Does anyone feed ONLY wet food?

[amaruuk]

I know a nutritionist who used to work for a posh little dog and cat food store here in boulder (home of the posh, jeesh), and he told me that dry food isn't good for cats at all. That it's just sugar and carbs and makes them fat (my words, not his, but that was the meaning behind the speech).

He has 2 incredibly healthy cats that are fed human-grade canned food - they haven't been ill in 9 years, they shed so minimally that it's not noticable, their coats are shiny and thick. I've known this guy for a while, and he genuinely adores his cats. He took them off dry years ago because of research he's done and feeling the carbs of dry food just wasn't healthy for his boys, as it doesn't occur naturally in their wild diet.

This makes perfect sense to me. I look at the ingredients of the dry and sometimes, even on the really good stuff, I question it. Corn meal. Gluten. Would a cat even touch this stuff naturally? I think not, but I've been wrong before. Pansy is now digging the wet food I give her SO much that she's lost interest in the dry, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't phase it out altogether and feed her only canned/pouched food.

Or is there some benefit from dry food that I'm missing? I thought of the whole cleaning teeth thing, but that's not an issue if I'm brushing her teeth.

Thanks for any input guys.

I kneel at your wisdom.

 

[vanillasugar]

I've fed all wet for almost a year now, and I've begun adding some raw, but that's a long process, so I still consider myself to feed my cats wet food. They are doing wonderfully on it! Both my cats are a healthy weight, wonderful coat condition, they don't shed NEARLY as much as other cats I know. Buddy has a serious health issue that we're trying to figure out still, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with his diet. He's been having issues since kittenhood. Nya was a stray I took in and was in AWFUL conditions when I got her. Emanciated, straggly, weak, and now she's just beautiful!

Wet food really is better for cats, as it's got the protein and moisture that they need to keep their systems healthy, and doesn't load them up with carbohydrates that they can't process properly. All dry food diets can lead to obesiety, diabetes, urinary tract problems, and many other conditions.

I don't really believe that dry food does all that much to clean teeth. It's equivalent to chewing on a cracker, and that doesn't clean our teeth! The only thing I might believe it that it may produce less tartar, but if you're brushing, it's not an issue.

 

[amaruuk]

Pansy is obese, sadly. For an abyssinian - to look at her you'd think ooh what a tiny kitty, but for her frame, she's obese. They had her on Iams weight management, which she barely touches now that I've been feeding her Innova. I'm seriously considering taking the bag back and getting all wet food instead. She had dry food in her bowl this morning but wouldn't touch it, instead mewing for the portion of wet she usually gets at night.

I'm wondering as well if her being overweight has to do with her diet; at the cattery she was fed only dry. All those carbs are sitting around her little belly now, I suspect.

 

[sharky]

Wet food is very good ... I feed it with homemade and a bit of raw to my oldest ( 17 yrs)and she is doing well .... My youngest is a bit harder she eats alot of dry..

 

[fatkitties]

My vet told me to feed my fat cats a diet of 75% wet food and 25% dry food. He's a beleiver in dry food cleaning teeth. The Nutro has a different texture than most dry foods, and it doesn't shatter when they bite it, it just kinda breaks. They have to chew it a bit more than regular kitty kibble, which helps clean the teeth. Gizmo's teeth were getting kinda bad with the tartar, but they look better now. I through about brushing Gizmo's teeth, but with the nasty scratches on my face from clipping her nails, I'm not willing to try. My dogs love having thier teeth brushed though. They really like the chicken flavored toothpaste! And I am noticing a difference in Lucky's teeth after brushing them. He's not a big fan of chewing on bones, unlike his sister, and his teeth looked kinda gross for a 2 year old dog, but they look better now.

Amber

 

[darkeyedgirl]

Yeah I had to start feeding canned only (nothin but wet food) since Snickers got crystals, blocked up & almost died earlier this year. SCARY!

My cats were all on dry-only, "free feeding". You know, the easy route? Well none of them had issues except for Snickers, and it almost killed my boy!

They're all on 2 cans a day now, Snickers gets the low-ph kind due to the crystals. Also I leave 5 bowls of water out throughout the house for them.

The key here is to make sure they get enough liquid in their diet.

I do leave out dry food when I'm gone overnight --- sorta have to, cuz the only catsitter I have can only pop in once a day to feed the canned food!!! I only buy the really expensive dry food though (it's Hills, hairball control dry) and I moisten some of it down.

I used to feed the dry cuz I heard it was better for the cat's teeth. I solved that problem by buying toothpaste (That malt flavored stuff) and a finger brush, and the cats let me brush their teeth for them! (the older cats, not my youngin's)

 

[pat]

I will eventually feed all my cats a homemade wet food diet only, but for now, I do have one cat on a wet food diet only (history of calcium oxalate stones and this is per my vets recommendation).

I very much agree with the advice given to you, and fwiw, located in Boulder, is a wonderful company - Active Life Pet Products. They make, imo, one of the best canned cat foods in the world, and are due to begin production and shipment of their food again sometime in these upcoming months. You can contact them via their website: click here

I lived in Boulder (and up in Goldhill) eons ago...lovely area.

 

[cdubbie]

Great, if you can get them to eat it.

My cat licks all the gravy off the pouch food, then cries for the dry.
I'll ignore her for awhile, point to the wet food and tell her she has to eat more first.
Maybe after 30 minutes she'll finish it, and that's even after all night without food. I think she'd be hungrier.

The best I've done is cut down her dry food. It is also way easier for snacks.
Any refridge food you have to nuke first.

 

[petnurse2265]

I would love to go to more canned food, and less dry, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I have several that are really picky about the canned food they eat (if they eat it at all) and one who will eat canned food till she explodes. Any Ideas, on brands that are well liked and should I just let Spirit eat as much canned as she can get in her (I am hoping after the novelty of the canned food wears off she will no be such a pig).

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Petnurse2265

I would love to go to more canned food, and less dry, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I have several that are really picky about the canned food they eat (if they eat it at all) and one who will eat canned food till she explodes. Any Ideas, on brands that are well liked and should I just let Spirit eat as much canned as she can get in her (I am hoping after the novelty of the canned food wears off she will no be such a pig).

I wouldnt let her bust but eating less or more during a new food time is fine.. lol Zoey and Spirit must be related they are skinney girls that eat to much

 

[petnurse2265]

Spirit is at 13 pounds, she is not over weight, yet. I am just afraid she will eat all the food before the others can get to it, I feed them each in their own dishes now, btu she finishes hers and then goes looking for the other's dishes.

 

[mrod1]

My friends cat is overweight and she exclusivley feeds it dry food, with an occasional wet food. My mom has 3 cats in England, and she feed only wet food, and they are incredibly healthy, perfect weight and beautiful coats. Cats in the wild never eat dry kibble, they eat meat! What they are meant to eat, they are carnivores. I am only feeding wet food to my cat now, with just a small amount of dry for when I am out. He prefers the wet food as well. He would have a bowl of dry, but cry for food, the dry food to him is the last resort if he's really hungry, he doesn't care for it at all. I also noticed that he doesn't like the chunks of meat in gravey either, he just licks the gravy. He prefers the grounded cat food, softer easier to eat I guess.

 

[sar]

I feed two parts wet to one part dry - sprinkled on the top! My two love it and are wonderfully healthy!

As for your kitties licking the gravy or jelly, my two do this, so I mush the lumps so that the meat and jelly/gravy are mixed together - everything goes down well this way!

 

[dawnofsierra]

Sierra and Serenity eat wet food only. Sierra eats Innova Light, and
Serenity eats Felidae. Serenity's food is always warmed, but really she will inhale anything. For Sierra, I always add a bit of spring water and mush it up really well after warming it slightly.

 

[gayef]

I don't like feeding the dry food, but I do for now. I will probably be switching both cats over to a combination of canned and homemade very soon.

~gf~

 

[aussie_dog]

I would love to feed wet only, but I can't afford it ($60 a month for wet food, versus $20 for 2 months with dry). The kitties will just have to settle for mainly dry with the occational canned food (once a week, though I didn't buy more cans when they ran out last week so they're eating dry only). Neither cat is fat, yet, though Buffy is starting to make it harder for me to feel her ribs.

 

[maskie]

My sweetie gets about two of the small cans of moist per day. I have a dispenser of Meow Mix as a standby in case she's hungry and I'm not around to feed her moist. She enjoys the moist food more, but she also likes the dry too. She does love the buffet and will usually have a nibble of both going back and forth between the two at mealtime.

But more than what she eats, she always wants me to pet her(in the wee hours of the morning) or at least watch her *while* she eats.

 

[laureen227]

i fed my first cat only wet or moist food, but didn't clean her teeth (didn't know i should! like she would've let me,

) & she had to have teeth pulled from decay. i switched to dry, & have had no tooth problems since with any of them. however, i am feeding the babies wet once a day just as a supplement, because they're growing. the dry food i get is better quality than the wet, so i want them to get the most of their nutrition from the higher quality food.

 

[dethfire]

My grandmother feed her cats all wet and now their teeth are all rotted out. You need some dry to clean the teeth.

 

[wellingtoncats]

Nope, too much hassle. My boyfriends cat eats only wet though.