Dry Cat food only

[sjjones]

My cat is about 4 years old. Just got his last physical and he's in great health/condition. My question is about a diet almost exclusively of dry cat food.

When I first got him at about 5 months old at the animal shelter, they were feeding him dry cat food. After I got him, we went directly to the vet for his first check-up and shots. I remember asking the vet what I should feed him and the vet told me to continue giving him high quality dry cat food as long as he will eat it. He said that dry cat food was great provided they will eat it. Better in the long run for his teeth for one thing. Anyway, he has had nothing but dry cat food for 4 years now. He weighs about 11 pounds and have never had any digestion or constipation problems. I have on occasion changed his dry food to give him a little variety.

The only other thing he eats is a little tuna or sardines that I open for myself. I always give him a "little" as a treat. I also give him exactly three pieces of soft cat treats each day when I get home. The pieces are only about the size of your finger nail, but I still break them up even smaller to make the treat last. The third "last" treat goes into his cat house and he has to limb it to get the last treat.

Anyway, that is all he gets beside always having two water bowls poured fresh at least once a day.

Am I doing OK? Do I "need" to give him soft cat food so long as he is healthy and has a good appetite? I will admit that his teeth seem in very good shape.

P.S. - My cat will come and sniff my "people" food; however, he has NEVER eaten anything off my plate. In fact, if I break up any of my people food, he will sniff it but not eat it. He seems to only want "his" cat food. Makes for a very happy family. Oh - I guess I should add that he will drink my water if I have it laying around. No matter how fresh is water bowl is - he prefers to still my water. He seems to have absolutely no problem lapping up my water even as I'm telling him not to. :)

[squashynose]

Dry food is fine, as long as he is drinking pleanty of water. Health problems occur when they don't drink enough, in which case wet food is recommended, as it is mainly water.
My cat has been on dry food exclusively for 4 or 5 years now, no problems *touch wood*. He used to get both wet and dry, but the wet food was usually too rich for him, and he'd go thru' stages of vomiting and diarrhoea. Once I changed to just dry he was fine.

[squashynose]

And my cat always drinks out of my glass too :D He drinks from the dog water bowl, which is on a stand, so he has to stand on his hind legs to get it... But he wont drink from his own water bowl :headache:

[Julia423]

Charlie eats only dry. He's eleven now and doing well. On occassion I've given him wet food as a little treat and he looks forward to it. Usually just a couple of times a month.

[katiem]

My cats eat mostly dry, with a small amount of canned at night. If your cat is happy and healthy on the dry food then I wouldn't change a thing.

[lexi]

I agree if the cat is healthy there is no problem giving him dry food. I have one cat they eats 90% dry food. She likes to lick the gravy off the canned food sometimes but she leaves most of it. Olivia weighs 19 lbs and the vet put her on a low calorie dry food and thank goodness she likes it.

[CKelly976]

My cat eats half a can of wet food in the morning because otherwise he will eat the dogs wet food and she'll sit there with her head down and watch...he also typically refuses his own water dish in turn for the dogs or the toilet (because he is incredibly amazed with the toilet) so we keep our bathroom door closed. there's nothing more disgusting than being licked by an animal that just drank your toilet water, and Maddy does lick peoples faces.

I agree with everyone though, as long as the cat is healthy and happy you're doing fine and I wouldn't change it, I' love to stop feeding my kitty wet food, but he's grown to expect it and love it so, I can't take it from him.

[nanamouse]

Mine only get canned as a treat, and all drink lots of water. I have one who won't eat anything but dry, I don't even bother fixing her a dish of canned with the others any more because she hides when I put the bowls out. The majority will try to steal my food, Gary is a soft touch and gives in to pleading eyes, so they've learned bad habits. :mad: I eat with a small water pistol beside me to fend off kittens now.

[krazy4birds]

Maybe I should switch Ozzie to just his dry food instead of both. I stated in a different
thread about him getting sick this morning. UGH......

[GoFetchGifts]

I feel that pets should get some canned. Have you ever read catinfo.org? She basically says you either pay in prevention or pay for cure. But sure, some cats do fine on dry for a long time. If I were starting over with a young cat again though, I wouldn't feed dry alone.

I also think variety is important.

[AmandaBB]

All my pets are on dry food and they do great on it.
I also switch brands from time to time and they really seem to like that. My cat Casey actually opened up a bag a few weeks ago to try out the new brand. ;)

[tinkerbell21]

They may be healthy now but its the long term effect of dry cat food on their bodies.

heatlh problems like diabetes, UTI, and kidney disease are all associated with cats on a dry food only diet.

Cats require 1 oz of water per pound of body weight a day. So if your cats are consuming dry food only are they drinking 8-16 oz of water per day depending on their weight?

My cats are on a canned and raw food diet.

Leslie

[Llamalady]

So what about those pesky cats that puke if you feed them anything but dry food?

[MandyPug]

So what about those pesky cats that puke if you feed them anything but dry food?

Have you tried a raw diet?
Many cats i know that puke when fed canned food can handle a raw diet perfectly fine. Probably not something you're willing to try, but i thought I'd just mention it for other people that see this and have the same issue.

[Llamalady]

Thanks for the idea! :D My cat Mandarin pukes from anything besides saltine crackers, dry food and vanilla pudding but perhaps Linus would benefit from a raw diet since he can't handle canned food, but he can handle his whiskas chicken pouches and lots of naughty human food if we would let him. It's worth the consideration, but I wonder, how do you get the right nutrients (like taurine) by feeding raw food? Is it just naturally present in the raw food you feed them or do you give them vitamins as well? My kitties aren't getting any younger but I sure would like each of the brats around at least another 10 years ;)

[MandyPug]

Thanks for the idea! :D My cat Mandarin pukes from anything besides saltine crackers, dry food and vanilla pudding but perhaps Linus would benefit from a raw diet since he can't handle canned food, but he can handle his whiskas chicken pouches and lots of naughty human food if we would let him. It's worth the consideration, but I wonder, how do you get the right nutrients (like taurine) by feeding raw food? Is it just naturally present in the raw food you feed them or do you give them vitamins as well? My kitties aren't getting any younger but I sure would like each of the brats around at least another 10 years ;)

Lawson the store cat gets pre-made raw, companies such as Nature's Variety (http://www.naturesvariety.com/raw) make a pre-made frozen raw food. Also there are many many recipes developed by veterinarians so I'd suggest finding books such as Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life (http://www.amazon.com/Your-Cat-Simple-Secrets-Stronger/dp/0312358016) by Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM or Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats (http://www.amazon.ca/Natural-Nutrition-Dogs-Kymythy-Schultze/dp/1561706361/ref=pd_sim_b_6) by Kymythy Schultze CCN AHI or Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health For Dogs and Cats (http://www.amazon.ca/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=pd_sim_b_1) by Dr. Richard H. Pitcarin DVM PhD; all these books have great info on pet health and i do believe they contain lots of nutritional info including raw or homecooked recipes.

[Llamalady]

I appreciate all the knowledge you have shared with me! I love my babies, and wish they would live forever, but even if it can't be forever, I certainly don't want to shorten it because of my ignorance in lack of choices in food! :D

[MandyPug]

I appreciate all the knowledge you have shared with me! I love my babies, and wish they would live forever, but even if it can't be forever, I certainly don't want to shorten it because of my ignorance in lack of choices in food! :D

You're very much welcome for the information :).
I do know what you mean though wishing our pets would live forever. I don't remember who said this but it rings true in regards to most everything "We do the best we can with what we know, and when we know more we can do even better."
As long as do for them the best we know how and forever strive to improve upon that, we're doing them proud.

[Llamalady]

Wow that brought tears to my eyes that was so uplifting supportive and sweet!!!! Thank you so much!!! That is EXACTLY what I do. I strive to be a better mom than I was the day before ad infinitum...

I siggies you and I hope you don't mind..

[MandyPug]

Wow that brought tears to my eyes that was so uplifting supportive and sweet!!!! Thank you so much!!! That is EXACTLY what I do. I strive to be a better mom than I was the day before ad infinitum...

I siggies you and I hope you don't mind..

Aweh shucks, i'm flattered... Of course i don't mind if you use it in your siggy :08:

[Llamalady]

You made my day, Mandypug!!!!! :D *hugs*

[tinkerbell21]

A raw diet is very simple. muscle meat/bones/liver/other secreting organs 80/10/5/5

taurine is found in dark meats (chicken thighs, turkey thighs, chicken hearts are a great source of taurine--hearts in general are)

Generally premade isn't as good as homemade for a couple reasons--one most premade contain fruits and veggies which just aren't necessary two most premades are ground, when the benefit of feeding raw is feeding meat chunks so that the cat chews/tears and their jaw and teeth get the benefit three premade is much more expensive than homemade

It costs me about 50 cents a day to feed to cats homemade raw

I currently feed a rotation of 5 proteins--chicken, turkey, beef, pork and venison.

The only supplement I use is Salmon Oil.

check out yahoo groups rawcat

Leslie

[GoFetchGifts]

Llamalady have you tried giving Mandarin grain-free? If you have and that still makes him puke, I would try raw. Mandarin might have IBD.

If you feed pre-made raw, that has the taurine in it. If you make the raw yourself, you can buy taurine supplement to put in it.

[GoFetchGifts]

Oops I didn't check out page 2 before I replied to you llamalady!!

In addition to the links already posted, check out catinfo.org

She suggests Nature's Variety if you can't make your own. I have my cat's story about how Nature's Variety helped him here:

http://gofetchgifts.com/blog/pet-health/how-i-cured-my-cats-diarrhea-and-saved-his-life/

[nanamouse]

So what about those pesky cats that puke if you feed them anything but dry food?

With some of those cats it's simply a case of soft foods are easier to eat (and maybe tastier?) so they scarf them down so quickly that it comes back up. I have one in that category, I find that if I mix his canned food with dry he's forced to slow down and it stays down just fine. Otherwise I may as well be waiting six feet from the bowl to clean up what he throws up.:yuck:

[Llamalady]

I have just stuck to Iams dry food for Mandarin, primarily simply because he is pukes when I try anything else. I don't know how he managed to survive at the shelter for 7 months because we bought whatever they were feeding him, and were going to slowly integrate it into his food, and he barfed up the food he was eating from the shelter. We tried him on canned food, and he barfed it up.

Thanks Nana for the words of advice! :D

I HAVE tried to mix canned food into dry food for Linus and it doesn't matter what ration I mix it, he barfs it all over, which is strange to me, because Linus is our king of stealing human food and being fine. Perhaps as he's getting older his tummy's getting more sensitive? So we free feed him dry food - which he barely wants to eat anymore - and he gets two of those chicken pouches a day. I just wish we could get Mandarin on something special like that, because I figure just eating the dry food has to be unendingly boring, and it would be better for his body and his soul to eat some different foods that are good for him! :D

I have not tried grain free food. It's just every time we tried to change Mandarin's food he gets barfy, and Linus doesn't eat any other dry food like he does with Iams, and this point in his life, he barely eats his dry food. When Linus was a kitten I fed him canned food, and then thinking as he got older I HAD to switch him to dry food, I tried every single dry food and IAMS was the only one he would really eat. I was worried about his weight - I don't know why, it seems to be all in my head because he's always been a little bit husky - so I stuck with Iams. LOL

[sirilucky]

The worst possible food you can feed to your cat is dry food. It is a moneymaking venture of pet food manufacturers that is leading to horrible chronic disease in cats. It is marketed as a product that is 100 percent nutritionally complete for all stages of your cat's life. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Grains are typically classified as carbohydrates and are composed primarily of starch. Pet food manufacturers lead the consumer to believe grains provide energy, protein, fat, fiber, minerals and vitamins to cats. The cat is a member of order Carnivora. Cats and other members of the superfamily Feloidea are considered obligate carnivores as they have strict requirements for certain nutrients that can only be found in animal tissues. Cats cannot synthesize taurine or arginine, amino acids found only in meat. They lack the ability to convert linoleic acid (contain in plants) to arachidonic acid (contained in animal fat). They cannot convert beta-carotene to vitamin A. Cats cannot decrease activity of hepatic enzymes when fed low-protein foods — they must consume a high protein diet. Cats must eat meat to survive.