Is dry food really that bad?

I'm going nuts researching cat foods for my 8 adult cats and 3 kittens. After my beloved Purry passed away ( He lived 19 years, 7 months and 10 days), I adopted 3 kittens ( now are adult) from the shelter, 2 'foster failure' and became my cats from volunteering, 1 stray kitten ( now is adult) and another pregnant mama cat with 4 kittens. I gave one kitten to a friend ( It's hard to find people who want cats, and I don't want to send them to the shelter) and kept the mama and her 3 kittens, together with my 12 year old Tabby that's where the 11 cats from. Everyone is fixed!!! 

One of my cats has UTI crystal issue. I have to feed the kittens kitten food, UTI cat special diet food, watch out my one fat cat not eating too much, and watch out the UTI cat not to eat other cats' food. The kittens are like robbers because they constantly like to eat other cats' food. The mama cat ( spayed now) likes to eat my UTI cat's ( Tucker) prescription diet. I'll have to guard them while they are eating. It takes me more than an hour every morning to feed them and clean litter boxes before going to work and more than an hour again in the evening. Lots of work but I'm not complaining, I love my cats. 

Now I read online that dry food is really bad and don't feed your cats dry foods. Well, my Purry ate dry food almost his entire life ( I didn't know much about cat food then) and was only on prescription K/D when he was 18 diagnosed with kidney failure. I fed him Purina one Urinary Tract health dry and IAMS dry. My Tabby cat had been on 100% dry until he was 9 when I started to be dry food cautious. He just had a recent blood-work check up and is all healthy. I want to feed the most nutritional feeds to my cats and not sure if I should totally avoid dry food. With this many cats it costs a lot of $$ on cat foods, especially wet foods. Any suggestions? 

Hot button subject. After we lost Kitten who ate nothing but wet food our five year old started to refuse to eat. Not needing another disaster I let her eat some of her favorite dry food. She now eats maybe 3oz of wet and the rest dry. Some days she will not touch wet at all. The baby cat from the shelter who was returned looked very unthrifty and my best guess she was being fed grocery store dry before being dumped back at the shelter. Of course she now prefers to eat dry along with her new best buddy.

Mine love the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Indoor and the Nutro.  The current wet food of choice is FF Salmon and Shrimp in gravy. whoohoo   Baby Cat loves the weruva however I've been snowed in for over two weeks or it's been so bad I choose not to drive. Next Tuesday I will stock up on that and likely a new basket full of fresh offerings to Bastet ( Baby Mook). I'm not going to even repeat the debacle of going raw. In the end it seems we feed them the best food we can afford that they will actually eat.

The evil vet who blinded Kitten ranted on and on about the evils of dry food while never addressing the content of some wet. Mook is a good water drinker on her own. Little Mercy has picked that up. We do the best we can and practice healthy weight management and find ways for our indoor cats to get adequate exercise.

I have 10 cats, 7 are kittens that all came from the same feral mama, (she's spayed now and everyone is fixed) so I know where you're coming from.

Is dry food bad? Well, sort of. I personally think feeding some dry food is okay, but ideally cats should eat as much real meat as possible. Cats are obligate carnivores, and dry food doesn't really contain the high meat content that cats really need, and it's also very dehydrating. If you're going to feed kibble, you should feed the highest quality you can afford, which isn't going to be anything you can buy at the grocery store. All you have to do is read the ingredients in your cats food to see that its full of weird crap cats don't need. Just like people, some cats have better genetics than others, so some cats can eat crappy food their entire lives and live to be super old, while others not so much.

Here's a good place to start to learn about cat foods and why feeding dry food isn't ideal. A lot of people here feed a combo of lower quality wet foods with high quality dry foods. FF classic, tractor supply 4 health grain free, are some great places to start.

This is a good list of dry foods.

I spend a significant amount of money per month on cat food, but i firmly believe that if they eat good food they will have less medical problems and live longer healthier lives.

Kittens mom - so sorry about your Kitten... Yup I agree that there are some bad ingredients in some canned foods. I try to avoid any grocery brands or the super cheap canned foods. I kind of think you get what you pay for...

Hi missmimz,

I'm so glad that you have 10 cats, similar situation like mine and I hope I'm not crazy having 11 cats. My teenager kids don't like me to tell people we have 11 cats....I kept on adding more cats since 2011 when Purry passed away. 11 is our MAX - no more. One of the kitties become unsociable and only wants to live upstairs .  I'd also rather spending more $$ on quality cat foods then money going to the vets. 

Thanks for the information. 

I think I'm going to feed them 50/50 wet/dry and choose reputable brands. 

Hmmm my opinion is that you should buy decent, but not the most expensive dry food. Id save the money for the wet food.

Isn't that the more you read and more you educate yourself about cat foods, the more you don't know what to feed them?
I've heard that good quality dry foods are better than canned food with low quality ingridents, but have also heard that any wet food is better than dry food including prescription dry food.... So what do you believe?
If I'm going to feed my 11 cats wet food only it probably will cost at least $1,000 per month on cat food, especially I have a male cat w UTI crystals. That is TOO SCARY!!! I'm just going to feed them both quality dry food and wet food- 50/50. It's hard to lay wet food around the house for 12 hours a day when you are not home going to work 5 days a week, but I can't really lay dry food in the house when I'm not home either because I don't want my UTI cat eat dry food.... Hmmm.....what should I do?

You can just put them on a feeding schedule. Mine eat 2x a day. I cant leave dry food around either because one cat gets diarrhea from dry and wet food. He gets fed in the bathroom. . Oh and my cats sleep out in the living room so they cant bug me for food at 5am.

It really depends on what kind of dry food and wet you're giving your cat.wet food and raw food diets are very good but 100% wet food can rot their teeth. for dry food the higher brands are more expensive but you get what you pay for I feed my cats Blue Buffalo and it makes a huuuuuge difference from feeding them cat chow. so, really if your looking at feeding your cat a can of friskies cat food or giving them a bag of blue buffalo dry food. id say the dry food is better. 

look at the ingredients on the bag/cans of food your want meat to be the first ingredient and not meat by product.

Is 2X per day enough? Is it ok not having food around for 12 hours when you are not home? One of my cats is almost 17 lbs and the vet said she is boarder line obesed. I put her on different diet food but nothing works to get her lose weight.
I lock 3-4 cats in a room during night time and have the others roam in the house when I sleep. Well, they sleep when I'm sleep but do wake me up around 6:00. A couple of them keep digging my pillow and walking around my pillow to force me to get up to feed them. Weekdays are ok but I still have to get up early on weekends to feed them!!!
Ok I'll try to feed them 2x a day, and put my foot down when they bug me between dinner and going to bed when they want to eat.

you could try a timed feeder. you can get them at petsmart. basically you put the food in and it opens at the time you set. 

Yup twice a day is totally fine. Many people do it! You can try it slowly. Like if you normally feed them 4x cut it to 3x and etc. You can monitor them and check if theyre eatng more at each meal because they will figure out the schedule after a couple of days. My cats are antsy in the morning when i wake up and at night around 6:30 because they know thats when they usually get fed.

Ok I'll try the scheduled feeding but not sure if the timed feeder will work since I have so many cats on different foods- 3 kittens ( 8 months old) and one doesn't like dry food. I had a hard time to wean these kittens because mama is around. They were still nursing up to almost 5 months ( on kitten food too) after mama was spayed; a 3 year old with UTI crystals and a fat cat who LOVES to eat. Besides the kittens, UTI cat and fat cat , the rest are pretty normal and on normal diet.
I don't think you can put wet food on the timed feeder, can't you?

PurryNiniTabby said:

Isn't that the more you read and more you educate yourself about cat foods, the more you don't know what to feed them?
I've heard that good quality dry foods are better than canned food with low quality ingridents, but have also heard that any wet food is better than dry food including prescription dry food.... So what do you believe?
If I'm going to feed my 11 cats wet food only it probably will cost at least $1,000 per month on cat food, especially I have a male cat w UTI crystals. That is TOO SCARY!!! I'm just going to feed them both quality dry food and wet food- 50/50. It's hard to lay wet food around the house for 12 hours a day when you are not home going to work 5 days a week, but I can't really lay dry food in the house when I'm not home either because I don't want my UTI cat eat dry food.... Hmmm.....what should I do?

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I think the best you can do is do what works for you and your cats . I don't think kibble is bad but I do  believe that only kibble can be a problem for some cats . My two  cats eat about 80% wet with some kibble . It is what they like .  I can understand the cost issue .  There some affordable wet foods out there .  My cats eat Friskies Pate &  Special Kitty  .  You can also get 4 Health at Tractor Supply .  Also for your UTI cat especially you can add a Tbs of water to his wet food .  I do that for both my cats .  Also I think a 50/50 diet is fine if that works for you ..

It wasnt long ago that the cat lovers and vets were all saying that dry food was far better than wet. Today its a different story and the truth is, tomorrow it may be a whole other story too.

Canned food is insanely expensive, especially if you have multiple cats. Some cats dont like it, some cats puke it up, and other cats do great on it.

I have to be honest in saying that all but one cat that Ive known that lived a long, healthy life was on a low quality dry food. The other was on a low quality wet food. I know low,quality foods have a lot of junk in them but its amazing that many cats do quite well on them and I beliece it ha a lot more to do with lifestyle and genetics.

That being said, I think there are perks to both wet and dry foods. And I think certain cats b eed one over the other. For example, if an underweight or senior cat will not eat food, then by golly feed them dry! If a cat has cystitis, aet food can benefit them.

My point is, I believe its a personal desicion between you and your cats.If your cats are doing just fine on dry food, then go ahead and continue. The money you save might help with vet bills and you may be abke to buy a higher quality food this way. Research on pet nutrition is always changing so I think its best to spend the time with your cats instead of fretting over their food. If a health issue comes up where a food change is needed, tgen deal wirh it then.

In my personal experience, I avoid salmon and other fishy foods due to my issues with males and cystitis. Beyond that, one cat is on a mostly wet diet but increasingly wont eat it because he likes dry food or wants a mix of tge two. My other three cats and dog are on dry food and occasional wet. Ironically my dry food pets are healthier.

I have a lot of kitties too (24! Yikes!). Most of them are currently eating primarily dry food, due to convenience. But I try to get as much canned food as possible in their diet. I have some of the older cats in a separate area and they get all canned food. Friskies pate is fine, Special Kitty is OK too (except the tuna flavor, try to avoid that one). If you buy the big cans it costs less per ounce. Friskies comes in a 13-ounce can and Special Kitty comes in 13-oz and 22-oz, though not all Walmarts carry the 22-oz size.

I don't think feeding all canned food will cost as much as you think---if each cat ate 6 ounces a day, that would be around 5 13-oz cans a day, we'll say $1.25 a can each for Friskies (usually they cost less but it depends where you shop), so that would be $6.25 a day, which would be $187.50 a month. If you wanted something higher-quality, you can find 13-oz cans of Dave's, Triumph, or Wellness on www.chewy.com for less than $2 a can, so that would be $10 a day---around $300 a month. Not cheap, but not $1000 a month either .

I will say that the more canned food I feed them, the better the results I see. So I do think canned food is better than dry. But feeding all canned food isn't always an option, you just have to do the best you can!

Oh, about how many times a day to feed---I've found that my cats don't like being fed only twice a day. 3 times a day is better, in their opinions! Before work, after work, bedtime works for me.

Omg, I have a cat with CKD, another with obesity issues, as well as kittens. I understand the dilemma of looking for a good food for all! I've been studying cat food so much that if they offered degrees in it, I'd probably get one :lol3:

Until a few years ago, we fed dry exclusively, and we free-fed. It's been Science Diet since... as far back as I can remember. Well, sometime in the 80s. With a few exceptions, our cats have all lived long and happy lives. My big girl Maple is probably the only one that has dehydration issues, and that's only because she stays in my bedroom most of the day. Even my CKD kitty is good as far as staying hydrated on her own.

We did start feeding canned as a "treat" at night a few years back. And this past weekend, I started adding food in the morning to go along with the k/d that Sara gets. The other kitties felt like they were being deprived and well, been trying to get a little more wet food in their diets. But, the majority is and will be dry because that's what I can afford. I'd venture to say 2/5 of their diet is wet though. If I can get to half, that would be great. But if I can't, well, I'm not gonna go crazy about it.

My Tiger boy only ate dry and wet sometimes because sensitive tummy. I tried all the  good brands with him and still he threw it up. I didn't have to worry about dehydration because he drank water really well.

Miagi & Angel are mainly fed wet but Angel likes her dry food. So I am not going to take it away from her, I put it up at night though so she doesn't get chunky. Plus Miagi & Angel both drink water really well as well.

So I think it depends on what works for your cats. Not every diet is the same for each cat just like a human. Wet food is better if you can feed it but you can feed dry as well as long as your cats are getting enough water.

Since I stopped feeding my kitten dry food (just an 1/8 cup a day and the rest wet), she's not hungry all the time and begging for more food.

I think dry makes them hungrier or is less satisfying. So you end up feeding more in the end or you have a hungry cat!

BestDayEver said:

Since I stopped feeding my kitten dry food (just an 1/8 cup a day and the rest wet), she's not hungry all the time and begging for more food.

I think dry makes them hungrier or is less satisfying. So you end up feeding more in the end or you have a hungry cat!

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How old is your kitten? Kittens are a different story than adults. They need more food and should always have access to kitten food.

She's 8 months. I feed her 1.25 cans of pure vita turkey stew everyday. Comes to 209 calories a day.