Hey guys! New here to the cat site but oh my gosh this site has been sooooo helpful for me over the last couple of months. Finally decided to jump in! I hope this is the right place to ask this question.
So, basically, I have this kitten who was the only surviving kitty out of his litter including the mother cat who was hit by a car and his three litter mates who have since passed on. The neighbor girls brought him over to me when he was only 3 days old and I have been hand raising him since then. He is now almost 11 weeks old and thriving! It was my first time ever hand raising a kitten, so I've done a lot of research, and throughout all my researching I've learned that dry cat food is really not good for cats. So, I've been feeding this one an organic canned cat food with whole meats and vegetables and all that good stuff. I took him to the vet today for a check up, and she's really urging me to get him off the canned food and onto dry food. She says that he needs to eat dry food for the resistance or something to help him strengthen his teeth. (She mentioned nothing about tartar or keeping the teeth clean... just that he needed the dry food to help his teeth develop properly).
In your experience, is this true? I mean, everything I've read says dry food is a big no no. (I do have some dry grain free food that my sister feeds her cats) but really I'd rather just keep him on the wet food. Will his teeth have issues later in life is he doesn't eat the kibble? Also, are there other alternatives to give him for strong tooth development and good dental health like maybe greenies for cats or something?
Thank you!
So, basically, I have this kitten who was the only surviving kitty out of his litter including the mother cat who was hit by a car and his three litter mates who have since passed on. The neighbor girls brought him over to me when he was only 3 days old and I have been hand raising him since then. He is now almost 11 weeks old and thriving! It was my first time ever hand raising a kitten, so I've done a lot of research, and throughout all my researching I've learned that dry cat food is really not good for cats. So, I've been feeding this one an organic canned cat food with whole meats and vegetables and all that good stuff. I took him to the vet today for a check up, and she's really urging me to get him off the canned food and onto dry food. She says that he needs to eat dry food for the resistance or something to help him strengthen his teeth. (She mentioned nothing about tartar or keeping the teeth clean... just that he needed the dry food to help his teeth develop properly).
In your experience, is this true? I mean, everything I've read says dry food is a big no no. (I do have some dry grain free food that my sister feeds her cats) but really I'd rather just keep him on the wet food. Will his teeth have issues later in life is he doesn't eat the kibble? Also, are there other alternatives to give him for strong tooth development and good dental health like maybe greenies for cats or something?
Thank you!