I feed all dry food ok?

[Gillian Harvey]

I would be wary of feeding an all dry diet purely because cats need to take in some water and they are not really programmed to drink, most of their water intake should come from their food  (read this somewhere, it may be total bo****ks though!) 

Its true 

I fed all dry diet about 6 yrs or so ago (taken in by all the blurb about dry being wonderful little nuggets of perfect nutrition  ) and I too had a cat who suffered urinary tract blockage, others who had cystitis and most had severe dental problems. I changed back to wet and then to combo of wet and raw with a handful of dry as treat and never had any further problems of cystitis or UTI's - sadly there was no going back from the dental problems as several had to have extractions, but hopefully their diet now keeps the probs at bay.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Hi Tiggy's Mum

I need to change my cats names, where it says "slave to" not my name. Sorry if I wasn't clear.   

That's easy too: Hover over profile>click 'forum profile'>scroll right the way down to the bottom (past the map) and there is the box 'Slave to: Name/s of your cats'>type new names>click change profile 

[Mymblesdaughter]

Hi Tiggy's Mum

I need to change my cats names, where it says "slave to" not my name. Sorry if I wasn't clear.   

[MeuzettesMom]

I was told not to feed wet for it cost too much to keep up.
I didn't listen to that advise. So I feed one tablespoon of wet in the mornings and dry through out the day.
I was told cats get fat having free range. But they are more relaxed and not throwing up so much. Not competing for food.
It isn't the best food out there. Just what ever they like and try not to have too much ash in it.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Good luck with the wet you've ordered! I feed mine 50/50 wet and dry so even if yiu can get him eating a small amount of wet it's better than nothing.

On another subject, how do I change my cats names on my profile. I thought I was keeping Buffy and her Mum Mymble but someone adopted Mymble and her other daughter and I ended up with the two kittens. So I need to change to Buffy and Xander. (Yes I'm a big - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - fan)   

To change your name:

Hover over profile button (top middle)>click 'Account settings'>type your new name in the second box down 'Name -
This is the displayed name that people will see'>type password at bottom>click 'change profile'.

[Mymblesdaughter]

I've just ordered from zooplus, I've ordered a different wet food that is lower meat content it's called Yarrah.  I think the one Buffy eats is 90% meat so might be a bit rich for him. I've emailed Bozita and they say their wet food is organic so I'm going to try that as well. I've also ordered a higher meat content dry food. So hopefully I'll be able to wean him over to mainly wet food. He's really interested in human food at the moment I don't think he realises he's a cat that's the problem. I keep telling him he should love the good quality meat but he says he prefers a nice bit of pasta or a pain au chocolat.

On another subject, how do I change my cats names on my profile. I thought I was keeping Buffy and her Mum Mymble but someone adopted Mymble and her other daughter and I ended up with the two kittens. So I need to change to Buffy and Xander. (Yes I'm a big - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - fan)     

[maddercow]

I would be wary of feeding an all dry diet purely because cats need to take in some water and they are not really programmed to drink, most of their water intake should come from their food  (read this somewhere, it may be total bo****ks though!)  Makes sense though as in the wild cats eat other animals which are made up of mostly water.

All I know is that my boy cat used to eat mostly dry and got himself all dehydrated and had a urinary infection and since I've reduced the dry food and increased the wet food he has been better.

Having said that all he will eat is Felix gail or sensations which are full of I don't know what.... despite my offerings of something better.... junk food addict... but at least he's getting some fluids in there!

Jo

[nickynoo93]

Its trial and error I think. Mine eat more good quality dry food, but Poppy especially likes a pouch, but they only eat half each anyway, even when I've put down a pouch each they don't eat it all. In the summer I mix some water in with the pouch.

They do like their water fountain though. If only to make a splash and wash there feet.lol

The wet food mine eat is Gourmet Perle or Solitaire.

New little fella coming home with me today will be quite safe with his whiskas, as the other 2 won't touch it.

Nicky
 

[shirleyp01]

We find with our two gorgeous girls, that food they will eat this week, doesent necessarily mean they will eat it next week.  It is always best to keep changing things around for them as well.  We tried ours on dried food for a bit and they just thought they were treats and then still wanted their wet food.
Good luck

[Mymblesdaughter]

Thanks guys. It looks like I'm going to have to buy lots of different wet foods and try to find something he likes. I really want to get him sorted before he gets too set in his ways. It's funny that some cats really like the dry, he's liked it from when he was tiny and had kitten biscuits he's never bothered with the wet stuff. I've really noticed how much he drinks compared with my old cat who mainly ate wet food. Buffy has always preferred the wet food. Thanks for the article it gives lots of good ideas for getting him to change. I was quite keen to try them on raw but I want to feed them organic and I can't find any organic raw supplier do, you know of any?   

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I would definitely try to find a wet food he will eat.   It's hard for cats to get enough water when fed only dry food as they don't have a strong thirst mechanism since they have evolved to get their water with their food.  Cats fed only dry food do usually drink more water than cats fed wet food, but it's unlikely they will drink as much as they need.  Water is really important for cats, especially as they get older, so it's good to get them eating some wet food when they're young as a cat who has eaten only dry food all his life is unlikely to take to wet food when older.  A cat's natural diet would have a water content close to that of wet food.  Some tips here on transitioning cats from dry food to wet food.  You could also try raw meat if he won't take to commercial wet food.

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20for%20Transitioning%20PDF%201-14-11.pdf

Having said that, as Helen says - you can't make them eat what they don't want to eat so if you can't get him to eat wet food, a dry food with a higher meat content and no/negligible grains would be good.   There are a few - applaws/encore has 80% meat and no grains.  Orijen, Acana and Taste of the Wild are also good choices and available from zooplus.

[Tiggy's Mum]

I'm sure someone will be along with the science behind it soon enough but on a personal level I would be worried about the long term effects of a dry only diet. That said, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink so if he won't eat wet I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do about it 

As they have a high quality dry diet is it worth seeing if he'll eat one of the cheaper, lower meat content wet foods? Mine both eat Bozita which is high meat content with the consistency of the regular cat foods ie Felix/ Whiskas. At one stage Riley had tummy issues which the vet thought might be food related (it wasn't!) so I tried to switch them to one of the 'posh' wet foods that is more like real chicken / fish in consistency and the bu.ggers wouldn't even sniff it let alone eat it!

If he'll eat 'regular' wet food ie brown chunky stuff rather than the posh chicken-y type ones then Bozita is a good option as it's high meat content (the 4% mentioned is the named flavour, the actual meat content is 90%+) grain free and very good value. It actually works out cheaper than Whiskas / Felix sachets.

http://www.bozita.com/en/Feline/Productgroups/Bozita-Feline-tetra/chickenliver/

[Mymblesdaughter]

Hi

My two kittens are now 6 months old, Buffy is very happy with her wet food which has a high meat content and is organic but Xander only seems to like his dry food and fish. I'm feeding him an organic dry cat food which is around 30% meat but am thinking of changing to one i've found that has a higher meat content. Do you think I should really try and find a wet food that he likes or will he be fine on the dry food? I've read so much about how bad all dry food is I don't want him to get ill. His other love is fish is also I know I should only give him a couple of times a week.

Sorry if there is already a thread about this I'm having trouble getting the search to work.