Just wondering how you guys balance the mix of these. Our cats looooove wet food, but keep it as a treat for every now and then. Have to keep the wet cat food in a plastic sealed container as our cats will tear through the box they come in and dig their way through haha.
We do all wet, ours are a couple of old ladies, so they get what they want.
Crunchies are always available. About 10 pm, just before i go to bed, i let the dogs out to potty and the cats come running. 1 can or pouch split among the 3 (half to the old girl who’s missing teeth) mixed with a little hot water.
My cat gets both with every meal. My understanding is that wet food is much more nutritious, if for no other reason than the moisture content. Fortunately my cat is pretty good about drinking water, but getting enough hydration can be a problem for some individuals. My cat will usually eat the wet food first, then snack on the dry food over the next few hours.
I’ve watched family cats rack up huge vet bills and cause much heartache because they received improper nutrition; wet food may be way more expensive and inconvenient, but it’s a worthwhile investment (same as with humans!)
So seldom she knows not to expect it.
Dry food is always available. Wet food is split one can between both kitties at the same time every day. The big one finishes what the smaller one leaves behind.
Tuna is reserved for special ocassions, like their bday, certain holidays (the ones where humans celebrate with food), or after having to visit the vet.
When mine was young I only gave him dry food. Then he developed kidney disease (CKD) 4 years ago. It and diabetes are fairly common in older cats.
Now he gets dry food plus wet food in the morning and evening - 1/2 of a little can or 1/4 of a bigger can at each feeding. The dry food and wet food are in separate bowls. That plus finding a water fountain he likes has so far kept his kidney disease from getting any worse.
Next cat I’ll give wet and dry food from the start.
After our last cat had kidney issues, new cat gets wet food daily. We basically go 50/50, half wet food half dry food. That works out to half a 5oz can a day, 1/4 in morning and 1/4 in evening. She normally eats the wet food within ~15 minutes and nibbles the dry food throughout the day. Not sure if it helps her kidneys but she has maintained a good weight and has the softest coat.
We also use a water fountain to try to encourage drinking, but I don’t think she drinks any extra because of it.
I’ve been reading that kibble in general eventually causes cystitis in a lot of cats so I’ve been increasing the wet
My family never bought wet cat food for any of the cats, but we lived in in a rural area and our cats could go outside at will. If they wanted wet food, they found it!
Only problem was when they brought it back inside…
Pretty much only wet food, except for a few kibbles every day because they love them so much, like treats. Dry food is super bad for cats, because they have very little natural thirst drive. This means they won’t drink enough water by themselves, no matter how many fountains or water bowls you put out. This is easily explained. Cats are obligatory carnivores. This means that they need to eat meat. House cats are not different at all from their wild (and bigger) counterparts. Instinctively they do the same things. So ask yourself this: How do cats get most of their fluid intake in nature? Exactly! While eating their prey. Cats are ‘used to’ getting enough water by eating.
When you exclusively feed your cat dry food, they’ll never get enough water intake to be healthy. This increases the risk of urinary tract infections and a bunch of other things. When you feed them bad quality dry food (lots of grains and non-meat filler), in addition to UTI’s they will run a high risk of developing other problems like Diabetes.
So basically I’m saying: Only/mostly feed your cat wet food. The worst wet food is still always better than the best dry food. Because water is so important.
Edit: Also note that most of the “special diet” cat food is dry food. Which is ridiculous. I would never feed my cats that. Most vets have these well-known products like Hill’s or Royal Canin that they prescribe… PLEASE REMEMBER: Vets are sponsored by these brands. They get money specifically for advertising and prescribing these brands. This does not necessarily mean that they are good for your cats. Why would a vet prescribe dry food for cats, when the worst dietary offenders are low water content and non-meat ingredients?
THANK YOU! Cats (and humans for that fact) were NEVER meant to eat so much grain.
Yup. I always try to explain this to people, because I’ve noticed many people who really try to give their cats the best just don’t really know about these things. And they inadvertently hurt their cats.
Giving your cats healthier food doesn’t necessarily have to be super expensive either. Even supermarket wet food is better than dry. Sure, they sometimes have vegetables or grains added as well, but at the very least you fix the water intake issue and this is the number one priority imo.
This exactly, thank you. I’ve had multiple cats during my life make it to old age and each one had health issues from the food I was feeding them. Chronic dehydration leading to kidney issues, chronic high blood sugar from grains and vegetable fillers leading to pancreatitis and diabetes, etc etc. My old man is now on nothing but wet food and is pushing 18. He’s got some issues since I fed him junk for the first half of his life but he’s in decent shape for his age, and I bet if I hadn’t changed his diet he’d already be gone.
I hope you’re not feeling too guilty about it. Many people just don’t know these things and when you buy stuff in the store you kinda sorta expect it to, at the very least, not be so harmful.
One of my cats had chronic diarrhea when she was a kitten and even after vet visit it didn’t stop. That’s why I started reading about feline nutrition and learned that cats need basically two things: meat and water. That stupid special diet food didn’t help, of course, it was dry food with stuff they didn’t need. We switched to better wet food and cut almost all their dry food and all the issues were gone. My boy started peeing more which is very good, especially for male cats (they get UTI’s very easily). They also both started pooping less, which is very logical if you think about it. All the non-meat filler… well they can’t digest it, so they poop it out. Now they eat 100% meat and they poop once every 2-3 days, and in way smaller quantities. Oh and their fur became way more full and much softer too. They just look healthier.
During my search for info I found this website. It’s a great thing to read for every cat owner. It lays out the info in a very logical way en it’s easily understandable. I’d say everyone who has cats should read it.
My cats are pushing 11 now (they’re siblings) and have zero health issues. I’m so happy I figured it out when they were so young. Still, I think it’s terrible that so many people just don’t know/learn these things and have the best intentions but then still end up hurting their own cats, because the stuff they buy is simply bad. But I guess pets aren’t really a high priority for lawmakers, so I doubt standards for pet food will change any time soon. This is why I try to spread around info a bit.
Your cat is very lucky boy, hopefully he still has many years. :)
Thanks, I did feel guilty when my first cat passed, I was the most ignorant then and she had the worst diet and died the youngest. Since then I know I’ve done what I could with the money I could budget, and tried to educate myself so I could do better. Now I try to make up for it by spreading the word to other cat owners in my life and leading by example.
I feed mine mostly wet food with a few cat biscuits mixed in to give it a nice crunch. They seem to like it.
4 cats. We feed them all wet food (Friskies/Tastefuls) morning and night, and have an auto-feeder for 3 of them. The 4th has a kibble addiction so the auto-feeder has a RFID tag which locks upon him getting close, and we feed him ~1/4 cup dry food early afternoon.
Dry food in the morning because it’s faster/easier on the way out the door before work, wet and dry mixed in the evening, with some water mixed in for the male cat as well
my cat is very food orientated. so i give her dry food in the morning for breakfast and wet at night for dinner, because she will eat and eat until she vomits. so i dont give mine dry and wet at night, but i do incorporate other foods into her wet food just as a bit extra and extra nutrients. (only other foods that they can eat obviously)
Wet food every time I can afford it. I will get a lot of flak from people here but cats are not supposed to eat that much grain.
Is there kibble with low, almost no grain percentage? For dogs there are decent options.
