Wet and dry food...

Okay, I keep hearing that it's not a good idea to to give kitties a mixture of wet food and dry food. Is this true and if so, why? I like to give my kittens some wet food every morning on top of their dry food. I'd love to give them 100% wet food, but it's just too expensive so I figure a little bit is better than none. Thoughts?

I don't know that there is any digestive reason not to combine the two foods- could be but I've never run into it. To me dry is for nibbling over a period of time and wet would spoil much too quickly for that method of feeding. I prefer wet to be eaten immediately.

I feed wet when they are really hungry and leave dry out only when I am sleeping or at work.

Do you mean wet food physically on top of dry or do you mean wet food also? If it's actually on top then that would be bad and you need separate bowls if you leave the dry food out.

If you do mean actually on top of, you need a separate dish for the wet food. Dry food isn't supposed to get wet until it's actually in their mouth or if you do need to moisten it they need to eat it right away. If you let them have dry all day it can't get wet.

But I'm going to go with in addition to, and say there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and I don't know why you keep hearing that there is. Many people believe that it is best to feed 100% wet, and it probably is. But as long as you feed 50% or better wet, like I'd say probably a majority, if not close, feed a 50/50 diet here. I know I do. Zissou gets a pouch of wet food and then a bowl of dry food to eat whenever she wants it.

I think it's a good compromise because the quality of the food you feed is important too and I know I can't afford to feed all-wet of the same quality food as I do now. And I know better quality foods end up being less expensive, but the same isn't true of the difference between 50/50 good-quality food and 100 wet good-quality food.

It's fine to give both wet and dry food. However, it's better to give them in separate bowls since wet food is very perishable and dry food is relatively resistant to spoilage. You don't want old wet food in with the dry food potentially breeding nasty bacteria. But if they eat all their food within an hour or so, then it's fine to mix them.

Originally Posted by semiferal

It's fine to give both wet and dry food. However, it's better to give them in separate bowls since wet food is very perishable and dry food is relatively resistant to spoilage. You don't want old wet food in with the dry food potentially breeding nasty bacteria. But if they eat all their food within an hour or so, then it's fine to mix them.

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exactly

Thanks for your replies! I understand about physically mixing wet and dry and how you need to make sure they eat it all so it doens't harbor bacteria etc.... What I heard (on this site, I might add) was that to give cats a combination of wet and dry changes the ph of their urine in a bad way. I wish I could find that post. And then I've seen just a couple other general statements saying you need to give your cat either 100% wet or 100% dry, not a combination. That makes no sense to me at all!

Actually a lot of people here feed mostly wet, like AM/PM, but leave out some dry during the day for their cats to eat. I see nothing wrong with feeding both.

I feed both together. They get wet twice a day with a little dry sprinkled on top. The dry is added last minute so that it doesn't have time to go soggy (I know it's still crunchy as I heard Mosi crunching some pieces this morning!). I do it that way to add texture as a lot of the wet food is pate consistency. It all goes straight away though so doesn't hang around going soft. No point in feeding it separately as it's a small amount and they'd just eat it straight down anyway.

Originally Posted by sarathan

What I heard (on this site, I might add) was that to give cats a combination of wet and dry changes the ph of their urine in a bad way. I wish I could find that post.

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I kind of sort of remember reading that post and I just put it down to someone being confused.

There are so many different formulations of dry food and wet food with extremely difffering pH levels that I think a blanket statement like that is silly. Plus the fact that with some foods even if the food itself is very acidic your body metabolizes it as alkaline.
So to say that Little Friskies dry + El Cheapo wet has the same effect on urine pH as Innova EVO + California Natural wet seems a little too much of a generalizatiion to me.

I could possibly understand that wet food contains its own moisture and so doesn't affect a bodies mineral content during digestion, and dry food causes the digestive process to extract water from the body to metabolize and so affects minerals.

I also understand that raw foods require a different set of gut bacteria to digest than dry food, and that the two shouldn't be combined at the same feeding.
It's like humans- fruit digests very fast, so you really shouldn't eat it with foods that take longer to digest. If you do the fruit just sits there and ferments while the other foods are still being broken down, so indigestion results.

Maybe that's the source of the caveat about dry and wet together?? Wet processes much faster and dry takes longer so indigestion is more likely when they are mixed?
Still doesn't affect pH, though.

Maybe that poster will show up and cite us something regarding the pH issue. I feed wet and dry separately, but purely from a spoilage standpoint.

I guess it depends on what you mean by feeding dry and wet together. If you mean mixing the two up together in the same bowl I would say no, why would you.

We feed both - a bowl of dry food for daytime nibbling while we are at work and 1/2 can of wet food in a separate dish morning and night. I've been trying to cut down on the amount of dry (cereal) type food and get them to eat more wet as I believe it to be healthier for them. Apparently their bodies think so too since we've changed to more of a wet diet, their coats have become nicer.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I guess it depends on what you mean by feeding dry and wet together. If you mean mixing the two up together in the same bowl I would say no, why would you.

We feed both - a bowl of dry food for daytime nibbling while we are at work and 1/2 can of wet food in a separate dish morning and night. I've been trying to cut down on the amount of dry (cereal) type food and get them to eat more wet as I believe it to be healthier for them. Apparently their bodies think so too since we've changed to more of a wet diet, their coats have become nicer.

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We feed Harley the same, dry for daytime (which he hardly eats anymore!) but he does get 1 wet pouch in the morning, 1 at noon, and 1 at night - he's actually lost weight ( much needed!) and his coat as become much nicer as well, just like Yosemite's cats!

I've noticed a good thing after feeding him the wet food, he doesn't eat the dry as much anymore, which is great - I'm happy he's eating the wet! He really loves it, and he gets really excited when its time to eat - plus, now he's on a great feeding schedule, which is great for him, and me!

Maybe that poster will show up and cite us something regarding the pH issue.

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That would be me. But do note, that I was not making any claims, this was simply what my vet told me! (I think she meant that the different compositions of the different types of foods could have that effect and create UTI's/crystals/etc.)

In regard to this wet/dry food issue, I have spoken with the Animal Care & Nutrition Dept., but they recommended that I consulted with someone at the Vet College, so I'm going to try and do that and, hopefully, get some closure on this issue

O.Ocm- Just want you to know that I'm not annoyed or anything by what you said, I'm just curious about the whole thing. I'm sure there's a lot worse things people can do to their kitties besides feeding wet and dry food, LOL. If you do get more info from the Vet College, I'd love to hear it!