Thread: Dry vs Wet food: What our Vet said and do you agree/disagree?

Our vets always recommend wet food as the water content ups the water intake and as Jackie says it reduces the risk of kidney /bladder problems

Google... Dr. Karen Becker on this topic!! Cats have a low thirst drive and therefore, most are living in a constant state of dehydration from eating kibble!! They end up with kidney problems as a result of this! Wet food is a "species appropriate" diet for your cat!! Think about what cats eat in the wild..it's not dry kibble! No offense, but your Vet is living in the dark ages! Educate yourself on this topic and see what you think! Do your cat a favor and buy high quality, grain free, human grade food. Start reading labels, you don't want to see, by products, corn wheat or gluten!

A Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) eating a prey and watching around wary. - 3605471 | Shutterstock Footage that is what cats eat in the wild.

Hello all,

I have always fed my babies dry Iams (hairball & weight control) I had four now I have three very healthy cats, Paco is 16yrs old and weights in at 13.5 pounds only eats the dry, will not touch the wet at all. Chole 8yrs and Paddy 5yrs both weight in at 10 pounds and eat wet and dry. I like the dry because it is more conveinant and it has all the needed nutriants our babies need, plus it keeps their teeth tarter free...(vet is always impressed that they don't need teeth cleaning) I only started to used the wet food when my oldest girl Sissy 21yrs was ill and was given a prescrition deit of the wet food a/d critical care. She ate that for the last 4yrs of her life. (she was 25yrs old when she passed away) Before that she only ate dry. Anyway while Sissy was being feed this wet food the other 2 (Chole and Paddy) also ate this and got used to it so now I feed them "Friskies" turkey kibbles and bits....AS to what is the proper/best food to feed our babies, I believe that is up to each individual parent, the main thing is not to over feed or over treat our babies and let them choose for themselves what type of food they want...as I say my Paco will not for the life of him eat wet/canned food. I have tried to make him eat it and he won't, yet Chole and Paddy just love both kinds wet and dry...as far as water is concerned my babies have a water fountain that they drink from so no worries there..anyway it is just my two cent.....

This is our first MC and the breeder told us to feed her chicken or beef mince and cat biccies till her adult teeth come in and then raw chicken necks and cat biccies from there on. Also canned fish only once a week through her whole life. Our vet agrees with this diet, but said if Pumpkin slows down on the cat biccies to withhold the mince till she eats more biccies. Previously with moggies we have owned we have fed tinned food and cat biccies with a few treats of roast lamb or roast chicken and two of those lived to nineteen years of age.

Wow I had no idea what cat biccies were! I had to look that one up, thank God for Google. I feed Ginger a can of high quality food and all of the grain free dry cat food she wants and she is doing great! She is getting to be a big girl! 13# and growing!

hi Bohemiannic - the only reason why I would feed Neevie differently from any other cat is because I regret not having enquired about feeding my previous cat properly before, not because she is a MC.
to my opinion, MCs feed exactly the same way as other cats - only more...

it is the first time I see the advise to give them raw chicken neck - the only reason I can see for this is that it is hard to eat, they have to go at it for hours to get the meat out, and therefore it might be best for their stomach because they eat more slowly? I don't know.... but that seems to be just for a treat? predominantly cat biccies is what the breeder says?
as per above, cats in general don't drink enough for their own good, they don't get thirsty when they get dehydrated, their body doesn't tell them - if they were fed predominantly on cat biccies they would become dehydrated... kidney problems could ensue...

Personally I try to not allow Neevie too much cat biccies - she prefers cat biccies but I try to not allow her biccies unless she's had some moisture in her during the day. Be it, if I've seen her drink - she likes to drink from the tap so that allows me to keep an eye - or I know she's eaten wet food from a can, or even chicken or fish, raw or cooked whatever I have at hand...

you'll see in the forum, some people prefer to feed their cats raw meat exclusively - it does look like a good way to do it, the concensius being that's what they'd eat in the wild - however my take on this is: in the wild, they don't have a choice. The first humans also ate whatever they could find, it doesn't mean that's what's good for them. It doesn't mean raw meat is bad for cats, I just mean I don't know what's best.

I only have 2 rules: as much moisture as possible, and as natural food as possible (no starch, no ash, and a minimum of processed)

Hi Alekto, the idea of the chicken necks is that they keep the cats teeth clean, the bones give them calcium and being uncooked are good with the digestion, the bones in chicken necks are also of the type that dont shatter and become sharp, so no danger of bone lodgement in any part of the digestion system. Chicken necks are also fairly lean, so they arent getting a lot of fat. It does take longer to eat which can be good. These of course are not given to the cat until they have adult teeth. Raw chicken necks are also recommended by dog breeders of many pure breed dogs.

I used to feed mine on whiskers, but have switched to Butcher's as the meat content was much higher and whisker's play a part in making gingivitis worse. We also stopped giving him Whiskers kibble as it did not agree with his stomach. He is doing great on butcher's / wet only diet with the weekly boiled fresh chicken.