Dry food vs wet

My 2 one year old cats have a definite preference for dry food. I was being conscientious - buying good quality wet and giving one feeding of Orjen. While in the vet with one cat, the vet said she could feel hard stool and advised me to give more fiber. She also commented that kitty's teeth shoed signs of gum disease. I ended up buying a vet bag of high fiber and dental formula dry food. The cats love it and resist the wet in favor of dry.

How best to manage the situation?


Thank you, Susan

There are different ways to treat constipation, and adding more fiber is only one of them and doesn't work for all cats and may actually worsen the problem in some cats. Fiber is naturally a very low percentage of a cat's diet. Fiber will bulk up the stool, which may or may not be a good thing for your cat. There's a lot more good info here: felineconstipation.org.

As for gum disease, that seems to be more a genetic predisposition than anything else. If you got the Hill's t/d formula, that may help, but nothing beats a dental cleaning and regular brushing.

Hard stool is usually caused by lack of moisture from eating dry food, so I prefer wet food. I personally would stay away from fiber since it made my cats' condition worse. Now I give my cat meaty wet food that has the lowest fiber content and I add extra water.

As far as vet food or food that says things like 'dental formula' it's more of a gimmick for consumers to buy into. It has no nutritional value with all those by-products and grains.

http://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

This link will help you to transition your cats to wet food. If you have a cat that is courting constipation, feeding more dry food will not help it, and could very well make the problem worse. 

And I would stay away from Science Diet t/d. Especially with an ingredient line-up like this:

Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Powdered Cellulose, Pork Fat, Soybean Mill Run, Lactic Acid, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, L-Lysine, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Natural Flavors.

...and a laughable benefit claim like this:

Unique kibble scrubs away laden plaque in the mouth to promote systemic health

http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-td-canine-dental-health-dry.html

Do these people NOT understand that cats do not chew their food into little bits and then swallow it??!! They slice and tear their (natural prey) food into smaller chunks and then swallow the chunks whole.

If you think about what sort of things cats eat in the wild, raw meat is a majority of their diet. And water. Like Aoi Chan said, I think it is preferable to give them a meaty wet food to regulate their digestion. The only thing I would say about this is that if your cat has eaten a mostly dry diet for an extended period of time, you will want to ease them into anything different.

Yes that's why I am so confused.  I have been using some of pure chicken wet (Tiki) and then add one of the pate types (Merrick - chicken, truducken). 

The thing is they (cats) almost boycott the wet until the dry comes.  Does your cat let you brush his teeth?  The Orgen/Orjen  dry is supposed to be one of the best dry foods..

I don't believe they are constipated because prior to vet visit there was a poop every day. They seem to be tolerating the vet fibre formula.  I also think the dental formula has helped.

I feel like a new mother with these pets.  (I had 2 cats before that lived to 18 years, never questioned anything I did with them)

Thank you, Susan

Get their teeth cleaned and go back to doing what you were doing, vet food is junk

You really don't have to give them wet food if you think it's not necessary. They are your cats, do what you feel is best for them. I'm just here to give advice. What you take from it is your choice.

Feeding wet food is not going to happen overnight. It's going to be a process. Usually the method is to put a dab of wet food under whatever food they are eating right now, then increase a tiny amount everyday until they are eating without refusal.

I personally don't brush my cats' teeth. I probably get clawed to death. To start you can get a small piece of gauze and wrap it around your pointy finger and gently rub it along their teeth.

My cats (two who lived to 10 and 12) and my girl who is 14 have dry all of the time and get wet once a day. We are doing the same for the newest kittens except Wally who is too young. He just gets wet right now. We found an automatic water jug we fill 1-3x a week dependind on how fast 6 pets drink up their water. We keep it filled once it gets half empty.
I love this water jug. It is shaped like an oak barrel upside down. As they drink the water, it refills the little bowl. I love it. I want to get one or two more. My animals seem to drink a lot especially when my house gets super warm. It does starting now. It was 105 and humid today. 98 tomorrow, 107 and humid on Saturday.



So far no gum issues or teeth thank heavens.

Cats are obligatory carnivores and must eat mostly meat and shouldn't be fed dry kibble.  Kibble dehydrates and does not help clean teeth as many claim it to do (does eating a cracker clean your teeth?).  When a cat chews dry kibble only the tips of the teeth crunch on the food, some cats swallow it whole and it does nothing to remove tartar below or above the gum line only brushing with good dental care does that.  Hard stools are usually the result of not enough moisture.  A small spoonful of pumpkin (not the pie filler) will usually help move things along.  To wean your pet(s) from "kitty krack" kibble start with a mixture of wet and dry and slowly reduce the kibble until your cat(s) are eatng a complete diet of wet food.  You will notice you cat not drinking as much water because the moisture in the wet food will provide moisture, your cats coat will be more shiny and sleak and won't have the dandruff most cats on dry kibble have because their skin is dry.

Are there cats who live on dry kibble their entire lives of course there are, but if you can afford a quality wet food it is the best you can do for your cats because they cannot go out shopping for themselves.