The argument for all-wet, or that wet Friskies is better than dry Orijen, is because of the water content.

Cats are descended from desert creatures. Because of this, they have little-to-no thirst drive, because their moisture comes from the creatures they eat. My vet says that if you see your cat drinking every day, it means its dehydrated. So many people will say "I feed my cat all dry and he's fine! I see him drinking so I know he gets enough water!" and its like they've turned cause and effect around. The cat's drinking because he's not getting enough water.

So, the argument for crappy wet being better than high quality dry usually comes down to water.

Personally, were I in a financial situation where I had to make that choice, I would probably try to go half and half. (Like, about 1/8c dry and about 3oz of low-quality wet per day).

 

My vet says that if you see your cat drinking every day, it means its dehydrated.

I feed my cat only high quality wet food and add water to each serving I give him. He drinks out of a fountain every day as well as any time I open a new water bottle he'll come take some sips from it.

Can't imagine he's dehydrated.

 

IMO, the health risks associated with chronic dehydration from dry food are more serious and common than the health risks associated with feeding a food containing by-products and grain. Also, I don't touch dry food because it is most easily contaminated with bacteria (see the latest massive dry food recall). Not saying that canned food is completely safe, but it is better.

Another reason is that all dry food needs a high percentage of starch in order to bind into pellets. Wet food does not require this.


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In my opinion, saying that any wet food is better than any dry food is an oversimplification. I do think that it's worth taking a reduction in quality to provide wet food because the moisture content is very important, but I wouldn't take it as far as, for example, "It's better to feed Special Kitty wet than Orijen dry," because there are a lot of other issues involved like dangerous additives and poorly sourced meat.

I think the point is a good one, but I don't agree with taking it to the furthest possible extreme.

 

I think any wet is better.

Reading cat food labels, canned versus dry cat food

An important thing I took away from that extensive article was:

Muscle meat (e.g., "chicken" or "turkey") versus by-products is a debatable subject. See the by-product section below.

Be aware that most of the grain-free/by-product-free/muscle meat choices such as Wellness, Nature's Variety, EVO 95%, etc., are high in fat and relatively low in protein in order to keep the profit margin high.

Given this fact, I can't help but wonder if Friskies, 9-Lives, etc. (all by-products, no muscle meat) may actually be better diets because many of these by-product foods are higher in protein and lower in fat than the more expensive diets that are free of by-products.

High protein/low fat is especially important for cats trying to lose weight but do be aware that some of the highest protein by-product foods are high in fish and we do not want to feed a lot of fish as noted above so choose wisely.

Take your poison, they're all companies out to make money in cost effective ways. We don't have all the answers but one thing pretty straight forward is that water intake is important.

 

Until now I thought that when my kitty ate dry food and drank lots of water she compensated for what she was not getting from dry food. Apparently, I was wrong.

To Carmel - by-products is one thing, but what scares me even more is all those loads of grains, gluten, artificial flavors. And what good stuff can a company put into a can that retails for 40c? I was thinking that I made a right decision feeding her wet (approximately 3 oz a day) and dry (she its as much as she wants). She is only 4.5 months old and still growing (aka eats a lot). If I want to feed her high quality wet food, it can cost me around 60$/month without dry. Have to think about it.

One more pro that even doctors point out regarding dry food is that it cleans cat's teeth. I read that it was a myth, but if you feed only wet food (no bones in it, right) how do cats clean their teeth then?

 

To Carmel - by-products is one thing, but what scares me even more is all those loads of grains, gluten, artificial flavors. And what good stuff can a company put into a can that retails for 40c? I was thinking that I made a right decision feeding her wet (approximately 3 oz a day) and dry (she its as much as she wants). She is only 4.5 months old and still growing (aka eats a lot). If I want to feed her high quality wet food, it can cost me around 60$/month without dry. Have to think about it.

One more pro that even doctors point out regarding dry food is that it cleans cat's teeth. I read that it was a myth, but if you feed only wet food (no bones in it, right) how do cats clean their teeth then?

They aren't ideal I agree. But I find in general cats handle them well enough and too big a deal is made about it. I know 700 cats at a cat sanctuary that are free fed dry and (for those that choose) also eat Friskies wet. I recently asked about their average age, they don't have any hard facts, but they estimated them all at ~12 years, so even on dry foods they aren't particularly obese or falling over dead from complications.

I think the most important things would be water intake and exercise. If a cat gets a certain problem, usually I would say it's caused by a predisposition genetically, then dietary changes may have to be made. The same can be said no matter what the food a cat is on. However, I'd rather not imagine my cats wandering around dehydrated... that's more of a fact than anything else, since cats originated from deserts and ate prey for most of their water intake and they don't have a high thirst drive.

The teeth cleaning thing on dry isn't true. For one thing most cats mostly swallow kibble whole without crunching. Also when they crunch... they're doing just that, shattering the kibble with their sharp teeth and the teeth are hardly getting the kibble on them at all. Again, often teeth problems will be more likely to happen if you're genetically predisposed to problems. Asian cat breeds like Siamese are particularly prone to them.

 

My vet also says the dry food = clean teeth is a myth. He says if that were the case, then why then do all the cats that he sees that eat only dry have the worst teeth. My 10 year old cat recently had a check up and she eats only wet food.....she gets a tiny bit of kibble, but it is used as a treat, not a meal, and her teeth were in very good shape, and her blood work was perfect, and her coat is like velvet. He said he wanted to use my cat as an example to others as to why an all wet food diet is better for cats. She actually did eat dry for the first few years of her life, and she was addicted to it. Then my male cat developed crystals, had urinary blockage and almost diet. I had to put him on all wet and decided she needed all wet too....and she was NOT happy about it. It took a while to get her to eat wet, but I did it. Btw, she used to gulp water all the time, and I thought it was a good thing before I learned that she was gulping water because the dry food is so high in sodium that it makes them so thirsty. Now, all 3 of my cats are on all wet, and I barely see any of them even drink water, but I add water to their wet food, and they all pee like crazy, and my male that had the crystals has not had any more problems with UTI's since I changed him, 5 years ago.

Some people think we are all crazy, those of us that believe that all wet food is better, but if you have ever had a cat that has suffered from health issues like crystals, blockage, kidney failure, you eventually figure out it's not worth it to take a chance at all dry food. Also, when I look at my own family members and friends whose cats have died of kidney failure, like my mom's cat, at 8, and a good friend, whose cat died of it at 10, and now another family member whose cat just died in Feb, she had cancer, blood clots, and a whole lot of things wrong, and I suspect her kidneys were failing also, but they never took her to the vet, but she was on 9 lives dry food her whole life.

I spend a small fortune on cat food, I have 3 cats, they all eat wet, and it is all high quality stuff. Plus, I have a large dog that eats high quality canned food also. It is not easy to provide this food to my pets, but I adore them and am committed to feeding them the best that I can, just like with my kids.

 

Carmel and Howsefrau32 - thank you for such detailed posts.

Howsefrau32, I clearly see your point. I had a cat who died when he was around 6 or 7 years old. I think he had a kidney failure, so I know what you are talking about. I think I will switch her to only wet diet, just will let her finish Orijen dry, we still have some left in the bag. I fed her Trader Joe's brand for awhile and she liked it. It is cheaper than Wellness and maybe I can rotate. Do you know if it's true that male cats are more prone to UT and kidney diseases than females? To be honest, I have only heard stories about male cats having this problems and no one ever told me about females with UT blockages.

To all of you who feed only wet diet, how many oz do you usually give your cats?

 

You can do what I do, and I know some others do, you can keep your dry food and use it as a treat. Beep, my 10 year old female, she gets a "handful" of dry food at bedtime, because she loves it so much, and she will sit by her bowl all night and stare at me walking by until she gets her small little bit...and I'm talking like 10 little kibbles.

I have wondered the same thing myself, wondering if females often get the same crystals, blockage, because it does seem to be the males the end up with them, and I'm not so sure how common it is in females. I can tell you this though. Beep was almost 14 pounds.....and she is a very small cat, and she was free fed kibble for her first 4-5 years. When I started having UTI's in my male cat, Taffy, I switched them both to wet food. A year later, Beep weighed 9.3 pounds! She was obese before! We thought she had been losing weight, but since it was slowly, we weren't exactly sure how much, and when the vet weighed her a year later, I was shocked! She was so much healthier! She still holds steady around 9 pounds at 10 years old. So it's not just the UTI's that can lead to the health problems, it's obesity, which can lead to diabetes and other issues as well.

And for the people who are positive that dry is better for the teeth.....which it clearly is not, that has become pretty obvious although every person who works in a pet food store will tell you so, and even some vets still, just repeating what the manufacturers of dry food tell them to say, then if you really believe that is something that will help....then give the kitties a few kibbles of dry food. Beep gets her 10 little kibbles at night, and "the boys", they only get a few nibbles of it, I use it as a treat, but they get the few occasional nibbles and it's ok.

My SIL was over the other day, and she was just amazed at the coats of all of my cats, they are like silk. They have pretty much eaten Wellness their whole lives, and they do have the most amazing looking coats. I did not know any better, and for the first few years of Beep's life, I bought the Hill's crud from the vet, and Beep had dry, course fur that shed really badly, and she was constantly hungry. Then I put her on a better dry food, and she wasn't as hungry all the time, and her coat was a little better, but oh how she transformed into the most beautiful creature after being on wet food....it was night and day difference. And very single time I have one of my cats at the vet, the tech and the vet always comment about how beautiful their coats are

 

I don't know that males are more prone or not, but I DO know that it takes fewer crystals to cause males to block and have terrible issues (because of the smaller hole you see).

 

Heres my only question. Which ingredients are truly terrible??

In the case of us human beings, sure we shouldnt eat things like potato chips and candy, but we all do. unless you have some sort of preexisting condition, we all do. and while it may not be the apple a day that our doctors want, we are okay with eating those things. (not to live off of but you know what i mean).

so basically, which ingredients are their version of our potato chips and candy, and which ingredients are more comparable to, say, battery acid, where you want absolutely none of it entering your cat?

maybe its a bad comparison, but it seems kind of logical. we humans dont eat all great ingredients and we get by alright...

 

I've wondered this too, because I read some articles saying by-products aren't all that bad. Just don't make it the main protein in the cats diet.

 

I dunno that I would say, ANY wet is better than any dry. I feed 50/50 wet /dry and I was feeding friskies for the wet portion. my 3 cats got severe diarrhea and vomiting stopped eating. The only thing I changed was the wet food brand. I now feed wellness wet and theyve been doing exceptionally well, absolutely no problems. I'll never use friskies again. I've learned my lesson!

 

If cost is an issue, by all means feed wet and dry. You'll see many people who feed both on here because of cost, to me, as long as you get that wet food in there daily, in maybe a higher portion, that's what makes the biggest difference. Try adding water to the wet as well. Honestly, kittens do need to eat a LOT and I can see how that can be an issue for people. If that's a problem, maybe just keep the kibble in until she's about 6 months old and can start eating less food. Or if you're ready to completely switch, then by all means go for it!

And yeah, if you're worried about your cats teeth try adding in chunks of raw meat. If you look at a cat eating wild prey, a lot of the jaw and chewing action comes from chewing up the muscle meat and tearing it from the bones. You'll have to be careful about finding meat from a good source, and making sure you clean it. That, or you could always try and get her used to brushing her teeth! Though honestly, between the cats we've had, our girl who passed was on an all wet diet for the last 4-5 years of her life, and never once had a problem with her teeth and we didn't brush them or feed chunks of meat. Like Carmel mentioned, unless your cat is predisposed to the condition, it usually isn't a problem.

 

If cost is an issue, by all means feed wet and dry. You'll see many people who feed both on here because of cost, to me, as long as you get that wet food in there daily, in maybe a higher portion, that's what makes the biggest difference. Try adding water to the wet as well. Honestly, kittens do need to eat a LOT and I can see how that can be an issue for people. If that's a problem, maybe just keep the kibble in until she's about 6 months old and can start eating less food. Or if you're ready to completely switch, then by all means go for it!

I actually calculated the cost of feeding wet+dry and wet only and the difference is minimal! (of course if I will feed grain free in rotation with some other food that does contain a little grains). I already made a trip to Trader Joe's and stocked up with their wet food. My kitty likes it, there are no by-products and other bad stuff in it, plus you can't bit the price of .69$/can. In a long run, I think it will be more beneficial for her to eat all wet diet, even though some of her food will have grains in it. Better than being dehydrated, right?

 

The never-ending debate. How is your cat doing...bright-eyed, alert, shiny coat? Then all is well. I feed 1 3oz can of wet food to my 4 cats (that is 1 can divided for all 4) twice a day. When they are finished with breakfast, I scrape the leftovers into one dish and end up with a bowlful leftover. At suppertime I repeat the process...but my tiniest kitty usually won't eat any. She smells and leaves....all flavors! I leave dry food out all the time....the good stuff...and she nibbles on that when she is hungry. I figure she knows best! I know cats don't like stale food, so I only put 1/4th cup in the bowl at a time....and refill as needed. My cats drink a lot of water.....and no bugs get anywhere near their food....which is up at sitting level on a rack anyway.
I don't know, maybe I'm a bad mommy, but I think they are doing okay...so I don't worry about it!

 

I see Io drinking maybe once a week. And usually it's from the bathtub or a faucet, so it's more of a playing thing. To be honest, I don't know if the water in her bowl goes down because she's drinking it or evaporation, I just know I clean it and top it up, so it's going somewhere. She's not dehydrated cause her panel about a month ago came back great. (she gets all wet, and I rarely add extra water, maybe half the time, because I'm lazy).

If I saw her drinking every day, I would be really concerned. But maybe all cats are different, and some are thirstier than others.