mentioned by the thread starter is a good tip here. Cats do often drink very good from such drink fountains. I know example when a cat who they must to forcefeed water, drank voluntary from such a fountain.

If you dont have such a fountain, have at least several "water holes" for them.  Several different places where they can drink water. Fresh water, and at least one place with stale water.

Stale water? It always should be fresh water, I have dogs too so the water buckets are always fresh.

well my cat does love her water fountain so its a good thign she drinks it i put water out that doesn't move cause my other cat is scared of it no matter what she wont' drink from it but she is the 100% wet food cat. I just wish it was easy to convert my other cat to wet food I wish i knew how to hide the smell of wet food for her to eat it but she will just lick the juice and after that doesn't nibble at the meat  its like she is more of the wet food juice cat she won't eat it period once the juice is gone she leaves it there for my other cat if she wants more.

My male cat has been eating dry kibble all his life. He's never had any urinary tract or bladder problems. He's a Manx breed rumpy brown tabby and from the time I've had him, he's always drank lots of water everyday. He loves to play in water too.

He eats Blue Buffalo Wildnerness and Nature's Variety. He eats 1/3rd cup a day and he's not skinny or overweight. My vet says he looks "solid". He weighs in at 11 1/2 pounds. I tried to get him to eat raw, dehydrated, wet (chunks, shred, pate) but that was always a "no go" after two weeks of time. He had is usual 6 month checkup in January and is due for his second 6th month checkup this upcoming July. He's in good health (knock on wood) and if he makes it to June 13th, he'll be 16 years old.

yeah i'm hoping my cat survises on this dry food i'm hoping i get lucky though everday i'm still giving her half a table spoon  and probably on 1 weekend just 1 weekend only stop feeding her dry until 8pm and give her wet food and if she doesn't eat most i'll save it up and reheat it to room temp when i see her sniffing around for food. but how bad is it to reheat the same food over and over? cause i know i will be giving her a table spoon every hour or so when i see her hungry when i'm around. that will be the only time i will do it one weekend.

I don't reheat food at all. I keep the canned food in the fridge and if you heat it up it could lose it's nutrients in the food.

When it comes to wet food, since Tiger is getting close to 16, my vet and I believe genetics plays a huge part in a diet.

One of my friends and one of my neighbors have young male cats and they eat good grain free, no gluten wet canned foods. Nature's Variety, Blue Buffalo and I think Nutro. Every once in the while, they come down with urinary tract infections. My cat, on dry kibble all his life, has never had a urinary or bladder infection. But, he drinks lots of water after eating. During the day when he's not eating, he drinks lots of water. He's done this for his entire life. If he comes in to the bathroom when I'm taking a shower, when I come out of the shower, he licks my legs with his very rough sandpaper like tongue. He just likes water.

He looks good at 11 1/2 pounds, but when I tried to switch him over to raw, freeze dried, dehydrated, wet (chunk, shred, pate), he isn't enthusiatic about eating. I've done the "transition" thing, but after two weeks, he just quits eating mostly. When I mean "mostly", I mean he would take one or two bites and just walk off. Many times I've tried to wait him out, but one time I noticed he looked "skinny" to me. He was thin in the hips and I could feel his backbone and the vertebrae in them when I petted him. I weighed him. He weighed 10 1/2 pounds. I called my vet and she said he's "unique" as cats go. He's a short body cat too. Not long length between his front and back legs like in a siamese. She told me to "go back to the kibble he likes" and watch his weight. At 10 1/2 pounds, he doesn't look good at all, but at 11 1/2 pounds, he looks great.

I have to watch his weight since he sleeps much more now than when he was much younger. Since he's not that active anymore, I have to be careful not to let him have big portions of dry kibble. The Nature's Variety Chicken is 50% protein, 22% fat and 2.8% fiber. The Blue Buffalo (Chicken, Duck) is 40% protein, 18% fat and 3.5% fiber. The fat and fiber percentages in the NV is what concerns my vet. At his present age, she thinks, percentage wise, they're too high in fat and too low in fiber, but the NV is his favorite taste wise. He'd eat 1/2-3/4 cup if I let him and with him sleeping much more during the daytime, I'm sure this would harm him in the long run. This is why I mix them both together for his morning and evening meals and the total for 24 hours is 1/3 cup. I wish he would transition to wet, but since he's unique, I won't slowly starve him simply because "wet is better for him" and try to force him to "give in". Just recently, I've been on the NV website and I'm going to try the limited Turkey dry kibble on him since it's 40% protein, 18% fat and 3.5% fiber which is the same as the Blue Buffalo. My vet likes the percentages of the BB better than the NV which I'm feeding him now and this is why I'm going to see if he likes the limited NV Turkey. 

BTW, another oddity about him. Every 6 months when I take him in for his semi annual checkup, the vet looks at his teeth and gums very closely. She said, she's never seen a cat with hardly any tartar buildup. His gums are always a healthy pink color and there's not enough tartar to warrant a teeth cleaning. I asked if this was because of the dry kibble food I feed him and she told told me, "no". She said it's because of his genetics. The last time I had his teeth cleaned was a litttle over two years ago and I'm hoping this July there will be enough tartar and/or some redness in his gums, to get his teeth cleaned. Since Tiger is old, my vet doesn't like to put him to sleep to work on him and when she does, she usually gives him half the dosage since the anesthesia does have one side effect. His eyes stay wildly dilated for 48 hours. I keep the all the blinds and drapes in the house closed after a procedure on him. I open the blinds and drapes when his eyes are no longer dilated. Again, I asked my vet if this is "normal". My vet said, the dilation of most other cats eyes with the recommended dosage weight wise for cats, usually wears off after 8-12 hours, but with my cat, it takes around 48 hours even with half the dosage based on his weight. Again, due to his genetics and she's tried different types of anesthesia on him.

I agree wet food is is better, but just like in humans where everyone's body chemistry is different, due to genetics or other factors, I believe this is true with cats too.

well i decided to buy classic chicken fancy feast even though its bad but hoping if i sneak in a little bit of good food she will actually eat it, sometimes i wonder if all cats have different taste buds. What makes cats not like wet food? is it the taste? is it the smell? does she have a sensitve smell? but the food she eats is grain free and has real meat in it in a way so why does it differ to the wet food cept is wet and not dry. I don't know if she will eat her fancy feast she may not like it wet food anymore since i been putting good one out. I always though it was the grain free so i got a good kind that has some grains but still real stuff in it and the better stuff but still turn her nose up to it so i'm giving it to my cat who likes it cause i only can give her 4oz of food of the good food. if they both like the same thing then i would be able to do it give them 4oz of the good food and 1.5 oz of the mid level food.

Fancy Feast classic's aren't at all bad. Not the best, but not bad at all. It's high protein and low carbs. I use it to subsidize the higher quality foods to offset the cost. I also throw in a few even cheaper, but not all that bad, brands. Petsmart has their own version of the Friskies Poultry platter, but with no rice added, Great Choice Poultry platter. To me, getting them to eat wet was the most important thing. I had a devil of a time finding any higher quality food they'd eat and I'm still limited to 2 or at times 3 and so in between they get their treat foods.
 

i think i found a winner for my cat she seems to enjoy felidae she actually ate most of it then the other and doesn't spit it out when she licks the previous food, but i'm worried that it contains ocean whtiefish even though its not on the first ingredent.

here is the ingredent

Chicken, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Lamb, Ocean Whitefish (source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids), Ground Brown Rice, Eggs, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Guar Gum, Sunflower Oil (source of Omega-6 Fatty Acids), Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Flaxseed Oil (source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids), Choline Chloride, Salt, Cranberries, Kelp, Rosemary Extract, carrageenan, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Taurine, Lecithin, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate.

i think she likes it because it smells sorta fishy even though i put bonito flakes in the dish she hates bonito flakes i don't know why she likes this type of food.  she hated the lamb when i bought ziwipeak lamb, hated the turkey and chicken and beef from evo, she hated the turkey type blue buffalo.  I don't know what is in it that makes her like it  this is the grain version but dont' think its really that bad. but she actually ate most of it.

Candie said:

well i don't free feed when i'm at home but i can't let my cat starve that one time my cat foamed in her mouth cause i tried to give her can food all day and wouldn't give up and when iput her dry food out she ate rigth away. my vet said nothing was wrong with her and it could have been some type of hunger phase she was gonig through. so i just iddn't want to see her foam at mouth again she was just sitting in front of her empty food bowl and foamed and drooled til i put dry out she gobbled it up like a hungry cat.  no matter what brand i try she won't even touch it it probably makes her nausia the smell even if i enhance the flavor with bonito flakes or anything that i have research. so all i'm doing is giving her a half table spoon til i know she will eventually eat it every single day. i don't feed them at night or leave food out but in the morning when i see her no eating i would just leave her food out after my cat is done with her morning meal.

Click to expand...

I haven't read all of the replies yet. But, I prefer an all wet diet and have been able to get all 4 of mine to a 90% wet diet to a 10% dry diet. Their kibble is Nutro Max Indoor Chicken. I've tried other kibbles but this is the only one they will eat so it's what they get. Their wet diet is Nutro Natural Choice grain free. They like all varieties of it but I won't buy the minced because I've got a couple of kitties that for some reason will only lick the gravy off of the minced textures. I buy other premium brands as well to give them variety. I used to free feed kibble but still maintained the 2 wet feedings and decided to completely reduce their kibble intake over time. I measure their daily ration of kibble and use an automatic timed feeder. The kibble is dispensed at intervals in between the wet feedings. This has been very successful in my house.

Yes, a cat can live a full, healthy life on an all kibble diet; provided they are drinking enough water and the kibble is a good one. Good meaning nutrient dense vs. not so great being carb and calorie dense. A cat on an all kibble diet that drinks plenty of water to hydrate itself will have far fewer issues than a cat that does not drink enough water.

If someone is going to keep their cat on an all kibble diet; my advice is to do some research on the different brands. Choose the most nutrient dense kibble your budget will allow. :nod:

Candie said:

i think i found a winner for my cat she seems to enjoy felidae she actually ate most of it then the other and doesn't spit it out when she licks the previous food, but i'm worried that it contains ocean whtiefish even though its not on the first ingredent.
here is the ingredent
Chicken, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Lamb, Ocean Whitefish (source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids), Ground Brown Rice, Eggs, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Guar Gum, Sunflower Oil (source of Omega-6 Fatty Acids), Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Flaxseed Oil (source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids), Choline Chloride, Salt, Cranberries, Kelp, Rosemary Extract, carrageenan, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Taurine, Lecithin, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate.

i think she likes it because it smells sorta fishy even though i put bonito flakes in the dish she hates bonito flakes i don't know why she likes this type of food.  she hated the lamb when i bought ziwipeak lamb, hated the turkey and chicken and beef from evo, she hated the turkey type blue buffalo.  I don't know what is in it that makes her like it  this is the grain version but dont' think its really that bad. but she actually ate most of it.

Click to expand...

I am not familiar with Felidae but on the surface and at a quick glance, the ingredients look good! Glad you found something your fukid likes

well i hope this felidae is good it says its low in ph balance so prevent any more bladder infection  my fincky cat actually loves it when it was tehre feeding time for the night she actually went to the wet food right away and licked it up she still wont' eat alot but she is eating more then evo, or any other food i have given her.

Candie said:

well i don't free feed when i'm at home but i can't let my cat starve that one time my cat foamed in her mouth cause i tried to give her can food all day and wouldn't give up and when iput her dry food out she ate rigth away. my vet said nothing was wrong with her

Click to expand...

Get a new vet. Seriously. Any vet worth his salt ought to know about feline hepatic lipidosis. It's very, very dangerous for a cat to go hungry for a day or more.