Unexpected advice from the vet: feed dry

I wanted to comment , only because I was shocked what my vet said..
I went the other day to take our new kitten Bella. And she asked what she was eating, and I said Nutro kitten food, both wet and dry. She just looked at me and sighed, and asked why. When I told her thats what my others were on, and thats what also came with Bella when I got her. She was disgusted. And said that she has had SOO many issues with Nutro, SD, and she named a few others, I think authority might have been one, she said I was better off with friskies, or whiskas(sp)

That you get health issues with the price that you pay, and that its the only benefit from feeding those foods. She said she used to recommend them and also sell them. But about 2 yrs ago stopped, once she seens the statistics among her patients that were on those foods.
I asked if she had any foods at the office , and she said no , because the cheap ones are easy to get at walmart, etc. So she finds no point to keep them there.

She also stated that the wet should be given as a treat, at the most once a day, maybe dinner time.
That it was completely pointless, unless dehydration was concerned..
Which it was for Bella, so she said to do wet that whole week, after that go to dry

I didnt write this to start a debate, but I was just as shocked as the person who started the thread.

I also wanted to comment on the advice given by the vet. My vet has said something similar regarding dry and wet foods. Feeding either or both is fine, however, we recently had a litter of kittens having trouble gaining weight. We were feeding more wet at the time, and he said to help with weight gain that feeding dry would help with that, as there is a lot of water in canned and that the kitten would have to eat more wet food to equal the amount of calories in the dry kibble.
I feed both wet and dry for our cats and kittens.
I don't feel that dry is the best solution, but in certain circumstances either may be best.

The thing is there has to be SOME dry food and SOME wet food in a diet. Since a cat fed on only wet food would reject dry food in the future if you need to leave her for any extended period of time.

There are some terribly ill informed vets out there. It's clear from the number of articles on the internet that there are differences of opinion among vets (it's not like all vets everywhere are saying dry food is good) so as far as I'm concerned that raises a red flag and means that I need to do my own research. That, combined with my knowledge of feline physiology (limited I'll admit, but I'm learning all the time) and common sense leads me to the opinion that wet food is best. It just doesn't make sense for meat flavoured cereal to be the food of choice for a cat. I'm convinced dry feeding is responsible for obesity in cats.

Originally Posted by shengmei

The thing is there has to be SOME dry food and SOME wet food in a diet. Since a cat fed on only wet food would reject dry food in the future if you need to leave her for any extended period of time.

Click to expand...

This is exactly the reason why I feed both. But it's best to consider dry food as snack food and canned food as the main meals.

I finally had this discussion with my boss/vet.

I asked if there's any difference between wet and dry. At first he said no, so I asked him "Well why do vets recommend with crystals going on an all wet diet?" [I also pointed out our groomer's dog on wet u/d with added water.] He said "good point." He said that the extra water helps keep urine passing and helps prevent crystals. So I asked "So my cat on wet food is more hydrated than your cat on dry food." He said yes. So I asked which was better.

He said he would recommend cats being on an all wet or mostly wet diet because they usually aren't really big water drinkers. Dogs not so much because they drink a lot of water in comparison.

Yes, wet food leads to dirtier teeth than dry [I guess makes them dirty quicker], however if you brush your cats teeth or take them to the vet for a cleaning once in a while, it really doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by urbantigers

I'm convinced dry feeding is responsible for obesity in cats.

Click to expand...

Yup, me too.

Dry feeding isn't responsible for fat cats. Most people who feed dry free feed it. Dry is meant to be MEASURED. If you read the bag it'll say how much you should feed.

If you look at Science Diet [only using an example] For a 5lb cat who is 4-6 months old they should get 5/8 of a cup DAILY. I of course always felt bad, so my cat was roughly eating 1 cup a day.

Most people who feed dry, fill the bowl and leave it out all day. For those who have obese cats, ask them how much they play with them. Aside from over feeding many obese cats are cats that live indoors, and don't get much activity.

Cats can live on dry food and not be overweight. But you can't keep their dish full 24/7.

Originally Posted by Plebayo

I finally had this discussion with my boss/vet.

I asked if there's any difference between wet and dry. At first he said no, so I asked him "Well why do vets recommend with crystals going on an all wet diet?" [I also pointed out our groomer's dog on wet u/d with added water.] He said "good point." He said that the extra water helps keep urine passing and helps prevent crystals. So I asked "So my cat on wet food is more hydrated than your cat on dry food." He said yes. So I asked which was better.

He said he would recommend cats being on an all wet or mostly wet diet because they usually aren't really big water drinkers. Dogs not so much because they drink a lot of water in comparison.

Yes, wet food leads to dirtier teeth than dry [I guess makes them dirty quicker], however if you brush your cats teeth or take them to the vet for a cleaning once in a while, it really doesn't matter.

Click to expand...

That's interesting, Bobby has/had a problem with crystals: we fed him Hill's S/D (dry) to clear it up and Hill's C/D (dry) since, both on vet's advice - he's doing fine and loves the stuff. He has put on some weight, which isn't bad as he was always a little on the thin side, but despite my worries, is not fat.

Originally Posted by Plebayo

Dry feeding isn't responsible for fat cats. Most people who feed dry free feed it. Dry is meant to be MEASURED. If you read the bag it'll say how much you should feed.

If you look at Science Diet [only using an example] For a 5lb cat who is 4-6 months old they should get 5/8 of a cup DAILY. I of course always felt bad, so my cat was roughly eating 1 cup a day.

Most people who feed dry, fill the bowl and leave it out all day. For those who have obese cats, ask them how much they play with them. Aside from over feeding many obese cats are cats that live indoors, and don't get much activity.

Cats can live on dry food and not be overweight. But you can't keep their dish full 24/7.

Click to expand...

I pretty much agree with that (my cats used to be fed mostly dry food which was weighed out and were never overweight) but I do think that carbs contribute to obesity in cats.

Originally Posted by urbantigers

I pretty much agree with that (my cats used to be fed mostly dry food which was weighed out and were never overweight) but I do think that carbs contribute to obesity in cats.

Click to expand...

I pre measure and then fill for the day /// one cat was slightly over wt but like 5% or a half lb... My younger one eats double what the bag says and doesnt gain..

I have a dainty still-kitten cat, and she is free-fed dry and also gets wet.

She never eats near as much as the recommended amount, and she gets lots of exercise. For her, the recommended amount of dry is 3/4 cup, her bowl is about 1 cup and it takes her 3 or 4 days to eat it all. The wet is I think 2 pouches a day and she gets 1/2 one and it takes her quite a while to eat it, if I give her more she hardly touches it. So I think free-feeding is right for her.

If she was fat she wouldn't get very much dry food at all. I know someone with a fat cat who puts the dry in a coffee mug and he has to fish out every single piece individually with his paw. He's lost weight! And the two cats share the coffee mug, get wet twice a day, so they're doing well. They were eating Iams Multicat and both gained a ton of weight, got switched back and lost it right away.

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

I know someone with a fat cat who puts the dry in a coffee mug and he has to fish out every single piece individually with his paw. He's lost weight!

Click to expand...

That is a genius idea!

Originally Posted by Plebayo

Yes, wet food leads to dirtier teeth than dry [I guess makes them dirty quicker], however if you brush your cats teeth or take them to the vet for a cleaning once in a while, it really doesn't matter.

Click to expand...

I disagree with this statement. When cats eat dry food they either swallow it whole or break it first with the tip of the tooth and then swallow. I don't see how that can clean their teeth. I also know that if I eat dry crackers or similar items, that once it mixes with my saliva it leaves more food on my teeth than a wetter type of food.

Just my own reasoning and just my vet's observation.

Well, my dry food supposedly has something in it that slows tartar buildup? I know Z chews her food a couple times, nowhere near like a human but I hear her crunching away for a while on her back teeth.

Don't worry, she eats wet! And I brush her teeth. I don't buy her dry food because of the dental benefits, so I never really thought about it. She's not a year old yet, but her pearly whites are gorgeous and she doesn't have any plaque.

What about flouridated water? Like, just the city water (supposedly where I live has some of the best water in America) Does it matter?

Originally Posted by Plebayo

Dry feeding isn't responsible for fat cats. Most people who feed dry free feed it. Dry is meant to be MEASURED. If you read the bag it'll say how much you should feed.

If you look at Science Diet [only using an example] For a 5lb cat who is 4-6 months old they should get 5/8 of a cup DAILY. I of course always felt bad, so my cat was roughly eating 1 cup a day.

Most people who feed dry, fill the bowl and leave it out all day. For those who have obese cats, ask them how much they play with them. Aside from over feeding many obese cats are cats that live indoors, and don't get much activity.

Cats can live on dry food and not be overweight. But you can't keep their dish full 24/7.

Click to expand...

If dry food isn't responsible for making cats overweight then how come even though I don't free feed, and even though I feed less than the reccommended amount, and even though the dry food fed is very limited because I feed wet food, my cat Spotty is almost 16 pounds? I think some cats handle carbs better than others. Some cats just naturally have better metabolisms but some other cats will gain weight on dry food, even if the dry food is measured. Maybe it's because I live in a small condominium and the balcony is the only outside enclosure I can provide for them. Could a millionaire please buy me a 2 story house and a yard so my cats can get their exercise running up and down the stairs, chasing da bird and run into a spacious outdoor enclosure with the most luxuriously tall cat trees in the world?

Originally Posted by SophieC

The vet that was seeing my cat about his UTI....he's not an older doctor....I'd say he's mid 30's. I talked to him about this recently.....told him what I have been reading on these forums about dry vs. wet. He said as long as the cat is drinking enough water, there is no need to put him on wet food. On the other hand, if your cat drank very little, he said he would suggest wet food to help keep the cat hydrated.

Click to expand...

That's basically accurate, except that cats very nearly cannot drink enough water to stay properly hydrated on an all dry diet. Cats are, biologically speaking, desert dwelling animals. That means they have developed as an animal that has a very low thirst drive. They are biologically designed to meet the vast majority of their water needs through consumption of prey (which, of course, contains a large percentage of water). A cat does not feel thirsty until he is significantly dehydrated.

Cats need wet food to keep them hydrated simply because they are cats! We cannot feed them a diet that bears no resemblance to the one they are biologically designed to eat and expect no consequences. This is why most cats over age 10 or so have some degree of kidney disease (even those who have no symptoms still have kidney deterioration that is very evident when the kidneys are visually examined on a postmortem exam), and why conditions such as urinary blockages are so common in cats.

I posted this to another thread recently and thought of this one....so I'm going to post it here also. I forgot that I had this book and went back to chapter 2.

Removing food between meals....

Has anyone ever done this? I used to. I stopped when my cat's vet told me she had never heard about what I told her. It was interesting how after I stopped doing that, my cat developed his first UTI. This was one of the reasons I had started it in the first place....to prevent UTIs. I got my information from a book I have called The New Natural Cat: A Complete Guide for Finicky Owners by Anitra Frazier with Norma Eckroate. Anitra Frazier is a nationally known feline nutritionist, groomer, & behaviorist. If anyone out there is interested in reading more about this, send me a PM with your email address and I will scan the pertinent sections of the book and send them your way. I will have to scan this at work tomorrow and my personal computer is down at the moment getting some work done on it. I'm using my mother's computer.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I disagree with this statement. When cats eat dry food they either swallow it whole or break it first with the tip of the tooth and then swallow. I don't see how that can clean their teeth. I also know that if I eat dry crackers or similar items, that once it mixes with my saliva it leaves more food on my teeth than a wetter type of food.

Just my own reasoning and just my vet's observation.

Click to expand...

I don't know. Polly used to eat only dry, and when she was diagnosed with cystitis, she was put on a (mostly) wet diet. I let her have some dry, but I really try to limit it. Once she went on the wet diet, she developed gingivitis within 5 months. Her teeth were relatively clean however. *shrugs* I don't know why the wet food gave her gingivitis. My vet had the same experience with her cat, Barley, when he had to go on a wet food diet for cystitis. That being said, I started brushing her teeth 3 times a week with special toothpaste from my vet's office (vanilla-mint flavored, yum!) and now the gingivitis is almost gone. So it seems preventable as long as you are willing to brush your cat's teeth a couple times a week. It doesn't take long at all.

Now I just wish I could brush Prego's teeth. I love the way the toothpaste makes Polly's breath all minty fresh!

My vet told me to feed them as much wet food as I can afford to give, and make up the balance of thier diet in dry. Since doing that (they get a pouch or small can in the morning to share and a 5 oz can in the evening to share, and dry out all the time although they eat very little of it. A couple times a week I give them some extra canned, too.) they have lost thier excess weight, gotten more active, better skin/coat, etc. So, in seeing the difference in my cats, I would say that my vet's advice was dead on. I really consider dry food, even very high quality dry (mine have Felidae) to be pretty much junk food. Takes too much grain to hold the kibble together.