Info. & Links on why canned is better than all dry diet

[ibbica]

Originally Posted by Luvmyfurbabies

This isn't actually necessary. The moment you switch from dry to wet it becomes very apparent where their water intake is coming from and why.

Oh yes, the difference in water intake when feeding all wet vs. all dry is very clear! But I was talking at the end there about comparing a mixed diet to all wet. Recently, mine have been getting all wet for a couple days, while other days they get some kibble as well as wet. So I looked for a difference in water intake between "dry + wet" days and "wet only" days, and actually it's not at all obvious in my kitties.

For my two, a measurable difference in drinking only happens when I compare feeding a "very high" moisture content food ('in gravy' or 'in jelly' or made into a slurry, moisture >~82%) without kibble to feeding 1/2 kibble + 1/2 a 'drier' canned food (canned food moisture <~78%).

Most notably, I'm seeing no measurable difference in water intake between days where they're fed raw only and days when they're fed kibble + a 'soupy' wet food (moisture >80%, either packaged as such or because I've added water to it). Now of course this is from a sample size of 2, so YMMV

Note too that I don't feed any one diet (all raw, all canned, mixed canned + kibble) for long periods of time with no breaks, about 5 days in a row max. More differences might become apparent feeding after any one diet over a longer period.

[soraiadigital]

I've made it through 18 pages and I'm extremely glad I did it.
I was heavily recommended dry food and after this thread be sure I'll change to wet food.
Still have to search what's available around here, plus educate my hubby but thank you all for sharing such useful information.
Wet it is!

[bluemilk]

Here's my p.o.v. In the wild, prey is not mushy,there's skin,bones and other stuff that needs to be chomped,crunched and gnawed.

If a food,wet or dry,has the RDA of taurine,animal proteins,vitamins and minerals, and tastes good,isn't that really what matters? I feed Robin Hood canned,mostly. But if there's a healthy dry brand (and I check the label,I'm not fooled by the word 'natural',!) I'll pick that up,too. Generally whatever cat food's in Robin's bowl,he eats right up! And he's a healthy growing boy!

[Pandoragem]

Why feed wet if you cat seems fine on dry? The effects of chronic dehydration can take years to show up in the form of serious health issues. In my cat's case close to 10 years but when they did things went downhill quickly and it took 2 years for me to figure out that dry food was the culprit. Two months of feeding wet exclusively eliminated her symptoms (Chronic UTI's, stones and improper elimination).

A cat's natural prey contains over 70% water.

[bluemilk]

Robin's p.o.v.: 'CANNED!... CANNED!... CANNED!'


So...


Thanks for sharing your story, Pandoragem! It's food for thought,literally! I've heard of humans making recoveries from diseases simply by changing their diet. Amazing.

[Delahanty]

The links are very helpful, and reinforce my belief that canned is superior to dry for cat food. Unfortunately, we adopted a 7 (or so)-month old kitten already addicted to the dry. We've been somewhat successful introducing him to canned food, but are still trying to make a complete change.