Is it unhealthy??

[koolkatz]

Outdoor cats hunt for a portion of their food, so if you feed them a bad diet and then bring it back inside where it can't hunt for protein, they won't be able to have a nutritionally balanced diet.

 

[roguethecat]

I doubt this was an April fool's joke as they are only 3 magazines I read, Cat fancy, ASPCA and one my vet does and sends me a couple times a yr.
Yes now that you and LDG mention it, they had to be hunting! I'm just amazed these scientists didn't figure thar out! They did say it changed their DNA!!

I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you this: those aren't scientific magazines, not exactly

 

[varsettie]

As lots of others have already pointed out dry food can be bad for your cat. I personally have some super picky felines who have decided that they will 'only' eat wet/canned Friskies. The only time they get dry food is when I have to leave for a weekend and can't get a sitter.

 

[jodiethierry64]

I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you this: those aren't scientific magazines, not exactly:bigwink:

Ya but they had an article talking about the study!!!
Now believe me I don't believe everything I read I just found this interesting.

 

[Willowy]

Ya but they had an article talking about the study!!!
Now believe me I don't believe everything I read I just found this interesting.

Yeah, but Cat Fancy and the others run April Fool's joke articles too, and a lot of things about the story don't add up (as in, DNA doesn't change based on diet---maybe digestive enzymes will adapt but not DNA, plus, do people even eat bread in rural South America? (I would think tortillas more likely), and why would scientists get the idea to notice what remote villagers were feeding cats and then check those cats' DNA?), and if it were a serious article I really think Google could have found a link to it. I'll still keep Googling and try to find if it's real or a joke, so we know for sure!

 

[Anne]

This has nothing to do with the question of dry food but please bare with me. I cannot post where I read this as it was an article from some magazine.
I read in South America where there was a feral colony and the locals were feeding the strays bread. Yes bread and only bread. The cats were thriving. Upon studying them they discovered that their DNA had changed to adapt to a diet of no meat!!!!!
If that was possible there then who's to say our domesticated felines have not changed. That an animal that had a low thirst drive now has developed one based on yrs of humans feeding a strictly dry food diet.
I don't know. I'm not an expert and I do feed 90% wet, ,10% dry.
I'm just trying to add some thought to this.

 

This has nothing to do with the question of dry food but please bare with me. I cannot post where I read this as it was an article from some magazine.
I read in South America where there was a feral colony and the locals were feeding the strays bread. Yes bread and only bread. The cats were thriving. Upon studying them they discovered that their DNA had changed to adapt to a diet of no meat!!!!!
If that was possible there then who's to say our domesticated felines have not changed. That an animal that had a low thirst drive now has developed one based on yrs of humans feeding a strictly dry food diet.
I don't know. I'm not an expert and I do feed 90% wet, ,10% dry.
I'm just trying to add some thought to this.

That surely would have been published. I can't find anything anywhere. How many generations were they fed bread? Because that kind of change doesn't happen inside of one lifetime in multiple cats. I believe it's possible a colony of cats was being fed just bread. I believe it's possible they were thriving. I believe they were hunting, and supplementing their diet. Bread does not contain taurine, and cats cannot synthesize it. Without taurine, they would have died due to heart failure.

 

This has nothing to do with the question of dry food but please bare with me. I cannot post where I read this as it was an article from some magazine.
I read in South America where there was a feral colony and the locals were feeding the strays bread. Yes bread and only bread. The cats were thriving. Upon studying them they discovered that their DNA had changed to adapt to a diet of no meat!!!!!
If that was possible there then who's to say our domesticated felines have not changed. That an animal that had a low thirst drive now has developed one based on yrs of humans feeding a strictly dry food diet.
I don't know. I'm not an expert and I do feed 90% wet, ,10% dry.
I'm just trying to add some thought to this.

Check your source. . .I do remember that one and I'm about 99.9% sure it was an April Fool's joke. . .one of those "studies" published on April 1st that scientific types are so fond of

.

That said, yes, outside cats can do fine if fed an incomplete diet by humans, because they also hunt. Bring them inside where they can't catch and eat birds and rodents, and suddenly rice/bread/whatever isn't going to be good enough and they won't be doing fine for long.

I think I can help with a link to the case study, since I was the one who wrote it 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/new-breed-of-herbivore-cats

It was definitely an April Fool's Joke, revealed a coupe of days later. 

 

[jodiethierry64]

Ok everyone the jokes on me!!! :-) :-) Ha-Ha
I knew I read it somewhere! My brain couldn't remember. I figured a magazine but I just couldn't remember. Apparently I didn't read the April's fool!
Yes I'm that naive!!!! Ha-Ha

 

[andrya]

Ok everyone the jokes on me!!! :-) :-) Ha-Ha
I knew I read it somewhere! My brain couldn't remember. I figured a magazine but I just couldn't remember. Apparently I didn't read the April's fool!
Yes I'm that naive!!!! Ha-Ha

 Anne's writing is THAT good!

 

[oneandahalfcats]

Ya but they had an article talking about the study!!!
Now believe me I don't believe everything I read I just found this interesting.

And while these magazines may not be scientific in nature, they can feature articles written by scientists though, right?

I hadn't seen Anne's April Fool's Joke article until now, but would agree that it is well-written and no doubt  was very effective in its purpose

But all joking aside, according to the following article entitled CATS AND CAT CARE - 1940s - 1960s: FEEDING, the idea of bread wasn't a far-fetched idea or joke at all, but a part of a domestic cat's diet, at one time : http://messybeast.com/retro1940-feeding.htm. the article covers feeding of cats through the years and how attitudes around that have changed over time. An interesting read.

 

[jodiethierry64]

 Anne's writing is THAT good!

I'm finding that out!!! :-) :-) Ha-Ha
I could of swore it was in a magazine but when I read her link , I recognised it. At first I was thinking I dreamed this.
It's ok, I get even!!!!Ha-Ha

 

[jennyr]

That is hilarious! It had me laughing out loud.

 

[shatha]

I was warned by my feline friend not to feed my cat wet food. she said as they get older it's not good for their teeth. She explained that wet food gets stuck sometimes between their teeth and as they get older it just means the cat would have to suffer getting his teeth fixex.

is this true?

Pasha is over weight so he's on a diet and diet dry food as per his vet instructions but i feed him wet food like once very two weeks as a treat. should I be feeding him wet food more often?

 

[autumnrose74]

^^^Dry food is high in carbs. You don't say which food you are feeding but if it is Science Diet they are far and away the worst offenders in terms of carb percentage. "Prescription" foods are for the most part a marketing hoax, & just a way for both the vet and the pet food company to make money by scaring pet owners into spending a lot of $$$ on foods with questionable ingredients and little to no "medicinal" value. FYI there is no need to feed any "weight loss formula" - simply cut the portions of the normal food you would be feeding, & increase the number of play sessions. By feeding food that is no doubt high in carbs, you are only perpetuating the cycle of overweight/obesity, not to mention flirting with diabetes. If you free-feed instead of portioning meals and using set mealtimes, that only adds to the problem.

Also, dry foods are NOT healthy because feeding them as the main part of a cat's diet sets the cat up for a state of chronic dehyration, as dry food is only avg. 10% moisture as opposed to 70% avg. for wet foods, as well as their natural diet, which we as owners should be trying to replicate using better means than meat-flavored cereal. Cats by design do not drink a lot of water to start with, & they evolved to get water IN their food, not along side of it. Cats eating a moisture-rich food (canned or raw) consume double the amount of moisture as cats being fed dry as their primary food source.

"Dry is better for the teeth is a MYTH, not a fact. Cats do not chew their food; their teeth are designed to rip and tear their food (meat being their natural diet) into smaller chunks, which are then swallowed whole.

I would suggest you read rhe following website, in particular the front page article and the sections on obesity in cats and urinary tract health.

http://catinfo.org
http://feline-nutrition.org - another excellent site concerning the dangers of dry foods and the pluses of feeding a species-appropriate diet. Dry food is the farthest thing from that.

 

[jennyr]

I agree with the above. Wet food on the whole is better than dry - if you can find a wet food low in grains that is better still. Dry food is actually MORE likely to get stuck in the teeth, much like sweets with a kid. And the sticky grain that is used as a binder helps to cause this.

 

[koolkatz]

 
I was warned by my feline friend not to feed my cat wet food. she said as they get older it's not good for their teeth. She explained that wet food gets stuck sometimes between their teeth and as they get older it just means the cat would have to suffer getting his teeth fixex.

is this true?

Pasha is over weight so he's on a diet and diet dry food as per his vet instructions but i feed him wet food like once very two weeks as a treat. should I be feeding him wet food more often?

None of that is true.

The most dangerous thing happening from any kind of cat food (besides raw) is the cat choking on a piece of dry food. Cats literally evolved eating proteins from other animals, meaning ripping them up, chewing, and swallowing. If you are worried about it, which you shouldn't be, they have wet food as a pate, which is a smooth, puree-ish food. Wet food does stick to their teeth, but not in between them so they can just lick it off. Wet food has more nutritional value as well. 

I think you should check out this website: http://www.catinfo.org/

I also respect your vet's instructions, but dry food is a bigger cause of feline obesity. The carbohydrates in dry food are just fillers, and they alter the blood sugar balance in many cats.

 

[mservant]

@Shatha  I tend to agree with others replying to you here, as most dry foods are small and I believe research evidence indicates cats do not crunch on most dried foods but swallow it whole.  It does also tend to have high carbohydrate levels which might not be best for a cat's dietary needs.

 However I feed my cat an almost entirely dry diet which is prescription only and I am lucky that he loves to drink water.  If I deviate from this prescription diet for a day or more the consequences are immediately evident on my cat's teeth with yellow tartar and plaque build up, and red gum lines as a result of his health condition.  The reaction is the same whether it is alternative dry food or wet that he is fed.  I try to supplement his main diet with 'treat' foods such as sardine, freeze dried white fish snacks, and chicken although the intake of alternative foods can not be as high as I would like due to the reduction in effectiveness of the dental food.  I had detailed discussions with my vet to go over the relative risks to my cat's health current and long term based on the different methods of feeding and managing his oral health and he would be at far higher risk of serious illness and pain if I did not follow the prescription diet and daily enzyme tooth brushing  and fed  either raw or other commercially available foods.  

My cat is not obese and he has not yet developed any health  issues related to his diet, but his oral health is controlled well and not required veterinary attention for the past 2 years although his underlying health issues mean he remains at risk and his gums will often show some redness.  He is in excellent overall health and is not over weight (although I like to teaze him about being tuby when he sleeps a lot).

I suggest you take the information you have available to you, consider it in relation to your own resources and your own cat's health needs and then agree with your vet which option is best.

 

[ldg]

Other than with a prescription dry, as discussed by MServant, dry food does not help clean cats' teeth. For any vet that says it does, here is a very, very simple question. As dry food is the predominant form of food fed to cats, why do 85% of cats have some form of periodontal disease by the age of 3 years?

Here is a TCS article with further explanation. http://www.thecatsite.com/a/does-dry-food-actually-clean-your-cats-teeth

As to kitty being overweight, the concept of prescription diets for weight are based on what has been shown to help for people. They are high fiber diets, that supposedly fill up a kitty so they eat less calories.

Cats are not people.

Yes, to lose weight, a cat, just like a person, needs to eat less food. But cats have SUCH a high protein requirement, that unless you provide a high protein diet, they will continue to overeat to get the amount of protein they need, so they end up consuming more calories just because the diet doesn't provide enough. Cats lose weight best when on an all wet diet that his high protein and low carb. shatha , you might want to read through this thread for a better way to help your kitty lose weight. It is the journey of a foster mom that took in a 27 pound kitty. He was adopted out at 17 pounds, and his adoptive parents switched him to the vet recommended prescription diet - and he gained weight. So they went back to the method used by the foster mom, and he continues to lose weight. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245236/mickey-my-27-lbs-foster-and-his-journey-back-to-a-healthy-weight

 

[shatha]

Thanks all for the info and details. I need one more advice on wet food. I've gone to try and buy him some canned cat food but couldn't help but notice all the additions under ingredients. am i better off feeding my human canned Tuna with water, salt and olive oil only?

 

[Willowy]

Thanks all for the info and details. I need one more advice on wet food. I've gone to try and buy him some canned cat food but couldn't help but notice all the additions under ingredients. am i better off feeding my human canned Tuna with water, salt and olive oil only?

No. The additives are mostly vitamins and minerals. Feeding him just tuna would result in severe and possibly fatal deficiencies (plus all that salt would be bad for him). Yes, there are some unnecessary additives in almost all canned cat foods. . .if you would rather avoid them you can head over to the raw and homecooked diet subforum to learn how to make a balanced home-prepared cat diet. But if you don't want to do a balanced home-prepared diet you should stick with commercial canned cat food---canned human food should not be fed, except very small amounts as occasional treats.

 

[autumnrose74]

You should try to avoid feeding fish, especially tuna. It is contaminated with mercury and other toxic heavy metals. Salmon and tilefish (oceanfish) are two others to stay away from.

I've given you two excellent resources on feline nutrition. Here is another one: http://www.littlebigcat.com. I highly suggest you read through them, as they will steer you in a proper direction with regards to proper, healthy diet.