Do cats need dry food at all?

Hello,

We do not have a cat yet, and I was just wondering if cats need dry food at all?  Should we be feeding the cat all wet food or can they have a mix of both dry and wet?  Thanks!

JessicaC05 said:

 
Hello,

We do not have a cat yet, and I was just wondering if cats need dry food at all?  Should we be feeding the cat all wet food or can they have a mix of both dry and wet?  Thanks!

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IMO, nope Avoid dry food if you can, for all the reasons explained at Catifno.org

These may also help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat-part-2

An all canned food diet is much healtier for cat but some people do have to feed at least some dry food because of budget or other reasons. Some people feed canned food when they are home and leave a small amount of dry out for snacking on. If you do a mix of dry and canned, try feed more canned than dry, like 80% canned and 20% dry. Add extra water to the canned to ensure that the cat is well hydrated.

Dry food doesn't help with dental health at all so ignore what you may hear from the vet and others. Regular home dental care will keep teeth clean and healthy, ie tooth brushing.

I just posted links to affordable canned foods here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/314737/cant-decide-what-to-feed-my-8-week-old-kitten#post_3943992 You don't need to buy the expensive premium brands Some people feed mainly inexensive brands and occasionally rotate in a premium brand for variety.

Cats don't need to have dry food, but its perfectly fine to feed a combination of wet and dry. Many members here do this - either for convenience or budgeting reasons...or even just because their cats love it! An all wet diet is a great option though, and is closer to what a cat is designed to eat.

There is no NEED to feed dry though. It's a myth that it helps dental health, as this article explains.

Check out our nutrition articles for tons of information on feeding cats, but remember - the best food for your cat is the one he will happily eat. No matter how great the food, it can't do any good from inside the tin!

Columbine said:

but remember - the best food for your cat is the one he will happily eat. No matter how great the food, it can't do any good from inside the tin!

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I feed both wet and dry. Mainly because I just can't afford all-wet food. It would be great if I could but well, I just can't. So, dry supplement it is.

Cats do not need dry food as others have said. I feed my cats a mixture of wet and dry since I am gone at work during the day and simply can't get them wet food during the day also it would be too expensive even with the cheaper wet brands. I have one cat who loves wet food and probably would be fine eating an all wet diet.  My other cat is one we got as a two year old. He is not into change and loves dry food. He will only eat a few bites of wet food at a time, so we are working on it with him. He eats high quality dry food and a few bites of wet each day. 

Both cats get their teeth brushed almost every day so their teeth aren't an issue. Eating dry food certainly hasn't protected my two year old cat from having plaque in his teeth and I don't see more with the younger cat that eats more wet food. 

Thank you all so much for your knowledge and advice!  

LTS3 said:

IMO, nope

Avoid dry food if you can, for all the reasons explained at Catifno.org
 

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I'm with LTS3 on this and second the recommendation of reading Catinfo.org. Our cats do really well on a combination of wet foods (canned and raw) and their minor digestive issues (vomiting and gas) improved very quickly when we switched them to wet. That said, I know there are various reasons lots of people can't feed all wet foods. And I once had a cat who refused to canned foods. (The options weren't nearly as good as they are now so I wonder how she'd be now...)

Do you know when you'll be getting a cat, @JessicaC05? And how old s/he will be? Just curious!

We are hoping to get a kitten because we have a bird.  In my part of the US, not sure if other places, there is a shortage of kittens right now.  I am told they will be born in March/April around here.  So hopefully we can get one in May.  Stay tuned!!

Our shelters in WA state already have their first batches of kittens. I would just keep an eye on the shelters to see if they have any. If you're on the east coast or in the mid west, having the first batches of kittens showing up in March sounds about right. That would be normal for us here too, but this year our winter was very warm.

They may not need it, but it depends on what you are willing to feed. Just make sure your cat is getting enough water.

I feed both wet and dry as my girl Angel likes to munch on it. Miagi likes it too. My boy Tiger only ate dry because every wet food (best brands even) made him sick. And he got enough water. We don't go through dry fast since he passed away as often but my guys like it and if we run out of canned cat food they can nibble on something.

So really it depends on the individual cats and your preferences! Not all cats do well on 100% wet just like not all do good on 100% dry. A 50% of both is just fine.

I feed my personal cats and any foster cats that I care for a 100% wet diet. I buy Friskies pates for $0.70 per 13 oz cans to cut costs of feeding fosters.

I've been very happy with the health benefits of canned food. I adopted an overweight constipated cat and he's now down under 10 1/2 pounds. The last few months, I've not done much conscious effort and he's continued to slim down beautifully on his wet food diet.

Their urine output is also wonderful, even though they don't drink much water from their bowls.

As far as dental health, I haven't seen any solid evidence that normal dry food helps that much. Even if there is a slight benefit it certainly isn't reliable. I adopted an elderly cat (14 when I adopted him) who ate mostly dry food his whole life. I have him scheduled for dental cleaning under general anesthesia to address his periodontal disease.

Regardless of which food is consumed, cats need preventative dental care. About 99% of cats eat dry food at least part of the time and most cats end up with some degree of oral disease by age 3.

The gold standard in cat dental care is daily home toothbrushing and professional dental cleanings if needed.