Dry or part wet cat food for stray?

Wow, the forum has really changed since my last visit.

I have a question about Mooie cat, a stray outside tuxedo cat that I've been feeding and taking care of on my back porch. Mooie seems to prefer dry cat food and I've been feeding him? Nutro natural choice adult and some Purina One. I used to leave some wet cat food in his dish, but he would chow down on the dry food and leave the wet food, so I stopped giving him canned food. One night last week, Mooie ate all of the wet food in his dish.

I think that Mooie is a neutered male cat, as I seemed to notice a small sac
while he was licking his tail. He's also a large cat with big paws. Although
not positive, I am quite sure that he is a male. I read that male cats should be given some wet food in their diet as it is healthier for them. What would you recommend? Thanks for any and all help.

Well, he is a stray. Give him what he prefers. It is better for male cats to have wet food in there diet because they are less likely to have urinary track infections. It's interesting that he doesn't care for the wet food. Must cats gravitate towards that.
What I do with my cat, is feed him wet food in the morning and night, and leave dry food out for him during the day. It could be that he doesn't trust the wet food, since he is a stray. He most likely hunts for his own food, which isn't cooked or artifically flavored. He may just think the wet food is weird. If he ate all of it last time, try it again.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice. I'll just try to offer some wet food every once in a while. So, it's urinary tract infections that can be prevented with wet food.
I always leave a fresh bowl of water on the porch, too.

The feeding of wet food is simply to increase their level of water intake (re: prophylactic hydration for URIs). If he's getting plenty of fresh water, his eating only dry food shouldn't be a problem. Our pets are all feral rescues, and none of them like wet food much. I take one can (even the really small ones), divide it five ways (we have five cats inside), mix it with more water than wet food so it's really like watery-gravey. They love the liquid and leave the solids. Go figure. (We feed this to them once a day).

That's so strange! I'll have to try that watery cat food gloop and see if it works. Since I posted this message, every evening I gave Mooie cat a portion of wet cat food with his dry food in a large bowl. Mooie didn't touch the wet food, just ate the dry and drank water from his bowl. I just dumped out the wet food into the woods and mostly likely a raccoon dropped by to finish it off. It must be the texture of the canned food that they don't like. It's good to know that the dry food and water is sufficient, as I clean Mooie's water dish at supper time and put out fresh water for him, and he seems to be getting his intake of water.

Oh, I forgot to add that Old Warrior would eat canned cat food. If I saw him by the patio door, I'd put out half wet half dry for him, and he'd eat both, plus drink water. My daughter said that Warrior would eat just about anything.

For several years I fed an adorable little stray cat with a crooked tail that I named Twiggy. She too preferred to eat dry food. But, as she was a stray outdoor cat (with feline Leukemia ) I did everything to help her live her life to its fullest...(took her to the vet had her fixed, got her shots, etc.) The vet suggested mixing half canned food and half dry.

So I always put out two plates for her when she came...and she seemed to enjoy the variety and gobbled it up! (I gave 1/2 a can in the morning and 1/2 a can at night. Along with a scoop of the dry food)

Callie was picked up the SPCA as a stray on the first of April and since I have had for she goes hog wild for the wet and only eats the dry after she has finished the wet.

But then Tabitha who had also been a stray that we just picked up and brought into our home will only eat dry and refuses to eat the wet. Tab drinks a lot of water every day though where Callie does not.

I wonder if the amount of water a cat consumes has anything to do with why they may or may not eat wet.

I think you are doing well as long as your furbaby seems to like what he is eating. My cat Dylan ate dry foot alone for 11 years. And ony since getting sick has started eating canned food.

So long as he is eating a good amount...he is getting a pretty good diet. The crunchy stuff is great for his teeth too and will help to mantain his overall dental health.

If you can also get him to eat the canned stuff, I am sure there are extra nutrients, etc. in there that will help him out in the long run as long as you watch the portions of each and don't overfeed.