dry vs wet food

[icedtea]

hi what do you feed your cats?? dry or wet food, or both, or mainly wet, or mainly dry??

[Craftlady]

Dry 99% of the time.
2-3 times a week they get small portions of wet food.

[mistyandabby]

My little fur babies are spoiled. When we eat lunch they get a small portion of can cat food the rest of time dry. :)

http://www.catster.com/?249999 Misty

http://www.catster.com/?250011 Abby

[luvofallhorses]

both.

[icedtea]

my 2 kittens get mostly wet food, and they are very spoiled and get high quality vet kitten food. we give them dry food as a snack, though. they get water ad kitten milk, too.

[kimboe]

Dry food most of the time. I'll give a can maybe twice a week.

[Jessika]

Dry. He may get wet food once a week or so but 3/4 of the time he gets dry!

[neko1]

Purely dry food.

[orangemm]

Mostly dry, but Binky likes wet maybe 5 times a week. Depends on his mood. Archy is a cruncher!

[christa]

Mine get dry all the time. That's just because whenever Josie eats anything besides dry, her poop gets all wierd and she scoots her butt *more than normal* :rolleyes: . . . long story.

I have been sneaking Brodie a dab of wet food every day here lately though . . . just a dab . . . for his hairball problem. ;)

[prechrswife]

Ours only get dry food.

[boscibo]

I've been reading more and more about how canned food is better for cats - cats evolved eating meat, not corn and other grain-based fillers that are a large part of dry cat foods. Dogs are OK with grains, but cats are true carnivores and grains are not a normal part of their diet. I personally believe the excess carbs in grain based cat foods is a contributing factor in the rise of obesity in housecats.

Most people feed dry because it is more convenient. It is not necessarily better for our cats, and in fact could be worse. However, I am not an animal scientist and am only going by a few (convincing) articles I have read.

I do feed dry, but supplement with canned. If my Abby would eat canned (she refuses it) I'd prefer to not feed any dry at all.

[jackie]

I only feed dry.

[Jessika]

I've been reading more and more about how canned food is better for cats - cats evolved eating meat, not corn and other grain-based fillers that are a large part of dry cat foods. Dogs are OK with grains, but cats are true carnivores and grains are not a normal part of their diet. I personally believe the excess carbs in grain based cat foods is a contributing factor in the rise of obesity in housecats.

Most people feed dry because it is more convenient. It is not necessarily better for our cats, and in fact could be worse. However, I am not an animal scientist and am only going by a few (convincing) articles I have read.

I do feed dry, but supplement with canned. If my Abby would eat canned (she refuses it) I'd prefer to not feed any dry at all.

But wet food contains just as many grain products, as well. The only real difference between wet and dry is... well, wet contains more water lol

[catmandu]

They Are Not All That Fussy On Canned Food But The Kittens Devour It So I Have Been Buying Canned Food And Pouches When Its On Special.
At Petctera In Canada The Eukanuba Pouches Are Two For 98 Cents.
Half Price!!!

[boscibo]

But wet food contains just as many grain products, as well. The only real difference between wet and dry is... well, wet contains more water lol

On the ingredients list, look at the first products included. While canned foods may (or may not) contain grains, they are not usually among the first three listed. Of course, it may vary with the product. The brand I feed, Sohphisticat, has no grains listed on its label.


Look at the label from Science Diet Adult Formula in comaprision: "Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Corn Gluten Meal,"
Lots of grains there.

[carole]

Lexie my young cat only likes dry food, but gets a fresh fish fillet once a week, Ash is on a mixture of dry and wet but prefers wet mostly. I personally think a mixture of both is quite good for them, but try telling my Lexie that, NO WAY. :)
.

[lisalee]

Sash eats both wet and dry. Probably a little more dry but he does get around a 1/4 of canned food daily too,some days more. He seems to love both.

[catmandu]

Thats good news about Sphisticatm,and thats a food that All the Cats seem to agree on,and is not expensive at all.

[icedtea]

i mainly give seafa and kansas wet, as i ahve said, but i give them dry as a snack ( i have said that too!) but what i have not said, is that i give them dry stuff to help clean their teeth. monkee got an absess on her tooth once, her teeth werent very strong, because she only gt wet food, so we fed kyte and monkee a few chicken necks from pet food shop to help their teeth. they loved them

[Kirsten]

Luna is getting wet food for breakfast, but for dinner, she and Lily are eating dry food.

Lily eats dry food only, she doesn't like canned food at all.

Kirsten

[Jessika]

On the ingredients list, look at the first products included. While canned foods may (or may not) contain grains, they are not usually among the first three listed. Of course, it may vary with the product. The brand I feed, Sohphisticat, has no grains listed on its label.


Look at the label from Science Diet Adult Formula in comaprision: "Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Corn Gluten Meal,"
Lots of grains there.

Yeah I looked at the ingredient list on IAMs and Science Diet and other similar brands and they all had a lot of grains in them lol

[Uabassoon]

But wet food contains just as many grain products, as well. The only real difference between wet and dry is... well, wet contains more water lol

Canned food does contain less grains than dry food. I compared my can food and dry food (both Nutro Natural Choice). On the canned food the 6th ingredient was rice the other 5 were all sources of protien. With the dry food the 2nd ingredient was rice.

Edit: canned food also has a lot less fat. 14% on the dry food and only 5% with canned.

But to answer the question my cats eat mostly dry and a small amount of canned daily.

[catland]

Yikes - I think I'd better go read some labels.

We have dry available 24/7, and feed them canned twice a day - well, sometimes on the weekends more than that. One of our many theories to keep Sid and Strauss from maiming each other is to keep them fat an happy (and slower), so we feed them canned food more than we used to. :eek:

[catnapper]

I feed dry, and at night, they all share one can of wet as a treat.

I personally think wet food gives them soft and smelly poo, which is why they only get the smallest amount at night as a treat.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I feel the absolute best diet for a cat is a combination of wet and dry. What do cats eat in the wild? Birds, squirrels, mice etc. Those are all a combination of wet and dry food materials. I would never feed only wet, nor only dry. Dry is great for their teeth, wet is good because it has lots of moisture. Dry cat food can contribute or be directly related to certain health conditions such as - Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Chronic Renal Failure, Urinary crystals, Diarrhea or other allergy-related conditions and dehydration. Cats on canned food diets get sufficient water in their food, while cats solely on dry dont. I think you should feed dry mixed with wet, or dry with wet food for a snack. I feed my cats dry, but I give them a can of wet food in the afternoon.

It totally depends on what your cats prefer. If you start them on a wet/dry diet when they're young, they will grow up to accept that. My cats were all fed dry before I adopted them - and Augustus took a long time before he would even smell the wet food. Now he loves it!

:)

*EDIT* Forgot to mention that cats strictly on a wet diet should be fed high quality canned foods. Alot of the lower quality canned foods are like *junk food*. I love Fancy Feast, Felidae, Natural Balance and Wellness wet foods.

[icedtea]

is iams a haigh quality brand? they dont sell it in supermarkets, just at the vets. also is whiskers

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

Iams is not one of my favorite foods, not because of the ingredients, but because of all the bad things I have heard about the company. Whiskas is not a high quality cat food - it is filled with by products. Iams wet food has great ingredients. Here is a comparison...

Iams Lamb & Rice Wet

Ingredients

Lamb Broth, Lamb, Beef Liver, Chicken Liver, Whitefish, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Rice, Corn Oil, Fish Meal, vitamins and minerals.

Whiskas Lamb & Rice Wet

Ingredients

Sufficient Water for Processing, Poultry By-Products, Poultry Giblets, Chicken, Lamb, Rice, vitamins and minerals.

Notice how Iams uses broth instead of water? And Whiskas doesnt have meat in their top 2 ingredients? Whiskas uses by-products to make up most of the protein in the food, while Iams uses real meat. That means Whiskas would have 90% by-products and only 10% real meat.

Hope this helps! :)

[icedtea]

i have been feedign my 2 kittens iams we tfood and iams nuts, so is this ok?? or is it bad??

[icedtea]

or i can feed them sience diet, thats around the place

[Tora Oni]

On Sunday we give both wet food and the rest of the week its dry food. They adore wet food.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

or i can feed them sience diet, thats around the place

I don't really like the ingredients in Science Diet wet food, or the dry. They claim to be "premium", but are far from it. Iams foods are made by Procter & Gamble, a company which makes everything from dish soap to toothpaste. Science Diet is made by Colgate - which makes toothpaste and other dental products. They are big companies that are more concerned with making money than putting great ingredients in to their pet food. What other brands of cat food are sold at pet stores around you? There are MANY inexpensive, high quality cat foods.

:)

[Uniqueviking]

Dry food, and a couple of times a week they get to share a bag of shrimp and a can of tuna (not a the same time).

[Mad Mags Moo]

I give my girls both wet and dry. Wet food for breakfast and dinner, dry food for grazing through day. Wet food i use is Felix - supermeat or as Good as it Looks, dry food..mixture..Royal Canin, Go Cat, James well Beloved, Supermarket brand.....my girls are fussy!!! I love them so I will do anything to keep them healthy and happy! :D

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

Dry food, and a couple of times a week they get to share a bag of shrimp and a can of tuna (not a the same time).

:eek: What lucky kitties you have!

[lv4dogs]

My 2 cats are free-fed dry kibble, their dish is always full.
They used to eat raw food every night for dinner but I'm going on a budget so that will probably only happen once a week or so. Instead they will be splitting a can of food in the evening, possibly every other evening. Depends on how they adjust to no raw at night time. If they aren't eating as much they will get canned every night but if their weight stays in a healthy range it will probably be every other night.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Mine get only dry. I'm not a fan of canned food.

[JenBKR]

Both of mine get a small spoonful of wet food twice a day. They also get some dry food in the morning and at night.

[mruffruff]

Dry 'cereal' for breakfast and a little left out all day, with 'soup' and dry for dinner.

I put 2-1/2 cans of wet in the blender with water and chop for a few seconds, then divide into 12 little dishes for 12 little cats. They seem to like it best that way. I mix the other 1/2 can with dry for the neighbors' 2 cats that always come for dinner.

With all of these mouths to feed, I use Wal-Mart's Special Kitty for both wet & dry.

[Jessika]

My 2 cats are free-fed dry kibble, their dish is always full.

That will NEVER happen in my household. The pups would eat it before Double-Oh would have a chance!

[lv4dogs]

That will NEVER happen in my household. The pups would eat it before Double-Oh would have a chance!


Thats why I feed my cats on the counter. lol
Nanook & Raustyk are good, they won't touch the cats food but I can not get Kaige to leave it alone for the life of me.

My cats are indoor/outdoor cats so they get a lot of exercise and also experience the elements of the weather so I like them to have food when ever they want it.
If they were indoors only I would probably limit their food.

[JenBKR]

That will NEVER happen in my household. The pups would eat it before Double-Oh would have a chance!

LOL i've had the same problem with Roscoe - he'd eat the cats' dry food before his own! I ended up putting a baby gate up in one of our spare bedrooms (now called the cats' room!) so he couldn't get in. I had to put the gate about an inch or so above the ground, so the cats can crawl under it but it seems to be too high for Roscoe to jump over (realistically he could plow right through it, but he doesn't seem to know that ;) ) It works really well - although there for a while I must have had it up too high, and I caught him sliding under the gate :rolleyes:

[sirrahved]

Since Marshmallow was diagnosed with crystals it's dry food only.

[orangemm]

My guys eat dry, unless Binky meows for wet; he loves it and is pretty skinny, so I give it to him.

[Jessika]

Thats why I feed my cats on the counter. lol
Nanook & Raustyk are good, they won't touch the cats food but I can not get Kaige to leave it alone for the life of me.

See I don't want to do that either though because I don't want him to think he can jump on the table or counters =/


LOL i've had the same problem with Roscoe - he'd eat the cats' dry food before his own! I ended up putting a baby gate up in one of our spare bedrooms (now called the cats' room!) so he couldn't get in. I had to put the gate about an inch or so above the ground, so the cats can crawl under it but it seems to be too high for Roscoe to jump over (realistically he could plow right through it, but he doesn't seem to know that ;) ) It works really well - although there for a while I must have had it up too high, and I caught him sliding under the gate :rolleyes:

That's actually a really good idea! :)

[krazyaboutkatz]

I feed my cats both wet and dry food. They get wet and dry food mixed together in the morning and evening and I measure out some dry food so they can much on it during the day and I do this again later in the evening. Lately they've been inhaling all of the dry food as soon as I put it in the bowls so there isn't any left for them to munch on later. :)

Since Storm has struvite crystals and is more prone to urinarary tract infections now because of his PU surgery, the wet food is very important for him so he'll get more moisture. It's also helped with his flaky dandruff problem. :) He's also on a special diet which is Royal Canin S/O both dry and wet. Soon all of my cats will be on this food.

[ally7kat]

With all of these mouths to feed, I use Wal-Mart's Special Kitty for both wet & dry.

i was feeding my cat the same wal-mart food (he loved it) as well as a quarter of a can of iams a day, until my parents went ballistic and told me how bad that was for the cat. Is it really that bad? I realize its not the best, hardly any real meat, but he is also getting the canned food.

Sometimes I hide small piles of the dry food in the blanket under his bed or in his cat tent or behind doors, so he can 'stalk' them while I'm gone during the day and he acts like they're treats.

[lv4dogs]

See I don't want to do that either though because I don't want him to think he can jump on the table or counters =/

I was so afraid of that at first too but surprisigly they seem to know they are only allowed on that one counter.

When I first got the kitties (before Kaige came along) they always ate on the floor. I tought them then that counters & tables were a no no. Then months after Kaige came & I couldn't break him of eating the cats food I moved it to the counter. I had to literally lift them up on the counter so they could eat. I had to do this multiple times a day for a week or so until they got the hint that they could get up there on their own & that it was ok. I have yet to catch them or see any hints of them being on other counters or tables since. Well ok Meko *occassionally* jumps up on this one spot on another counter, but she only does that when Kaige wants to play with her & she is kind of trapped in the one corner of the kitchen. But she did that when she was fed on the floor too, she just doesn't like to play with the dogs only snuggle & Kaige does not really know the meaning of snuggle yet. lol She jumps right baack off as soon as I see her or as soon as the coast is clear so I let her be.