Wet or dry?

I just rescued a 9 week old baby Persian kitten last week. I've had a bunch of cats growing up and always stuck with what my mom said, dry food is best. Wet food is unhealthy and gives cats diarrhea. This last week I've been doing some research because it's been awhile since I've been blessed with a kitty and it seems I've found out that although a cat can survive on dry food wet food or a mix of both is best? I've also seen the raw option but I don't know if I'm up for that challenge. I'm a super germaphobe and raw meat grosses me out lol. So I thought I'd ask you guys what you do? What are your experiences with wet? Does it cause diarrhea? Is raw worth the yuckness to give my baby optimal nutrition? Thanks in advance for your help!!

There are tons and tons and tons of posts here about what food is best, but the majority of users are going to tell you 100% wet (or raw) is best. In my experience wet food does not cause diarrhea, but any time you change your cats diet you can expect some changes in their stool. Kittens also have very very sensitive digestive systems so sometimes diarrhea will occur for a short period of time even no matter what you feed. I always give my kittens a daily probiotic mixed in their wet food to help with any digestive issues. 

I personally feed my kittens mostly wet food with high quality kibble as a snack. I also feed raw as well, but that's another story. 

Think of it like this: A cat is an obligate carnivore, and evolved as a desert creature. They're designed to get around 80% of their fluid intake from their food (not much water in the desert ), and HAVE to eat meat to thrive.

It's virtually impossible to make kibble without some form of starch, and many kibbles have grain - not meat - as their first ingredient. Also kibble, by its very nature, is dry. This can easily result in a dehydrated cat - their natural thirst drive simply isn't strong enough to compensate on its own.

It is possible to help make up for this by taking extra measures to increase fluid intake, but it makes more sense (to me, anyway) to go with a diet that's a little closer to nature. I still feed some kibble, but the majority of the diet is wet food.

Wet food is fantastic for ensuring hydration, and won't cause diarrhoea if properly introduced. Cats' digestive systems aren't keen on major changes, so if a cat is abruptly switched from kibble to canned diarrhoea is often the result...but the same is true of swapping abruptly from one kibble to another.

Raw food done right is a great option, but it isn't for everyone. Unless your cat has digestive issues or allergies, I honestly don't believe there's a huge difference between a raw diet and a good quality tinned diet. Don't feel you have to push yourself way out of your comfort zone - good quality wet food is just fine [article="29707"][/article][article="31089"][/article][article="31127"][/article][article="0"][/article][article="31120"][/article][article="32669"][/article][article="22501"][/article][article="32765"][/article][article="29646"][/article]

Thank you guys so much! I should have flipped through the other pages in the nutrition section before posting because you're right there are tons of posts almost identical to mine lol. I know for next time! Look first then post! I'm gonna give the wet food a try and see how it works for us. Any suggestions on good brands? And is there a kitten geared canned food or is it all just the same?

For a 9 week old, it needs to be a kitten food or one marked 'for all life stages'. I'm in the UK, so am not well acquainted with American and Canadian brands. Hopefully some others will chime in with suggestions.

What you choose will depend, at least partly, on your budget. A fair number of the brands you'll see talked about here will be from specialist pet stores or online suppliers. Some grocery store brands are fine too though. As a guide, check the ingredients. Ideally wet food will be primarily made of meat, free of grains/cereals, and I'd also want to avoid the mysterious 'derivatives of vegetable origin'. After that, I'd look for named meats.

As a rule of thumb, foods 'in gravy' will almost always contain grains in some form, whereas paté style foods will very often (through not always) be grain free.

You'll want a kitten-specific or an all life stages diet.

As far as brands...
Nature's Variety Instinct
Wellness CORE kitten
Tiki Cat
Wild Calling
Nutro Natural Choice kitten

There are several members here that also feed Fancy Feast kitten.

It's mostly going to be deciding what is important in a food for you and what your kitten will actually eat.

Most will agree to look for high protein and low carb, keep it light on the fish-based foods, and to use more than one brand/flavor if possible in the event of a recall, discontinuation or change to the formula.

I used to feed half wet, half dry.  Now I feed about 95% wet and 5% dry, only as a snack. 

I feed 1 can of chicken feast fancy feast pate in the morning, and a 100 kcal portion of dry Acana Wild Prairie at night.

I used to feed 100% wet, but I simply can't do that all the time, since I'm not around some evenings. 

I find ~ 1 pee clump per 24 hours.

Hopefully she'd getting enough fluids....I certainly see her drinking from her bowl sometimes.