Mixing wet and dry food?

We currently feed our cat wet food only. We would like to mix in some dry food for his dental health and for the option of giving him dry food when we are away...
Does anyone do this? Advice or tips appreciated.....

Mogli gets two main meals of wet food a day and two snacks consisting of a couple of pieces of dry food. That's due to digestive problems he has, not dental health. Have you seen this article?
Does Dry Food Actually Clean Your Cat's Teeth?

Our last cat was a dry food fanatic, so he got dry for breakfast and wet for dinner. I did add dry to the wet food for quite a while before I could get him to accept canned only as a meal. He tended to swallow the kibble whole, so it's very doubtful that his teeth benefited in any way.

There are far better products out there for dental health than dry food. I've observed the same as jcat - the one cat who does get kibble as part of his diet had a tendency to swallow it whole too...maybe one bite in 15-20 actually gets chewed.

Thanks for the advice..... Best suggestions for dental health would be appreciated....

This article may help http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-tcs-members-use-cat-dental-health-care

Teaching the cat to have its teeth cleaned is one option, but IMO it's best done from a young kitten.

Other than that, there are products you can get to put into the water or food - plaque off is the first one that springs to mind. I have no personal experience of this kind of product, but I'm considering trying plaque off for my cats (and dogs too - shared water bowls).

Lastly, chunks of raw meat or raw meaty bones are the most natural way to keep teeth clean - again, haven't tried it myself, but I'm sure you can get loads of information in the raw and homemade feeding forum.

We use a CET toothbrush and toothpaste on our cats and they've done pretty well adapting. We got them started when they were almost two. I think the key thing is finding a toothpaste the cat likes--I got seafood flavor for our two--and then working toothbrushing into the daily routine. There's a great series of videos here that shows some methods; I adapted it for each of our cats because one started chewing on the brush, which I took as a sign of acceptance so moved faster, and the other was slower to get into it but is now patient with having her back teeth (her problem area) actually brushed. We don't feed treats so they don't get treats after brushing but they love another taste of toothpaste instead... and then I feed them a can of food.

One other thing, @Meow66 -- if your cat already has tooth issues, you might want to ask your vet about the Bartonella bacterium. Our cats developed more plaque and mild gingivitis than young cats should, so, on our vet's recommendation, we had them tested for Bartonella. Our vet said she's seen dramatic improvements in many cats who take a course of antibiotics for Bartonella. It's too early to know for our cats but I'm hoping the combination of antibiotics and toothbrushing improve their dental health enough that they don't have to have lots of expensive and pain-in-the-neck cleanings! Here's an article about Bartonella. Bartonella is, BTW, the same bacterium that causes cat scratch fever in humans: I was surprised when a high school friend said she'd contracted it from her cat and then two or three of her other friends mentioned cases. I had no idea it was so prevalent.

Good luck!

I have used an enzyme toothpaste with Mouse since he was about 9 months old because he has a history of oral problems, and is also on the Prescription TD food mentionned in the article @Columbine  gave you the link for.  I think the arcicle is useful, and I would not suggest you fed the prescrition food unless your cat already had dental problems and your vet advised it.  The toothpaste on the other hand often seems to be taken to like a treat for cats if your read what other members have written about different kinds in the Reviews section of the site.  With enzyme pastes it helps even if you don't brush it on to the cat's teeth.  I prefer using a paste than water additive as I know how much my cat is getting each day.  Adding to water you can never be sure.  

You note you also want to introduce dry food as an option for times when you are away from home.  I can appreciate this as I did this with my previous cats who ate both wet and dry food.  One option is to offer wet food at intervals during the day for regular feeding and dry over night which is what I did:  it also saved on the number of times I got meowed out of bed by hungry kitties in the early mornings....  I was lucky as didn't have cats which over fed when being left to free-feed.   Their being used to both types of food meant they were happy to eat the dry if I was out for longer days than usual or went away over night occasionally.

Your other option would be one of the timed feeders with a chill componant - though my previous cats never quite mastered the art of waiting when they knew there was food in there for the eating.  They also got a bit nervous of the mechanism when it was moving and prepareing to uncover the next feed.

There are dental tips here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/293541/tooth-brushin-cat-making-progress There are other threads on dental care here on TCS in the Care and Grooming forum

Awesome information, thank you all kindly....[emoji]9786[/emoji]️

Columbine said:

There are far better products out there for dental health than dry food. I've observed the same as jcat - the one cat who does get kibble as part of his diet had a tendency to swallow it whole too...maybe one bite in 15-20 actually gets chewed.

Click to expand...

My vet said dry food does nothing for a cat's teeth.  They don't chew like people, dogs & horses; just bite & swallow.  She said even rubbing the gel on with your finger is better than nothing if you can't brush.

R riley1 I absolutely agree that kibble doesn't aid dental health - to me it's no more logical than suggesting crackers will clean human teeth effectively

All good folks, thanks very much. We will try just keeping some dry food for when we are away. I was concerned that he may have trouble digesting it if he is used to wet food but it doesn't sound like its a problem. We are on a diet and leaving him food overnight is not really an option...

Thanks again!