Moistening Kibble

Hello, I'm a new member looking for some advice on improving my cat's diet and water intake. I've been lurking on the forums a little bit and am still reading through Peirson's CatInfo.org so I understand the main problem behind dry food is the extremely low moisture content. My cat (Luna) unfortunately doesn't live with me (my parents are taking care of her until my living situation changes) so I can't control her diet as much as I'd like to at this point. Right now she is getting a mix of Acana's Wild Prairie (grain free) and a bargain brand kibble which is soaked in the evening and then discarded after it's been out 30 minutes (to prevent bacterial/mycotoxin growth.) In the morning, because of my mom's schedule, Luna receives the same mix but dry... This leads me to my first question: is it possible to soak/wet the food the previous night and then keep it in the fridge until it's served the next morning? Will this prevent bacterial growth at all or is it just too risky?

During my days off this week, I tried replacing Luna's dry morning mix with Merrick (grain-free) but she wasn't that interested; I added water to it but she just drank the juice mostly. After 30 min, I put it back in the fridge then tried again later with the same results. How many times can I do this until the wet food isn't any good?

I am looking into freeze-dried food and raw, because the more I learn the more concerned I become. The main problem with raw that I see is thawing it... Can it be thawed in the refrigerator and then served the next day? How long can either of these be left out for her to eat?

One last thing: prior to when we started wetting Luna's food (about 1 week ago), she seemed to drink a decent amount of water. Since moistening her food, my mom's reported that she hasn't seen her drink. I know Dr. Peirson says that a cat eating wet food and not drinking at all STILL gets more water than a cat that drinks and eats kibble, but I'm concerned because Luna (who is eight) is only getting half her food wet, and I'm not sure if this is adequate... Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for any advice... As I've said, I'm still researching but my knowledge is a bit scattered at this point, so I apologize if my post is all over the place. 

May I ask why you wouldn't just switch her to wet food?

We discussed adding moisture to dry cat food at length in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/252221/moistening-dry-food

I'm not sure it answers your question though.I really don't know whether moistening it the night before and storing it in the fridge would be OK or not... and the same goes for how many times you can offer her the moist food that's been in the fridge. I'm not sure anyone has an answer, really. So is the problem that she's now not eating enough food?

Maybe serve her measured amounts of dry food and put out moistened dry food next to it so she'll eat the dry, but will also drink the "kibble gravy"? That way you can just use a few kibbles and she'll drink the kibble gravy, but the rest won't go to waste? :dk:

Here's an article on tips to increase her water intake - maybe some of these ideas will help, though the main reason I'm including it is because it does discuss how much water is adequate. http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

As to raw, yes, that's how most manage it. They take out what is needed for a couple of days and let it thaw in the fridge. All you have to do is overlap, so that some is thawing when you're close to finishing up what was already in the fridge, thawed for feeding.

Shaheena: mainly because she doesn't really take to it. I was reading the article on here about how to switch over, and ideally, that's what I would do... The problem mostly arises from the fact that she's in my parents' care right now, and I'm gradually getting my mom to understand the problems of dry food. Her response is that she thinks Luna was drinking enough before. She's been going along with my "feeding program" but seems skeptical. I was hoping Luna would eat enough of the wet food in the morning that we could give her that and then feed the wet Acana in the evening, because that seemed like a good "middle-of-the-road" route...

LDG: Thanks for the links. That first thread was the main one I came across and learned about the time limit (20-30 minutes) for moistened dry food and the problems with mycotoxins. I guess I'm just trying to pin down further questions that I still had after reading the thread. But if there's no clear answers, then I'd rather not risk it.

I will try seeing how making a little gravy and adding it next to the dry food goes... Perhaps getting a tiny bit of freeze-dried, moistening it to a soup and then leaving a little dry food out for mornings will get her to drink more with breakfast. See if she eats it within a decent amount of time. I just wish I was here to observe daily and make adjustments as needed.

Sounds like the raw food might be easier (assuming she eats it in a timely manner) and healthier than what I'm trying to do right now... Or trying to transition to wet completely. Before I started experimenting, she had semi-timed meals: we added a set amount of dry food twice daily and she'd eat the majority fairly quickly and slowly snack on the rest throughout the day. So, at least she's used to receiving food at set times (as per the article on this site suggests as the first step in transitioning.)

Thank you both for your replies... I'll keep experimenting and reading.

Last night I got an update from home: Luna seems to be peeing less and drinking noticeably less water (if at all) according to my mom. This was with soaking her food just in the evening. I asked my mom to measure the water she was adding to the kibble and it was 1/4 cup. She'll soak the food in the morning now as well, and I asked her to up the water added. I figure that way Luna should be getting the minimum 1/2 cup she needs as per the link "How to Increase Your Cat's Water Intake." My mom is still convinced she was getting enough water before, as Luna would drink very frequently (although not a lot in one sitting) and pee about 3x a day, with each pee wetting about 1/3-2/3 cup of litter (we don't have clumping). Any thoughts on this?

I want to eventually switch her to either wet, freeze dried, or raw (although the latter might be a little out of my price range right now.) Prior to all this, Luna has been on typical bargain brand, off-the-shelf food. We are switching her to Acana gradually (similar line to Orijin) and I was wondering, because this kibble has a much higher protein content from meat (rather than filler veggie/grains), does she need to adjust to this level of protein for a little while before I try putting her on freeze dried or raw if I go that route? Is the concern about "shocking her system" have merit in this case? Or could I start to add decent sized chunks of meat to her mixed (and moistened) kibble now without any ill effect?

Thanks again for any replies...

Sorry that I'm not much more of a help regarding your questions, but I would start to mix wet food into her soaked dry food and gradually transition her to wet food only. That (or raw) seems to be the healthiest option, in my opinion. You would also not have to worry about her water intake anymore.. 

RE watering dry food. Not a good idea as it can cause bacteria growth on the kibble. It won't shock her system to feed wet food without much transition I don't think. IF they are eating all wet food, they don't need much more water if any. And I agree with shahenna.