So which is better?...

....Friskies wet with Felidae dry, or just no wet at all and only the Felidae dry?

This is for my 7 year old male DSH, Raphael. He loves him some Friskies, into which I have managed to sneak some Cal Natural wet, but I'm worried that he won't eat the wet without the Friskies (which is what he was on at the shelter, along with Science Diet dry, which, thank god, he's not on anymore). If that happens to be the case, do I just take him off the wet since Friskies is terrible, or are there benefits to wet that even Friskies would supply?

Check the labels, some of the Friskies wet flavors aren't really that bad.

wet food provides easier to digest protein( very important ) ... Many will say the worst quality wet it better than the best dry... I agree that wet in some amount is needed unless feeding homemade or raw...

Have you tried some higher quality wets or does Rapheal only want Friskies??

for a senior kitty I wouls try for higher end wet but would give the lower end if needed to ensure the mosture and other benifits of wet are had... Does he like fishy flavors??

Originally Posted by sharky

wet food provides easier to digest protein( very important ) ... Many will say the worst quality wet it better than the best dry... I agree that wet in some amount is needed unless feeding homemade or raw...

Have you tried some higher quality wets or does Rapheal only want Friskies??

for a senior kitty I wouls try for higher end wet but would give the lower end if needed to ensure the mosture and other benifits of wet are had... Does he like fishy flavors??

Click to expand...

Well, he's only had Friskies, 9 Lives and Whiskas wet for the past 6 months, since he was living at the shelter. I happened to grab a can of fish flavors at the grocery store today, just because I recognized the color label from the shelter. There's a lot of by-product in it, but other than that, there's nothing bad in it.

I put some Chx and rice Cal Natural in his wet tonight...he didn't seem to mind/notice. I was going to try and add some more tomorrow and see how he does. I'd prefer that he didn't eat fishy flavors.

He's also dealing with some severe emotional issues...his feelings about the shelter were manifested by tearing a strip of fur off of his back, constant crying, and spontaneoulsy attacking staff and volunteers, not to mention that he had lost about half a pound with all of that stress. He's been vetted several times, and we're going in for another check on Thursday of this coming week. Basically, though. it's a textbook case of pyschogenic alopecia and general self-injurious behavior, which I have experience with as Leo felt similarly about being in the shelter. He stopped acting out and seems quite happy here, but he's also quite set in his ways. I've had to wean him off SD very slowly and carefully. He only got the hang of treats after I stuck one in his mouth for him.

Anyway. That's all.

I would just mix in the friskies with the felidea and gradually increase the one you want ... I send you a hug for adopting a senior kitty...

Zoey came with a bit of the psch alopecia but hers turned out to be a wheat allergy...

Originally Posted by sharky

I would just mix in the friskies with the felidea and gradually increase the one you want

... I send you a hug for adopting a senior kitty...

Zoey came with a bit of the psch alopecia but hers turned out to be a wheat allergy...

Click to expand...

Would you consider 7 to be a senior? My vet doesn't run senior panels until age 12 and my shelter doesn't move them to the senior floor until age 10... And considering he's indoors, if all goes smoothly, his life isn't even half over!

Senior or not, he needed OUT of that shelter. I tried to resist him, but he just broke my heart. There's always room for one more here! But he's fitting in very well and I'm just falling in love with him! He's the biggest lovebug!

Yes I call sevan a senior ... I didnt and found out the hard way with Kandie 17.5 yrs that I could have saveed alot of time and trouble if I had... Generally most vets say 7-8 is senior ... for kitty it is missle age as the age roughly( not precise) 5 years for every human year ... so 7-8 is 35-40 and when little troubles can be nipped before becomeing huge by say 12 -13

I am of the opinion that even a lower quality wet food is better than nothing but high quality dry. Certain liver and kidney problems can be prevented just by consuming the higher water content of canned food, and even a crappy canned food has far fewer carbs, grains, and stuff just generally not found in a cat's diet than dry food does.

Lucy and Ruby are both very very picky eaters, but lucky for me, they both like/dislike the same things. They love their EVO dry food, but as for canned, they're little fuss-budgets. About the only food that they LIKE is walmart "Special Kitty" crap in 3oz cans. It's really not THAT bad a food--each one has some meat product on the label I'd rather avoid, either a byproduct or a nonspecified meat, but there are a few flavors that pretty much eliminate the wheat, soy, etc that are found in kitty junk food as binders. Since this is all they'll eat in any quantity, I'm happy enough to give it to them, just so they get something other than dry.

And I don't think it's worth stressing the poor guy out right now.

Raphael is a beauty. I see why you couldn't resist him. Lucky him!