Cat's Behavioral Change After Starting Wet Food Diet?

[a2b2]

I recently took in two cats, a 5yo mother and 2.5yo daughter, who had been fed Royal Canin Sterilized dry food. After about a week, I switched them over to wet food, they naturally took to it and loved it. I experimented a bit with the food brands and they refused to eat wet food with no carbs in them (Bozita and other domestic brands), so I fed them the brand they liked the most, Purina's Gourmet Perle.

For some odd reason, what I believe was the wet food, changed their behavior. The daughter became absolutely obsessed with food, it's almost like it was everything she thinking about all day long. She became way more hyperactive and grumpy. The mother became grumpy, but not hyperactive. Is it possible that their behavior changes were an effect of the wet food? I've never heard of wet food changing the behavior of cats in this way.

I stopped feeding them wet food a few days ago and there's already a huge change in behavior, they're both more calm and affectionate. The daughter cried all day on the first day because she wanted the wet food, but she's realized she's not getting any. I'm looking for some other brand of wet food that contains "natural" ingredients that they'll eat.

 

[duckpond]

You can feed both wet and dry. I do. I keep dry out at all times, and feed two wet meals per day.

Cats normally like to eat several times a day, how often were you feeding the wet?

Also wet food normally has less calories than dry food. It may be that the wet you were feeding was not enough and they were hungry. Thats what it sounds like to me anyway, Hangry cats they do get grumpy.

 

[lalagimp]

I've seen personalities really come out with wet food, and I just let them enjoy it. Tommy is on raw and he has a ton of energy, but he's been inquiring about this next meal for years. My little tortie has been on a mixed diet with wet food and dry low carb for over 6 months. She's not fixated on the next bowl, but her energy has gone up. She's lost a half a pound and her little tortie butt has Tiny Parties, just playing with her toys or a hair tie around the house.
Wet food is good for them. It hydrates them, has less carbs that they don't really need, and they will usually eat an entire 5.5 oz can per day, roughly, depending on the cat, if that is their only food source.
The kibble the girls are on with their wet is Dr Elsey's cleanprotein.

 

[Azazel]

I agree with lalagimp . All cats that I have turned onto wet food and then eventually raw suddenly had more energy. I interpret this as a good thing. Although we may interpret them lazying around as being calm and happy, they are supposed to be fierce hunters. I’ve personally always seen a positive change in my cats on wet/raw food. I actually have a couple cats that always do laps around the house after feedings. I liken it to how crappy people feel after eating McDonald’s versus a nutritious home made salad.

I think the increased appetite is also a mixture of having more energy and being on timed feedings. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not sure about the “grumpy” behaviour though.

 

[2BSH]

I agree with duckpond. They are probably hungry. Wet food has less calories than dry... what is the calorie content of what you are feeding?

 

[Saf]

Stick with the wet, ideally food without sugars and carbs. Raw is the best but not for everyone.

It's my personal belief that dry is inherently bad for cats and increases the risk of bladder and kidney problems, not to mention diabetes.

There's new beliefs about the potential dangers of the effect of chronic long term inadequate hydration and it's relation to kidney disease in humans and this is very pertinent to cats, with their inherently low first drive and could explain why so many develop kidney problems:

Mechanisms by Which Dehydration May Lead to Chronic Kidney Disease

 

[duckpond]

Stick with the wet, ideally food without sugars and carbs. Raw is the best but not for everyone.

It's my personal belief that dry is inherently bad for cats and increases the risk of bladder and kidney problems, not to mention diabetes.

There's new beliefs about the potential dangers of the effect of chronic long term inadequate hydration and it's relation to kidney disease in humans and this is very pertinent to cats, with their inherently low first drive and could explain why so many develop kidney problems:

Mechanisms by Which Dehydration May Lead to Chronic Kidney Disease

Its fine to feed all wet, or raw, either one. I also do not have a problem with some dry foods.

However as the calorie count is often lower than dry food its also important to know how many calories you are feeding. Many people do not realize how low calorie some canned cat food can be. There is a WIDE range of calories in wet food. So if the cats seem hungry all the time, its a wise move to figure out how many calories the food you are feeding has.

 

[a2b2]

You can feed both wet and dry. I do. I keep dry out at all times, and feed two wet meals per day.

Cats normally like to eat several times a day, how often were you feeding the wet?

Also wet food normally has less calories than dry food. It may be that the wet you were feeding was not enough and they were hungry. Thats what it sounds like to me anyway, Hangry cats they do get grumpy.

I've seen personalities really come out with wet food, and I just let them enjoy it. Tommy is on raw and he has a ton of energy, but he's been inquiring about this next meal for years. My little tortie has been on a mixed diet with wet food and dry low carb for over 6 months. She's not fixated on the next bowl, but her energy has gone up. She's lost a half a pound and her little tortie butt has Tiny Parties, just playing with her toys or a hair tie around the house.
Wet food is good for them. It hydrates them, has less carbs that they don't really need, and they will usually eat an entire 5.5 oz can per day, roughly, depending on the cat, if that is their only food source.
The kibble the girls are on with their wet is Dr Elsey's cleanprotein.

I agree with lalagimp . All cats that I have turned onto wet food and then eventually raw suddenly had more energy. I interpret this as a good thing. Although we may interpret them lazying around as being calm and happy, they are supposed to be fierce hunters. I’ve personally always seen a positive change in my cats on wet/raw food. I actually have a couple cats that always do laps around the house after feedings. I liken it to how crappy people feel after eating McDonald’s versus a nutritious home made salad.

I think the increased appetite is also a mixture of having more energy and being on timed feedings. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not sure about the “grumpy” behaviour though.

I agree with duckpond. They are probably hungry. Wet food has less calories than dry... what is the calorie content of what you are feeding?

Stick with the wet, ideally food without sugars and carbs. Raw is the best but not for everyone.

It's my personal belief that dry is inherently bad for cats and increases the risk of bladder and kidney problems, not to mention diabetes.

There's new beliefs about the potential dangers of the effect of chronic long term inadequate hydration and it's relation to kidney disease in humans and this is very pertinent to cats, with their inherently low first drive and could explain why so many develop kidney problems:

Mechanisms by Which Dehydration May Lead to Chronic Kidney Disease

Its fine to feed all wet, or raw, either one. I also do not have a problem with some dry foods.

However as the calorie count is often lower than dry food its also important to know how many calories you are feeding. Many people do not realize how low calorie some canned cat food can be. There is a WIDE range of calories in wet food. So if the cats seem hungry all the time, its a wise move to figure out how many calories the food you are feeding has.

Thank you for all the responses, I'll answer all of you at once to avoid spamming the thread.

They definitely get fed enough, whenever they've been fed and the youngest keeps crying for food and I give it to them, they only lick the gravy up and leave the rest of the food. They graze on it slowly when that happens, and I don't hear a single complaint from either one of them. I can't really free-feed them wet food either, especially as summer is fast approaching. I also keep dry food out at all times, but most of the time they'd rather wake me up in the mornings than eat the dry food.


I feed them Purina's Gourmet Perle (link: http://a.co/i2kyops) which has sugars and other bad ingredients in it, they refuse to eat any food without sugar in it. If I do serve them wet food without any sugar, they'll eat the dry and ignore the wet. I'm not sure about the calorie content of the food, but the packaging says 3-4 pouches a day and they end up eating in that range. One pouch per meal.

The thing that confuses me the most is that when they're exclusively on the dry food, they're way more playful with each other and affectionate.